Los Angeles City Council Meeting - April 4, 2025: Honoring Community Leaders and Public Service
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Los Angeles City Council Meeting - April 4, 2025
The Los Angeles City Council convened on Friday, April 4, 2025, at 9:30 AM. The meeting featured a series of presentations honoring long-serving city staff, youth programs, a championship basketball team, and LAPD reserve officers who served at the Paris Olympics. The council also conducted routine approvals, heard public comments, and adjourned in memory of activist Father Richard Estrada.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The council approved the minutes from the April 2, 2025 meeting. (Motion by Councilmember Soto-Martinez, seconded by Councilmember Rodriguez)
- Commendatory Resolutions: The council approved items for which public hearings had been held (Items 1 through 3) with a vote of 10 ayes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Larissa Jordan: A formerly incarcerated resident from South Central LA complained about individuals displaying indecent exposure during the meeting, stating it traumatized children present. She also praised a local resident named Mr. Marcus for voluntarily cleaning streets and painting poles on Florence and Western, urging city support.
- Mr. Marez: Supported the previous speaker, criticizing the council for failing to control disruptive individuals during the meeting, calling for leadership and action.
- John Camara: Thanked Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and his staff for responding to concerns about restroom conditions at Rosita Park, expressing hope for improvements.
- Mr. Herman: Shouted about a court case (case number CV 0906 731) and made profane remarks, subsequently being cut off.
- Annette Davis Jackson: A Fairfax High School graduate and Spelman College alumna reported an emergency involving a man named Benjamin M. Mosa Menza who allegedly siphoned methamphetamines from the Netherlands and placed his name on property her family has owned for 50 years. She requested city help with quitclaim deed fraud.
- Mr. Spindler: Made profanity-laced remarks challenging council members to break quorum and criticizing Councilmember Curren Price for not hiring Black attorneys in his legal defense.
Discussion Items
- Presentation: Olivia Mitchell (50-Year City Service): Councilmembers Rodriguez and Padilla honored Olivia Mitchell, a longtime youth advocate who began working in Mayor Tom Bradley's office in 1974. Mitchell created numerous youth programs including the Los Angeles Youth Council and the Student Day in Government program. The council recognized her with a 50-year service pin and noted the Olivia E. Mitchell Youth Council established in 2021. Mitchell gave remarks thanking colleagues and family.
- Presentation: LA's Best After-School Program (35th Anniversary): Councilmember Hernandez, an alumna of LA's Best, introduced the program which serves 17,000 children daily at no cost. President and CEO Michelle Broadnax, Principal Dr. Lucy Hunt of Monta Vista Elementary, parent Maria Rios, and students Ruby Gonzalez and Sarae Torres testified about the program's impact on academics, nutrition, and safety. The council presented a resolution declaring April 9, 2025 as LA's Best Day.
- Presentation: Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School Varsity Girls Basketball Championship: Councilmember Soto-Martinez and Councilmember Nazarian honored the team for winning the 2025 CIF Southern Section 4A championship—the school's first basketball title. Coach Amin Garibi and senior guard Narnar Shahanian spoke about community support and resilience amid wildfires. The council presented a signed basketball and certificates.
- Presentation: Charlie Roush (47-Year Retirement): Councilmember Harris-Dawson recognized Charlie Roush, a zoning administrator who started with Councilman Joel Wax in 1976 and joined the Planning Department in 1984. Roush contributed to major projects including the Porter Ranch Specific Plan and Warner Ridge settlements. He noted his mentorship of future planning directors. The council presented a recognition for his service.
- Presentation: LAPD Reserve Corps - Paris 2024 Olympics: Councilmember Lee honored reserve police officers who volunteered to serve at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Carla Amundsen (Reserve Foundation president) and Officer Bernard Khalili reported that 30 LAPD reserves were the largest non-EU foreign law enforcement contingent, all serving unpaid on their own vacation time. They highlighted insights for LA's 2028 Olympics and proposed allowing reserves to participate in the paid LAPD Coast program after completing volunteer hours.
