To that end, the League of California Cities has now started a service called Citizens For Local Control that will enable local citizens to follow developments in the state capital that will affect them.

"This is of interest to every city. We are getting organized to get the community together," said Rebecca Elliot, the local representative of the League of Cities in the Bay Area.

All that anyone has to do is to get the service is to sign up for it at www.cacities.org/clc. Those interested can also email Rebecca Elliot at relliot@cacities.org.

The organization will send out a quarterly email newsletter that will provide information on legislation that has been introduced at the state level. There will also be periodic email updates about important public hearings at the state capitol. The updates might also be about budget issues or anything affecting California cities. The web page will provide regular updates, too.

"The city of Saratoga has been very enthusiastic in their response. I spoke to a seniors' group at the senior center and they were very enthusiastic about it," said Elliot.

"It is too late for homeowners to weigh in by the time they know what is happening in Sacramento," she said. Elliot hopes that the new service will remove that delay so that homeowners and landowners will be able to affect legislation before it is passed.

"What we are looking at right now is the protection of local control and the passing of the ballot initiative in November," she said. The ballot initiative is being proposed to give local governments more control over their destiny.