Los Feliz News
Local Council Protests Delay of NC Elections
By Damian Kelly
Dec 5, 2011 - 2:24:35 PM

LOS FELIZ— The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council have protested the possibility of Neighborhood Council Elections being postponed by the City of Los Angeles until 2014 due to a lack of available funds.  In their November 15 response to a survey distributed to all 95 NC Boards by the LA City Clerk, the GGPNC stated that eliminating and pushing back the elections would, “negate everything this board has worked toward to legitimize the democratic process in NC.” 

NC's and stakeholders are being asked to fill out NC Election Surveys. Photo courtesy of Studio City NC.

The Neighborhood Council Elections Survey came about as a result of the LA City Council instructing the City Clerk to conduct a study on alternative methods for administering NC elections after no funds were provided in the 2011-2012 Budget to conduct the 2012 NC Elections.  According to a copy of the survey obtained from the GGPNC’s website, the purpose of the study is to find out what each NC’s preferences are for conducting elections and to “lay out all options for the City Council and Mayor to review.”

While the GGPNC were against postponing the elections, they were willing to consider contributing a limited amount of funds towards the cost of administering them.  In addition, when asked for their top three preferences for administering their future elections, the GGPNC answered: The Office of the City Clerk, hybrid administrators such as the City Clerk Planning and Oversight and International Energy Agency Poll Administration and for the other section, the IEA supervised by the City Clerk.  Additionally, when asked what method they prefer for electing board members, the GGPNC responded they prefer At-Polls Elections. 

The last question in the survey asked for additional election methods the GGPNC would prefer as alternatives to the options chosen in the previous question.  With the choices being a Town Hall Election (Mandatory Secret Ballot) or a Town Hall Selection (Open or public ballot), the council left the question blank.  For the last section of the survey which asked for specific comments from stakeholders or council members they felt would be a valuable part of the survey, the council addressed their reasons for leaving the previous question blank.  They stated that based on their previous responses in the survey, neither choice in the question was acceptable to the GGPNC.

All Neighborhood Councils have until January 6, 2012 to complete and return the survey to the City Clerk in order to be included in the final report that will be submitted to the Mayor and the City Council.  Individual stakeholders are also encouraged to submit a survey which can be found by viewing the Neighborhood Council Elections Survey article in the “New and Noteworthy” section on the GGPNC’s website at ggpnc.org