Zach — the guy I interviewed for this post — was so kind as to take the bus to our meeting. In fact, he initially offered to bus it all the way to Santa Monica, but I met him half way (actually, only like 1/4 of the way) in Westwood.
Read, be inspired. And let me know if you decide to run for your local neighborhood council, cuz maybe I’ll stump for ya –
What’s in a neighborhood council? Ask Zach Behrens, a 26-year-old member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, and you’ll hear about the opportunity to get directly involved in local government, making tangible, specific changes to improve your neighborhood. And while neighborhood councils are not primarily made up of 20-somethings, government newbies have a wide-open shot at getting one of these elected positions.
Behrens’ position with SONC interested me partly because of Zach’s age, and partly because I was trying to get a better sense of what a neighborhood council does. Many — perhaps most — Angelenos don’t even know that our city has neighborhood councils. These councils were created in 1999 as part of a major charter reform initiative designed to “provide a forum for raising local issues, as well as providing a way to comment on city-wide matters,” according to the Neighborhood Council Review Commission.
More on WorldChanging LA.
And here’s another green involved in city issues:
Longtime Los Angeles Green activist Patrick Meighan has his picture in the Santa Monica Lookout counting the homeless
and he has been blogging activley on various L.A. city issues.
http://greeninlosangeles.blogspot.com/
http://greeninlosangeles.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-dont-like-to-toot-my-own-horn-but.html
Comment by Lisa — January 30, 2007 @ 9:03 am
Hey Lisa — You already mentioned Patrick here — on a completely unrelated post about Black Gold. I love that you’re psyched about the green party, and obviously we all have our pet issues, but let’s try to keep comments more relevant and less unnecessarily repetitive. You’re always welcome to send me an email about things, but it kind of bugs me when readers have to scroll through unrelated comments (because they specifically click on comments to read the discussion specific to the issue on the post). Hope you understand –
Comment by Siel — January 30, 2007 @ 9:21 am
I thought “Political Action made local” and homeless issues in LA City are related and I didn’t say anything about the Green Party.
Patrick and Michaels’ blog just happens to be called greeninlosangeles, sorta like your blog is just called greenlagirl, but you cover mainly fair trade coffee, not local politics.
Comment by Lisa — January 30, 2007 @ 10:40 am
I was referring to your comment on the Black Gold post (and the fact that the same content is repeated here). Perhaps I should’ve brought this issue then.
As you know, “green” means a lot of different things, not just green party politics.
Comment by Siel — January 30, 2007 @ 10:59 am
Zhili byli…
Comment by Ahruma Borry — March 10, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Hey Siel,
Thanks for writing about the Neighborhood Council Review. I’m actually working as a staffer at NCRC and hope you and other proactive, Los Angelinos join us this summer when we take the recommendations for change to the public.
We’re planning a series of workshops to give stakeholders a change to work with us hands-on to improve our NC’s to promote broader participation today.
Your bud,
Steph Z.
Comment by Stephanie Z. — March 29, 2007 @ 3:40 pm