Breached! GGPNC using invalid bylaws

By John F John Jr

GGPNC STILL CAN’T FOLLOW THE RULES

The Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) has confirmed that the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GGPNC) has been conducting meeting, appointing board members and distributing public funds under the wrong set of bylaws.

It is a staggering violation of public trust. Tax payer funds available to the GGPNC are now being distributed by a board that was wrongly appointed.

This breach of established rules is sadly only one in a long line of nefarious conduct by the board under the helm of Los Feliz Forward for the past year. Whether they are violating their own rules or those mandated by the State of California makes little difference to those in charge. Once again neighborhood stakeholders have been hoodwinked by a small handful of angry men.

Los Feliz Forward was the brainchild of board members Tomas O’Grady and Mark Mauceri, both formerly from New Jersey. Shortly after relocating to Los Angeles they cleverly effected the hostile take over of the GGPNC. It could be argued that this was was achieved by exploiting vulnerable community groups. Disturbing messages of ethnic bias began to pop up in and around Los Feliz, a sort of double reverse hate speak. See [homophobe] and [ethnic].

They then spent the next year passing sweeping changes to bylaws that were once heralded as best practices by DONE. The process for pushing the bylaws to vote often involved cutting off public comment or posting agendas that didn’t meet minimum Brown Act requirements. It was the exact behavior the Brown Act was designed to protect against. Former board member and long term community activist Tom Wilson actually left the board because he was so frustrated with the lack of due diligence.

Ironically they had all the votes they needed to legally pass anything they wished. But it appears that they are so accustom to gaming the process that they are simply unable to play be the rules.

During the May meeting nine new board members were appointed to the GGPNC. They did this under the new set of rules that had been rushed through during the past year. However, the GGPNC neglected to wait for the bylaws to receive final approval from DONE. Nine senior members of the board who had spent decades donating their time to Los Feliz were not allowed to vote under a controversial provision of the new bylaws. This of course affected the potential vote count of every candidate running, some winning a seat by only one vote.

The new bylaws also affected who might have chosen to run for an appointed position. Senior board members had little hope of winning a seat with the” Los Feliz Forward only” voting block. It is safe to say that Tomas O’Grady’s and Mark Mauceri’s Los Feliz Forward has had an unfriendly history with the senior members of the GGPNC board. And in fact the average age of the GGPNC board has dropped about twenty years since the May appointments. The deep well of experience with the neighborhood, the park and with city and state government has been swept away. Now you will find the President allowing painfully long debates over which balloon to choose for a street fair.

GGPNC President Ron Ostrow who use to lecture his predecessors from the Robert Rules of Order as if he were a Parliamentary preacher now has to face the general board and try to wordsmith an excuse for what can be described as a major and unprecedented screw up. One can expect his delivery will be flawless. The only hope for a clean get away is that DONE some how forgives the breach of rules. The fact that to undo this arrogant mistake would be a gigantic mess might play in their favor. To make the invalid election valid would likely take more resources than DONE has to offer.

However it should not take DONE, or endless calls to the City Attorney, or the Code of Civility, or the State Brown Act, the GGPNC bylaws, or even Robert Rules of Order for the most casual observer to concluded that something is habitually wrong with the leadership of this neighborhood council.

The cure in whatever form may have to come from DONE. The leadership of GGPNC appear unable or unwilling to heal themselves.

25% of LA's kids are obese, yet City budget drains City recreation

Today - if nothing changes - the Los Angeles City Council will be voting a budget for Recreation and Parks that kills recreation and healthy activity for LA's most at-risk kids.  Cheers!

Bringing it back to the area around Griffith Park now, guess who didn't show at the City budget hearing for Recreation and Parks to support recreation in Los Angeles? The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council's newly-selected Recreation Representative, Mark F. Mauceri. Or any of the rest of the GGPNC board or committee members, for that matter.

With their selection for Recreation Representative, the GGPNC completes a series of actions by which they have effectively marginalizing the once-thriving community forum on the whole from any truly meaningful existence. The rest of the community will need only to simply step around the very loud carcass. Most people already are.

'Los Feliz Forward' a major step backwards

Special to Griffith Park Wayist.

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The Disappointing Priorities of Los Feliz “Forward”

By John F. John Jr.

