Brad Sherman Office - 818-501-9200

Once again, the number for our district office is (818) 501-9200.

Brad Sherman Telephone Town HallMarch 28th at 7:00 pmDial-In: (855) 920-0548

For those who arrived after the initial announcement, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto had a last minute emergency and will be rescheduled for a future meeting.

All the tree they are giving away are natives!

Brown act goes back to 1950s

Our NC is going on hold cancelling meetings.

We need an extension of the ability to meet from Gov. Newsom.

asao

asap

only 4 of our NC members have ever met in the in person days — the rest were caught by surprise

Any questions or feedback related to TRANSIT PROJECTS I can be reached at asaad.alnajjar@lacity.org

For Brad S's staff: The world changing part of rail to the Westside is to link the Westside to the SF Valley so Valley will truly become part of the big city. It does NOT need to go to LAX at the start. It's West/UCLA-Valley connector, not an LAX transit service.

We need a phone call to the governor from Congressman Sherman.

To get an extension

MTA has been asking that question to the public for 2 years

So far target to open 2025

If monorailOtherwise 2035 underground

Thank you all for having us!

Once again, you can reach our office at (818) 501-9200.

Thanks to Len for spearheading the SEPARATE Code of Conduct policy (versus reference to the code for city employees, which is huge, elaborate, an ideological. I am confident we can enforce civility and personal respect through a less complicated list of affirmative obligations.

That said, devil is in the details, so let's all read the BONC proposal carefully.

Enter Pierce College from Mason Avenue

at Victory Blvd.

Re resilience of the power grid, if we don't rebuild the Scattergood plant and have the 4 in-basic power plants, we almost certainly WILL lose the grid when we become a 100% renewable system. Having those plants ready for emergency use (probably under 5% of the year) is a critical backup.

Good point Glenn!

Meet 4X a year or LOSE YOUR NC. This is about responsibility to the community to protect THE COMMUNITY'S NC. The NC does not belong to the Board members.

That means you have until May to get the extension for meeting virtually — or we won’t have an NC in our area.

The BONC nominee for west LA is Josh Nadel

Joanne, I hope that a quorum of your NC disagrees with you. This is a personal responsibility of each elected board member to the people they serve. Starting a new NC is a 2-year outreach and re-application process.

4 times a year is actually 1x each quarter, as Comm. Shaffer pointed out

Many NC Bylaws may have different rules

We polled the Board and this is not me, this is the rest of the Board. I am not an officer. The President, VP, and Treasurer cannot meet in person. Even if I come we have no quorum willing to come. Almost all of them got their seats when we were meeting virtually. And we have no meeting sites.

Lydia, the bylaws saying meet monthly won't cause you to lose your charter. The Plan For NCs (the ordinance) requies 1x per quarter, and THAT WILL lose your charter.

but grievances could be violated for violating your Bylaws

filed not violated

2 murders happened at the site of our committee meetings, one through a plate glass window by day a few weeks ago the other 5 months ago. No one is willing to go to our old board site because the parking is too far away on a dark public campus — plus our money was spent on Zoom. So we lose our charter, that’s life.

Hi Everyone! 👋🏼Sorry I am late. I was at the LA Metro East Valley Transit Project Open-House Meeting!

Find a city recreation center or library branch or even a fire or police station community room to meet. All should be ADA accessible.

The Department could put the NC in exhaustive efforts for lack of quorum and they wouldn't lose the NC

We don’t have any of those places, and quite honestly the board members don’t care.

Specifically, *the SF Valley* (most of it) can't use state aqueduct water. The system is built to feed us water from the Owens Valley Aqueduct. THAT is that ware under attack. And it's for a 'ecological emergency' that doesn't exist. Local 'go home DWP' voters are hijacking the State water board to be a club to 'get rid of DWP'.

There are childcare issues— one couple is on the board with 3 babies, one is the VP. Plus our VP is blind.

Speaking of Stormwater Capture: The Rory Shaw Wetlands Project in Sun Valley (Council District 6) will help capture stormwater and be an open space park for the public. Win win! 😀

Comments can be submitted to the state wat7er board up to (I think) March 17. Address on the last slide. PLEASE consider filing an electronic comment in support of keeping the City of LA water rights in use during this continuing drought.

