On September 9, 2014 I attended the Glendale City Council meeting which was held at the Council Chamber which is located on the 2nd floor of the Glendale City Hall, Room 200, 613 East Broadway, Glendale, California. The meeting commenced at 6 p.m. and lasted for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. Several policy proposals were made and discussed in this particular meeting. This paper is aimed at discussing the various policy proposals made and debated at this meeting with a view to establishing whether they are acceptable or unacceptable to the Glendale electorate. It is, however, essential to provide a brief background of the City of Glendale before embarking on a discussion of policy proposals. The City of Glendale is located in Southern California. According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report, Glendale has approximately 191,719 inhabitants and a total area of approximately 30.5 square miles (City of Glendale 3). This “Jewel City” has a Council-Manger type of government. The notable members of the city government are the five council members who are elected to a four-year term as well as the city manager and clerk (City of Glendale 3). The current five council members are Zareh Sinanyan, Ara Najarian, Paula Devine, Dave Weaver and Laura Friedman. The elections for the Council Members are held on the first Tuesday of April of every fourth year (City of Glendale 1). Most of the council meetings are presided over by the city mayor. The mayor is selected from among the
On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew
The governing core of South San Francisco is the city council, which creates municipal laws and the overall policy, decides how to expend treasury, assigns members to all consultative local businesses and represents the city officially. The city council`s members are Richard A. Garbarino as a mayor, Mark N. Addiego as a vice mayor, Pradeep Gupta, Karyl Matsumoto and Liza Normandy.
Penticton’s city council is comprised of a 7-member panel which is headed by the mayor. The council is elected to a 4 year term. Penticton’s city council is responsible for passing and implementing the
This paper is about the Propisition 60 that will be voted on in California this November. It discuses the opposing arguments for and against the bill and what the consequences will be if the bill is passed. Also it will discuss as to whether the Proposition is best viewed from consensus or conflict view of law.
Besides being the most responsible for addressing the problem, government officials also have the most to gain from a successful policy proposal. This is why government officials are also this proposal’s target audience. If the homeless population can be reduced or the issue completely resolved to the point where homelessness is no longer an issue, government officials would benefit greatly from the publicity of such success. City officials, given their responsibility, are thus both the key player and target audience for this policy analysis and proposal.
A city council is considered the body in cities that have corporate status and also have a local government. Their responsibility is to create laws which affect all of the residents that live in the certain city which they work in. Every city has a different number of city council members and the type of district that they are responsible for representing varies from city to city. In some cities the council member is elected by the whole city in a similar method to the way that a mayor is elected. Another way of electing city council members is by electing them to represent certain parts rather than the whole entire city being represented by just one member. The final way is by a
The experience going to the council meeting was great and I would imagine that the items on the agenda had a great deal to do with that. The topics I found the most interesting revolved around public nudity, serving alcohol in public, spending grant money, a gun ordinance, and polling the public about being taxed. The agenda item revolving around public nudity took up most of the time. Currently, Eureka doesn't have a ordinance in place to give police authority to arrest citizens who are nude in public when it isn't a sexual act. The chief of police gave example of a person doing Tai Chi in a public park nude. The police were called and couldn't do anything short of asking him to put his clothes on. There was concern among a few council members
California streets are overwhelmed day-to-day by the homeless population, yet city and county services are limited and the issue continues on. To address the problem of homelessness in California, city and county leaders have collaborated and proposed future plans across the region. The city council recently approved a plan that involves the creation of services and programs to those who are homeless, but realizes the budget for funding these plans are not available at hand. The effort to solve the homelessness problem is not within the plans of strategies; however funding these strategies is the solution to making these plans a reality. Focusing on the issue, the city and county leaders have different roles that each are responsible for and the funds needed for these plans exceeds over $1.85 billion over the next ten years and currently about $30 million is already spent on strategies to reduce the homeless population.
