He's a week.org.

Granada Hills is celebrating its one hundredth anniversary this year with a series of events.

On Saturday, August 9th, join the Los Angeles Public Library at the Granada Hills Branch to learn all about the LA Aqueduct and how water has shaped the growth of LA.

Guest speaker Jack Feldman will tell the story of the aqueduct and the challenges to bringing water to the city.

Feldman retired after 36 years with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and is an avid local historian.

On Sunday, August 10th, the free movie is Sonic Three.

This twenty twenty four action adventure comedy film is based on the Sonic video game series.

Head to Tiara Street Park for free screening of Sonic Three on Sunday, August 10th at seven thirty.

For more information, visit the Instagram of Council Member Nazarian at C D Two Los Angeles.

And that's a look at some things to do.

And that's all for this week.

I'm Susan Huckle, and from all of us here at LA This Week, thank you so much for joining us.

Remember that you can watch us online anytime at LA City View dot org.

We're also on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

See you next time for more LA this week.

Challenge yourself to conserve.

Turning off the faucet when you brush saves up to ten gallons of water.

Taking a five-minute or less shower saves up to fifteen gallons of water.

Washing only full loads of laundry saves up to thirty gallons of water.

And fixing a running toilet can save up to fifty gallons of water.

Keep it in mind all day, every day.

It's water conservation the LA Way.

Fifth day of August in the year twenty twenty-five.

Public comment for this morning's meeting will be taken in person in this chamber.

Mr.

Clerk, let's begin our proceedings by calling the role.

Yes, Mr.

President, Blumenfield, Herr Stason, Hernandez, Hut, Hurado, Lee, McCosker, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Raman, Rodriguez, Sotomartine, Yaroslavsky.

First order of business.

Approval of the minutes of August first, two thousand twenty-five.

Councilmember Rodriguez moves, Councilmember McCosker seconds.

What's next?

Combinatory resolutions for approval.

Council Member Blumenville moves, Councilmember Price seconds.

What's next?

Mr.

President, today it's Tuesday, and it's time for the flag salute.

I'll ask everyone in the chambers to rise and follow along with Council Member Price in the recitation of our Pledge of Allegiance.

Items one and through thirteen are items notice for public hearing.

The government operations committee report for item 13 will be submitted and uploaded to the respective council file prior to council's consideration of the item.

Items fourteen through eighteen are items for which public hearings have been held.

A revised attachment of the city administrative officer report for item 16 has been submitted and is available online in council file number 23-1022-s17.

Items 19 through 29 are items for which public hearings have not been held.

Items 30 through 39 are closed session items considered by the budget and finance committee.

10 votes are required for consideration.

Thank you, Council President.

Good morning.

I'd like to um for item 17.

I would like to speak on it.

You would like to do what with it?

Uh speak on it.

Okay.

Hold for comments.

Oh, yeah.

All right.

Specials, specials, specials.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Yes, I'd like to call item 15 for questions.

15 for questions.

All right.

Any other specials members?

All right.

Uh, seeing none.

What items are available for votes at this time, Mr.

Clark.

Mr.

President, the council may now vote on items 14, 16, and 18.

All right.

Let's open the roll on those items.

Close the roll.

Tabulate the votes.

12 ayes.

All right.

Uh, what's next?

The council may now consider item 17, call special by Councilmember Jurado for comments.

Councilmember Jurado.

Oh, thank you so much, Council President.

Thank you, colleagues.

I'm glad to see this project move forward today.

Bringing new homes to South Park help us meet the urgent demand for housing while continuing to build a more vibrant livable urban core.

South Park is already a dynamic neighborhood in downtown LA where people live, work, and play surrounded by local restaurants, entertainment venues, and cultural destinations.

This project builds on that momentum.

It's a bold step towards the downtown LA, our communities deserve one that's vibrant, welcoming, and thriving.

The public benefits tied to this development, now directed in part to the CD 14 public benefits trust fund, will help meet the broader needs.

This neighborhood from affordable housing to small business support to holistic public safety strategies and investments in arts and culture.

This is what it looks like to shape a city that works for everyone, not just through development, but through this strategic allocation of resources that reflect our community's priorities.

I want to thank the planning department for working closely with our office to bring forward a complete and thoughtful project and to Councilmember Bloomfield for his leadership and plum to see this through.

Let's continue pushing for a downtown that works for everyone.

Thank you.

Alright, thank you so much, Councilmember Durado.

