PDLA July 8 Presentation to Culver City Governance Committee

Last month’s Model Civic Assembly in Culver City, co-hosted with our partners at Braver Angels, offered a glimpse of what’s possible when everyday Angelenos come together to learn, listen, and deliberate.

When we launched this experiment in model assemblies, we weren’t sure a short session could capture the spirit of a full civic assembly. But the response was powerful.

As one participant shared, “Just listening to people’s experiences and what people want and need about different options and opportunities really helped me believe that there’s hope in getting some of this done.”

You can read more in the LAist feature on the model assembly: https://bit.ly/model-assembly

Culver City council member Brian (Bubba) Fish attended the exercise, and requested a presentation to the City Council Governance Committee, which was made by PDLA on July 8. Culver City has allocated $250,000 to explore how its budgeting process could better reflect community priorities, and a civic assembly is a candidate for this process.

The committee was interested in the civic assembly process, and a discussion ensued as to how to fit the civic assembly process with the operational constraints at Culver City, chief of which is the budget calendar. (It may be too late for the upcoming budget, but the following budget is possible.)

Momentum is building, and things are moving quickly. What started as a bold experiment is now opening real doors for lasting change in how decisions are made. If you're inspired by this model and want to be part of what’s next, we invite you to connect with us, join our bi-monthly meetings, and help shape the future of democratic participation in Los Angeles.