By MARYAM ZAR | Special to the Palisadian-Post
The Palisades Podcast and Palisadian-Post partnered to host a CD 11 Candidates Forum on Thursday evening, April 28.
A series of questions were answered during the forum, but we asked the candidates to respond to additional questions in writing. Here is the second:
This is a hyper-local city council race, where the elected official can literally impact the daily quality of life for residents. What does constituent services look like to you?
Traci Park
A: As a Venice resident, I’ve experienced firsthand what it looks and feels like to have a councilmember who is non-responsive to constituents. Every neighborhood in CD 11 deserves a representative who will be responsive to community needs and concerns.
In addition to creating general counsel, homeless services coordinator, municipal services chief, public safety liaison and constituent advocate positions, my staff will include affordable housing and small business teams, to help streamline the process for workforce housing and small business applications and permits. We will also have field representatives for every neighborhood in the district, and I will hire people who live in and are active in their communities for those positions.
In my career, client needs always come first and responsiveness is expected. The same will be true of me and my council staff. I will also continue to participate in community meetings and town halls, and I will have open office hours for constituents to come meet with me in person, just as I have done throughout this campaign.
Allison Holdorff Polhill
A: When I started at the school district five years ago, I made it my mission to be responsive to all the families we served. People had given up trying to get things done at their schools. Calls went unanswered. People were angry and frustrated because of a lack of responsiveness.
Our office implemented a simple policy: return emails and phone calls promptly. Our target: respond to all in less than 48 hours with a 24-hour response stretch goal. The driving reason people labeled me as “The Fixer” was the simplest, most basic part of the job: responding. I will bring that same passion and energy as your next city councilmember.
A responsive government is safe and efficient. When we catch a problem early, such as a pothole, an uplifted sidewalk or faded parking signs, we reduce liability. When we help people avoid homelessness or help them when they become homeless, we reduce the cost and human impact significantly.
Jim Murez
A: I believe the job of the councilperson [is] to act [as] a conduit for the constituents to get the city services they are entitled to receive. When you break down the city as an entity, it is all about services—tree trimming, pothole fixing, law enforcement, etc. These are all services, and for most people that need help getting their needs promptly addressed, navigation through the layers of people in the city is overwhelming.
As councilman, I pledge to create a constituent tracking system that will be accessible from any smartphone or computer device. A system where requests can be entered, assigned to my staff and forwarded to city departments who are responsible for doing the doing.
The system will track when and how the departments addressed the request. The system will allow the constituent to track the request(s) and see the current status, and reports will display a report card that will reflect how I’m doing as a councilman. The detailed data will all be available for analyses (withholding personal info) that will show both edge cases and common issues.
Then through intervention, I’m hopeful the council office will be able to reduce the issues and the response time by attacking the largest problems first, followed by the often forgotten edge cases. All of the constituents must feel like their voice counts.
Greg Good
A: As a councilmember, I will require that my staff adhere to a strict customer service ethos. We will respond to all constituents within 48 hours—and as importantly, we will proactively engage and reach out to constituents to discuss and plan around major projects and decisions.
In many cases, this will involve town halls, me and staff attending community meetings, and developing constituent committees to provide feedback on issues on the front end rather than the back end.
Mike Newhouse
A: Professionally, the very definition of my job is hands on, daily engagement, with my clients. If my service is not tops, I lose clients.
Likewise, my volunteer public sector background, for the past 20 years, has been working closely with all 14 of the neighborhood and community councils on the Westside of Los Angeles, as a two-term president of the Venice Neighborhood Council, a founder and eight-year chair of WRAC (of which PPCC is a member) and president of the West LA Area Planning Commission.
In short, I know the district intimately, both in terms of geography and leadership, which makes [me] uniquely situated to serve its constituents. Specifically, my field deputies for each area of CD 11 would be drawn from the leaders in those neighborhoods whom I have already worked with for two decades and who know their neighbors even better than I do.
We will respond quickly and comprehensively to all constituent communications, and replicate the policy in my law practice, which is to return all calls and emails within 24 hours. Furthermore, we will dedicate staffers, full time, to each of the policy areas identified in the issue areas highlighted on my website.
I assure you, the level of responsiveness from my office, and me personally, will be unprecedented in CD 11 and a model for other council offices citywide.
Mat Smith
A: Constituent services are the bridge that spans the gap between our oversized/inefficient government and the people they’re intended to represent. Many of our politicians, even on a local level, take large donations from special interest groups, like unions, who pay to get them elected. These politicians are then beholden to these groups, and the bridge between them is secure and beneficial for both sides. It explains why an affordable housing unit in LA approaches $1 million.
In 2022, our elected officials represent the large interest groups that get them elected through donations, not the people. Sadly, the gap between our elected officials and the general public has never been greater.
I’m running, as a small business owner and lifelong resident, to represent the residents of CD 11. Maintaining this bridge and keeping the lines of communication open are essential in serving our communities.
While my opponents embrace the big money donations that seem essential to winning an election in a city the size of Los Angeles, I’ll focus on the people of the district and will do the same once elected.
Erin Darling
A: First, under my leadership, a call or email to the council office would be responded to within 48 hours. People need to know they’re being heard.
Second, my field deputies would live in the neighborhoods they serve. This is a neighbor-to-neighbor job, and I believe constituent services would improve if the sense of community was already built in.
Third, specific to the Palisades, we need to facilitate communication between neighbors and the LAFD to maximize fire preparedness.
Last, and this is districtwide, we need more investment in basic sanitation and street services so that public spaces feel clean and safe.
To listen to a recording of the Candidates Forum, visit palipost.com/palipodcast. Part I of the follow-up is also available for reading at palipost.com.
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