TALKBACK - Friday was a double whammy for the Tarzana Neighborhood Council. Two radically different articles about the Tarzana Neighborhood Council appeared on the same day (June 15) in CityWatch and Empower LA.
I was featured as a” local hero” in Empower LA’s newsletter for Chairing the Onegeneration Senior Enrichment Center May Senior Symposium where eight Neighborhood Councils sponsored this very successful event. Other than elections it is a real milestone in cooperative efforts.
And, on the other side of media life, Lisa Cerda, Chair of “Tarzana Residents Against Poorly Planned Development”, blasted the TNC in CityWatch with a whole list of grievances.
Since I am a regular reader of CityWatch, when I came to the “diatribe” from Ms. Cerda I thought she was writing about some other NC. I don’t know Ms. Cerda. I have seen her twice heading a group who wish to keep their small Tarzana enclave rural.
I’ve been on the TNC Board for almost two years and have never seen her at any of our meetings except for one where she spoke against a proposed senior retirement project in her area. As far as I know she has not been to any of our multitude of activities. If she had, she never would have written such a critical article about TNC. I can’t speak for the past, only the last two years.
I agree that each Neighborhood Council Board has its own share of curmudgeons and progressives.
We are all operating under the guidelines of the Empower LA agency. We do have a responsibility to make sure that our monies are well spent. But times are changing. DONE has a new name … Empower LA.
We have to do more with less! NC budgets were cut again for this coming fiscal year. Each NC must expand its network of volunteers. TNC has no paid office Administrator, as do some of the other NC’s.
The TNC Board of Directors held a retreat at the end of last year to discuss how we can better meet the needs of our stakeholders, given these difficult times. It was the consensus that we would concentrate our efforts on all kinds of outreach to our community.
TNC has accomplished some terrific events in the last fiscal year. Its April Earth Day celebration, in conjunction with the Woodland Hills/Tarzana Chamber of Commerce, had almost 1000 attendees.
Even more exciting was having five of the Tarzana public schools participate in a poster contest. Our Environmental Chairman, Joel Jaffee, worked with the schools and marshaled 1000 posters, which were judged by experts and hung along the fences at the Tarzana Cultural and Community Center, site of the Earth Day celebration. Each school received $250 in art supplies and the WHTCC gave prizes to the individual winners. It will be an annual event.
TNC does “e-blasts” weekly, participates in community fairs like “Taste of Encino and “Night Out”; loads relevant content on our web site; recently established a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
It experimented with a postcard mailing, which brought almost 70,000 hits to the web site and the huge audience to Earth Day. It also planted 50 trees along Ventura Blvd, which are now starting to bloom.
We are soliciting volunteers for committees as well as candidates for the coming election. Interestingly enough, there are quite a few younger stakeholders who want to get involved and are being encouraged.
TNC has put aside a significant amount of money to promote both candidates and encourage stakeholders to vote in our September 20th election. We have two representatives on the regional election committee and will be doing joint advertising.
TNC has a presence at the Valley Cultural Center’s Concerts on the Green and will use it to promote the election, as well as other activities.
I agree with Ms. Cerda that the concept of Neighborhood Council is great. Each NC knows its community. Tarzana is not just a community “South of the Blvd.” Most of our elementary schools have a very diversified student-body and Tarzana boasts a very ethnically diverse population.
Our commercial ventures are starting to thrive and the TNC encourages our stakeholders to support these entities. We are all working to make Tarzana the best place to live, work, shop and play.
I’m afraid Ms. Cerda is behind the times. The TNC is FOR building an inclusive community. As one can see from Ms. Cerda’s group name, they have a singular focus, which is AGAINST change.
(Denyse Selesnick is Chair of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council Outreach Committee. Check out the TNC website: tarzananc.org) –cw
Tags: neighborhood councils, Tarzana Neighborhood Council, Lisa Cerda, EmpowerLA, Los Angeles, TNC, Tarzana
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 50
Pub: June 22, 2012
