WH Issues and Policies Virtual Cmte Mtg 12-8-2022

Click for Agenda pdf

December 8, 2022

At 7:30 pm

By Virtual Meeting Teleconference and Phone Number For Public Participation

Online Internet Access via Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81477494746

or
To Join the Meeting by Telephone:
Dial (1 669 900 6833) & Then Enter This Webinar ID: 814 7749 4746 and Press “#”

Committee Members are

Chairperson Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

In conformity with the September 16, 2021 Enactment of California Assembly Bill 361 (Rivas) and due to concerns over COVID-19, the Woodland Hills Issues and Policies Committee meeting will be conducted entirely telephonically with a call-in option or internet-based service option.

The Chair will give listeners instructions for providing public comments at the start of the meeting. When calling-in telephonically, the public is requested to dial *9, when prompted by the Chair or Moderator, to address the Committee on any agenda item before the Committee acts on each item. Zoom users should use the “raise hand” feature.

AB 361 Updates: Submission of Public comment cannot be required in advance of the meeting; only real-time public comment is required. If broadcasting interruptions prevent the public from observing or hearing the meeting, the meeting must be recessed or adjourned. If the public cannot provide public comment or cannot be heard due to issues within the Neighborhood Council’s control, the meeting must be recessed or adjourned.

Messaging and virtual backgrounds are in the control of the individual Committee member in their personal capacity and does not reflect any formal position of the Neighborhood Council or the City of Los Angeles.

Contact Person:, Heath Kline, 818-312-5610

h.kline@whcouncil.org

 

Meeting Agenda

• Public Input on Agenda Items – The public may address the Committee on any agenda item before the Committee acts on an item. The Committee will accept comments from the public on agenda items only when the Committee considers the individual item.
• Public Input on Matters not appearing on the Agenda – During the General Public Comment period, the Committee listens to comments from the public on other matters not appearing on the agenda within the Committee’s jurisdiction. * Please note that the Brown Act prevents the Committee from acting on an issue you bring to its attention during the General Public Comment period; however, the issue raised by a public member may become the subject of a future Committee meeting.
• Notice to Paid Representatives – If you receive compensation to monitor, attend, or speak at this meeting, City law may require you to register as a lobbyist and report your activity. See Los Angeles Municipal Code §§ 48.01 et seq. More information is available at ethics.lacity.org/lobbying. For assistance, please contact the Ethics Commission at {213) 978-1960 or ethics.commission@lacity.org
• Public Comments are limited to two (2) minutes per speaker unless adjusted by the presiding member of the Committee. As needed, the presiding member may impose different time limits per each agenda item.

 

1. Call to Order
2. Establish Quorum:
   Roll Call — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams
3. Comments by the Public regarding Issues NOT on the Agenda.

(2 minutes each)

Agenda Items for Discussion and Possible Action by the Committee:

4. Approval of Available Committee Minutes

Roll Call Vote — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

All public comment is limited to 2 minutes per speaker unless adjusted by the presiding member of the Committee. If available, the event page for this meeting has draft minutes posted on whcouncil.com.

5. Council Files 21-1472, 22-1196, 22-1197, 23-0002-S1:
   Efforts to put up one or more Charter Reform Ballot Measures in 2023 and 2024 regarding 1) a new Independent Council Redistricting process and 2) the Establishment of more Council based on population.

The Committee continues their discussion of the issues with the possibility of acting regarding WHWCNC filing a CIS regarding the proposals for placement of a City Charter Amendment to create more-independent Redistricting Commissions and recommendations to increase the number of council members, possibly based on population.

