Friday, March 28, 2014

Silver Lake Neighborhood Issues

So It Begins


One of the things I’m going to have to do as a candidate for the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) is to speak at several candidate forums.  To do that effectively I need to know what concerns and issues that I am likely to be asked to give an opinion upon.   Listening to public comments at the meetings I’ve attended gave me some idea as to what those might be.  Living in the neighborhood made me aware of others.  I made a list of them and then started gathering information on those I didn’t know very much about.  The issues as I perceived them are as follows:
Crime Prevention
Disaster Preparedness
Open Space
Community Gardens
Reservoir Plans and Usage
Parking
Commercial Development
Small Lot Development
Air B’n’Bs
Gang Activity
The SLNC Budget
Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Infrastructure – streets and sidewalks
Water use
Homelessness
Noise and activity from the local bars 

There are certainly other issues and concerns, but my list seems to cover those which the Neighborhood Council could do something about.  Because of the large number of candidates, fifty nine at last count, the time each person will be able to speak on any given issue at the upcoming forums will be severely limited, so I need to get my thoughts on each of the issues distilled down to the essentials so that I can address them clearly and concisely.  To do that I looked at each one, decided what I considered were the important factors and then made notes addressing those factors. More on the details of my thoughts in the next post or two.

There was a special meeting of the Governing Board posted on the SLNC website.  There were items on the agenda that I think fall outside the scope of what the Neighborhood Council should be addressing.  There was a motion in support of the veto of a Senate Bill in Arizona, and a motion in support of some sort of climate change march and rally.  It is this sort of activity that incited me to want to get involved with the Neighborhood Council. 

If the SLNC is going to make motions in support of things, those things should have something to do with the neighborhood.  I instantly thought of several people in the area who should have motions made supporting the work they are doing, work that betters the community in a tangible way, like cleaning up litter, working with local business and the city to mitigate parking issues, heading up a neighborhood watch, making a neighborhood safer for children, working with LAPD and the city on public safety issues, and bringing C.E.R.T. training to the area.  We need to acknowledge and support the people who are doing things to help their neighborhood and make it a better place in which to live, and leave the out-of-state and global issues for someone else to deal with.  If you’re going to make a feel good gesture, make one that benefits someone who is working for the community and sets them apart as an example of what we all should be doing.  If I am elected, I hope I will be able help the council do more than just make empty gestures.

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