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Civic Circus with Ankur Patel breaks down local politics, with a weekly report on city, county, and state bureaucracies.

Neighborhood councils each represent different demographics of activists here in Los Angeles City… They each have their own unique strategies, tactics, and ideology.

This last Saturday was the Congress of Neighborhood Councils at Los Angeles City Hall, a bi-annual event… There were over 500 activists and community organizers from all across LA.

It was an all day affair with Mayor Villaraigosa gracing us with his presence at the outset in a typical semi-charismatic tangential speech that, he hopes, lays the groundwork for future political aspirations.

In addition to the mayor there were heads of departments like BongHwan Kim, head of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, and City Council members Bernard Parks, Dennis Zine, Paul Krekorian and Paul Koretz… But it wasn’t the elected officials that were important, it was the fact that the entire event — from the catering to getting Wal-Mart as the title sponsor — was organized by volunteers and neighborhood council activists.

The bulk of the program was broken into 3 sessions with a total of 21 workshops, each 75 minutes in length, detailing and explaining everything from how city council committees operate to animal issues in the city.

The sessions were packed with city workers, insiders, activists, and non-profits, so you had the chance to ask “Why do they pick up my trash at 6 am!” — or how does the Council File Management System keep track of every single piece of legislation that goes through the City Clerk…

The Congress ended with an action session focused around the fact that the city might prevent the NCs from conducting elections until 2014. As an elected body, many NCs and NC members feel that not having elections undermines their credibility… there were straw polls and people argued different points… it was grassroots democracy in action, a little messy, a lot confusing, but left me feeling hopeful.

Full Disclosure: As one of the organizers of the congress, I do feel it was a success in terms of attendance and the fact that there was a wealth of knowledge and expertise available to participants — and still available online at nccongressla.com — but as with most things, we had some glitches. The Neighborhood Council System is an evolving Social Action Network ingrained into the politics of Los Angeles City.

For that reason, some people may feel that participating in NCs is not worthwhile, I have been called naive because the NCs are controlled by the city and marginalized by the bureaucracy…. but It is the elected officials that are naive if they think showing up for 30 minutes, shake a few hands, kiss some babies, and cut ribbons puts them on the side of the people and protects their seats. The people that regularly participate have gotten beyond that naïveté and realize that they can’t make a single public comment or make one phone call and expect things to change… The people realize that it has to be a continuous movement, a building of pressure, and that requires a level of commitment and organization that Neighborhood Councils absolutely have.

When the audience learns the tricks of the trade and the language being spoken, the ringmasters sit up and take notice.

This is Ankur Patel with Civic Circus.