Citywatch La – Death and rebirth of a neighborhood councilor

Deegan on La – I heard the election messages of election results when I was in a cemetery. An incredibly ironic place because I took part in the funeral of a very passionate community activist who often and strongly argued with and about the deceased stage of the Mid City West neighborhood council. Most established companies had been selected a few days earlier in an election.

I was under the tombstones and wondered if the deceased activist had known the news of the decline of the board that she didn't like before she left us.

A leader of a home owner association in the neighborhood reacted to the election results by saying: “Is it not wonderful! This whole group is gone. I and many people I know are enthusiastic! No more board members who did not care about what the community thought.

Another chairman of the neighborhood association, an incumbent who was not re -elected, said: “I think the reason why so many of us lost was that the homeowners of Beverly Grove organized the limits that the board placed on their request for readers of the license plate.”

According to an incoming board member, “the old board has annoyed many people. The board had the contact with what the community wanted, which measures were. When they went to the board, the board asked for a granting of 2,000 US dollars to finance the readers of license plates.

They continued that “the request of the Beverly Grove home owner group was the request of the turning point that took action. When the board elections came closer, we put together a table consisting of home owners, the Jewish community and the business world to run and success.” The leaders of Beverly Grove decided to talk to the press.

The outgoing MCW CEO, Sara Griebe, confirmed that “the license plate problem used up a few voters. I wish the board was clearer to reject the request for record readers, while he was right. Legal.

Two important topics that are repeatedly cited in interviews that can explain the election are that the board of directors did not listen to the community and that the board was poorly organized and not prepared for the election.

What this seems to be is a case in which the neighborhood council takes seriously, but does not take the community seriously. There was a separation in the equilibrium point where the action of the politician-X-axis met the constituent service Y-axis.

The reigning and very professional Mid City West board was mostly swept out of office by a municipality of voters who had enough.

Several community activists, leaders of the neighborhood association and former and incoming MCW board members shared their thoughts with Citywatchla on the condition that they would not speak for the attribution, although some spoke in the recording. In view of the fact that the politics of the Wutviertel and the current political gap, in which half of the country hate the other half, can activate it, it seemed better to fulfill their wishes than to start another argument.

A flash point that often occurred in interviews was the dispute over the readers of license plates. The supporters were looking for an opportunity to pursue traffic in the neighborhood for an increasing crime rate in the district of Beverly Grove in Mid-City West.

The opponents gathered against the proposal as a form for the penetration of LAPD into the private life of citizens.

An incumbent who was re -elected added that “the existing board of directors to the stakeholders who started to record the visits to the board were a waste of time. Finally, the community came together to remedy it.”

The newly elected arrival board member Hilary Delaney told Citywachla: “I ran for a seat in the stage of the neighborhood council after I have raised concerns about the council member Katy Yaroslavsky (CD5) for almost two years, and her field deputy Thao the Tran.”

“When I talked about it, I found that I was not alone. Many communities found themselves organically organic and shared our concerns about how the employees of the Council member treated us and how the neighborhood council did not help us. A grass root group from us shared our problems. The straw that broke back my back was a violent house in my own afternoon.

“We were not a secret society or tried to fly under the radar. Our group shared values ​​and ideals. We came together to work with the community in a polished and professional way.”

As they were right, there was only one side of the double -edged sword that killed the board. How they organized for a re -election campaign was just as harmful.

A former board member analyzed that “they did not organize themselves well … there was no door-to-door advertising … The other side was very motivated … The reigning board members did not inspire themselves. A block of people who are Nimby (not in my back yard) and conservative and not in progressive transport and public security, and they want to maintain the status quo.

With regard to the turnout, the outgoing chairman Griebe referred to the record number of votes for all MCW candidates, which she described as the “almost double” of the previous elections. “I'm proud of the number of votes,” she said.

She added that “more than 1,000 ballots were requested, but only 461 were counted.

An incumbent board member who lost their seat described him as “it looks as if the progressive slate was quite well crushed. I think that the long and short gap is that we are just organized, which was surprising because everything whatever the other candidates organized, flew completely under our radar.

It was not as much ideology as simple mathematics. The results show that a list of candidates was more voted than the opposing table achieved. The key to this imbalance may have lacked “ballot papers” or MCWS apparently weak GOTV program (get out the vote).

The new Mid City West NC board will begin its term in July. The deputy Shannan Calland will work on the name of CD5. The former field of the Thao Tran was transferred to a slot as a business development section as a representative of CD5.

(Tim Deegan has been a member of the Mid City West Neighborhood Council for five years and ended in 2014. He was also the chairman of the Transport Committee and the second deputy chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO of Tims Deegan in La Weekly Columne had been a feature of Citywatch for over a decade. [email protected].))