P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council June 2011

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Category: Neighborhood Councils

Published on Saturday, 18 June 2011 17:54

Written by Carla Pineda

A visit from Melvin Canas, neighborhood empowerment analyst for the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, brought clarity to a frustrated Pico Neighborhood Council board at a May 11 meeting.

“Neighborhood councils have gone on a dash to spend their budgets,” Canas said.

As the board debated a number of previously proposed projects and spur-of-the-moment expenditures, Canas advised that the closer the councils get to June 15, the trickier it will be to get expenditures approved. The larger fund allocations are likely to be challenged at DONE headquarters because this is not normally how spending is approved, he said.

Among the projects approved by the board in their rush to disburse funds into the community were:

-   $14,000 tree maintenance by Los Angeles Conservation Corps (in lieu of DONE’s rejection of a previous tree maintenance proposal)

-  $9,600 Summer Parks Program to fund supervision at Saturn Street Elementary School and Carthay Center Elementary School; $9,720 for Garden as Living Laboratory Project at same two schools

-   $8,375 for Wilshire Youth Athletic

-   $5,000 in additional funds for San Vicente Medians project for a total of $20,000