Neighborhood Councils Need to Grow a Pair Details
GUEST WORDS-The first neighborhood council board was seated in 2002, and since then the neighborhood councils have collectively failed to live up to one important expectation to fundamentally improve government.
One hope of the founders was that the councils could act as powerful lobbyists or advocates for positive change in their communities and citywide.
Yet, we continue to see councils fighting against objectionable land use projects and city policies, and they’re losing more than winning.
Former LA City Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky dished out a remedy to the councils that has been forgotten. To paraphrase him, he told the activists that if they wait for decisions to reach the city council, one its committees, or a city commission before chiming in, it’s almost always too late.
Their youthful lake-side memories behind them, dad and daughter fear loss of those experiences in a warming state.
By Bud Ward | Tuesday, December 22, 2020
A sampling of family photos that recall fond times spent at Leech Lake in Minnesota. Clockwise from top: Julie’s father, James Alger, with her son Otto (left) and nephew Jack, in 1997; Julie, alone on the lakefront; with her three brothers, parents, and the family dog; and with other family members (all in the late 1960s).
Their lived experiences and vibrant memories are many:
Off-the-grid monthly family escapes to a deep and clean northern Minnesota lake amid coniferous forests, white pines, and the calming isolation of woodlands;