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North Westwood Neighborhood Council recap – Jan. 25

By Justin Jung

Jan. 28, 2022 3:32 p.m.

This post was updated Feb. 14 at 4:14 p.m.

The North Westwood Neighborhood Council is the official neighborhood council representing UCLA, Westwood Village and the North Village to the Los Angeles City Council. Council meetings are held each month and open to the public via Zoom.

The Tuesday special board meeting was presided over by Mario Hernandez, a neighborhood empowerment advocate from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment for the city of Los Angeles.

On Oct. 7, the NWWNC was placed in Exhaustive Efforts, a probationary status, for a tentative three-month period because of noncompliance with an agenda posting policy. As of the Tuesday board meeting, the council remained in Exhaustive Efforts. The council meeting was controlled by Hernandez because of the Exhaustive Efforts status.

[Related: North Westwood Neighborhood Council experiences issues with probation restrictions]

Comments by public officials:

  • Carmen Zambrano, a UCLA Government and Community Relations spokesperson, said UCLA will return to in-person instruction Monday and that students must follow the university’s testing and daily symptom monitoring protocols. Zambrano added that UCLA is looking forward to starting a monthly programming series with the Westwood Village Improvement Association in March. Zambrano also said that LA Metro is currently in scoping – a period of gathering community input – on its Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project.

Board announcements:

  • Maikel Kohanhediud, a business stakeholder, and Ernesto Arciniega, a graduate student member, said they completed supplementary onboarding training to satisfy the board retreat requirement under Exhaustive Efforts. Kohanhediud and Arciniega were the last two members not in compliance with the Exhaustive Efforts requirement.

Comments by Department of Neighborhood Empowerment officials:

  • Julien Antelin, a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment director, said that the department would consider lifting Exhaustive Efforts following the council’s next board meeting. Antelin added that the next council meeting would be presided over by Furkan Yalcin, the NWWNC president, and that the department would allow Yalcin to set the meeting agenda on a provisional basis. Antelin also said that after the end of Exhaustive Efforts, the department would continue to pay particular attention to the council’s compliance with the state Brown Act agenda-posting requirements and progress on its Exhaustive Efforts outreach plan.

Public comment:

  • Jacob Wasserman, a member of the public who sits on two NWWNC committees, said that the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment has recently made administrative errors and should consider leniency for the council regarding the Exhaustive Efforts process.

Agenda:

  • The council approved a motion to amend its strategic plan to include dates for its goals.
    • The Strategic Plan Ad Hoc Committee created the strategic plan to delegate work on its Exhaustive Efforts goals.
    • The council set a goal of holding three virtual community town halls on outreach issues by Feb. 28, April 2 and May 28.
    • The council set a goal of completing its new website by June 1.
    • The council set a goal of meeting with at least 30 businesses in door-to-door outreach by June 1.
    • The council set a goal of filing at least two Community Impact Statements to the LA City Council on physical and emotional health concerns by June 1.
  • The council approved a motion to remove Flint Dile, a homeowner stakeholder, from the council due to noncompliance with a bylaw limiting council members to at most two unexcused absences. The council previously tabled discussion on Dile’s removal because of uncertainty regarding the accuracy of attendance records for the Aug. 11, Sept. 1 and Sept. 7 meetings. The council voted to remove Dile on the advice of the city attorney’s office, according to Yalcin, despite being unable to verify the accuracy of its attendance records.
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Justin Jung | News senior staff
Jung is a senior staff reporter and a photographer for the Bruin. He was a 2021-2022 assistant News editor for the campus politics and city and crime beats. Jung was also the 2020-2021 assistant Enterprise editor. Jung is a fourth-year global studies student.
Jung is a senior staff reporter and a photographer for the Bruin. He was a 2021-2022 assistant News editor for the campus politics and city and crime beats. Jung was also the 2020-2021 assistant Enterprise editor. Jung is a fourth-year global studies student.
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