elected separately from the council, and is often a full-time and paid position with a significant administrative and budgetary authority. This form of government, the elected City Council sets policies for the operation of the City. The City Council enacts Ordinances, the laws of the City, adopts Resolutions authorizing actions on behalf of the City, reviews plan for development, and establishes the policies by which the City is governed. The City Council consists of seven members a Mayor and two Councilmember 's elected citywide and four additional Councilmember 's elected by individual districts. The administrative responsibility of the City rests with the City Manager, who is appointed by the City Council upon recommendation of the Mayor. Each Councilmember is
The Dahlonega City Hall was crowded on the evening of March 1st 2010. The seats were full, except for at the very front, and the standing room was filled almost out the door. The crowd, mostly made up of students, leaned in to hear as the voices of the City Council members faded in and out of the faltering sound system. The six City Council members and the mayor sat along a bench as if they were the judges at a hearing. Because of the ongoing discussions and the crowd, I thought I had arrived a few minutes late; but I was able to find a seat in the front two rows. Despite how packed the small room was there were plenty of empty seats in the front. I had thought the meeting was well on its way by the way conversation was going and
Along with a thorough enough discussion of anything comes the inevitable unearthing of its strengths and weaknesses. The Portland Plan has a number of strengths: it is comprehensive, well thought out, inclusive, and should ultimately lead to a well-planned and sustainable city. How in-depth the Portland Plan is, is a testament to its preparedness to face any challenges to lead the Portland of today into becoming the Portland of tomorrow, as any potential question that may arise is likely addressed within the text of the plan. The mercurial nature of the plan is to its advantage, as anything not addressed within the text of the plan does not render the plan obsolete, but rather may be simply found by finding the popular opinion of the
However through urban planning and development, solutions can be discovered and put into action to allow easier flow into urbanism. Transportation issues for example can be resolved by planning for the future of Los Angeles and by investing in the public transportation system. An example of this would be investing in bike paths, lanes, and routes so that people with low income, such as Hispanic immigrants, can travel to their locations in an easier manner through biking. An investment “to fill in gaps and complete the citywide bike plan” for this method of transportation “calls for nearly 1,700 miles of new and upgraded paths and lanes before 2035,” which can seem difficult but possible (Laura J. Nelson). Biking as a new main method of transportation “can help reduce crashes of all types and assist in reaching an ambitious new city goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025” (Laura J. Nelson). A solution to gentrification through urban planning is to instead focus on a new method of development called Asset Based Community Development. Through this different urban revitalization process, an inside out approach is taken where development occurs by focusing on the communities’ assets and building upon them, unlike gentrification. When the community is dedicated and determined to rebuild their torn down neighborhoods, it is possible to bring new life to the neighborhood by focusing on assets such
My proposal will benefit only families of the local communities mentioned previously. These communities have been afflicted with a new interest for gentrification of more affluent residents. We need to protect the low income families from displacement of their neighborhoods. Data that must be collected to initiate the proposal is the family’s income, financial issues, and household size. We are also going to gather data regarding housing prices, rentals and the impact of gentrification within the
Using my previous fieldwork and the Windshield Survey, I was able to drive around the city of Pasadena observing local patrons. I was able to focus my desire for improvements on specific areas I thought would be appropriate and want to focus on specifically for my community health topic. Due to the large amount of people in the city, I was able to go to local parks, outdoor malls and various busy streets. Using questions addressed from the Windshield Survey, I was able to delineate whether the city is primarily rural or suburban. Approximately how much open space is there and whether it is open space or private? Pasadena is a suburban city and has over 7 million square feet of open space (City Data, 2015). The survey also asks how old the buildings and homes are in the community? Are these homes similar or different in structure and architecture? Are there solar panels in use? Are the yards trimmed and neat or overgrown? I used the city 's
I chose to attend a city council meeting for this assignment and was very surprised at what I witnessed. The city council served an important purpose and the meeting actually accomplished many important goals. Among the interesting things that I saw at the council meeting were the people who attended, the people who presented, the people who sat on the council, and the subjects that were being voted upon in the meeting.