February 1, 2010

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Members, Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Hall
200 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re:  City of Los Angeles “City Restructuring Proposals”

Dear Mayor and Honorable City Councilmembers:

Neighborhood Councils are a vital link between City Hall and all of the residents and businesses of the City of Los Angeles. At this time of financial crisis for the City, the solutions require a partnership between the elected officials at City Hall and the elected representatives of our 90 neighborhood councils.

We are deeply concerned about an impending “gutting” of the neighborhood councils and of DONE.

The City Charter mandates preserving core funding both of DONE and the neighborhood councils. We support and demand budget, collections, and NC elections reform, — and to finding the appropriate funding for NCs required by the Charter. We recognize the need for reductions in many city departments and services, including some cuts in DONE’s budget and staffing. However, we believe that maintenance of funding for NCs is both reasonable and necessary to fulfill the charter-mandated requirements of the City and of neighborhood councils. We support reform of the Neighborhood Council funding system, but proposals to slash funding are not the solutions to problems outlined in the audit of DONE recently completed by the City Controller.

In brief, the city cannot and must not violate its own charter by denying the appropriate funding specifically required by the charter. We look forward to the support of all our elected officials in doing what’s right and in moving forward together through these challenging times.

Sincerely,

The BudgetLA community