NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL UPDATE

Local Neighborhood Councils are a proactive way to become involved in your relationship with the City of Los Angeles and with your neighbors.
Over the past 13 years, our local paper - The Neighborhood News has been providing transparency and insight to your doorstep from the CD10 neighborhood councils within the Neighborhood News borders.

United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council UNNC

Mid-City Neighborhood Council MINC

Olympic Park Neighborhood Council OPNC

West Adams Neighborhood Council WANC

You may wonder what the NCs have been up to this past year. Like the rest of us, they have adapted to the new restrictions and all meetings have switched to zoom yet they still meet once a month. Here are some of the highlights from their activities...

Steven Meeks, President of the West Adams Neighborhood Council (WANC), and Mel Tillekeratne brought the Shower of Hope Project to the Church on Adams and La Brea. Shower of Hope provides mobile showers for our unhoused Angelenos. Tillekeratne and Meeks had worked on locating a Shower of Hope unit in the WANC area for the past two years. There are only three Showers of Hope units in all of CD10.

Another outreach effort with Meeks and fellow neighbors is cultivatingthe Good Earth Community Garden on Clyde and Boden by Jefferson. The LA Community Garden Council and LA Green Grounds Teaching Garden are the nonprofits that run this garden on DWP property. Luckily, Whole Foods donated $25k to help support the Good Earth.

Let’s head a little east of WANC. Here, we have UNNC. The United Neighborhoods NC advocated to preserve two historic houses and conserve the character of their century-old neighborhoods while at the same time encouraging new housing. Recently, a beautiful historic craftsman was set for demolition - to be turned into an apartment building that would compromise the architectural integrity of the neighborhood. Fortunately, the house was not demolished and a win-win alternative came about: according to the UNNC website, “The project is currently in plan check but has had a long history of design revisions before it reached its present iteration as a preservation-forward project that maintains two historic single-family houses and builds four units of much-needed rental housing in the rear.” UNNC emphasized the importance of preserving our beautiful and unique LA architecture - a good example and model for neighboring NCs.

The PICO NC election removed most of the incumbent board members who ran for re-election. Out of the 29 candidates, only 2 of the 11 winners in At-Large seats were board incumbents. All 5 of the candidates from the “Progressive Pico” slate won with big numbers. Candidates who fell short of the votes to compete with this slate included local youth candidate and activist Ishmael Harris and long-time resident and Education Committee chair Sylvester Robertson. Harris shares, “It just doesn’t make sense that people who have only been in the neighborhood a few years should beat out people like me and Sylvester who’ve been here forever.” At the PICO NC Board meeting in April, newly elected members from this slate replaced the President, Communications, and Secretary offices. Board members who voted in favor stated they felt it was “time for a change.” Other board members were reluctant to allow newly elected members to take over such positions, and stated the Progressive Pico slate seemed to be supported by “outside interests” in the election.

This past year, The Mid-City Neighborhood Council introduced its first ever Public Art Committee; the goal of this committee is to connect local artists and promote public art in the neighborhood. Oftentimes, public art can be associated with the changes that come with gentrification - however, the intention with this committee is to bring local art celebrating Mid-City’s rich culture. So far, the committee has been helping an arts organization work on an arts festival that focuses on local artists curating new murals along Washington and Adams Blvd. On a separate project created by students at the Woodbury University, Washington Blvd. will also be home to a public art exhibition that is centered around public architecture that provides an open space to bring more business to our stores such as D’Licious, Sankofa, Amazing Pinatas and Stuzo Clothing. Even in the era of Covid-19, the show goes on. There are a myriad of different ways to be more involved in your community and meet your neighbors. Spread the word about your local NC or become involved and get more information at empowerla.org
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About Us

Established in August of 2008 by writerartist Dianne V. Lawrence, The Neighborhood News covers the events, people, history, politics and historic architecture of communities throughout the Mid-City and West Adams area in Los Angeles Council District 10.

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