Encino Neighborhood Council - put it out of its misery

At this week’s Encino Neighborhood Council meeting, candidates outlined why they should be on the board. One after another they said how much they love living in Encino and then they pledged to support ENC’s stop-all-growth policies. Not one bothered to talk about how to improve the quality of life in Encino – more trees and planter boxes, community events, traffic mitigation, bike paths, homeowner rights and responsibilities, etc etc.  Is it too much to ask, if you are running for something, to hear some philosophy other than “Stop all growth”?

The neighborhood councils will stagger along for a few more years, but who cares anymore? The current budget cuts, auditing scandals and confusion over their future isn’t really the problem.  The real problem is that for years they have failed to come up with any proposals that might prepare Encino residents for the next 20 years and growth has continued regardless.  The Encino Chamber of Commerce is no better but that’s another story.

This non-policy has ensured that ENC is irrelevant to most residents.  Now I’m not saying that ENC is alone in this thinking. Most homeowners I talk to are resistant to any changes and blaming the City is a favorite pastime, but unless ideas are presented to them, I don’t think residents are going to come up with any on their own.  Encino will remain a place people drive through, where business owners complain all the time and residents see change happen around them without their having any say in it.