Preliminary Draft CIS

Community Impact Statement Summary:

Since the origination of LA’s city council system, there have been 15 council districts. At the time, there were 200,000 people in the City of LA, with about 13,300 persons per district. That number is multiplied twenty times to over 3.85 million people today. Each Council District in Los Angeles has more people than the Cities of Burbank and Pasadena combined. There is scant evidence that this consolidation of power in such populated Districts is good for the residents and voters of LA. The Woodland Hills – Warner Center Neighborhood Council wholeheartedly supports bringing Charter Reform Ballot Initiatives to the voters before 2024. These would increase and tie Council district sizes to population, expand the City Council to provide more representation to our communities and remove Councilmembers and elected officials from redistricting.

Preliminary Draft CIS

WHIP recommends that the Board of the Woodland Hills-Warner Center-Neighborhood Council [WHWCNC] resolve and send the following WHIP statement of community impact as its own. The CIS supports calling for City Charter ballot measures on the expansion of the number of Council Districts and a new impartial Redistricting process to redistrict Los Angeles in time for the 2024 election cycle:

Council File 21-1472

November 2022 Ballot / Ballot Measure / City Charter Amendment / Independent Redistricting Commission

Council File 23-0002-S1

Independent Redistricting Process / New Commission / New Redistricting Maps / City of Los Angeles / April 2023 Special Election

Council File 22-1196 

Charter Reform Ballot Initiative / 2024 / Redistricting Process / Los Angeles City Council Seats / Representation Fixed to Population Growth

The Woodland Hills – Warner Center Neighborhood Council supports the creation of an independent redistricting commission.  It is a necessary and overdue step for the City Council and Los Angeles Unified School Board Districts.  During the 2021 redistricting process, many Neighborhood Councils had to expend significant energy and time to fight for their neighborhood in a polarized and politicized process.  It is time for Los Angeles to catch up to California and Los Angeles County, which already have independent redistricting commissions.

We propose adding restrictions for applicant qualifications excluding any bidder, contractor, developer, or someone with a direct financial interest in the City’s work from serving on the Commission.  We also recommend excluding anyone affiliated with the management of an employee union, any recent candidate for a City of LA elected office, former elected officials in the City of LA, and anyone who has donated or raised above a certain threshold for local candidates.

The Redistricting process must follow a set of rank-ordered criteria to create new districts:

1. Population Equality:Districts must comply with the S. Constitution’s requirement of “one person, one vote.”
2. Federal Voting Rights Act:Districts must ensure an equal opportunity for minorities to elect a candidate of their choice
3. Geographic Contiguity:All areas within a district must connect as an undivided whole, except for the particular case of islands
4. Geographic Integrity:Without violating previous criteria, Districts shall minimize the division of neighborhood councils before minimizing the division of communities of interest to the extent feasible. Communities of interest are secondary to neighborhood councils. They must be a contiguous population sharing common social and economic interests that justify inclusion within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.
5. Geographic Compactness:To the extent practicable, and where this does not conflict with previous criteria, districts must not bypass nearby communities for more distant communities of interest. Communities of interest cannot be considered broader than 7 miles.
6. To the extent practicable, Districts should not cross watersheds.
7. Drawing Districts shall not consider any effects on Incumbents, political candidates, or political.

The City Council districts are currently too large to govern each area well. They have created an environment leading to opportunities for corruption by concentrating so much power in so few hands. A fifth of our City Council Members coming under indictment in the last decade is a strong indicator of opportunities for corruption. We also strongly believe in the expansion of the City Council’s size.

It is simply impossible for 15 Council Members to govern 4 million people appropriately.  Each City Council Member is supposed to represent over a quarter million residents.  For comparison, in New York City (8.4 million people, 51 council districts), each council district represents approximately 160,000-170,000 people.  In Chicago (2.71 million people, 50 wards), each alderperson represents about 54,000 people. The City of Fresno has a Council Member per 112,000 persons. We favor getting to somewhere in the middle.

We support a ballot measure to establish a new City Council, having one Council Member per 110,000 residents to the nearest whole number and expanding the Council Districts as the population increases.

Serving as Commission Co-chairs, two retired Superior Court Judges put forth by the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court shall select the Commission from a pool of about 80 candidates nominated across the City. At least one judge shall live in the City of Los Angeles.