Maximize your assets
Minimize your liabilities

This is a business strategy so basic it seems silly to even mention it. However the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council governing board, led by the Los Feliz Forward slate, is sadly operating in exact reverse. It was never more apparent than in the back-to-back votes during the last month’s meeting of the Executive Committee.

First vote was to suspend all activities of the Parks River and Open Space committee providing they don’t offer a suggestion for a committee chair. Putting the procedural absurdity of this vote aside, this action would effectively kill the GGPNC’s greatest asset.

PROS provides oversight to one of the crown jewels of our city, Griffith Park. And not just a crown jewel, Griffith Park is a national treasure as the largest urban wilderness in our country. It is a destination for tourist from around the world. It is the location of truly iconic images such as the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory. It is the home to a delicate plant and wildlife ecosystem.

PROS played a major role in achieving cultural historic landmark status for the entire park. The PROS committee is comprised of more local volunteers, regional leaders, and community activist than any other GGPNC committee. PROS is also our council’s most stalwart watchdog over city bureaucracy.

There is no stronger advocate for preserving the spirit of Griffith J. Griffith’s open ended gift to our city than the PROS committee. That is why it is absolutely mind boggling to me that the GGPNC would vote to suspend all activities of this strategic group.

Admittedly it should have come as no surprise. I have been an observer or the GGPNC board meetings for nearly four years. I have witness the repeated attacks by a few angry men against the former chairman of the committee. I have watched senseless debates over every single dollar that gets appropriated to PROS projects while money handed to other committees have very little questioning or oversight.

In recent action I watched the executive committee orchestrate a backward trip through time in order to overturn a vote from the prior board. Last June, the Executive Committee agreed on a plan to freeze nearly $38,000 of public funds. They did this under the agenda heading Other Comments and Announcement, hardly the open and transparent meetings they claim to hold. Included in this were nearly $15,000 allocated to the park.

Image credit: civicintersection.com

Later in the general board meeting Mark Mauceri moved to take back the money appropriated for the PROS newsletter. This was after two members of PROS reported that the news letter was only ten days from completion.

The newsletter was, “something we take a great deal of pride in” said Dr. Napier a long time Los Feliz resident and board member, “it is one of our most valuable resources”. However, that little gem of outreach had been targeted for years by Mauceri and (CD 4 candidate Tomas) O’Grady.  At the meeting last June they finally succeeded in its repeal. They both laughed openly at the chair as she tried to save it.

The way those two meetings were agendized, and the ram it through arguments presented by Ron Ostrow and others should have given me clear warning where the priorities were for the new board. Anyone who has worked with budgets knows there are a multitude of paths to achieve desired goals. Unfortunately for the park, the new board’s choice has been to slash funding rather than to find creative solutions.

Read the painful minutes of this procedural shenanigan and note that only the Los Feliz Forward slate voted in favor.


The focused effort against PROS is as much personal as it is philosophical. The former chair, Bernadette Soter, is a quiet powerhouse and formidable opponent at a board meeting. Ms Soter knows how to elbow her way through a debate involving limited funds. The obsession with PROS, I believe, is driven by the need of a few angry men to finally win an argument, any argument over Soter. They are willing to weaken park oversight in order to finally get their way.

Make no mistake about it; suspending PROS does nothing good for the park, the neighborhood or the GGPNC. It is a procedural one up where winning is more important than outcome.

Second vote and only moments later was the appointment of Mark Mauceri as the chairman of the newly-formed Recreation committee. The process for vetting a proper chair seems to change from committee to committee. PROS was required to attend an outreach meeting where Mauceri only had to show up with form letters signed by a few of his friends.

Without getting into a long list that will just burn a hole in the lining of my stomach, I will say from my perspective that Mr. Mauceri has been the GGPNC’s greatest liability.

Mr. Mauceri has never been far from the controversies that have surrounded the GGPNC in recent years. He pretty much failed as Secretary, a mess that is still being sorted out. He has conveniently lost minutes, misrepresent board positions and engaged in repeated shouting matches. He is the author of truly hateful emails. Here are some examples. He has written emails that denigrate a person’s race and sexual orientation. Later he proudly admits to the fact and suggests that more - and worse - could come.