That this item is uh now before us.

Let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate to vote.

14 ayes.

Alright, what's next?

The council may now consider item 15.

Call special by council member Rodriguez for questions.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

The CAO is here for questions, yeah.

Or Ben?

Oh Ben say hi.

Okay.

Where's your son?

Right.

So Ben, can you hello, Gary?

Um, so can you uh how much has been expended to get us to the juncture that we're at today?

Sorry, couldn't hear the question.

How much has been spent to get us to this point where we are today?

Sure.

Um, see if I number for you.

So at this point we spent about 54 um 54 million dollars, and that's uh based on the early works agreement that we initiated with APCLA, where they would be doing some pre-development work for the project.

So $54 million from the initial tranche, but for the additional, there was an additional 20 some odd million, or is this the 20-some odd million out of that additional that was allocated?

The 54 is a cumulative number of what we have spent to this point.

Uh that's through the exclusive negotiating agreement as well as uh uh.

Okay, and debt finance that's equivalent to roughly $100 million of future cost to the taxpayer, correct?

Well, if the project moves forward based on uh what would be this uh the next report that we provide to council will be our final recommendation to you that will come later out this month uh that that recommendation you know if the council moves forward with it would be also to issue debt for the entirety of the project.

Okay, and so just I wanted to be clear.

So the part that you're engaged in right now is there was instruction from the council to go back in the value engineering to identify what could be shaved off for the potential overall cost of the project.

And in the document, it also contained a statement that it was unclear what the use of the facility would be for the purposes of LA 28.

Well, we are still discussing with um by we, I mean the city is is discussing with LA28 what their needs will be for the building.

Um if they were to go into the building today, it's in a certain the building is a certain state right uh that that they you know know and and can plan for for the games once we start construction uh there is gonna be changes to the building, if you will, and so uh alley 28 need and and us need to work together to so that so that they understand what those changes will be.

Uh some of the areas that are available today may not be available because we will be mid-construction when the games come.

Uh the hope is that we get it to a point, the the construction is uh where we refer to as Olympics ready, so that uh we can then transition from the construction period, pause the construction, and hand it over to Alley 28 for the games, and then post-games they would hand it back to us for to finalize construction.

Okay, so then some of the proposed construction would in fact potentially shift what is currently planned by LA28 for use.

Because we already know what LA 28 basically needs or what they were planning on using for the purposes of hosting the games at that venue.

So this new, so these changes could potentially thwart what they're already designated because they've already told us what they're gonna use it for.

That's not new.

So now potentially we could be obstructing that given the changes in the timeline.

So my understanding uh is that the Gill Lindsay Plaza and the amendments to guild Lindsay Plaza was among those that were proposed for the value engineering, meaning that's what was deducted from the project to kind of bring the cost down.

Uh, from the estimated one billion, what is the savings on that?

Uh hold on, I go ahead.

Good volume, good morning.

Hi, good morning, Gary Lee Moore, uh consultant to uh the CAO's office, um, project executive.

The value engineering that was identified in was about a hundred and twenty-four million dollars.

Of the one, so it shaved off the the estimate that was provided in February uh was approximately uh 1.7 billion dollars.

Oh, excuse me, 1.7 billion.

Okay, and we you shaved off one a hundred and twenty four million, okay.

Um, so DWP has flagged some concerns about the power installation, and uh what happens if the facility isn't fully operational by 28.

So as part of the um reconstruction, you're right, council member, there's a number of uh electrical services that need to be modified or upgraded.

Uh actually this Thursday, we're having a three-hour workshop with the developer, uh, the Bureau of Engineering, and uh the uh Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to go over all those requirements.

There has been ongoing meetings with all of those parties uh that take place on a weekly basis.

So, but this is now uh with the senior leadership of LADWP in this detailed workshop.

So we're planning of how the needs and then looking at contingency plans if uh some of those relocations cannot be done.

So that's currently ongoing.

Okay, and so you know we're already in the basically first-ish week of August.

Um, should what what is this look like in terms of timing for construction and meeting the timeline given DWP given LA 28?

Sure, it's it's a very truncated uh time period um to get to what we're saying is uh commercial close, commercial close would be when we sign off on the project agreement, and then construction would initiate in essence start the next day, or if not the you know, within that that first week after commercial close.

Um, originally we were looking at mid-September for that, uh, but that's when we are expecting the proposal from the committee proposal to come in from APCLA in mid-June, mid-July.

