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These draft minutes will be on the agenda of our 9-17-03 meeting for approval
Directors present were Willie Langley, Don Faber, John Ramadan, Jane Lowenthal, Charles Brink, Neil Bethke, and Sandra Kardos
Regular Monthly Meeting 7-16-2003
Northridge Neighborhood Council
Special Meeting, Friday,
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM at Holmes Middle School. Guests did not sign in: Attendance: Jane Lowenthal, John Ramadan, Charles Brink, Don Faber, Willie Langley, Neil Bethke, and Sandra Kardos.
Jane reviewed what went on at the Certification Meeting on 7-1-03.
Greg Nelson and Rita Moreno of DONE gave a scathingly negative report to BONC saying we did no outreach and that we were not the right people to represent Northridge. They cited our negative relationship with DONE and said our by-laws, after 2 ˝ years of correcting and changing to their every whim, was still incomplete. They made many unsupported claims.
Nelson also made some snide comment that we did a few flyers. Jane remarked that we had 15,000 last month (June) and 8,000 the previous month. Nelson also said that we couldn't get along with DONE's representatives and we had 5 of them. Mathew Fitzgerald came to one meeting and said that it was his first and last meeting, and that Rolando would take over after the certification hearing. They were counting Rolando Cuevas, who had not even started working with us. Most of the previous reps were fired or transferred once they started getting along with us.
Jane said she gave a slide presentation, the local history, a recap of our outreach which included flyers at local businesses, the schools and library, the local street fairs, the Northridge Park Salute to Recreation where we had a booth to give out information and flyers and also co-sponsored, with the mayor, a shuttle bus from the parking lots to the park, her column for the last 13 months in the Northridge Chamber newspaper (30,000 issues monthly), notices in several local newspapers, meetings regarding the new high school and the Northridge Park Pool. We also had presentations from the police, the school board, the school police, and several small businesses.
She let several of the officers speak. Dorothy Boberg gave the history of how she and other members of the Northridge Civic Assn started the Council. She brought piles of data which to represent the outreach we did while she was the 1st president, and other small folders to represent the outreach we did after she left office. She failed to mention that she no longer supported the Council after she lost her bid for re-election as president, and actively started working against us.
Andy Anderson, the treasurer, also from the Northridge Civic Assn spoke of his war and working experiences.
By the time Chuck Brink got up to talk, all the time was used up (they gave us almost 40 minutes as Porter Ranch also had excess time) and he was not able to go over the bylaws.
The final remark Jane made was asking BONC not to hold us to a higher standard than everyone else.
Rita Moreno said that we did not want DONE's help. A BONC member said we needed anger management for our board
John asked what was DONE's purpose? Chuck said it was their job to help us get certified. Maybe someone forgot to tell them! Chuck, after the certification hearing, compared the Porter Ranch Bylaws and our Bylaws. The Porter Ranch Bylaws did not give their stakeholders any rights other than to elect director every two years. They had no website and the stakeholders could not put anything on the agenda. They did not follow the Public Records Act or The Brown Act.
All of these things are mandated by NNC.
Jane told us Greg Nelson of DONE told her 3-4 months ago that we would lose certification on the outreach issue. After his remark about flyers, we wondered, Porter Ranch put a couple of hundred flyers in their local library weekly or monthly, and we put out 8,000 to 15,000 flyers a month, but we were not good enough??
Jane omitted to mention that we have had college classes attend our meetings and that she was asked to speak at those same classes at CSUN. She did mention that a CSUN group, with our support is going to map Northridge in the fall.
We went over the appeal process. We must file an appeal with the LA City Council within their next 5 regular meetings. Failing that, we have 90 days from the 7/22/03 hearing to go to court.
Willie spoke of a meeting at Andasol School that upset DONE. Jane said that at this meeting Harry Coleman was upset at her speaking ahead of him and asked her to step outside to fight it out! Bobi Fiedler heard him and quickly dragged him from the meeting. Two weeks after that meeting, Councilman Berson announced at his CAC (Community Advisory Commission) that everyone should go to the NNC to take it over.
