DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — October's meeting of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC) Board of Directors was shifted across the street from the Los Angeles Theater to the Palace. Arts funding was the meeting's most debated topic, with the Board voting to shift funding from the Downtown Art Walk's Hippodrome shuttle to marketing materials for galleries.

The meeting opened with a mandated screening of the "Sexual Harassment Policy of the City of Los Angeles." Neighborhood councils are part of the City structure, after all, so Board members got to sit through 20 minutes of workplace etiquette do's and don'ts.

Chuckles were heard when the City produced film, using actual city employees as actors, ended with a disclaimer that made clear that while you may recognize some the of people, they are indeed only dramatizing possible scenarios.

Shift of Downtown Art Walk Funds

In September, the Arts committee made a motion that $500 in monthly funding be redirected from the Art Walk's Hippodrome shuttle and be spent instead on marketing for galleries. The motion was continued so that the committee could make it more specific, and returned to the Board on Tuesday.

Board member Hal Bastian brought up the recent print article about Downtown Art Walk, which Art Walk founder Bert Green unraveled as an exploitative report of "schisms."

The motion from the Arts committee says that the new funding will support awareness of "galleries and cultural facilities downtown." Line items included marketing materials, a website and printing of "sorely needed maps."

The motion to discontinue financial support for the Hippodrome, also referred to as the Art Walk Party Bus, was unanimous. Current Downtown Art Walk management was not present at the meeting. The followup motion to use the freed up funds to support a refocused branding that directly supports art galleries and art museums was passed with one nay and one abstention.

PROS Committee

After the lengthy discussion on the fate of funding for Art Walk, and a long list of community announcements earlier in the meeting, there were brief updates on Pershing Square. The Friday Night Film Series will include a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and audience are encouraged to dress up in costume. Again, the concept on converting the parking lot behind the Eastern Columbia to a park ––now named the 9th and Hill Green Project -- was discussed. Funding for the steep purchase price remains the core issue.

Logo Contest Update

Board member Ashley Zarella informed the Board that she "took it into her own hands" to make the recommended changes for the new council's new logo. The base design came from a logo contest the council ran earlier this year, but the volunteer designer was reported to have balked at continuing further changes pro-bono. The DLANC logo is now a series that has committee names in different colors.

The Board's next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 10.