Thousands of Angelenos expressed
their opinions and ideas on the upcoming City Budget and, during
Saturday’s Regional Budget Day, City officials and Neighborhood Council
leaders met to learn the results.
This year 5,046 community stakeholders, including 496 NC Board members, took the 2013 Los Angeles Budget Challenge over a four week period from February 1 through March 4, 2013 and also made 2,100 comments. The survey provided an opportunity to weigh in on a variety of departments and programs and as well as an opportunity to balance the City’s budget. The survey results will be considered in the development of the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2013-14 Proposed Budget, which will be released on April 19th.
Unlike past years when Regional Budget Day was held at City Hall with breakout sessions upstairs, four sessions were held simultaneously in different areas of the City: East/Northeast Los Angeles; Central/West Los Angeles; South/Harbor areas; and North and South Valley. A total of 141 NC Budget Advocates, Board members, and stakeholders participated citywide with the highest turnout in the South/Harbor area with 54 attendees. The Mayor’s office, CAO Miguel Santana and his staff, EmpowerLA General Manager Grayce Liu and her staff, and the NC Budget Advocates all contributed to the success of the sessions by making presentations, answering questions, and listening to the suggestions of the attendees.
Citywide the budget priorities that ranked the highest were police and fire services and improved infrastructure. Over 50% of respondents favored reforming employee health care and employee compensation, continued reduction of workers compensation costs, and the implementation of a new economic development model. Increased funding for Animal Services was supported by 39% while cuts were favored by 29%. Half of the respondents want to maintain the funding levels for the City Attorney’s office but 63% want reduced funding for constituent services and legislative analysis. For transportation, streets, and infrastructure, 41% want to maintain funding while 40% prefer an increase in spending.
A new operating model for the Los Angeles Zoo was supported by 58% of respondents as was an alternative management structure for the Convention Center, supported by 72%. The extension of the tax amnesty program was supported by 66% of the respondents but only 47% supported increasing the sales tax by half a cent (Proposition A on the March 5 ballot).
Want to see more? Take a look at the CAO’s Budget Presentation as well as the detailed results of the Los Angeles Budget Challenge by Citywide analysis and by regions, Valley, Westside, Harbor/South, and East/Northeast.
The Neighborhood Council with the highest number of Board members taking the survey was South Robertson NC and the NC with highest number of stakeholders participating was Downtown Los Angeles NC with 116.
Holding four Regional Budget Day sessions around the City was well received by many attendees.
From the Eastside, “Community members loved the “regional” meeting. They loved the small groups, able to speak and voice their thoughts,” said Vera del Pozo of the Boyle Heights NC.
“The South LA/Harbor region stakeholders were very engaged and came prepared with intelligent questions and recommendations,” stated Marcello Robinson, NCBA Co-Chair.
Also from this region, Dr.Buashie Amatokwu of the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area NC, wrote “I know, this is not an award show acceptance speech, however, the turnout and drive in which stakeholders and Advocates engaged in policy making and seeking the right and fair solutions to the problem of Los Angeles citywide simply illustrates that when people come together with a common goal and work towards a common end result: the sky is the limit.“
From the Valley, Lisa Samson of the Greater Valley Glen NC reported, “Regional budget day was filled with lively discussions, bountiful information and engaged citizens – it was a great day to get out and meet fellow local community members and city officials.”
Finally, we wish to acknowledge and thank the many NCs for co-hosting the session in their region, including providing refreshments: Boyle Heights NC, Historic Highland Park NC, PICO NC, Empowerment Congress Southwest Area NC, Empowerment Congress Southeast Area NC, Empowerment Congress Central Area NC, Granada Hills South NC, Van Nuys NC, Sunland-Tujunga NC, and Pacoima NC and all of the individual donations.
Saturday’s Regional Budget Day was a great success four times over so mark your calendar for next year and we’ll do it again!
From EmpowerLA.org
This year 5,046 community stakeholders, including 496 NC Board members, took the 2013 Los Angeles Budget Challenge over a four week period from February 1 through March 4, 2013 and also made 2,100 comments. The survey provided an opportunity to weigh in on a variety of departments and programs and as well as an opportunity to balance the City’s budget. The survey results will be considered in the development of the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2013-14 Proposed Budget, which will be released on April 19th.
Unlike past years when Regional Budget Day was held at City Hall with breakout sessions upstairs, four sessions were held simultaneously in different areas of the City: East/Northeast Los Angeles; Central/West Los Angeles; South/Harbor areas; and North and South Valley. A total of 141 NC Budget Advocates, Board members, and stakeholders participated citywide with the highest turnout in the South/Harbor area with 54 attendees. The Mayor’s office, CAO Miguel Santana and his staff, EmpowerLA General Manager Grayce Liu and her staff, and the NC Budget Advocates all contributed to the success of the sessions by making presentations, answering questions, and listening to the suggestions of the attendees.
Citywide the budget priorities that ranked the highest were police and fire services and improved infrastructure. Over 50% of respondents favored reforming employee health care and employee compensation, continued reduction of workers compensation costs, and the implementation of a new economic development model. Increased funding for Animal Services was supported by 39% while cuts were favored by 29%. Half of the respondents want to maintain the funding levels for the City Attorney’s office but 63% want reduced funding for constituent services and legislative analysis. For transportation, streets, and infrastructure, 41% want to maintain funding while 40% prefer an increase in spending.
A new operating model for the Los Angeles Zoo was supported by 58% of respondents as was an alternative management structure for the Convention Center, supported by 72%. The extension of the tax amnesty program was supported by 66% of the respondents but only 47% supported increasing the sales tax by half a cent (Proposition A on the March 5 ballot).
Want to see more? Take a look at the CAO’s Budget Presentation as well as the detailed results of the Los Angeles Budget Challenge by Citywide analysis and by regions, Valley, Westside, Harbor/South, and East/Northeast.
The Neighborhood Council with the highest number of Board members taking the survey was South Robertson NC and the NC with highest number of stakeholders participating was Downtown Los Angeles NC with 116.
Holding four Regional Budget Day sessions around the City was well received by many attendees.
From the Eastside, “Community members loved the “regional” meeting. They loved the small groups, able to speak and voice their thoughts,” said Vera del Pozo of the Boyle Heights NC.
“The South LA/Harbor region stakeholders were very engaged and came prepared with intelligent questions and recommendations,” stated Marcello Robinson, NCBA Co-Chair.
Also from this region, Dr.Buashie Amatokwu of the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area NC, wrote “I know, this is not an award show acceptance speech, however, the turnout and drive in which stakeholders and Advocates engaged in policy making and seeking the right and fair solutions to the problem of Los Angeles citywide simply illustrates that when people come together with a common goal and work towards a common end result: the sky is the limit.“
From the Valley, Lisa Samson of the Greater Valley Glen NC reported, “Regional budget day was filled with lively discussions, bountiful information and engaged citizens – it was a great day to get out and meet fellow local community members and city officials.”
Finally, we wish to acknowledge and thank the many NCs for co-hosting the session in their region, including providing refreshments: Boyle Heights NC, Historic Highland Park NC, PICO NC, Empowerment Congress Southwest Area NC, Empowerment Congress Southeast Area NC, Empowerment Congress Central Area NC, Granada Hills South NC, Van Nuys NC, Sunland-Tujunga NC, and Pacoima NC and all of the individual donations.
Saturday’s Regional Budget Day was a great success four times over so mark your calendar for next year and we’ll do it again!
From EmpowerLA.org
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