We actually just received it list last Friday.

So the city is now in uh uh in the process of reviewing their proposal, uh comparing it to the numbers that we saw earlier, comparing it to the numbers we presented earlier to the council to see what what has changed.

Um, we will then the CEO will then be uh putting together our analysis uh in consultation with our consultants and submitting a final report on the project uh with uh our final recommendations at the end of this month, and then it will go through the committee process, council approval process with the hope of uh gaining direction uh sometime next month.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh any more questions for uh our team here?

Good morning, Gary.

It's good to see you.

All right.

Uh thank you all so much.

All right, so uh with that we'll open the roll on this item, close the roll, tabulate to vote.

149.

All right, thank you all.

All right, uh, what's next, Mr.

Clerk?

Mr.

President, the council may now move on to closed session items 30 through 39 considered by the budget and finance committee.

All right, items 13 through 39 considered by the budget committee.

Our chairwoman, council member Yaroslavski.

Uh thank you, Council President.

We uh considered these items 30 through 39 in closed session at budget and finance, and I recommend approval.

All right, Mr.

Clerk, if you can read the details into the record and we'll call the roll.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

For item 30 in the case entitled Suzanne Green versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 200,000 in settlement for item 31 in the case entitled Cynthia Karina Alvarez versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There's a recommendation to expend up to $2 million in settlement for item 32 in the case entitled Carl Augustus versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There's a recommendation to expand up to 1,100,000 in settlement for item 33 and the case entitled Leslie Garcia et al.

versus Fernando Ayala Munoz et al, there's a recommendation to expend up to $850,000 in settlement for item 34 in the case entitled Mark Allen Clark versus City of Los Angeles.

There's a recommendation to reject the proposed settlement for item 35 in the case entitled Susie Momsey et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 400,000 in settlement for item 36 in the case entitled Roberto Vargas versus City of Los Angeles, that's all.

There's a recommendation to expend up to $300,000 in settlement for item 37 in the case entitled Bernardino Lopez Escobar versus City of Los Angeles.

There's a recommendation to expend up to $200,000 in settlement.

For item 38 in the case entitled Victor Braggonets versus City of Los Angeles, that's all.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 150,000 in settlement.

And for item 39 in the case entitled Perk rentals Incorporated versus City of Los Angeles, there's a recommendation to expend up to $86,824.

All right.

Those items are now before us.

Let's open the roll.

Close the roll.

Tabulate to vote.

149.

All right.

What's next, Mr.

Clerk?

Mr.

President, for the record, the government operations committee report for item 13 has been submitted and is available online in the respective council file.

The council may now move on to public comment.

Alright, if you could read the instructions for uh public comment into the record, city attorney and Mr.

Clerk.

Yes, Mr.

President.

People providing public comment when it's your turn to speak.

Please state which of the agenda items you'd like to speak to.

You will have one minute per item, up to three minutes total for the items open for public comment.

We will tell you when your time is up.

When speaking on the agenda items, you must be on topic.

Our goal is to get through as many speakers as we can.

If you are not on topic, or if we cannot tell whether you are on topic, you will get one brief warning from me or the council president.

At that point, you need to get immediately and clearly on topic.

If you do not do so, or if you again stray off topic, you will forfeit the rest of your speaking time and we will move on to the next speaker.

The items open for public comment on the agenda today are items one through thirteen and items 19 through 29.

So again, the items open for public comment on the agenda are items one through thirteen and nineteen through twenty-nine.

Members of the public may also speak for up to one minute for general public comment.

During general public comment, members of the public may speak to any of the items or anything else in the city's subject matter jurisdiction.

A couple more announcements if I can have the interpreters make this first one aloud to the room, please.

If you require a Spanish language interpreter, please make sure to pause every few sentences so the interpreters can interpret.

Don't worry, we will pause your time while the interpreters are interpreting, so you will get the same amount of time as everyone else.

Thank you.

One final announcement: the order in which we take the public speakers who have signed up is generated at random.

So it is randomly generated.

So in order to help us run an efficient public comment, we would ask that you please wait until you hear the name you signed up under, read aloud before lining up.

After you hear the name that you signed up under read aloud, you can line up in any order on your left-hand side of the council chambers.

Thank you.

I'll begin calling names.

Rodney, Tiffany Wright, and Audit LA.

All right, and those we'll ask those folks to line up to speak on my right, your left, and uh we'll begin with Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mr.

Harris Dawson.

