First Meeting Held on Local Empowerment

Officials have called it nothing less than a revolution in urban governance--a system of charter-mandated neighborhood councils that will give ordinary residents political clout, unite disparate communities and usher in a new age of democracy.

On Saturday, though, a group of Angelenos seemed most interested in knowing whether the city’s soon-to-be-adopted system of neighborhood councils would fix potholes and shattered sidewalks.

At the first Los Angeles Neighborhood Convention, more than 1,000 residents met with Mayor Richard Riordan and other officials to discuss ways of making city government more responsive. In particular, residents quizzed officials on the purpose of the city’s new Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and its plan to create a system of neighborhood councils.

“I’m from Pacoima, and we’ve got street cleaning problems, drainage problems and no sidewalks,” said Juan Urbina. “Are these neighborhood councils going to have the power to fix them?”

Unfortunately for Urbina and about a dozen others residents, department officials and City Council members were unable to say just how the new councils will operate, how their members will be chosen or exactly what their responsibilities will be. Indeed, the department’s general manager, Rosalind Stewart, said the city will conduct informal public hearings beginning next month and will flesh matters out when the series ends in July.

But what officials lacked in concrete answers, they made up for with enthusiasm.

“It’s really going to change the balance of power in Los Angeles,” City Councilman Joel Wachs said.

According to a city ordinance adopted in July, the department will promote public participation in government and allow neighborhoods to form councils to help solve local problems.

On Saturday, some residents said they were skeptical of such initiatives and seemed to think it was most important that city officials and employees simply learn to return telephone calls.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has complained in a letter to Riordan that that the department’s staff and board of commissioners do not adequately represent South Los Angeles.

“The citizens of South L.A. are puzzled that this department is supposed to represent the entire city when there is no representation of this part of the city,” Ridley Thomas said Saturday.

Lee Alpert, president of a commission that will oversee the neighborhoods department, said, “We are going to make mistakes,” but urged residents to give the organization a chance.