The Neighborhood News Online

District Politics. What's Going On?

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Category: Community News

Published on Monday, 07 February 2011 19:52

Written by Dianne Lawrence

Ask ten random people in your community who their councilperson is and you will be lucky if five of them know.

Out of those five you will be lucky if one of them can recite what their councilperson accomplished during their current term. CD10 is known for having one of the lowest voter turnouts in the city. It’s considered an “easy grab” district.

The Los Angeles City Councilperson’s job is one of the highest paid in the nation. Councilmembers currently make approximately $179,000 a year (not including perks). Once you get the job it’s likely you will keep it for 3, four year terms. Since most voters figure their job is done once they’ve voted, the councilmember is accountable to few. Community activists and neighborhood organizations try to hold their elected official’s feet to the fire but in the end they have no real power and their influence is minimal unless they have something the Council Office needs. So for twelve long years your councilperson has free reign over the territory you, as a voter, have given them.

On top of this the city agencies, (Building Permits, Dept. of Transportation, LAFD, LAPD, etc) have procedures, regulations, legal requirements, all of which can be ignored if the Councilperson has demanded it or has a ‘friend’ at the top of that food chain. When asked how a city agency is allowed to ignore legal requirements the response was “we do it all the time. The councilperson is our boss and we have to do what they say.” One doesn’t say no to someone who may be in a position to have you removed one day. When asked how the agencies and councilmembers get away with it, the response was “citizens don’t tend to sue”.

So...city agencies do the Councilmember’s bidding regardless of their own rules, the Councilmember makes a sweet salary and it is hard to hold them accountable over how they choose to behave in your community. Many (LA Weekly included) have likened this to a fiefdom. Examples of this fiefdom mentality have manifested itself in our district in many ways. A district with a history of Councilmen who “take care of things” so that you, the electorate don’t have to ‘bother’ with it. Vote for me. Go back to tv and let me be. From unwanted “tree cages” to unvetted street barriers and development projects, political favoritism, arbitrary support for planning projects that go against established city departmental procedures and guidelines, and a serious lack of fiscal transparency we wind up with a serious disconnect between the constituency and a badly managed government.  There was the medical marijuana fiasco, the support of billboard blight, misguided CRA projects that remain unfinished,  the Expo-line debacle with its lack of promised jobs to our community and the danger it is placing Dorsey High School students in.   Why should stakeholders have to launch lawsuits to hold the City accountable?  You can’t please all the people all the time but you can be open, transparent, accountable and inclusive. Unfortunately in Los Angeles, Councilmembers only understand two things: lawsuits and votes.

Obama, in his recent State of the Union address nailed it when he said “We cannot win the future with a government of the past”.  How does this translate to change in our district?

There is a Council District election coming up. Herb J. Wesson, a hardworking old school politician, is up for re-election.  He is unapologetically ambitious and is very talented at getting himself appointed Chair of numerous and prestigious committees and wheeling and dealing behind the scenes “to get things done”. But has he relegated the running of his district to his unusually large staff while he pursues “the big picture”? He will brag that he has been elected to represent the 10th district twice with 80% of the votes, (which actually represented less than 8% of eligible area voters) but he won’t mention that he had no serious opposition. It is almost impossible to unseat an incumbent Councilmember. The insiders who aspire to the job wait until the end of the current  councilpersons 12 year term before throwing their hat into the ring. Wesson has one more term to go if elected. But something is in the air and five candidates have come forward this election cycle.

Recognizing the need to shine a light on this election, concerned over the lack of information about the candidates, and at the suggestion of PICO NC board member, Scott McNeely, The Neighborhood News, in partnership with Hattie Babb and other community activists, organized a candidates forum, January 23rd, at Vintage Hollywood Sports Bar and Grill to introduce and question the candidates for the upcoming election. It’s success exceed expectations with close to 80 people showing up and representation from 6 Neighborhoood Councils. Our Carla Pineda covered the event and gives us her report. Austin Dragon, a candidate from the Westside of the district, garnered the highest marks by the community activists who made up the Scoring Panelists. Wesson came in a close second.  In this issue we will take a look at why we think you might want to take a closer look at Herb Wesson and at Austin Dragon who may just have what it takes to move us into more accountable representation. All the candidates focused on important issues proving the community is a  wellspring of creative ideas and solutions. Anyone who is elected councilperson would be crazy to not partner with this community.

Although Wesson, with his $116,000 in campaign funds (none of the other candidates come close although Chris Brown does come in second with $13,000) is probably  comfortable with the idea that it is almost impossible to unseat an incumbent, no telling what can happen when the winds of change start blowing on the local community level. Either way it is becoming more difficult to stick with old school politics as the community is pulled into the future where shared information, accountability  and transparency reigns.

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