Neighborhood Council Overseer Group to Be Folded Into Other Agency

The Daily News' Rick Orlov reports that today Mayor Villaraigosa is expected to announce that the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which oversees Neighborhood Councils, will be folded into another agency. Via the news: "A recommendation to the mayor on Sunday calls for placing the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, or DONE, within the Community Development Department and reducing its staff from 42 to about a dozen. DONE has a total budget of $3.2 million. Under the action, DONE General Manger BH Kim is expected to step down as director. Responsibility for the agency will be placed with CDD Director Richard Benbow." As previously reported by other papers, there's been strange screw-ups recently at the agency ($880,000 in unaccounted credit card purchases, for instance). And while admitting that he's "not a fan of DONE's performance," Our LA.org OpEd writer Noel Weiss questions the legality and protocol of folding one city agency into another.
· DONE expected to be folded into another agency to save money [Daily News]
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