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ASNC Outreach Committee
ASNC in the Mt. Washington Association Newsletter
July 10, 2008
Everyone should check out the great article that Hank
Schaeffer wrote explaining the "what, where, when, and
how" of the ASNC in the Mt. Washington Association
monthly newsletter.
http://www.mtwashington.org/files/pics/newsletter 7_08.pdf
(Go to page 5)
Here's what the article says:
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What Can The ASNC Do For You?
by
Hank Schaeffer
The truth is, a lot of people who live on Mount
Washington have never even heard of the Arroyo Seco
Neighborhood Council (ASNC). And a lot more people
may have heard of it, but don't really know what it is.
How can I be so sure of this? Because as of the last
general election (November 2007) only a dismal 3.8 % of
Mount Washington residents were registered as ASNC
stakeholders (459 out of 12,000) – and out of those, only
a third managed to vote!
So maybe we should start at the beginning and ask"What is a neighborhood council?"
Dissatisfaction with the responsiveness of city
government in Los Angeles has a long and storied
history. This is not surprising, as there are no political
subdivisions and the place is enormous. Take Mount
Washington, for example. The community is currently
divided between the First and Fourteenth City Council
Districts. Between them, these two districts cover nearly
37 square miles (the City of San Francisco covers only
10 square miles more) and they have a population of
close to half a million – more than the state capitol of
Sacramento. If you're wondering why City Council
offices tend to be unresponsive, imagine what would
happen if the City of Sacramento (or San Francisco) had
an administrative staff of 48. Yet the fact is, each City
Council District is allotted about half that number.
Understandably, frustration with City Hall has
periodically boiled over into secessionist movements.
The Valley tried to secede in the 1940s and 1950s;
Westwood wanted out in the early 1960s. In 1964, a
City Council committee recommended charter reform to
establish a borough system, but the full Council failed to
act on it. Several years later, the Reining Commission,
appointed after the Watts riots, recommended the
establishment of Neighborhood Associations with
elected boards. Once again, nothing happened.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, as Proposition 13 cut
local revenues, the quality of public services declined
further. Finally, in the aftermath of the 1992 riots, a
confluence of factors – City Hall gridlock, a renewed
Valley secession movement, and Mayor Riordan's
struggle to increase his power against an entrenched
City Council – finally came together to produce some
measure of reform.
The idea – enshrined in the City Charter amendments of
1999 – was to establish a citywide system of
neighborhood councils with advisory capacity and
elected boards. A new Department of Neighborhood
Empowerment (DONE) was created to support and
encourage the neighborhood councils. At the same
time, a system of five regional planning commissions
was put in place with power to decide land use cases at
a local level. This package of reform measures passed
by a substantial margin, receiving over 60% of the vote.
After a time-consuming, unwieldy and somewhat
contentious process, the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood
Council was finally certified by the City of Los Angeles
on October 2, 2002 as the local neighborhood council
representing Mount Washington and four other small
communities in Northeast Los Angeles that share similar
concerns and/or resources.
The ASNC communities are
Mount Washington (roughly from Marmion Way to
Division), Sycamore Grove (the commercial corridor
along Figueroa), Montecito Heights (roughly from the
110 Freeway over to Lincoln Heights), Monterey Hills
(the largest condo residential area in Northeast LA), and
Hermon (east of the Arroyo, opposite Highland Park). A
map of the exact boundaries can be found online at
http://www.asnc.us/Elections-2007/StreetFinder map.pdf
Okay, so now we know: ASNC is the local neighborhood
council representing Mount Washington. But what does
it do?
You can really boil the functions down to two.
First, it gets your needs and concerns in front of local
officials. Let's be clear. We're not talking about
anything grandiose. We're talking about everyday
problems you have living in the City of Los Angeles, from
construction issues to street signs to trash trucks that
seem to dump as much as they pick up. Our Local
Issues Committee meets at the Mount Washington
Elementary School 7-9 PM, on the second Wednesday
of every month. Ordinarily, there are representatives
from the 1st and 14th District Council Offices at the
meeting. If you have something you'd like to talk about,
all you have to do is show up. Certainly there is no
guarantee you will see prompt action, but unless you can
pick up the phone and talk to your dear personal friend
at the local City Council Office, trust me, this is the best
way to get something done.
The second function is financial assistance with local
community projects. The ASNC has an annual budget
of $50,000 which can be used to assist with local
community projects. Okay, I admit, in the context of the
population and area the ASNC represents, this is a
laughable amount – and it also has to cover
administrative costs! Worse, the requirements for
funding projects are unwieldy and bureaucratic.
Nevertheless, working in concert with other community
organizations such as the MWA, the Homeowners'
Alliance, Friends of the Mount Washington School, and
Northeast Trees, we have been able to accomplish a
surprising amount. Some of the projects we have helped
fund to date have included.
• Lummis Day
• Marmion Way Cleanup and Tree Planting Project
• Mt. Washington Elementary School amphitheater
• Jack & Denny Smith Library & Community Center
• Tree plantings throughout the community
• Clean up and trail maintenance in Elyria Canyon
• Carlin G. Smith Recreation Center activities
• Pedestrian benches along Jack Smith hiking route
• Repair and landscaping of public stairways in the Five Points area
• Support for the annual August Mt. Washington meeting at Cleland Bi-centennial Park
• Improvements for student crossings at Mt. Washington Elementary School
• Memorial benches in Elyria Canyon Park to honor our long-time activists who have passed away |
So if you have a project that would be of benefit to the
Mt. Washington community, get in touch with us. Who
knows? Maybe we can help. Your local ASNC
representatives are:
To register as a stakeholder, or to learn more, visit us
online at: www.ASNC.us
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PLEASE NOTE:
Anyone who is interested in ASNC Outreach should contact Zara Scoville, ASNC Registrar. In the ASNC the Registrar also serves as the Chairperson of the Outreach Committee:
Zara Scoville, Mount Washington
ASNC Registrar / Outreach Chair
.... 323 / 309-8838
--- zarats@sbcglobal.net |