MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA
City of Los Angeles
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2010
Contact:
David Beltran
213-978-0741
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA CONTINUES COMMITMENT TO BALANCING BUDGET WITH CONSOLIDATION OF TWO CITY DEPARTMENTS
The consolidation of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Community Development Department will eliminate 27 positions and approximately save $2 million annually
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today continued his commitment to balancing the City’s budget and announced the consolidation of the Community Development Department and Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. If approved by the City Council, the newly consolidated department-Department of Community Development/Department of Neighborhood Empowerment-will eliminate 27 positions, approximately save $2 million annually, and reduce the total number of City departments and general managers.
“The consolidation effort will not only create cost savings, but will serve to take the bureaucracy out of community empowerment,” said Mayor Villaraigosa. “This consolidation is an opportunity to create the volunteer opportunities that engage communities and foster participation in our neighborhoods.”
The Mayor ordered the consolidation of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Community Development Department as a means to maintain the necessary support for the City’s 90 Neighborhood Councils while minimizing general fund cost. The consolidation has allowed the City to rethink certain functions, automate others, and provide the Neighborhood Councils with a more efficient entity that works to better address the needs of the communities they serve.
Complementing the CDD’s long tradition of community service and organization of volunteers, the newly consolidated CDD/DONE will issue Requests for Proposals to support training programs, funding program oversight and other functions essential to fostering community involvement in our City’s Neighborhood Councils. Furthering efficiency, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will be supported by CDD resources.
As part of the consolidation, the Mayor has nominated current Community Development Department General Manager, Richard Benbow, to head the new Department of Community Development and Neighborhood Empowerment. As a consequence, current General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, BongHwan Kim, will step down. (Departure Letter attached.)
On February 4, 2010, the Mayor instructed City Department Heads to immediately begin the process of eliminating 1,000 filled General Fund positions and to the extent possible, transfer personnel from these positions to Special Fund vacancies. This expedited effort has resulted in close to 200 transfers thus far.
In response to the City’s credit rating being downgraded, the Council moved to approve the elimination of an additional 3,000 positions. As Chief Executive Officer, the Mayor is instructing all department heads to begin the process of targeting these additional positions for elimination. The identification of positions will be under the guidance and direction of the Mayor’s office and in coordination with the City Administrative Officer (CAO). The Mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2010-11 budget will serve as the comprehensive report detailing the position eliminations requested by the City Council.
— On Sat, 2/20/10, Al Abrams <al_abrams@roadrunner.com> wrote:
From: Al Abrams <al_abrams@roadrunner.com>
Subject: Important, breaking news you need to know.
To: FriendsofAl@list.com
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2010, 11:41 AM
Dear NC Friends,
DONE is being dismantled starting at the beginning of the week with an announcement by the Mayor and a press statement. Its remnants will be going over to CDD, the Community Development Department, over the next four months.
Transition employees, between 2/24/10 and 6/30/10, will equal approximately 13 full-time staff, perhaps less.
Starting July 1st, at CDD there will be a “skeleton crew” of only 9-10 employees left to take care of the needs of all the 90 NCs.
The Commission stays.
We have to make sure that the City Clerk elections remain in place. This is VERY important.
Some Councilmembers want to immediately stop the elections with an emergency ordinance at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Their goal: take the balance of the money that is left in the elections account, and leave the NCs to “do their own thing.” They’re hiding behind the statements of “giving back the elections to the Neighborhood Councils”. This is an actually an attempt to gut the NC system at its most vulnerable time.
The truth is that this will be disastrous for NCs. Without a staffed department there to help them, which is about to be “scrubbed clean” and without ANY funding for ANY elections, NCs will be left out in the cold to fend for themselves.
I cannot emphasize enough that stopping the elections now with an emergency ordinance and stripping the City Clerk’s office of its election funding will result in chaos throughout the City and dismemberment of the NC system.
You must contact your Councilmember immediately and tell him or her to “let the NC elections continue as planned with the City Clerk’s authority and supervision for this year’s complete election cycle.”
We can all deal with the way elections are to be held in 2012 at a later date.
Please let others know. If you need more information, please feel free to contact me.
Best regards,
Al A.
Albert Abrams
Vice President
Board of Neighborhood Commissioners
City of Los Angeles
albert.abrams@lacity.org
President
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