Local government, within reach.
Made by a neighbor. For neighbors everywhere.
Civic Atlas is an independent guide to who makes decisions in your community, how those decisions affect you, and where you can take part. Local government shapes everyday life, and public money pays for it, but its structure is rarely explained in plain language. You should not need to know how government works before you can find your way through it.
What makes Civic Atlas different
One starting point, five ways in
Find your rep, understand an office, join a public meeting, report a local problem, or look through Council decisions. Civic Atlas connects resources such as the City of Los Angeles government directory, MyLA311, and the City Clerk’s meeting calendar, so you can start with your question instead of guessing which agency site to open.
Relationships, not just a directory
The current City of Los Angeles graph connects 70 offices and public bodies through 52 documented relationships, showing who advises, appoints, or works with whom. The visual approach is inspired by CivLab’s San Francisco government graph, and paired here with plain-language explanations and source links. The connections are a researched starting point, not a complete account of every relationship. Civic Atlas is independently developed and is not affiliated with or endorsed by CivLab.
City and County, kept apart
The City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County are separate governments. Civic Atlas distinguishes similarly named offices, including the City Attorney and the County District Attorney, so you can explore both in one guide without first knowing which level handles your concern.
Understanding that leads to a next step
Each office profile explains the role and offers a useful action. MyLA311 handles service requests. Civic Atlas adds the context around tools like that, so you know where you are going and why.
About the project
Jason S. Richmond founded Civic Atlas USA in September 2026 in Los Angeles. It is free to the public, and a Torobelly Labs project, built to support everyday civic understanding and participation through the November 2026 elections and beyond.
Its purpose is to help people understand offices and responsibilities, find official information, and make their own decisions. Civic Atlas is an independent project, and not affiliated with State or Local Government. It is not a substitute for official election information.
What you can do here
- Find your City Council district by address and see who represents it.
- Explore local government through selected offices and sourced relationships.
- See all 15 City Council districts on a map.
- Find public meetings, agendas, and ways to comment.
- Find a service or a useful next step, including trash collection and street issues.
- Explore deeper civic research on participation and public information.
Sources, scope, and limitations
Review dates mark when information was checked. They are not a promise that every officeholder, meeting, or procedure is unchanged.
The graph maps selected institutions and relationships. Rings group types of offices. They do not imply a chain of command. A missing connection means it has not been mapped here, not that no relationship exists. Relationship descriptions and sources appear on the office profiles.
The district map uses the boundaries adopted in 2021. Neighborhood names are orientation aids, not address-level proof of a district. Use the linked official tools to confirm your location and the current information. The motions and votes view is a labeled sample, not a complete voting record.
Search on the landing page matches the curated office and resource directory. It does not generate AI answers. You can inspect the structured source data, the source register, and the methodology.
Data is drawn from public sources, including City, County, and agency materials, and profiles link to those sources. Civic Atlas does not receive a private government feed. The site, text, maps, and data are provided as is, without warranty. They may be wrong, incomplete, or out of date. Confirm with the official source before you rely on them. To the extent the law allows, the author and Torobelly Labs are not liable for the use of this guide.
Start with a question
Who is my Los Angeles City Council member?
Start with your address to identify your district, then open the representative’s profile. Find your rep.
Which Council district do I live in?
Use the address lookup rather than guessing from a neighborhood name. To see the wider geography, explore the district map.
What is the difference between City and County government?
They are separate governments with different responsibilities. Civic Atlas has a City view and a County view, with an explanation of the offices in each. Explore the structure.
Who makes decisions about the city budget?
Office profiles explain the roles of the Mayor, Council, and other offices in public spending. Follow their source links for the official descriptions. Explore their responsibilities.
How can I speak at a public meeting?
Start with the meeting’s current official agenda and participation instructions. Phone, online, written, and in-person options can vary. Find a meeting and its instructions.
How do I arrange bulky-item pickup?
The directory links to the City’s scheduling page. Check that page for eligibility and preparation instructions. Schedule a bulky-item pickup.
Where do I find official election information?
Use the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for registration, current elections, voting options, and results. Civic Atlas explains government. The election office provides the authoritative voting information.
Los Angeles first
Civic Atlas starts in Los Angeles. Our goal is to bring the same practical tools and local understanding to other communities, towns, and cities—shaped by the people who live there. Request your town or city.
Inquiries
For questions about Civic Atlas USA, or about an edition for your community, email build@torobelly.com. For a new city, include your town or city, state or region, and what you would like the guide to help people understand.
Privacy and corrections
No accounts, no ads, no tracking, and we don’t save addresses. How the address lookup works, and how to report an error.