Key Outcomes
- Votes: Items 1 through 3 (post-hearing items) were approved with a 10-0 vote. Item 2 was considered as amended by motion (Padilla/Rodriguez) and also passed.
- Quorum Notice: Council President Lee noted the council had exactly 10 members present (bare quorum), warning that departures would end the meeting.
- Adjourning Motion: Councilmember Rodriguez moved to adjourn in memory of Father Richard Estrada, a longtime activist who passed on March 31, 2025 at age 83. Father Estrada founded Hovnanian Inc. (now serving 700+ homeless youth yearly), marched with Cesar Chavez, and championed immigrant and worker rights. Councilmembers Soto-Martinez and Lee joined in honoring him. The council adjourned in his memory.
Meeting Transcript
Dragon Parade organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles. Today's a perfect example of what it looks like when community comes together. We have legislators from all levels of government here. We have community organizations, people who do dance and different arts and crafts coming together to provide a beautiful parade for the community. It's an incredible honor to be the ground marshal of this parade because my grandfather is the founder of Los Angeles, China Bell. So the meeting together, Chinatown with the Dogs is a pretty engage. What it does is it brings everybody in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County together to celebrate one of the many rich cultures that we have here. The Chinese New Year this year is specifically talking about resiliency, for example. And resiliency is what the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles needs right now because of how horrifically the year started with us with the natural disaster that we experienced. As a matter of fact, that's why they were kind enough to put this event off so that we can still try to recover from that. But collectively, whether it's law enforcement, government, our community, we're gonna need each other as we move forward. We're celebrating the year of the snake, which is strong, resilient, compassionate, and we want to give a big hello to everybody. So thank you, Los Angeles. Thank you, Chinatown, and let's have a good time. Happy morning to everybody. We're here, obviously, to try and maintain safety for everybody, but also to be part of the community to enjoy the event and to help celebrate the great tradition of this community and be able to develop a network and a partnership moving forward to benefit public safety throughout the city. We want to make sure that everybody respects every community, every culture, every language, every food. That's who we are in Los Angeles. That's what the parade is about. And it had to be delayed temporarily. But the wildfires are a good example of how we bag each other up, how we help each other. That's what today is all about. Young Hey Fat Choi, happy new year to all the members of our community. Make sure that if you haven't to come by Chinatown, come by from those local businesses, come and enjoy this space. We need to do whatever we can to make sure that our Chinatown thrives, and the way we do that is by coming and partaking in this space. Price gouging is a concept that came about after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. And what happens in the wake of a disaster or an emergency is that there are always speculators and profiteers who come in and try to buy stuff up and raise the cost. So price gouging is an effort to profit off disaster or someone else's tragedy by raising the cost of necessities by more than 10%. And it's a crime. So don't raise prices by more than 10%, is the short message. It's not a victimless crime. It's the kind of behavior that is the antithesis of what we as Angelino showed we were in the wake of these fires. Most of us pulled together. Most of us were there helping each other. So for those few who are out there violating the penal code and trying to make a profit at the expense of people who just lost everything. If you experience prize gouging, you can report it to the city attorney through the MyLA 311 app. Who knew that jujitsu could offer so much to healthcare professionals and our LEPD? This self-defense system and martial art uses leverage and positioning rather than size or strength, and it's become an effective tool for law enforcement. Take a look. Look at this. What's going on today is the safe wrap system. Uh we brought Hannah and Hedon Gracie from Grayson University to uh teach our in-service instructors and outside agencies and our civilian medical staff, the safe wrap technique that they've been teaching for over a year now. I like this one to try practice with. It also gives Bernardo something to hold on to, as we just say, the supports I would be going weak. Initially it was only meant for health care, but it was so effective that law enforcement soon saw the technique and they said, hey, not only does that look safer than what we're currently using, it actually looks more effective than the methods of restraint we're currently teaching our officers. So now you have a technique that is safer for civilians and officers, but also more effective tactically, and that's what makes the safe rap system so unique. Once he only enters in the rear, you circle for the void, and he drops his inside me. And he calls Zed. And then I walk him down. And we're here.
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