As an individual. No time for Board action

For those who arrived after the initial announcement, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto had a last minute emergency and will be rescheduled for a future meeting.

Did the letter to the governor from VANC to continue virtual meetings get sent?

Correct, Tony until March 17 to submit public comment.

Workshop Feb 15: https://bit.ly/ML_Feb15

And the seagulls... They are NOT endangered. In fact, the seagulls are PREDATORS of a type of plover that nests on the salt islands and whose eggs are eaten by the seagulls.

Please forward the presentation to us so we can post on respective websites. Thank you. GlennBaileyNCs@gmail.com

As I state in my chat comment. Comment AS AN INDIVIDUAL. Also, we *can* pass a Board resolution to the Mayor/Council objecting to the possible state action to limit the city's legitimate water rights (citing whatever arguments you want). Then every board member has a right to forward that letter in NC letterhead TO THE CITY GOVT along with a personal comment to the state water board, attaching the NC resolution.

To clarify wording above, the NC resolution to the city is on NC letterhead. The individual comment is on persona; letterhead and the NC resolution to the city is attached.

I believe it's $5 per foot for residential customers.

Correct and more information on the turf replacement program and other water saving rebate programs is at LADWP.com/save

Water heater is drained to the back yard so it goes into the ground. That is what you SHOULD do.

Effective October 1, 2022; applications submitted are eligible to receive a rebate for turf replacement of $5.00 per square foot for 5,000 square feet (Sq. Ft.) maximum.

of historical perspective the first war described in the Bible is over water rights between Abraham and Avimalech

We put it in the pool — that works too.

Chris - you may want to get a second opinion on that. My spouse is a plumber and doesn't recommend it..

Thanks Clint!

It was our plumber who did it. Can you ask your spouse why it is not good?

Dakota Smith is the Moderator? Wow! I sent here messages. She never responded except for one time.

I know David Zahnsier from the LA Times I also covers City Hall.

Lionel, our chair Linda Gravani is not wtching the chat. Can't do 2 things at once.

often times it causes damage to the hose bib, and then a permanent leak. He said it used to be a common practice when rusty pipes were more prevalent. I was curious about it, since I've never drained the HW heater. That said, it sounds like Clint offered a good idea for salvaging water if you still want to continue with the practice. :-)

Curious — why hasn’t DONE or the City Clerk completed their assessments of locations used by NCs ? Agendas contain this info. DONE and City Clerk have Paid Staff that could have done this or could have been working on this. All this appears to be road blocks to empowerment and community engagement.

Thank you to everyone who commented on the water heater issue.

This elaborate process to get a pre-approved document from NC Funding before go back to a city park (for example) to submit an application to meet in a park room is an example of the UNHELPFUL, NEEDLESS BUREAUCRACY. This is a city NC meeting in office of a city dept. Should be a blanket understanding/ arrangement from DONE to Parks. Clerk is needlessly OCDing over the issue of "signing contracts" That should only apply to external, third-party facilities.

@Tony, it's called job security

@Tony — Yes, there could be a blanket loosening of all this. From where does this all come from ? IMHO to make life more difficult for in office NC leaders.

Mr. Portantino’s representative stated at the STNC meeting last night that it would be filed today or tomorrow.

My concern regarding where the NCs meet. For example, the State no longer requires that children that attend public schools be vaccinated for COVID -19. Also, the LAUSD, from what I understand, no longer requires masks for their students. So the question is whether when the NC members a room, whether the air quality is safe for the Board members to be there without masks if kids have been there all day actively participating in their education.I am hearing that some private schools do not require masks either.

Tony same issue with public libraries. I saw a internal board conversation thread where a committee chair said he had his submittal packet complete but for proof of insurance to submit to the library.

@Cindy @Lee I don't think it is a conspiracy. It think it is symbolic of an ongoing issue of DONE and Clerk never thinking about the unintended effects and barriers of their dreamed-up rules. In this case, pre-arranged should only apply to external site, like an Elks Club. Should be no paperwork through NC Funding for a meeting at city facili0ties, other than the BAC and check request after the meeting to cover the Park and Rec room fee.

@Glenn — can you post the Council File Number for Legislation ?