Colleagues, I am uh delighted to be joined this morning by our new Los Angeles Community College Chancellor, Dr.

Alberto Roman, uh and of course also by Jocelyn Duarte.

Many of you know Jocelyn, the executive director of SALEF.

Uh, but colleagues, I wanted to uh let you all know we're we're celebrating a very special uh moment this morning.

Collaborating with the youth development department this morning, we've launched the SUMA wealth app for young people in the city of Los Angeles.

We know that financial literacy is something that young people are struggling, they don't have access to the same basic level of understanding that so many of us perhaps back in the day had access to when we were in high school, those lessons are no longer provided.

Well, SUMA Wealth, in our collaboration with the City of Los Angeles and SUMA Wealth, working with the Youth Development Department, we've made it free and accessible for young people in the city of Los Angeles to have it at their fingertips.

And why is that important?

Because right now, young people are overnight becoming the head of household because of a man-made disaster, and families being stripped away, and the head of household no longer being that adult family member that is no longer in the picture.

And that can change overnight.

We wanted to provide the tools and the resources for families to be prepared.

So working with SOLIF, we have a checklist of that emergency checks list that families need in order to prepare.

You know, Mr.

Lee, we're normally preparing for natural uh disasters and emergencies with emergency preparedness kits.

Well, sadly, we have to now prepare our families in the same manner, making sure that families are aware and familiar.

Who's gonna who's got access to the accounts?

Who's gonna help pay the bills if something should happen and the status changes overnight for the head of household?

So the SUMA Wealth app is now accessible for young people, giving them modules for free for them and their families to help be financially prepared to the and provide that education to the greatest extent possible that they work on their own timeline.

And that's what this is all about.

So I want to thank Jocelyn for her partnership.

I want to thank the chancellor for his collaboration and being here this morning.

Uh the Invest in Youth Coalition.

We know that these are circumstances that are, you know, families are uh happening to families overnight.

We are a 14 billion dollar institution here in the city of Los Angeles.

It makes absolutely no sense that we strip away some of the fundamental resources that young people and families depend on, particularly in this moment, and that's what this app and this progress represents: a collaboration to empower young people and their families to be prepared.

And yes, we're gonna continue to augment our support to help those families to the greatest extent possible, but we need to make sure that they also have the tools to help themselves to be financially prepared and aware of the decisions that they make that could help aid them to helping to stabilize their family should a family member be impacted by this man-made disaster.

So, colleagues, I encourage you to please share the information on the SUMA Wealth app.

Go to the Youth Development Department's website for additional information and share it out.

Uh but this is uh a really timely and unique partnership that we've been working on.

And I want to thank Beatriz Acevedo for her collaboration and partnership for us to make this accessible to the 800,000 young people here in the city of Los Angeles.

Thank you.

Okay, uh, first speaker.

And just actually before you begin, can we read out the names one more time?

We'll do it after the first speaker.

Go ahead, since you're already up here.

Um which items would you like to speak to?

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Tiffany Wright.

I would like to speak on agenda items one through 13 and general public comment.

Okay, so you have three minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Please begin with the items.

We'll you'll see three minutes for the items and we'll add an additional minute for general.

Go ahead.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, council members, staff, and meeting attendees.

Thank you for paying attention, Councilwoman Ramon and Hernandez, and those of you who are actually looking and listening as you are paid to do.

We are paying attention and we appreciate you paying attention.

My time is valuable, and so is yours, so I'll try to be brief.

I would like to speak to you today about the distress that our city is in, the distress that your constituents are in.

LAPD is brutalizing voters that will unseat you if you do not take action.

There have been 24-hour protests outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where firsthand we are seeing LAPD brutalize voters, your stakeholders and your constituents that you are here to protect.

We must take action and have LAPDs.

You're welcome to speak to it during general.

But thank you so much for the reminder.

I'll move on.

Let's talk about agenda item number 13.

So I am a 17-year veteran of the cannabis industry, and let me tell you, it has been a long and hard road.

Today you are going to be considering an increase for the Department of Cannabis Regulation fees.

It is imperative that you reject this increase, and furthermore, that you take additional action to provide relief.

The social equity program was designed to benefit those who have been marginalized by a society that disproportionately polices black and brown angelinos and to provide them with economic opportunities.

Instead, they have been indebted and vampirized by a DCR that does the exact same job that the State Department of Cannabis Control does and then charges us exponentially more than the DCC charges.

