The Neighborhood News Online

Councilman Wesson, along with other councilmembers, enjoys one of the highest government salary’s in the nation, $178,789.

Yet while thousands of city employees are losing their jobs, taking pay cuts or are going on furloughs, he is among 7 Councilmembers who has, so far,  refused to take a pay cut.  Mayor Villaraigosa took a 16% cut, with most of the other Councilmembers taking a 5% cut. Herb says “at the appropriate time I will take one. I’m so caught up in other things, I’ve just had a death on my staff. I will get to it in a timely fashion.”
The  other councilmembers who have refused the cuts are  Bernard Parks, Bill Rosendahl, Greig Smith, Richard Alarcon, Paul Krekorian and Tony Cardenas.

In some recent ‘Eye On Wesson’ reports, we explored the difficulties in the communication between Councilman Wesson’s office and some Neighborhood councils. We also reported on his efforts to create open channels between them. We promised to follow up and are happy to report this email from Councilman Wesson explaining the new changes…..

From Councilman Wesson:

In my continuing efforts to improve communications with the Neighborhood Councils (NCs) within CD 10, I have recently launched various initiatives intended to increase the flow of information between the Neighborhood Council officers and myself or my office.  We have been having our regular dinner meetings whereby I invite the Executive Boardmembers of all the Neighborhood Councils in CD 10 to discuss citywide issues, districtwide issues or issues unique to a particular NC.  While I have found these dinner meetings to be helpful, I have also been exploring and establishing other methods or forums of communication between the NCs and my office.  These include:

In an effort to rectify the chill that has set in between his office and some of District 10’s Neighborhood Councils (NC’s), Councilman Wesson has agreed to meet with individual councils for some fence mending. While his offer to provide food has been gladly accepted by some, Mid City Neighborhood Council (MINC) preferred to meet in a more business like setting to stay focused on the meetings purpose; ask questions, get answers. Councilman Wesson showed up with a strong contingent from his office but bravely faced the fairly friendly MINC Board alone.

He began with the admission that his efforts to stay connected with the Neighborhood Councils by providing dinner and a chat twice a year wasn’t as effective as he hoped it would be. He claimed he wanted to get better input and thoughts from the Councils but also warned at the end of the day the decisions were his to make. President Allan DiCastro read from a list of 5 submitted questions and the floor was then open to questions. One question wondered if there was a way for the Council Office to provide space in his glossy report “Eye on the 10th”, to allow Neighborhood Councils to present their activities or accomplishments. Councilman Wesson replied that he looked forward to finding a way to do so. Was there a way for his office to make more information available regarding his positions on local issues and concerns? He said he was looking at ways to do this. Somebody brought up the fact that the purpose of the NC’s was to work in partnership with the Council Office, but it did not seem to be happening. Councilman Wesson said he was searching for a mechanism that would facilitate this.  Allan mentioned that the Neighborhood Councils were that mechanism. Coucilman Wesson  suggested they come up with some process, perhaps specific scheduled meetings and encouraged MINC to come up with ideas.  He was asked what residents should do when questions about his decisions impacting our communities…were met with silence from the Council Office. The Councilman asked for an example and was told that questions regarding the design decisions for the tree cages on Washington Blvd. were never answered. Councilman Wesson said that information should have been forthcoming but continued his response by discussing the barriers in Western Heights (he has instructed his office to respond to any inquiries about the barriers by saying “The Councilman has already made his decisions known”). Chairman Allan interjected making the point that this was an issue affecting a community outside of MINC’s boundaries and didn’t want it discussed at their meeting but did emphasize that the issue of the Council Office refusing to answer questions about any of their activities was a concern to all communities.  Councilman Wesson generously stayed until all concerns and questions were addressed.  At the end he promised to set up an email address that would serve the purpose of allowing the NC members to contact him directly, these emails would be answered within 48 hours and Councilman Wesson’s personal cell phone number would be made available to all Neighborhood Council Presidents. We will keep you informed and let you know if and when any of these actions are implemented.
contact for Councilman Wesson:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Councilman Wesson Not Interested In Opportunity to Partner With Neighborhood Council

Let’s imagine your home is looking a little rough around the edges and you’ve begun an action plan to fix it up. Someone knocks on your door and says, “Surprise! I have $1,000,000 to fix up your house.”

“GREAT!” you think. But after the initial excitement dies down, and being somewhat savvy you ask...”What’s the catch?”  As they push you out of the way and start marching into your home, they reply, “Oh no biggie. You won’t need to bother your pretty little head. We’ll be making all the decisions for you.”

Councilman Wesson has begun his ‘beautification’ of the Washington Corridor with his eye on Pico, next.

A representative from Councilman Wesson’s office, Council District 10 (CD10) told Allan Dicastro, President of Mid City Neighborhood Council (MINC) that a big “surprise” was coming their way. “Uh, oh,” thought Allan and replied, “We don’t like surprises. We want to partner with CD10. That is what we are supposed to be doing. I don’t understand why you (CD10) refuse to do this.”

Sure enough the community woke up one morning to an army of forbidding iron Tree Cages surrounding every slender tree along Washington from Normandy to Fairfax. One after the other, “Washington Boulevard” emblazoned on all 4 sides just in case you forgot what street you were on as you traveled the few feet between the cages.  According to emails that poured into MINC, you could sum up the overall community response with one word...‘Overkill!’. The next word? “Ugh”.  As another member from United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) put it…”Why weren’t we consulted?”