Involved at the Local Level

San Fernando Valley secessionists are skeptical about the neighborhood council system approved by voters in June as part of the new city charter. They are convinced that the only way to fix Los Angeles is to break it apart, the sooner the better.

But for those who maintain an open mind, the election of Northridge attorney Lee Kanon Alpert as president of the new Los Angeles Board of Neighborhood Commissioners is a promising step.

The board, whose seven members were appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan and approved by the City Council, will create and oversee the network of grass-roots councils designed to give the city’s far-flung communities more say in City Hall.

Alpert’s credentials should satisfy all but the most hard-core skeptics. A one-time board member of the secessionist group Valley VOTE (Voters Organized Toward Empowerment), he supports the study on Valley secession but wants to see the results before taking a position on Valley cityhood. He’s no blind booster of Los Angeles.

But he is committed to the kind of community involvement the neighborhood councils will need to succeed. The winner of the Valley’s Fernando Award this year, Alpert has a 20-year record of community service. When he was nominated for the award, he said, “If you don’t get involved, you don’t have a right to moan and groan and complain.”

Alpert has elected to get involved in trying to fix Los Angeles. Would that those who moan and groan did the same.