Wilbur Vote is Tuesday 15th 6pm - 8:30pm Nobel Middle School

This Tuesday March 15th at Nobel Middle School there will be a joint Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council and Northridge West Neighborhood Council meeting in which both Councils will hold a cumulative ballot vote on the fate of Wilbur Ave.

I urge everyone to attend, love the road diet or hate it, and when you do...

PLEASE JOIN THE COMMUNITY WALK TO THE VOTE!! 




Major Concerns:

Secretive Ballot style Vote....?
The agenda and procedure for the meeting have been made public. Of concern is that according to number 10 on the list below, the vote will be a "ballot vote" taken by the boards which will conceal the individual votes of the board members. Many feel that the board members should be beholden to the public since they are public representatives of the community and voiced concerns about this at the March 8th NC meeting.  PLEASE NOTE that not everyone on the board is comfortable with concealing their vote from the public.  

As a representative of the people of my district, I promise to make my vote public the second it is cast. Others on the board have pledged to make their votes public as well.


Cumulative Vote on Competing Interests?
I don't believe that combining the vote of both Neighborhood Councils is appropriate. Porter Ranch has a very different interest in the street than does Northridge west. For Porter Ranch, the conflict is about the speed at which one can cut through the neighborhood. These folks are not happy with the Road Diet because it slows them down in their travels to other areas.


Northridge West, the NC in which the entire road configuration is located, has a competing interest. These are the people that live on the street and in the local community. Not many people wish for a faster noisier street in front of their houses or near their schools. Not many people wish to compete with cut through traffic to get to their homes. Not surprisingly about 78% of the people living in the community support the calmer safer street. 98% of the residents who live in homes with frontages on Wilbur support the new road diet.

Because of these obvious competing interests and simply for the fact that each board has different bylaws and number of members, the votes should be tallied as separate boards. Yet, when we look at the make up of both boards, we find that the majority of the combined board lives in Porter Ranch. In fact technically Northridge West Neighborhood Council meets in Porter Ranch boundaries. This gives the impression of a distinct bias.

Dear Stakeholders:

Please join Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Councils on Tuesday night March 15, 2011 at Nobel Middle School (9950 Tampa Avenue Northridge, CA 91324) between 6:30pm  to 8:30 pm for a joint town hall meeting to review and vote on the latest LADOT Wilbur Avenue Road Diet striping plan.

The meeting will be structured in the following manner:

1)  Pledge of Allegiance – by LAPD
2) Introductions  - CD12 (Five minutes)
3) Location: LAUSD - Nobel Middle School
4) Date: March 15, 2011
5) Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

6) LADOT will present the new official revised Wilbur Avenue road diet plan to both the PRNC & NWNC councils (Twenty five minute allotment)

7) A brief Question and Answer will follow between LADOT and PRNC/NWNC councils (Given the limited time constraints each board member will be given the opportunity to ask one question. Only after each board member has asked their question will a board member be offered the opportunity to ask a second question)  (Thirty minute allotment)

8) One individual  in support and One individual in opposition of the revised LADOT Wilbur Avenue  road diet plan will be offered four (4) minutes to present a supportive and opposition prospective of the new striping plan (Eight minutes)

9) Public comment – any individual that wishes to speak will be required to submit a speaker card and will be given 1 or 2 minutes (Depended on number of speakers) to speak on the LADOT plan presented  – every effort will be made within the time limitations (6:30pm to 8:30pm)to ensure every individual has an opportunity to speak (Thirty seven  minute allotment)

10)  At 8:15pm a cumulative write in vote from the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards will be taken (Board members names will not be divulged at the meeting  but will be on their voting cards for verification and recording purposes – Board members need not feel intimidated) (Five minute allotment)

11)  A For, Against, Abstain vote for the revised LADOT plan will be taken and tallied up of the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards (Ten minute allotment)

12)  The tallied votes will then be presented to the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards and forwarded onto Councilmen Grieg Smith

Please join us as we move forward with the Wilbur Avenue road diet striping plan. Thank you for your participation.

Tom Johnson

President

Northridge West Neighborhood Council