Connecting L.A.’s Communities

Los Angeles may have some of the most vibrant and diverse communities in the nation, but often they stand as ethnic or economic islands in this vast sea of a city. We celebrate our diversity but sometimes struggle to make connections from one community to another. Saturday’s first-ever Los Angeles Neighborhood Convention, at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, offers a new start.

Behind voter approval of the new charter last June was a yearning all across Los Angeles for a more responsive city. Neighborhoods that can speak with one voice have a way of getting more from their elected and appointed leaders.

There is certainly room for improvement in city government. A survey in the current issue of Governing magazine gives Los Angeles an embarrassing C for the quality of its city management. Residents don’t need a survey to know that the trees in their neighborhoods are trimmed too infrequently, their sidewalks are buckling and many local libraries are worn and outdated.

Provisions of the new charter that build new accountability measures into city operations will go some way toward improvement. But it will take pressure from neighborhood groups to really change the way City Hall does business. The new Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will bring resources and training to a network of grass-roots neighborhood councils that will come into being next year.

On hand Saturday will be representatives from community groups and city agencies. Next month, the first of 16 public workshops will be held across the city to help the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment draft the rules by which the neighborhood councils will operate. These are first steps in making Los Angeles a city that invites and welcomes public participation.

To Take Action: The Los Angeles Neighborhood Convention, organized by Mayor Richard Riordan’s office, will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The public is invited, but reservations are required; call (213) 847-4210.