To establish the pool of candidates, each Los Angeles Neighborhood Council may nominate at least one and up to 3 candidates at the rate of one per 50,000 in population to the nearest whole number, ideally resulting in selecting about 1 out of 5 candidates to the Redistricting Commission of 17 members plus the two Co-chairs.

We support ballot measures to increase the number of Council districts and establish new redistricting procedures. They should appear on the same ballot. When voters pass one or both ballot measures as proposed, the City Council must immediately initiate the redistricting process to complete new redistricting in time for the 2024 election cycle.

Roll Call Vote — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

6. Council File 14-0425-S13:
   18447 West Sherman Way / Reseda Theatre Project / Reseda Theatre Senior Housing L.P. / Reseda Theatre and Public Market / Disposition and Development Agreement / Fifth Amendment.

Committee discussion with possible action regarding support for the position of the Reseda Neighborhood Council’s objection to continuing the process of modifying the development agreement until the community has been consulted.

Preliminary Draft CIS

Council File 14-0425-S13

18477 West Sherman Way | Reseda Theatre Project

Position: Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood opposes L.A. City Council File 14-0425-S13 – until the Reseda community has adequately been outreached to and their input has been satisfactorily received.

The revitalization of the Reseda Theater has been a dream of the Reseda Community for over two decades and why they supported the bundling of the theatre project with a senior housing project that promised to revitalize the theater years ago. Throughout the years the Reseda Neighborhood Council has requested updates regarding the progress of the theatre but was never informed regarding this proposed severance into two corporate entities. Respectively – the transfer of property from Reseda Theater Senior Housing, LP to Reseda Theatre and Public Market LP.

In public records, the Reseda Neighborhood Council discovered that incorporation documents setting the groundwork for using two corporate entities were filed in May 2021, which means that there have been over 18 months to inform their community of potential changes.

As Woodland Hills has similarly been party to the same style of concealment of City development activities and perceived backroom dealings originating from our shared council office on development projects impacting our community such as the expansion of the West Valley Food Pantry or the aquation with public funds of properties across from Taft High School to be operated by a non-profit to provide homeless housing and services to targeted groups without details to the community of who will actually be served or any details of the programs that will be offered on-site to help the residents despite numerous inquiries from the public, we feel it is our responsibility to join the Reseda NC in calling out development projects in Council District 3 that surreptitiously bypass Neighborhood Councils and community input. As the stakeholders of Reseda were not informed of the proposed changes and were without the opportunity to weigh in on serious concerns, it continues the tradition of perceived backroom dealing and City Council corruption that has plagued the Los Angeles City Council for the past few years. By way of examples, we refer to the ways that LA City Council handled its own redistricting and that of LAUSD recently where community input fell on deaf ears. We also see similarities in bypassing informing and taking input from the affected area stakeholders and NCs in the handling of the Northeast Valley Animal Shelter (see our CIS regarding Council File 22-0897).

The financing for this project has been supplied by the City of Los Angeles, with our tax dollars. Reseda’s understandable concern is that this request to transfer ownership from one corporate owner to two is simply a cynical ploy on the part of the developer to guarantee that, should they run into difficulties or roadblocks in the restoration of the theater, they would fail to keep their promise to restore and revitalize the Reseda Theater in a form acceptable to the community.

As such, the WHWCNC requests Council File 14-0425-S13 be continued until the stakeholders of Reseda have been given the opportunity to provide robust feedback and have their input be thoughtfully considered. This means the transfer of property from Reseda Theater Senior Housing, LP to Reseda Theatre and Public Market LP be delayed, and possibly denied, until adequate outreach has been shown and input received.

Sincerely,

Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council

Roll Call Vote — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

7. Council File 22-1489:
   Van Nuys Airport (VNY) / Development Projects / Community Impact / VNY Citizens Advisory Council.