Look at Heath's comment! Proof of insurance for a city agency to meet in a city library? What is DONE for if not to get rid of these insanities?

@Tony, every piece of paper created gets touched by at least 3 people. when yiu create more paper, you create department requests for more people.

@Tony if you really want to stop unnecessary paperwork, ban computers and typewriters. it will force people to only create, request, and generate the most needed forms, documents, and copies. There was actually a study jn the military done that within the first 5 years of the introduction paperwork went up by a factor of 3

@Lee what we really need is a "paperwork reduction ordinance" that DONE / Clerk can never promulgate a new directive or rule without a comment explaining why any procedure or paperwork is the simplest and only way to accomplish the task.

Perhaps the NEW City Attorney should revisit that determination???

When did City Attorney decide this. Previous or current City Attorney?

Neighborhood Councils fall within the ‘gray area’. We are treated like elected officials to a certain extent/degree.

I think.

The Vax mandate is dead bc the Supreme Court keeps kicking it down. that's the real reason.

Now we're volunteers. Huh.

What happens if a boardmember is injured by the vaxx? does the city cover treatment?

I’m fully vaccinated 💉.

LAPD office volunteers (there are many) reasonably follow the same work rules (like vaccination) to use city facilities. The NC issue comes because our meetings are a 'city facility' for the duration of the meeting.

Anmd?

And?

Is a church meeting space considered private property? or public property? Which track do we have to follow?

I think its because not all City facilities recognize NCs. When a group or organization files a permit they need insurance. Examples: Chambers of Commerce, Nonprofits.

Also, they never even came close to requiring it for voting bc they knew it was a 1A issue and they would be sued and lose under civil rights acts

Back in the early days of our NC, the City had all this arranged with LAUSD. Maybe that fell out of sync through the years. The only $$ we had to pay were overtime if it was needed. This is when STNC met at Mt. Gleason Middle School Auditorium where we filled the room with our turnouts at meetings.

In addition, the fee has to be paid by a Money Order.

I was under the belief that Neighborhood Council Board Members were : Duly Elected Pro-Bono City Officials via the same Los Angeles City Clerk that ran elections for Paid Duly Elected City Officials

Who will police Board member vaccination compliancy, who, when and how? In Both private and public facilities?

Back in the day — DONE used this as a promo for NCs to meet at LAUSD schools.

Kathleen's Q re 'policing' the vaccination requirement is critical, because that is HIPPA private personal medical information and is not supposed to be disclose to (for example) other board members. So does the city want to hire visiting nurse to come to 99 NCs and deal with board member vaccination issues?

Back in the day…..It was called the Beyond the Bell program — Civic Center Permit — fees were only if overtime. And, the fees were paid directly between DONE and LAUSD. Perhaps asking staff at DONE who has been there has recollection in all this.

I want to see someone denied an elected seat due to Vax requirements lol. I'd pay for tickets in that court room

Outreach events are in person

All in all — this is all a moving target and stressful. How we handle it shows our strength. The challenges will be overcome somehow, someway! In the meantime…. 😀

Heath's request is not in the interest of Neighborhood Councils. Having public officials be unable to be reached by email is not transparent. Phishing is a PERSONAL issue. I do not want to do away with a public email for myself.

Unfortunately you can change the "from: easily.

One of the problems with the EmpowerLA distribution emails is some of the City Departments that use them do NOT use BLIND COPY as they are supposed to

help me understand why each NC is not able to set its own rules regarding vaccination

Disagree Tony

BIG PLUS *if* every board member can get a .GOV address.

There is a lot of debate on these issues.

I've heard there's going to be more action on the MLO next week

FYI was at the meeting on 22-0560 (Lobbying)for over an hour with hand up and was never called on. Frustrating.

Official name of Committee is City Council Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform

I was able to make Public Comment after Rob Quan, and before Jamie York.

😀

Yes Lionel, lI liked yours!

Thanks!

I am here to help my community and colleagues

Yes, the allowance for comment at the City Council Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform was great ! Hope that expands.

Could someone please give the link to the ad hoc committee/

Lydia Grant

We have the same problem with Whiteman Airport in Pacoima (CD7).

