The following letter was presented to the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners on Tuesday October 15, 2002.

Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Board of Neighborhood Commissioners
305 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dear DONE and BONC,

History of the FHHCC

When the New City Charter gained voter approval in 1999, we started introducing the concept of neighborhood councils to our respective neighborhood boards in Beachwood and Argyle. We worked in a vacuum as our efforts to share this new information grew to include stakeholders from all over Hollywood. These meetings and workshops increased and we ended up finding larger venues to hold the growing number of interested Hollywood neighbors. Trips to Neighborhoods USA added to our knowledge, enthusiasm and hopes for what neighborhood councils could do in Hollywood.

Background of the Controversy

This outreach continued even during our efforts to fulfill certification requirements while forming Franklin-Hollywood Hills Community Council. We were busy every Sunday and many hours during the week collecting stakeholder registration forms and helping all the other neighborhood council efforts in Hollywood. We conducted this extensive outreach for almost 2 years under the Hollywood Neighborhood Council banner. Looking back at our accomplishments, one wonders how we found the time to host so many public meetings, address the various pressing needs of our local neighborhoods, and conduct exhaustive outreach in Hollywood while organizing our own neighborhood council. Of course our activity included sincere efforts to abate concerns about our process, outreach and application voiced by a competing effort (then called the "Hollywood Alliance") through hours and hours of mediation at our request.

Mediation and DONE politics

Mediation resulted in choosing a key representative from each team to make the effort to bridge the gaps, to address common bylaw formation, and common boundaries. The Alliance’s chosen representative, Andrew Glazier, was not a resident or stakeholder of either group’s proposed boundaries, but a resident of Whitley Heights. Another Alliance representative, Mark Edwards was a stakeholder in the Yucca area, which was also outside our boundaries. Under the DONE’s guidelines for the formation of neighborhood councils neither was eligible to participate as a stakeholder yet had no problem being viewed by the DONE as stakeholders and active participants in negotiating efforts. Russell Brown was the representative from FHHCC. In the end, Andrew Glazier’s efforts on behalf of the Hollywood Alliance, and Russell Brown’s efforts on behalf of the Franklin-Hollywood Hills Community Council (FHHCC) led to the formation of a third application for certification in the same area.

The Truth About the Non-Merger

Both Hollywood Alliance and Franklin-Hollywood Hills Community Council were requested by the BONC to try and merge. HA & FHHCC signed an agreement to merge based on their respective boards’ approval of the bylaws and a new name for the merged organization. This agreement fell apart when no effort was made to seek the approval of the FHHCC’s Board (Action Team) for either the bylaws or the new name. Finally, the FHHCC’s Board (Action Team) was bypassed by the HA, who negotiated a deal that was never approved or agreed to by the FHHCC’s Board (Action Team). This was a violation of the agreement.

The Hollywood Alliance and FHHCC were falsely represented as having merged into a new council called the "Hollywood United Neighborhood Council" (HUNC), by the DONE, the Hollywood Alliance, and members of the FHHCC’s Negotiating Team (who acted independently in violation of the agreement).

The HUNC remains unrepresentative of the FHHCC, particularly when one considers that the personal attacks and misrepresentations that characterized the relationship of the Hollywood Alliance to the FHHCC have continued without respite under the new council (HUNC). This reality compels us to examine/reexamine the benefits of certification. Is certification worth the obfuscation, politics, lies, and abuse?

The Trouble With Certification

We interviewed a few board members of certified neighborhood councils and here’s what we learned:

1. Organizing neighborhood councils are pressed to identify stakeholders in their community, but after certification they are forbidden to ask voting stakeholders to disclose their stakeholder status. This fact was reinforced recently in the city attorney’s response to our bylaws. They took issue that our bylaws require voters to complete a "stakeholder registration form" at election time. It is questionable if the election would wind up representing the interest of the stakeholders.

2. The "stakeholder" definition in the ordinance attempts to expand the meaning of "stakeholder". This is likely to lead to legal difficulties including lawsuits based on the power of the neighborhood council to direct the disbursement of City funds.

3. Brown Act requirements result in a meeting structure that does not permit the free and natural flow of ideas and brainstorming. Rather, the neighborhood council meetings are conducted similarly to city council hearings. This includes the requirement to complete comment cards in order to speak for 3 minutes on any given agenda item. The irony is that the city forbids NCs to ask for any identifying information from a stakeholder prior to voting yet mandates the completion of a comment card before a person may use their voice in a NC meeting.

4. The DONE’s slow or non-existent response to the needs of pre-certified NCs extends to certified NCs. The need for direction, support and responsiveness is greater in the early days after certification. The failure of DONE to respond causes delays and confusion for certified NCs.

5. The "Early Notification System" (ENS) will be less effective for certified NCs than for the common citizen due to the bureaucratic red tape involved. After receiving the initial "notice" and prior to taking action, the certified NC must first get permission from DONE to use the official seal in order to announce a meeting. When that is finally accomplished, that notice must be posted 72 hours or more before the actual meeting date in order for the NC board to discuss the issue and possibly take action. This is a critical flaw as a certified NC is hobbled or prevented from taking action in a timely manner – which was supposed to be the neighborhood council’s most attractive feature. An "Independent* Neighborhood Council" can act immediately to protect its neighbors and neighborhoods.

*Not certified

In addition, our understanding is that if new information is received about a hearing or project after the meeting notice has been posted, that item cannot be added to the agenda without much bureaucratic intervention. We believe that the system is not set up to allow for immediate action to be taken.

A Question of Motives

Imagine our profound disappointment when we learned that neighborhood councils, rather than being a collection point for neighborhood activists have ended up being puppy mills for political animals.

We question whether the intention of the neighborhood council system may be to keep the most active, willing, capable, and available community volunteers busy with process, politics, administration, while developers, bureaucrats, politicians, and big business have their way with our neighborhoods.

Freedom to Serve

It seems that Independent Neighborhood Councils would have a greater ability to empower their stakeholders than certified ones. Our group has been and continues to be the only source of consistent outreach, public education and neighborhood activism available to our community. This work continues without the benefit of city funds for mailing or support.

A Decision for the Betterment of the Community

After careful consideration and in the interest of the health of our community, we withdraw our application for certification. We intend to maintain our status as an Independent Neighborhood Council in the service of neighborhoods within our boundaries. We reserve all rights under the City Charter, law, and rules governing neighborhood councils applied or governed by the BONC and DONE to receive notification, attend, be part of, support, or otherwise engage the council certified by the BONC to cover our region.

Sincerely,

The FHHCC Action Team

George Abrahams
Laura Dodson
Ruth Goulet
Captain Ed Hayek
Pastor Greg Hoenes
Byrd Holland
Missy Kelly
Diana Knoll
Bill Reichenbach
Fran Reichenbach
Tina Roman
Nina VanTassell
Carl VonRandalhoff
Catherine Zarate