No single person has generated more animosity with the long time residents attending the meetings. His east coast brand of aggressiveness has driven away valuable volunteers. I can’t imagine what the Executive Committee was thinking when they unanimously appointed this controversial figure to chair a committee.

Demote PROS.

Promote Mauceri.

It is the reverse universe. It is the exact opposite of what should be happening. The above two votes moves Los Feliz backwards not forward. The Executive Committee’s inability to effectively navigate the political waters of our council is very troubling. Their willingness to ignore the inherent controversy in a figure like Mark Mauceri and instead focus disproportionate time on PROS is a detriment to the neighborhood.

I say all of this with the knowledge that most of the Los Feliz forward members are sincere and vital volunteers. It is unfortunate that they are being led by the misguided few. Their leadership will talk a good talk and their response to my opinion will be as confusing as it is long winded and disingenuous.

I urge all members of Los Feliz and beyond to show up for the public meetings and help me defend Griffith Park from the limited vision of a few angry men.

High-density shills infiltrate Griffith Park NC

Guest editorial by Radio LosFeliz.

Another Vote for High Density

The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council's new deceptive duet of Tomas O'Grady and Mark Mauceri are once again supporting code violating development in Los Feliz. Shortly after being seated to their questionably-won GGPNC board positions, the dirty tricks team of O’Grady and Mauceri wasted no time in voting in favor of a developer asking for a significant variance from the city to build a massive apartment complex across three existing lots on New Hampshire avenue.

The O'Grady and Mauceri vote on May 18th was in direct opposition to the GGPNC's own internal Planning and Zoning committee. But then why should they on the board listen to the committee’s recommendation? After all, the committee had only studied the issue in depth.

The design that developers hoped to force upon the neighborhood is in gross noncompliance with section 7A of the Vermont/Western SNAP (Station Neighborhood Area Plan) which mandates new development to: "maintain the current prevailing scale and character of these blocks and improve the pedestrian environment." Sub-area A of the SNAP sets the limit of construction at two lots. This large single structure across three lots is the poster child of the type of development the sub-area A was designed to protect against.  It only invites future high density monoliths to what once was a neighborhood filled with garden apartments.

The developer’s argument to the GGPNC was if their variance wasn't granted, then the alternative would be a really ugly one.  Apparently the firm can only make nice designs if the buildings violate city codes. O’Grady actually urged the GGPNC board to “give them a break,” suggesting that going back and designing something nice for the neighborhood that followed planning rules would be just too expensive for a real estate development firm.

O’Grady and Mauceri smiled broadly and were first to raise their hands as they voted to support this gluttonous precedent-setting compound to be located just a stones' throw from Los Feliz Elementary School.

This action follows a long list of pro-developer voting from O’Grady and Mauceri.  These two Los Feliz newcomers call themselves green in public, but time and time again in late night GGPNC meetings, after  most stakeholders have left, they have voted to support increased development in our neighborhood.  It is still not clear how a former adult entertainment executive who once proudly boasted of bringing porn into the mainstream and his developer buddy are now in the position to vote in support of a development across the street from our elementary schools.

Voting in lockstep with the seasoned O’Grady and Mauceri were their Los Feliz Forward accolytes: newly seated GGPNC board members  Masi, Van Keuren, Nubaravacharyan, and Khanjian.

It is perhaps only luck that the motion to support the developer's massive project actually died because newly-elected NC President Ron Ostrow shockingly declined his right to vote or give an opinion. That in itself was jaw dropping.  Ostrow's unusual inaction caused a death-nail tie, demonstrating that the remaining old board members still had some ability remaining to stand up to massive, inappropriate and unwanted development.  Unfortunately, the official position that was then signed by Ostrow proclaims the GGPNC takes no position on the high density project.

It is a shame that in a matter of a few weeks the GGPNC went from opposing this type of zoning violation to having "no position", and differing to city bureaucrats. 

The logical question with respect to the GGPNC and Los Feliz Forward is: what’s next?  What sort of lucrative development project can we expect to see coming to and around Los Feliz?  And who will be there next time to stop the destruction of the character of Los Feliz?

The O’Grady and Mauceri deception machine appears well-oiled and ready to kick ass.  I just wish they would quit looking at our neighborhood like it was a wet t-shirt contest.
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Late word is that facing growing community opposition, the developer has withdrawn his current proposal.