Neighborhood Council Members Call for Election Reform, Greater Transparency in Survey Results

Neighborhood council members opine during an October town hall

LOS ANGELES - Councilmember Paul Krekorian released results from his “Perspectives on Neighborhood Empowerment” survey, a series of 49 questions designed to help shape the city’s policies governing the neighborhood council movement throughout Los Angeles.

“This survey provided another vehicle through which the community is helping to shape our policies on neighborhood empowerment,” said Councilmember Paul Krekorian, chair of the Education and Neighborhoods Committee. “The feedback we got from this survey will form the foundation of how we will improve local democracy and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.”

Of the 217 respondents who responded to the survey (41% of whom identified themselves as neighborhood council members), a majority called for a two-year delay in neighborhood council elections to achieve budgetary savings and achieve a more effective system for outreach.

Among the results:

On elections:

• 31% of respondents said the City Clerk should administer neighborhood council elections, while 30% think the neighborhood councils should do so;
• Two out of three respondents (69%) support a regional governance structure for neighborhood councils based on area planning districts;
• 71% believe that one way to lessen the bureaucracy of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is to use standardizes templates for neighborhood council budgets and other procedures;

On spending:

• 54% believe that neighborhood council budget cuts should be equal to other cuts city departments could take;
• 58% believe there should be specific definitions for what neighborhood councils are able to spend money on;
• Nearly everyone (91%) believes that the city should use computers or cameras to track any equipment purchased by neighborhood councils.

On the functions of DONE:

• 61% believe that the funding administration facet of DONE is ‘critical’ or ‘very important.’
• Nearly half (48%) believe that DONE’s outreach program during neighborhood council elections are ‘critical’ or ‘very desirable.’
• 61% also believe that it is either ‘critical’ or ‘very desirable’ for DONE to promote fiscal responsibility and regulate the use of city funds.

The survey follows a concerted and unprecedented effort by the office of Councilmember Paul Krekorian to fix DONE, which was nearly consolidated within the Community Development Department in September. That consolidation plan, which was assailed by neighborhood activists, was rejected by Krekorian.

Krekorian held two town hall forums during which neighborhood council members from throughout Los Angeles offered their ideas about the future of local empowerment. The hundreds of attendees formed the backbone of this survey, itself the final information gathering component before Krekorian submits his plan to improve DONE and the neighborhood council system. 

Full results of the survey are be available below:

Neighborhood Empowerment Survey Summary Report