Westwood NC Hearing Jan 19th 6 p.m. at United Methodist Church

John Saddleback
Westwood Press
http://www.uclawestwood.com/

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (B.O.N.C), a seven person board appointed by the mayor, will hold one public hearing on January 19th, 2010 before deciding whether or not to approve the application to have a Neighborhood Council in Westwood. 

The Westwood NC formation group held it's last meeting Sept 24 at the Westwood Presbytarian Church in Westwood. About 75 people attended the event.  Follow these links and you may be able to catch some insight into this heated meeting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfEuMYRK-7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozWryfqYrMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJPDcbNCE18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8VxpWT3VBg

Some in the crowd were against the formation of an NC in Westwood and they made it clear. The main argument is that NC's can't sue over development issues and HOA's can. NC's can only advise the City Council but are not allowed to sue. The main argument for an NC in Westwood is that many in Westwood have no representation other than one city councilman, Paul Koretz. Anyone who lives or works in Westwood but doesn't own property in Westwood is excluded from HOA's which have been the only organized form of political representation in Westwood.  There has been a lot of controversy over how this NC was formed and this hearing is expected to be the most heated meeting in Westwood ever.