CommentsEASTSIDER - After all of the General Managers we’ve had at the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), both good and bad, never has anyone risen to the forefront with a move which jeopardizes the entire system. Not until “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” the current General Manager Raquel Beltrán.
In a career of over 50 years mostly dealing with public sector employers and labor unions, I’ve seen a lot, and been on both sides of the equation. Also, during that time I’ve worked for a number of serious power junkies.
In analyzing Beltran’s latest move, I admit to an upfront bias -- I hate it when people in a position of authority abuse their position to hurt others. I don’t care if the perpetrators are elected officials, department heads, supervisors, or faceless bureaucrats.
So it is in that vein that I say it is time to deal with an unelected Mayoral appointee who got a gig by Mayoral whim, exempt from the civil service examination process and anything other than flattering the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, who himself was looking for another job even as he paid off his long time Neighborhood Council front, former DONE General Manager Grayce Liu, with a real City job.
That person, of course, is Raquel Beltran, the current General Manager of DONE.
By the way, hat tip to our own Bob Gelfand, for two really good CityWatch articles outing her obscene power grab. You can find the draft version of Beltrán’s “City of Los Angeles Workplace Equity Policy” here, with the posts revealing title of “Fascism with a Smiling Face.”
What’s really weird is that the only place I could find her draft Workplace Equity Policy that Bob refers to was a link embedded in his earlier July 22 piece. You can find it here.
I had to re-read it twice to believe what was before my eyes.
By the way, Ms. Beltran, this is not the current City of Los Angeles Workplace Equity Policy. It is the wanna be BONC/DONE/Beltrán’s version of becoming the Director of Personnel (a position that I believe is already filled). I am particularly fascinated by section 2.1.3 “Other Individuals Covered by this Policy”.
Suddenly we have “Unpaid Interns, fellows, and volunteers (e.g., Neighborhood Council Board members, and unpaid commissioners) are protected from. . .”, with the OberGruppenfuhrer as. . . Raquel Beltran!
Reality vs. a Power Grab
Highlighting the proposition that I think Raquel Beltran lives in an alternate reality, there already is a real live City Policy on Equity. It’s a part of the LA City Personnel Department, and you can find the site here. (Quoting from the main page link, just look under the box for City employees’ rights & responsibilities)
‘City employees' rights & responsibilities
The Office of Workplace Equity (OWE) works with various City departments, elected offices, and outside experts to develop policies that uphold professional, equitable, and inclusive workplaces, and explain your rights and responsibilities as an employee of the City of LA. The City’s Workplace Equity Policy was designed to ensure that City Employees understand the City’s values of equity, inclusion, and diversity, that they can quickly and easily find out what behaviors are prohibited by the City of LA, and what they should do if they become aware of an ‘Equity Violation’ (an incident of harassment, discrimination or other prohibited conduct).”
Note the obvious -- you need to be a City employee to have this stuff apply to you. So it applies to DONE employees, not to unpaid volunteer Neighborhood Council Board Members. Are Neighborhood Council Board Members classified as employees? Get it?
If you have any question about the Councils position, there is only one Council File relating to Neighborhood Councils per the elected officials. It is Council File 20-0990. The Motion was by David Ryu for Mike Bonin and seconded by Paul Koretz in 2020. It went through the Arts, Parks, Health, Education, and Neighborhoods Committee in February 21 with a recommendation to pass. You can find the link here.
The Motion was then amended by Bob Blumenfield (CD 3) and Mitch O’Farrell (CD 13) on February 24 and adopted. The exact language of the Motion is:
“INSTRUCT the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to develop a plan and protocol to proactively provide training on issues relating to gender identity and gender expression to individual neighborhood councils when a board member or actively-involved stakeholder has transitioned or made known that they have changed their name or preferred pronouns.”
That’s all folks.
Eric the Gone’s Pronouncement
Even as our largely absent Mayor gets set to beat it out of town and hide out in India as an ambassador, he did promulgate a gender equity policy, but that’s all it was/is.
“On the day that report was released, the Mayor also issued an executive directive on gender equity, which called on every City Department to help Los Angeles fulfill its responsibilities under the CEDAW ordinance. As one of the first cities to adopt CEDAW, L.A. served as a model for its implementation by creating the Gender Equity Coalition — which includes a Gender Equity Liaison from every City Department — and directing the leadership of each Department to prepare a Gender Equity Action Plan, complete with quarterly plan progress reports, to measure and address disparities in the workforce.”
Again, you will notice that this has to do with actual employees.
BONCs Potential Malfeasance
Since reading Bob’s two articles, I have searched high and low for an official copy of the draft Policy. Guess what, no luck! There was a BONC meeting scheduled for August 3, but it was suddenly canceled. And miracle of miracles, there is NO AGENDA posted.
I’ve written both BONC and DONE to request a copy of the suddenly disappeared Agenda, but as of the writing of this article no joy. You have to wonder if maybe, just maybe, they realize that Beltran could very well embroil them in a feud likely to wind up in court.
If they haven’t, they should. After all, she’s “recommending” that they “approve,” so guess who’s holding the bag?
Is the City Attorney’s Office Legally Responsible for their Actions?
Since we know that both BONC and DONE have LA City Attorneys assigned to them, I would like to know the names of the ones who told GM Beltran that her wholesale usurpation of the City Council is legal and ok.
I mean, look. We all know that he (Mike Feuer) has the hots to become Mayor next year, even though he has done absolutely nothing to help Neighborhood Councils. Other than having Feuer’s deputy city attorneys rubber stamp every stupid thing that BONC wants as “legal.”
And more dangerous, the NC lawyers are famous for orally claiming that Neighborhood Council Board members are somehow “clients” and subject to City Attorney “advice” which is binding. Horsepuckey. Wonder why they won’t put it in writing?
The only provision in the Charter regarding NC Board members being part of the City family is the express language making the Ralph M. Brown Act apply to Neighborhood Councils.
So all the oral advice given to the 99 Neighborhood Councils is highly questionable if it goes beyond the statute. Same for BONC and whatever advice they give BONC members that they are afraid of putting in writing.
If this idiocy goes through it should give every candidate for Mayor a freebie in demonstrating Mike Feuer’s unfitness for the job. I say this because he has a whole Neighborhood Council Legal Advice group who advise both BONC and DONE as to what is legally defensible. If they are that lame, too bad for the boss.
The Takeaway
If this madness on her Workplace Equity policy gets voted in, I would suggest that the BONC Board members resign quickly, because it is their necks on the chopping block, not Beltran. After all, she only recommended that they do this.
And as for the City Attorney NC division, I have always heard through the grapevine that their big fear is that a Neighborhood Council will do something really stupid and get the City sued.
How about this one. Here their various “clients” are the BONC Board, General Manager Beltrán, and according to their very own (unwritten) position all the NC Board members. Do I hear conflict? Do I hear stupid? Do I hear good luck if you get sued?
I think this issue is defining enough to warrant a line in the sand. In a follow-up article, let’s all think about what we the governed can do to restore a rational Neighborhood Council system with honest brokers as legal advisors to BONC and DONE.
I’m very open to suggestions as to how we can do this. Feel free to email me at [email protected]
Think about it.
(Tony Butka is an Eastside community activist, who has served on a neighborhood council, has a background in government and is a contributor to CityWatch.) Photo: Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
