Vague Rules, Turf Wars Make Going Difficult for Neighborhood Councils

When Los Angeles voters approved the creation of neighborhood councils two years ago, enthusiastic proponents predicted that the groups would energize an often-disengaged electorate, make government more responsive and placate alienated communities that wanted to break away from the city.

But since then, the much-trumpeted organizations have been slow to take off.

Residents complain that they are mired in vague directions, starved for technical support from the city and bogged down in arguments about boundaries.

Their only guidelines, laid out in a blueprint approved by the City Council in May: The councils have to represent a minimum of 20,000 people, and they cannot overlap. In the meantime, the volunteer organizations have to write their bylaws, select a governing body, gather hundreds of signatures and establish a complaint procedure.

Left to determine their own boundaries, residents are squabbling with one another. Homeowner groups are clashing with renters. Businesses are jockeying for a voice.

The chaotic process has delayed efforts to create the local advisory councils that are supposed to give neighborhoods a greater say in what happens in their community.

“I think everybody is going in slightly different directions, which is kind of wonderful in one way, because it’s about empowerment, and adopting what’s best for your community,” said Mark Siegel, a Los Feliz resident who has been organizing citywide meetings of neighborhood council activists. “At the same time, there’s an underlying sense of confusion: ‘Am I doing it right? What is the definition of this? What is the procedure for that?’ ”

The process has attracted a wide assortment of players: idealistic activists who talk excitedly of creating public space, a gaggle of gadflies who jump at having a new forum to push their agendas, and nervous homeowner groups that fear losing power to the councils. Thrown together, all of these players are struggling to reconcile their different interests and visions for the new councils.

Despite the problems, the process has actually produced the beginnings of some new neighborhood organizations from Boyle Heights to Brentwood.

Frustration, Lack of Direction

“I think turf battles is what democracy is all about,” said Fred Dewey, an early neighborhood council activist. “What you’re talking about is the first time in 100 years people getting into real conversations about public life.”

But so far, most participants--and even city officials--conclude that the city has not done a good job of helping facilitate those conversations.

“Clearly, there’s frustration and a feeling that there’s been a lack of direction,” Mayor James K. Hahn said recently. “My concern is for people who aren’t even aware . . . that there’s an opportunity to form a neighborhood council.”

Beginning Oct. 1, groups can submit their applications to the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to be certified as official neighborhood councils. Once certified, a council can weigh in on local projects and spend a small pool of money on improvements like tree-planting.

The mayor recently asked the City Council to approve a seven-point plan that would give the councils more power, including a role in the city budget process and a say in how city departments are being run.

In the meantime, many neighborhood council supporters complain that the department wasted more than a year writing the blueprint for the councils--a plan they say is vague and confusing--and has spent little time helping the groups get off the ground.

So far, the department has not provided organizers to help communities get started. Neighbors complain that the department has sent out representatives who simply listen instead of offering clear directions.

The nascent councils cannot receive any funding from the city until they are certified, when they can apply to receive $50,000 a year. As a result, local proponents say they are struggling to afford the large outreach efforts needed to contact thousands of residents and businesses in their areas. And the city still has not provided a list of people who are organizing councils in their neighborhoods. Nor has there been any major media campaign to let people know about the process.

The Neighborhood Empowerment Department’s mission was to assist these groups, said Jay Sugarman, a board member of the North Hills Neighborhood Council. That group has become so frustrated that it is considering not applying for certification. “They have failed horribly so far,” Sugarman said. “They haven’t provided as much as a postage stamp.”

General Manager Submitted Resignation

Amid these complaints, Rosalind Stewart, the department’s general manager, submitted her resignation Aug. 2. Mayor Hahn said he will try to find a replacement for Stewart, who was appointed by former Mayor Richard Riordan, by the end of this month.

Michelle Banks-Ordone, the department’s assistant general manager, said the agency has done the best it can with its 14 employees.

“Regardless of the Herculean task they’re doing--and they’re working very, very hard--they’re not going to make everyone happy,” she said, adding that the department is working with 82 groups around Los Angeles.

Banks-Ordone said that the department is hiring community-based organizers to help start neighborhood councils in areas with little activity. In October, the department will hold five workshops around the city to help groups understand the certification process.

But neighborhood council proponents say more needs to be done to shape the process of setting boundaries.

Under the plan approved by the City Council, the job of dividing the city into different councils is left to the neighborhoods. According to the city plan, the councils should follow natural community boundaries and represent all “stakeholders”: residents, businesses, the homeless and others.

But there’s a lot that’s left unclear.

What will happen, for example, if groups submit applications for council areas that overlap? Will unorganized neighborhoods be left out of the system, or will they be annexed by other groups? How many seats does each group get on the council boards?

The fuzziness has led to turf battles around the city. In Hollywood, there were at one time as many as 11 groups vying to represent parts of the neighborhood. (The number has since been whittled down to five.) In Sunland-Tujunga and Woodland Hills, residents have clashed with business interests seeking clout on the councils. In Griffith Park, homeowner groups attempted to create a federation of five neighborhoods--which didn’t succeed when Silver Lake pulled out and formed its own group.

“I worked on issues in the Balkans, which prepared me for this,” Silver Lake organizer Nalini Lasiewicz said wryly. (Her nonprofit foundation at one time raised money for Balkan aid groups.)

In some cases, the process has exacerbated tensions over local controversies. In Granada Hills, neighbors who oppose expansion of a dump in nearby Sunshine Canyon became worried when they learned that the local Chamber of Commerce--which has historically sided with the dump--was submitting a neighborhood council plan for the entire ZIP Code.

So the residents decided to submit their own plan, sparking a fierce competition that led, in one case, to accusations that the chamber sent spies to a neighborhood meeting.

Homeowner Groups Fear Loss of Clout

The two groups have come to an uneasy detente. Both plan to submit applications to become official councils. It will be left to the empowerment department to sort out the issue.

One of the biggest hurdles in the formation of the neighborhood councils is the opposition of some homeowner groups, who fear they may lose clout if the new councils succeed.

In Westwood, a resident trying to organize a neighborhood council has met resistance from three powerful homeowner associations, which so far have declined to participate in the new organization.

“I think the problem is the diminished voice we would have as a group,” said Sandy Brown of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Assn., which represents more than 1,000 families.

Despite these obstacles, the concept is taking hold in some communities.

In downtown Los Angeles, a group of businesses, residents, community organizations and local government agencies has been gathering for monthly meetings, with many remarking on the success of merely getting everyone in the room at the same time.

In Venice, a thriving organization called Grass-Roots Venice has been meeting for a year, led by a collection of energetic volunteers like Tisha Bedrosian.

Bedrosian--who describes herself as someone “who actually read the City Charter before I voted on it”--said she was inspired by the idea of creating a new public forum.

“We’re all here to find common ground, to build a physical venue and a mental space where people can come together,” she said.

Supporters caution that creating vibrant new community organizations takes time.

At a recent citywide meeting of neighborhood council organizers, City Councilman Eric Garcetti, an advocate of the councils, spoke of the complexities of setting up such a structure in a city the size of Los Angeles.

He urged about 100 people crammed into a room at Los Angeles City College to be patient.

“It’s really democracy at its best and worst,” Garcetti said. “It can be incredibly painful and incredibly positive.”

*

Times staff writer Richard Fausset contributed to this story.

*

MORE INSIDE

Valley: Councils were intended to defuse secession, but participation is mixed. B3