HHPNC Candidate Profile: Cathi Milligan

Born in Sweden before arriving in Los Angeles at two-months-old, Cathi Milligan isn't eligible to run for President of the United States. However, the nearly life-long Angeleno has her sights set on the president's seat of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council.

The owner of the Glass Studio on York Boulevard said she became involved in local politics through her participation in Councilman José Huizar's new York vision plan.

Milligan hosted planning meetings at her studio, and was one of the leaders of an effort that will bring Los Angeles’ first parklet to York Boulevard. She’s also the director of NELAart.org, which is responsible for coordinating Second Saturday Gallery Night, and a member of NELA Business Culture.

Though she never envisioned herself serving in local government, she said her years of experience on the board as an at-large member has motivated her to make some improvements on a board that she feels isn't always operating at full capacity.

Patch recently interviewed the presidential candidate to ask her thoughts about neighborhood council spending, her qualifications to run the council's often-contentious meetings and how she compares to her opponent Monica Alcaraz.

On Neighborhood Council Spending:

I'm very frustrated by the amount of time that’s wasted on mundane minutiae and procedural things. They just take so much time. A lot of time ends up getting devoted to pet projects. What's lacking is a vision for what we can do. It’s not about handing out money to people who come in and ask for it. It’s about creating situations that empower people. It’s the fish thing. You give them a fish and they eat, or you can teach them how to fish.

What students really need is a tool, a means of producing their own fundraising. A means of creating their own situations. An example would be having the neighborhood council help fund and train students to have their own screen-printing business, so they can produce tee shirts, stickers, posters. Things that they can sell. Say it’s a three-year program, so you’re using money once a year to help fund supplies and material equipment. Members of the community have the knowledge base about how to screen-print and can teach them so they can be self-sufficient.

Then, on top of that, teach them how to market these things, so they're not coming to the neighborhood council to ask for new helmets for the football team. So, if the football team needs helmets, they can create their own internal mechanism to fundraise. Not only do they get to make the money themselves, they learn how to make money. They are learning so much more than how to go and ask for help. They do it themselves. 

The schools don't necessarily teach students how to be entrepreneurs; they teach them how to take a test. This would give them a means to think beyond the scope of things. These are the things the neighborhood council should be doing, establishing those kinds of programs. They may need to happen in committee meetings and then come back, because right now, the meetings are just about funding whoever walks through the door. And I don't wanna say that shouldn't be, because we have to spend the city's money. But, how do we spend the city's money so that more people benefit from it. Is this benefiting nine students, is this benefiting 30 students, is this benefiting 50 students? One of my favorite things that we funded was the garden program over at Luther Burbank. Not only are you teaching them science, you’re teaching them about good food and nutrition. Everyone gets to benefit. It’s hands-on experience; there’s healthy food, organic vegetables. Kids are gonna learn to eat right. Sometimes, I know that the neighborhood council funds things that are unhealthy. I hate that. I don’t have kids, but if I did, I would not give them soda, chips, all those things like that. And I know there are certain instances where neighborhood council money is going to feed kids really awful food, and that’s just not right. There needs to be more focus on education. It’s not the status-quo. And I’ve been on the board long enough that I know there are people coming in who are repeating. And it’s the same thing. You know that some people are going to vote “yes,” some people are going to vote “no.” You’re gonna get your money and you’re gonna go. And I hardly ever hear what happens to them.

On her ability to run meetings:

In attending meetings, I feel like sometimes it’s not quite as focused. It’s not an easy job. Ever since I decided I was going to do this, I’ve been watching [current President] Chris Smith. He’s got a handle on what he’s doing. But it needs to be a little bit [of a] tighter ship. And I think I've got the capacity to do that. And I know that as president I don't have the capacity to vote and [it] may appear I would have powers that I don't have. I’m good with that. The fact that I can have some control over the length people go on, so meeting can be held more efficiently and effectively, I think that’s one of my skills. I don’t know that a lot of the people out there would know that about me, but I can run a tight ship if I have to. That’s one of those things that would help the council get things done, because I don’t think we get things done. We give out money—and that will continue—but I think I could shave off a little time and handle things more efficiently.

On how she compares to her opponent:

I don’t know her that well. I know she’s a parent, I know she’s involved in the PTA and because of that there’s a sense of volunteerism that she lives by and that’s great. I do not know what she does for a living, so I don’t know how that will affect her behavior as president. I know that for myself, I have this sense of diplomacy in myself. I think it may be my Swedish-ness (laughs). I try not to be so divisive with people and I’d like to see them brought together. Unfortunately, we have factions within the council, and that bums me out. I want to see everybody work together. I want to make sure if somebody’s feathers are ruffled, that can be figured out and worked out. It’s not about me, it’s about everyone else that’s there too. I have enough stuff that I get to shine on. I have enough stuff where I'm the star of the show.

For some reason, and I still haven’t figured it out, I’ve decided I’m going to take this chunk of my life and dedicate it toward volunteerism. So, part of that is that we really work together. That’s what I’m going to try to bring to this—a sense of diplomacy and compromise, by just trying to make the best of the situation and  really asking everybody to bring their best and not to argue. I see that kind of stuff in meetings and I think, really? You came here to yell at me? Or to yell at whoever? What does that do? Where does that get us. We all have to see each other on the street later. That’s one thing I’ve noted about this area. It’s a community and I see these people all the time. So, you know, not to quote Rodney King, but yeah, can’t we all just get along? Because, it’s silly. Some of the in-fighting you see is silly. A lot of it comes from the pet projects, because not everybody agrees that the pet projects are to the benefit to the greater community, they just benefit the smaller group. Perhaps by using my diplomatic means, I can point out that something like the screen printing idea will benefit so many more people than just giving out the money to whoever is standing right there.