Eagle Rock Encouraged to Participate in Alliance of River Communities

A representative of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council urged members of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Tuesday to participate in a new alliance of regional neighborhood councils aimed at boosting their collective visibility and voice at Los Angeles City Hall.

HHPNC member Hector Huezo informed the ERNC board at its monthly meeting at Eagle Rock City Hall that neighborhood council leaders from the East Planning Area and surrounding regions met this past week and formed a new group that represents neighborhood leaders from communities as geographically diverse and distant as Los Feliz, Eagle Rock and areas near the Hollywood freeway.

Named Alliance of River Communities—or “ARC” for short—the new group is themed around the Los Angeles River, which is “sort of a symbol of what connects us,” Huezo said in response to a question from ERNC Treasurer Ashley Atkinson about whether the new alliance would also be a lobbying group for the L.A. River. 

“We had a very candid and straightforward discussion about what worked and didn’t work—and one of the consensus items was that this ‘East’ and ‘Northeast’ naming became an issue at some point,” Huezo said, referring to the June 25 ARC meeting. “So we decided to adopt a name that was a little bit more inclusive and representative and emblematic of all of our communities.”

Two previous attempts to organize the alliance under different names flopped, Huezo said, pointing out that such names as Northeast Central Alliance (NECA) and Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) proved to be less than unifying.

The entire project is in its very early stages, Huezo conceded, but holds much promise. Huezo did not say exactly why the L.A. River was chosen as the regional grouping's thematic focus—nor why an equally important river in L.A.'s heritage, the Arroyo Seco, was left out.

The next ARC meeting is scheduled for July 25, Huezo said, encouraging the ERNC board to attend. Besides a Friends of ARC group that would be in attendance, organizers are hoping to get newly elected City Council officials to speak to a group of ARC-affiliated neighborhood council leaders, Huezo said.