His opinion of the right people to represent Northridge are Bobi Fiedler, Harry Coleman, and other self-appointed leaders from the Sherwood Forest Homeowners Assn that meet in private, don't allow public input, and assault people who don't agree with them.
Jane later mentioned the incident with Harry Coleman to James Burkhardt and was told that Coleman had threatened him too.
Bobi Fiedler, Harry Coleman, etc stated that we had no right to vote on our bylaws. At a United Methodist Church meeting Harry Coleman presented his own bylaws for a vote and got only one vote, his vote. His wife Bobi Fiedler didn't even vote for him.
James Burkehardt of the mayor's office said hat they didn't help any of the councils, yet he was gleefully thanked by Porter Ranch for all his help. Councilman Bernson and Greig Smith said they never attended meetings of uncertified groups, yet we were told they did attend several councils' meetings, ignoring all of our invitations. Porter Ranch was so well acquainted with Bernson's/Smith's staff that they brought a birthday cake for one member of Smith's staff to the certification hearing.
Elaine Phiferman, for Councilman Berson's office stated to Jane that she had been to all the neighborhood council meetings in the valley, but she never attended ours. She told Jane she had a scheduling conflict, Jane asked “for 11 meetings”, and they couldn't be bothered sending anyone else.
A motion was made and seconded to vote whether to appeal BONC's decision.
Pros - we can go ahead as a council
Another council cannot apply for our area
We can continue to help the people of Northridge
Cons - Greig Smith (our city Councilman) will be pissed off.
We took a vote about whether we should appeal BONC's decision and there was unanimous agreement that we should. We have 5 regular LA City Council meetings to file our protest with the LA City Council and, as an alternative, 90 days from our certification hearing to file in court.
Jane asked for another vote for Unanimous Acclamation and all agreed.
Sandra Kardos suggested Charles Brink draft the appeal to the LA City Council and have the board members present comment on it. There was unanimous agreement.
Jane spoke to a reporter that called Greg Nelson and asked him what would happen if we appealed BONC's decision. He told the reporter that we would need 10 of 15 council members to go forward with our appeal, and there would be no way our own councilman would ever vote for us. Others don't want to get involved in areas out of their districts.
We would need to get our appeal referred to the LA City Council Commission on Neighborhood Councils & Education Commission to get an impartial review of our bylaws. We could ask for a third party arbitrator from the City Attorney Neighborhood Mediation Program.
Jane and Chuck mention a pending article in the Daily News. Jane wanted board members and their friends and associates to write letters to the Daily News regarding the article.
Dorothy Boberg sent an e-mail saying she was not attending this meeting and was joining or starting an opposing council group. But, she did not resign. There was a discussion from the audience as to whether we should reply and ask it that was to be considered her resignation. Others thought that if we did reply, that would be held against us as a council.
Suggestions for agenda items for the next regular meeting on 7/16/03.
a. Discuss the appeal to LA City Council regarding our certification
b. Get people to protest the 12 minute police response time in the Valley. The city gave an $80 million retroactive raise to architects and now don't have $63 million for more police
c. Toilet to Tap (water) problem
d. Northridge Pool - What happened to the FEMA grant to repair the pool? Why is no one from the NNC on the pool commission, when there are people from other councils on the commission. $133,000 was a line item on the budget to Northridge Park. It was authorized but never allocated. Why?
e. Prop F - Why does over 40% of the money go to administration
f. Prop K - What did Prop K say? Why should we pay for a bond where our city Councilman gave $960,000 of our money to a private organization, the YMCA of Porter Ranch, and we still have to pass and pay for another bond so that our Northridge pool can be repaired and be used by its 16,000 citizens, mostly children, that formerly used the pool.
g. Northridge has been disenfranchised by the city of LA
h. BID - Business Improvement District in Northridge
i. Roll Down Doors on Northridge businesses
j. Public input on extension of Wilber Ave through the railroad tracks to the south, going to the freeway.
k. Traffic and crime - the heaviest crime area is on Reseda Blvd between Devonshire and Sherman Way, also Roscoe & Reseda.
Topics for July meeting: Northridge Pool, DIB, Wilber Ave extension.
Topics for August meeting: traffic and crime.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:36PM.
Submitted by Sandra Eve Kardos Secretary