VOICES-We live in Granada Hills but you would never know it because we realized our area has been hijacked by the North Hills West Neighborhood Council. That’s right. 6,000 residents are being held Hostage by NHWNC. In particular, the President of the NHWNC, Mr. John McGovern who, in our opinion, is one of the most incompetent, inept, disorganized and disgraceful leaders of a Dictatorial regime we have ever seen. How do we know this? Let us tell you:
On Oct.29, 2013, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously that our area, West of the 405 East of Balboa Blvd. North of Lassen and South of Devonshire is officially Granada Hills, 91343.
All done with the blessing of the NHWNC and the GHSNC
After that vote, our group went to the NHWNC to please have them kindly allow our Neighborhood to move to the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council so we could be recognized as Granada Hills. The GHSNC even adjusted their By-laws to accept us.
For some reason, the City, State, Federal Government, Lending institutions, credit card companies, the DMV and even Macy’s and any Department Store won’t recognize us as Granada Hills unless we are in the correct Neighborhood Council. Go figure. Also, we have been in the Granada Hills-Knollwood Community Plan since 1953 and we were NEVER officially North Hills!
So, after asking the NHWNC to kindly allow us to move to the GHSNC, President John McGovern simply ignored us for 2 years. He would never put us on the Agenda which is a violation of his own By-Laws. We have been held Hostage for 2 years! Let me repeat that: TWO YEARS!
When our group, Granada Hills South Neighborhood Watch, finally confronted him in February 2015 he calmly said, “I have no intention of letting you go. I made that mistake with Northridge East. I won’t make that mistake, again!” There was no vote. No discussion. No Ad Hoc Committee to investigate moving to GHSNC just an absolute, “No.” from El Presidente, John McGovern.
We thought this Council knew what Abraham Lincoln had said, “Of the people, By the people, For the people.” but not at the NHWNC. No, it is run solely by one man, John C. McGovern.
Bear in mind, North Hills West crime is not our crime. Why? We have a different Senior Lead Officer. We live in a different neighborhood. Their problems are not our problems. They concentrate their efforts south of Lassen. They post their Bulletins south of Lassen. They don’t do anything north of Lassen. We live North of Lassen!
Last year, they had a BBQ where they finally invited us. Finally! Well, we’ve been having a Neighborhood BBQ for the past four years and we invited them every year. Not one of them ever showed up. Not one. We have had over 300 neighbors come every year for the past four years to our Neighborhood BBQ’s.
Now, they want to put up Neighborhood Watch signs but not in our area. They are allocating money for it from the City. Where were they 4 years ago when we did it ourselves? We raised the money ourselves. We put them up ourselves and without tax payer money!
Still, Mr. McGovern insists, “I have no intention of letting you go.” Why? Is it because the more stakeholders, the more money he gets from the City to enrich his neighborhood?
The only reason McGovern is on the Council is because he lives within 500 ft. of the Woodley/Chase lot that is being converted to 78 homes and McGovern must vote on this issue with his Council so some Commercial entity won’t erect some loud Commercial enterprise across the street from his home. But he can’t even do that properly.
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First, he issues an emergency meeting at the North Hills Library at the last minute, so no one will show up to oppose him and, of course, we are on the Agenda to vote (not discuss) our leaving their Council which he conveniently never gets around to.
Well, according to his own By-laws you need seven Council members to vote because there are 13 Council members and only seven Council members showed up. So, what does McGovern do? He recuses himself and one other Council member, Nancy Xander, because they live too close to the project. Only 5 voted for the project. But, his By-laws called for seven votes to pass thus violating his own By-laws and making their vote null and void. Incompetent? Inept? Ignorant? You bet! And yet, not one of these council members caught this Faux pas. Not one!
And this happens all the time!
He also presided over the previous North Hills West Council and the entire Board got up and quit, accusing McGovern of sexism and Bullying. They are: Robin Tyler, Pat Harrison, Debra Francisco, Mary Armenteros, and Anita Goldbaum. Remember, five women council members quit the North Hills West Neighborhood Council due to bullying, sexism misogamy, and DONE and the City did nothing about it.
Here are some quotes from just one former member of the NHWNC, Debra Francisco the former Secretary of the NHWNC, where John McGovern disrespects and insults the Council and Grayce Liu the head of DONE (the Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment):
1-When John McGovern became president he stated to me (I was the secretary) "that he didn't give a rats ass what Grayce or DONE had to say he will run the council the way he wants"
2-He was, in my estimation, sexist toward the women on the board by not letting us speak and cutting off our microphone...and he referred to the women who were helping with street cleanup as a "harem"
3-He defied DONE with regard to a grievance panel stating they were to hear all 12 issues rather than just the one that DONE told him to do...he was reprimanded for not following procedures.We think this should enrage the over 6,000 stakeholders that live in our area. But, we don’t believe they know what’s going on and just how badly they have been railroaded.
Also, there was this rumor that we wanted to change our name so our property values would rise. We had to remind them that our zip code is 91343 and the homes north of Devonshire are 91344 and they are worth $10,000-$15,000 more simply because of that zip code. Of course, they did not believe us.
So, in March, they finally voted us down without forming an Ad Hoc Committee or doing any investigation or discussion as to why we wanted to leave (another violation of their By-laws). They just insulted us by voting us down after pleading with them for 20 minutes to let us go. In our opinion the fix was in.
Guess what? McGovern doesn’t get removed. He doesn’t get punished. He’s not forced to resign. Absolutely nothing happens to him! Nobody says a word. They just keep wandering aimlessly through their own Council meetings being lead by a blind man.
No matter what was said, not one of these Council members, except one, would vote differently than McGovern who voted NO. Gary Fordice voted YES and understood the reasons why we needed to leave. Also, Carol Hart voted to Abstain, which did us no good whatsoever and she lives in our Neighborhood! Yes, Carol Hart lives in Granada Hills, but won’t admit she’s sitting on the wrong Council!
We took this issue all the way to Grayce Liu, the head of DONE (Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment) who oversees these Councils but no one can force these Councils to adjust their By-laws!
We asked her to look into the matter over 4 months ago. We even sent her a certified letter about our complaints as recently as July. We’re still waiting.
Now, we are stuck with a do nothing Council that does not represent us, has no interest in our area, does not have the same crime or the same issues and the incompetence of a disorganized, ignorant President who doesn’t know his own By-laws, named John McGovern who has said, “I have no intention of letting you go.”
Tell me, what would you do?
(Authored by Sam Kwasman, Debra Francisco, Robin Tyler, Karima Diaz, Dante Diaz, Lee Albers, Don Jacob, Elaine Buckler, Pat Harrison, Diane Dior, and many, many others. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessicarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 81
Pub: Oct 6, 2015
