Katherine McNenny

420 South San Pedro St. #430

Los Angeles, CA 90013
katherine.trees@yahoo.com

June 14, 2018

VIA EMAIL:
david.ryu@lacity.org
gil.cedillo@lacity.org
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org

Health, Education and Neighborhood Council Committee

C/O City Clerk
Los Angeles City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Room 395
Los Angeles, CA 90012

RE: Council File 18-0467 (Proposed Neighborhood Council Reforms)

Members of the HENCC Committee,

My name is Katherine McNenny and I am a resident of Los Angeles and a Stakeholder in the Skid Row
neighborhood. I respectfully ask that my letter and its contents be included in this case file.

I must insist that any recommendations you finalize include the further investigation into our 2017 Skid Row
Neighborhood Council Subdivision election, DONE’s failure to rightfully certify our NC and specifically Grayce
Liu’s unilateral decision to ignore the unanimous findings of the election challenge panel she herself
convened. None of these things have ever been formally addressed by the City of Los Angeles, despite the
herculean efforts of several members of our Formation Committee, of which I am a member.

Members of our Skid Row NC-Formation Committee have done the following:

• Submitted 3 election challenges before the deadline to file (all accepted)

• Had all 3 challenges upheld by a DONE-convened election challenge panel (with a request from the
panelists to investigate and/or grant us our NC outright)
• Submitted a grievance against the Downtown Los Angeles NC (which was never addressed)
• Submitted evidence to DONE that the DLANC President was lying at challenge panel (ignored by DONE)
• Did our own investigation into election “irregularities’ by filing CPRAs and more (ongoing)
• Appealed to BONC to have our election issues agendized (they did not)
• Tracked a letter the Eagle Rock NC sent to City Council, seeking clarification about our election
challenge panel (City Council ignored the letter)
• Asked LANCC for support, which they offered in the form of a letter addressed to City Council
requesting that they investigate our election challenge panel (City Council ignored the letter)
• Appealed to BONC again to investigate our election and panel (they never did)
 • Appealed to the City Ethics Department for them to investigate our election and panel (ongoing)
• Appealed to your HENCC Committee to investigate our election and panel (you did not)
• Filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for dereliction of duty and gross negligence (pending)
• Had numerous articles written about our efforts in local media
• Filed a lawsuit against the Little Tokyo BID for failure to respond to a request for records related to our
election (pending)

We have methodically and carefully exhausted every single avenue the City has available to get our issues
investigated and our neighborhood recognized. We have even had supporters of our efforts, outside our
community, work to help us. Every single City entity we have appealed to has ignored us, even though DONE’s
purview is to “empower” communities, and specifically to (emphasis added), “Ensure equal opportunity to
form Certified Neighborhood Councils…Create an environment in which all people can organize…so that they
develop from the grassroots of the community.” And, to “Actively promote the formation of Certified
Neighborhood Councils Citywide, giving emphasis to those areas and Community Stakeholder groups with
traditionally low rates of civic participation in government.” Please note that BONC met us with indifference
as well.

What members of the Formation Committee have uncovered so far has everything to do with racist voter
suppression and disenfranchisement. We have verifiable evidence (not that anyone has asked us to see it)
that several lobbyists were hired by an anonymous Delaware-established LLC to influence members of City
Council to make last-minute changes to our election for the purpose of suppressing mainly low-income and
African American voters Downtown. I made the below map to show what voter suppression looks like. Keep in
mind the Subdivision Ordinance states, "The Department (DONE) shall conduct an election within the
boundaries stated in the subdivision petition.”
In summary, while I support the changes you propose to DONE, any final document must include a process for
certification of the Skid Row Neighborhood Council and changes in the election process so that what
happened in our case, will never happen again.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Katherine McNenny

CC: Eric Villanueva - Legislative Assistant: Eric.Villanueva@lacity.org

CC: Holly L. Wolcott - City Clerk: CityClerk@lacity.org