Mayor-Elect Garcetti Hosting Northridge Town Hall Wednesday

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved setting up an account to take donations to cover Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti's transition costs until Sept 30.

Garcetti can solicit up to $250,000 in gifts, and each donor can give a maximum of $10,000. Any money that goes unspent will be absorbed into the city's general fund, which pays for city services and operation costs.

Money in the fund can be used to pay for staffing and equipment related to the transition and inauguration expenses.

Donors to the transition fund -- which will be handled by the office of City Controller Wendy Greuel until June 30 -- will be made public. Ron Galperin will be city controller starting July 1.

The controller must release money to Garcetti's transition team within 24 hours of the requests being made.

To lead his transition team, Garcetti named his longtime adviser and City Hall staffer Rich Llewellyn, who will be unpaid.

Llewellyn will be the only "official team member," with the transition staffed mostly by volunteers, according to Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb.

"Most transitions rely on a committee of insiders and celebrities. We have a streamlined office that is reaching out to issue experts and volunteers to accomplish specific tasks, while Mayor-elect Garcetti is going into the community to get ideas from neighborhood residents," Robb said.

Garcetti is in the midst of a "listening tour" to solicit suggestions as he prepares to assume the mayor's office starting July 1. He visited Boyle Heights last week and is scheduled to swing by south Los Angeles this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd.

About 200 people showed up for the Boyle Heights town hall, Robb said, adding the attendees wanted job training programs, getting their alleys cleared and a City Hall that is "closer to the people."

Garcetti is also scheduled to make stops in:

- West San Fernando Valley on Tuesday, June 11, at 7 p.m. at Faith Presbyterian Church, 5000 Colfax Ave.;

- Northridge on Wednesday, June 12 at 7 p.m. at the Grand Salon Room of the CSUN Student Union, 18111 Nordhoff St.;

- West Los Angeles on Saturday, June 15 at 1 p.m. at Windward School, 11350 Palms Blvd.;

- Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, June 20, at 7 p.m. at Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. Sixth St.

Those interested in attending must RSVP to backtobasics@lacity.org or call (213) 473-2367.

Garcetti will also hold an online town hall on Thursday, June 13, at 7 p.m. More details will be posted at http://transition.lacity.org/news

Here's some more information on how to sign up for the town hall.

Many thanks to those who have already registered for the town hall with Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti at CSUN on Wednesday. 

We expect to reach full capacity. Here's what you can do to secure your seat and help spread the word: 

• RSVP now by emailing BacktoBasics@lacity.org. 
  
• Join the event on Facebook, and invite friends: http://bit.ly/14QpAXC.