Time Running Out for Skid Row Subdivision Vote

Stakeholders in the Downtown Los Angeles and Historic Cultural Neighborhood Councils are being urged to register and vote in a fast-approaching election that will determine the fate of a proposed new neighborhood council that would represent the Skid Row area.

Controversy surrounds the vote as some stakeholders question the voting process put into place by the City’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment as voter registration commences and polling deadlines draw near.

If approved, the Skid Row subdivision would become the downtown area’s third-largest neighborhood council, bounded by Main Street on the west, Alameda Street on the east, Third Street on the north, and Seventh Street on the south. The new subdivision also overlaps HCNC boundaries that include four Little Tokyo blocks, while the DLANC would lose 45 blocks.

All stakeholders are eligible to vote if registered. Stakeholders are defined as anyone who lives, works or owns real property in the neighborhood as well as those who declare a stake in the neighborhood as a community-interest stakeholder, defined as a person who affirms a substantial and ongoing participation within the Neighborhood Council’s boundaries and who may be in a community organization such as, but not limited to, educational, nonprofit and/or religious organization.

Online voting began March 28 and will continue until Thursday, April 6, 7 p.m.; however, online registration closed April 2. After that, stakeholders may only register in person at one of the pop-up polling locations through April 5. Pop-up locations include:

Wednesday, April 5 — 12 to 3 p.m., Medallion Apartments, 334 S. Main St.; 1 to 4 p.m., Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Room 2005

Election Day is April 6. There is a single polling location at the James Wood Community Center, 400 E. Fifth St. The polls will be open for four hours, 3 to 7 p.m.

For more information on Neighborhood Councils, visit http://empowerla.org/councils/.