Lydia Grant 818-470-6629 stncpresidentgrant@gmail,com

jimesterle@gmail.com

My personal suggestion is that Land Use committees, which have a decreasing number of entitlement development cases, AD TRANSPORTATION to their set of topics. That could include airport issues. That way the airport position would be a LOCAL one, vs an alliance of "anti-airport" NCs.

I will second the Airport Ali because it would also get us around the brown act and still being able to meet virtually

Link to Municipal Lobbying Ordinance Council File 22-0560: https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=22-0560

ADD Transp.

Budget, Finance, and Innovation

There is a significant difference between an LAPD and Animal Services volunteer and an NC volunteer because the NC volunteer is involved in first amendment type speech. Hence NOT similar to LAPD, which I had suggeste in an earlier comment. In addition, there is the issue of public disclosure of private medical information.

anyone else find it strange that they are mandating covid Vax but not measles?

The West Hills Neiighborhood Council had about $100,000 around 2009 in our Budget.

NCs may file a Community Impact Statement regarding increasing the amount of the rollover and/or budget allocation to Council File 23-0600 FY 2023-24 Budget)

(This is not a personal axe. I am vaxed an boosted and it enabled me to survive a bout of covid. It can be life and death.) with COVID. Cannot emphasize enough how important it is for us older.)

And on that point TONY and I are in 100% AGREEMENT

I am thankful for EmpowerLA for finally assisting the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council so that they were able to hold a meeting to elect new Board members and to change the quorum briefly to do so. They had not met since June 2022.

100% agree elderly should take it. Not forced. Vax Does Not prevent covid spread

@Chris - Yes, Canoga Park NC was placed in Exhaustive Efforts last month

Yes Chris and you WH spent a chuck of that 100K on our joint Senior Event at the Marriott

Correct. Vax is critical to building resistance to the infection once it enters the body. It does NOT prevent infection, especially with the new, much more infectious strains.

How did an NC get 1090K😲

I mean $100K

As an aside, I still don't goform many of whom vaccination has become a matter of politics vs health. the In-N-Out inside restaurant because it is filled with people from a political party

I still don't go the In-N-Out inside dining rooms

CR, as of a conversation last weekend with Ray Cole, he still has not been able to get a quorum together.

Pat, That was 13 years ago and due to allowable rollovers.

Thanks

I agree with Tony. And I agree with Lydia - there are some people who cannot be safely vaccinated (like Lydia is saying). Just like I also cannot risk being in the public at this time due to my immune system - this is why we need Zoom meetings or hybrid meetings.

In many way, the vaccination issue is like the resusal issue. It is an INDIVIDUAL issue for each board member. It is not a 'group' issue.

recusal issue

Heath - they held a meeting last month. I attended it briefly until I left to go to the WHHO meeting where I believe you were at the same time.

We are not employees.

A history of NC annual allocations is posted at the top of this LANCC webpage: http://www.lancc.org/citywide-issues.php

In the beginning 50K PER YEAR w/50K rollover, we were spending about 5K per year so were able to rollover 45K a year. WHWC was saving for big outreach in connection with the Warner Center Specific plan. We had many unperson events with hundreds in atte

… hundreds in attendance, to promote those events we did saturation 16-24 pages color newsletters to every address in WH. We used some of that space to promote elections and other events like our hugely successful SR event that we partnered with West Hills to put on. In the process to promote elections for all CD3 NC’s so we did 16 page news letters for West Hills, Canoga Park, Winnetka, Tarzana, and Reseda.

The pandemic is not over. Yes, it is endemic. However, the numbers that are out there publicly are inaccurate because some people do not test for COVID, and some of the home tests are not reported to the various public health agencies. And therefore, the numbers that are sent to us if we are signed up like from the Los Angeles County Department of Health. These numbers are not accurate, and most people are not aware that they can see higher rates of COVID and other illnesses by sampling our waste water.

I attended the Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan last night. I found it to be informative.

Open House #1

Too big. Public Works covers too many depts.

ALL projects should be shared with the respective NC at the time inception....

draft EIRs are also on BOE website and Planning website.

We will call Paul! (CD6 is being run by the CLA)

Thank you Linda!

Thank you Linda!!

How do we contact Lee ?

encleeb@gmail.com

Thank you !

Thanks!