Paul Krekorian Swears in New Neighborhood Council

A boy who fell down is being bandaged for a minor scrape in the back of the room. Pasta, salad and pizza from Vitello's famous local Italian restaurant is dished up for free for anyone who visits, and the meeting is held in the backlot of the CBS Radford Studios where Hot in Cleveland is being shot.

It's a usual scene for an unusual Neighborhood Council that was sworn in by Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian over the summer.

Each of the 15 board members are voted in because of a various specific interest in the community: people who own homes, people who own businesses, renters, employees and members of community groups that exist within the Studio City borders. People with those specific interests who come to the meetings are called "stakeholders."

Joshua S. Gelfat is the Youth Member of the council, replacing Jeffrey Steinberg who is going on to college. The Youth Member cannot vote must be between 15 and 18 years old at the time of the election. Right now, he is in charge of letting speakers know when their two-minutes of talking time is up, and he is planning to bring into the discussion that he should be allowed a vote on council decisions, especially when, at 18, he's allowed to serve his country and vote for president.

Along with Josh, the new members of the council are Lana Shackleford and Ben DiBenedetto. Although he was introduced as a new member at the meeting, renters representative Michael McCue was voted off by the board earlier this year, then voted in again by the stakeholders.

Here is the new Studio City Neighborhood Council:

* The At-Large spot on the council is held by long-time local leader Lisa Sarkin.

* The residential homeowner representatives are Wayne B. Kartin, John T. Walker, Ronald W. Taylor and Gail Steinberg.

* The residential renters on the board are Michael McCue, Todd C. Royal and Lana L. Shackleford.

* Business owners on the council are Jeffrey Carter, Ben R. Neumann and Ben DiBenedetto.

* The business real property owner is Rita C. Villa, and the full-time employee is Victor Helo.

* Those who are full-time employee of service organizations are Remy Kessler and Richard D. Niederberg.

Outgoing president Neumann said it has been a "challenging and interesting two-and-a-half years" and declared: "We have one of the most reputable councils in Los Angeles and we have had our ups and downs, but you just cannot make everyone happy."

Two of the board members, Walker and McCue, actually ran against the new Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who came to the Neighborhood Council meeting to swear them in.

Krekorian said, "This council is a model for many around the city."

Over the summer, Krekorian was instrumental in restoring five positions to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment that runs the 93 community councils. He found the money from the Community Development Department and said, "This is a budget-neutral action that does not cost the taxpayers a single dime, but still allows the department to function in support of the neighborhood councils."

At the swearing in, Krekorian said, "The city was on the verge of breaking apart the neighborhood councils.

"The Valley secession movement was an important move to getting people more involved in issues and having more responsibility in their government," the councilman said. "In my short six months, I saw that they wanted to fold [the Neighborhood Councils] into another department. So far I've been successful in fending off those efforts to weaken the Neighborhood council. I know this has not been an easy year for the council."

Krekorian honored longtime activist Barbara Monahan Burke for her tireless past involvement with the council. She received a standing ovation.

Neighborhood Councils receive $45,000 a year to spend on local activities, and one of the biggest events of this local council is the Fourth of July Fireworks celebration. City Auditor Wendy Greuel, who most recently represented the area as city councilperson, showed in an audit that at least six of the 93 councils might have mismanaged their money.

The new council president voted in was John Walker, who previously served as vice president. Todd Royal was voted in as vice president, Remy Kessler as treasurer, Rita Villa as secretary, Lana Shackleford as corresponding secretary.

The agenda is posted for public review at: Studio City Neighborhood Council site (www.scnc.info).

Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the CBS Studio Center at 4024 Radford Ave. This month, due to a special movie screening by the Cultural Affairs committee at the Egyptian Theatre (for the 75th Republic Studios celebration), the September board meeting is moved to Sept. 22.