The Committee initiates discussion with possible action regarding support for the motion by Councilman Blumenfield calling for a report from LA World Airports regarding a list of projects and awards, past community engagement, compliance with 2005 VNY Master Plan, environmental impacts, and proposal for future community engagement.

Roll Call Vote — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

8. Council File 21-0407:
   Neighborhood Council / Standardize Election Rules / Stakeholder Participation.

The Committee to discuss and possibly take action regarding the Board issuing an impact statement regarding the Empower LA report to the City Council on by-laws issues related to Neighborhood Council Elections. Another requested action in the council file is for the City Attorney to standardize election rules and limit this authority.

Preliminary Draft CIS

The Woodland Hills – Warner Center Neighborhood Council strongly encourages the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to submit a follow-up report-back to CF 21-0407 with input from experienced Neighborhood Council board members to expand on its responses to the specific City Council asks, and emphasizing that the Neighborhood Councils are independent pursuant to the City Charter and that amendments to their bylaws cannot be made by the City Council or other entity, only by each Neighborhood Council.

Roll Call Vote — Heath Kline, John Sandy Campbell, August Steurer, Aaron Williams

9. Committee consideration of Possible issues
   Discussion on future Committee meeting agendas acting to set a date for the next meeting.

Issue suggestions are posted when available on the whcouncil.com event page for this meeting.

10. Adjournment of Meeting

Meeting dates for the 2021-2022 year: Committee holds meetings on the second and fourth Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm. Check the NC website calendar for a complete committee and board meetings list. Meeting dates and times are subject to change. Check the NC calendar for updated meeting schedules.

Due to the holiday, the meeting on December 22, 2022, is probably canceled. A possible Special Meeting may be scheduled for December 29, 2022. The next Regular Committee Meeting in January will be held on January 12, 2022, by teleconference. Please visit the calendar page at whcouncil.org for the complete details and confirm the date and time.

Due to COVID-19, virtual teleconferencing replaces ALL in-person Committee meetings. However, please check the www.whcouncil.org website calendar page for any changes that may occur.

• THE AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT – As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate based on disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Sign language interpreters, assistive listening devices, and other auxiliary aids or services may be provided upon request.
• To ensure the availability of services, please make your request at least (3) business days (72 hours) before the meeting you wish to attend by contacting Dena Weiss by email at d.weiss@whcouncil.org or the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment at (213) 978-1551 EmpowerLa@LACity.org
• SERVICIOS DE TRADUCCIÓN – Si requiere servicios de traducción, favor de avisar al Concejo Vecinal 3 días de trabajo (72 horas) antes del evento. Por favor contacte a Dena Weiss de la Mesa Directiva, at d.weiss@whcouncil.org o por correo electrónico avisar al Concejo Vecinal.
• PUBLIC ACCESS OF RECORDS – In compliance with Government Code section 54957.5, the Committee provides non-exempt writings distributed to a majority of all of the Committee Members in advance of a meeting on the WHWCNC website: www.whcouncil.org or via the scheduled meeting video presentation. In addition, if you would like a copy of any record related to an item on the agenda, please contact Dena Weiss by emailing d.weiss@whcouncil.org
• PUBLIC POSTING OF AGENDAS –

A copy of this agenda is also physically posted outside of the West Valley Warner Center Chamber window located at 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Ste 2330, Woodland Hills, CA 91367. The Chamber offices are at the Promenade Mall outside the mall’s east entrance and south of Ruth Chris Restaurant. Access the offices from Owensmouth Street. Parking is free.

Agendas posted for public review: At www.whcouncil.org, go to the Calendar page and click on the date.
You can also receive Committee agendas via email by subscribing to LA City’s Early Notification System at https://www.lacity.org/subscriptions

• RECONSIDERATION AND GRIEVANCE PROCESS – For information on the WHWCNC process for board action reconsideration, stakeholder grievance policy, or other procedural matters related to this Council, please consult the WHWCNC Bylaws. The Bylaws are available at our website at www.whcouncil.org