Increasing the fees would only serve to provide a salary increase for the employees of DCR who actually do the exact same work that the state does for us for free.

We must sunset DCR immediately.

We can instead attempt to turn them into the Department of Cannabis.

Yes, I would like to speak in general about the economic distress and that the distress that this entire city is in as a direct result of the decisions made by this council.

This council and its predecessors are capable of so much more.

You are capable of so much better.

And I can tell by the way that some of you are looking at me that you agree.

One of my personal tenets that I follow and that I uphold as a woman is that when I look in the mirror, I need to be able to respect the person looking back at me.

I do not do anything that would compromise my personal integrity or my respect.

I beg you to ask yourselves do you do the same?

Do you hold yourselves to the same standards of accountability as you would expect any decent human being to uphold?

If so, you must vote in favor of things that protect basic humanity, such as public safety, such as the right.

As we wait for the next speaker, I yes, I see you, so I know that you're up next.

So before the next speaker begins, your time is not started.

Um, just as an FYI for everyone, I see some new faces here.

So the reason why we have to monitor the time is that we need to treat everybody equally.

So if something is not on the agenda, you're more than welcome to speak to it during general public comment.

But if you have been to these meetings before, you may have seen some of the um heat-filled vitriolic comments.

Uh, if we were to not monitor public comment, then we would have to allow everybody three minutes to do that thing as well.

So, again, we appreciate your patience.

If there's uh not enough time for you to provide the comments uh that you would like to, or if we run out of time and you are not called via the random generator, you are more than welcome to provide written public comment at LA Council.com.

Uh, again, that's LA Council.

Wait, sorry.

LA Council.com.

And that URL can be found at the top of every council agenda.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Hello, can you hear me?

I would like to see you to all items and public and non-agenda, I mean public comments.

We have three minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, first I want to talk about the first two with the street vacations or the area of vacations.

Um, I don't like the idea of vacations.

Um, I mean, no, I love the idea of vacations.

I mean, we thank you for the three-week vacation you gave us.

Um, hope you're back working hard.

But the thing is is that you're selling city property to entities that you don't know how they're gonna really take care of it.

Like I know Scientology wants a street vacation, they would love one, but um, they want it to be able to keep the public out and to keep their people in without anybody being able to see or have eyes on them to see if they need help or you know to help limit any escapes.

Because I don't know if you're aware of this.

A lot of people have to actually escape Scientology.

Uh look up Valerie Haney, who had to get in the back of a trunk of a car um and and get out.

So I I'm no to street vacations.

Um the next one is the let's talk about the cannabis one.

Okay, like you want to just put all the pressure on businesses, small businesses, as they're trying to actually provide, you know, help or maybe relief or whatever you in medication for dealing with uh life right now can be difficult.

The city is difficult.

There's so much that's difficult.

So I have a suggestion instead of going after small businesses that are trying to make it, why don't you go after these, like I'll give you an example.

Scientology that has probably a billion buildings, it's a slight exaggeration, um, and they're tax exempt.

You're not getting any tax base from all their buildings, and I'm sure there's plenty, so why not just you know um get them to be not tax exempt and get that money in?

As far as the lighting, okay, I the entire agenda is so thick, and it's all about lighting.

It just shows you how dark this city is, and it's ridiculous how dark it is.

When you guys gonna deal with the pro with it the copper theft or whatever it is, it is very hard, especially.

I mean, I'm glad my new chair has headlights, but even that doesn't help me try to navigate these horrible streets that you guys don't fix.

You don't fix the sidewalks, you put very little, you put all this money for you know, probably stuff that's not needed, but the sidewalks that are actually needed, um, that get you sued endlessly, you don't fix.

And I don't get it, but you know, whatever.

But the least you could do is give us lights, right, Mr.

McCosker, to try to figure out where not to, like, you know, where not to fall in or where not to trip because we if we can at least see the obstacle, maybe we can avoid it.

I know you're trying to do it over in your, you know, but I and I'm glad you're addressing it, but come on, it shouldn't be an entire agenda.

And I bet smoke and scan agrees with me on that.

That right, this light up the freaking city, it's not that hard, and you know, and that'd be less lawsuits for you guys, which is nice.

Okay, public comment.

Okay, I'm here because tonight is national night out.

And for the most part, I fully support every single venue that's gonna have it except for the um church of Scientology at the big blue building, because they will not allow anyone who's a former member, anyone who's ever criticized them or any neighbor that's ever complained about their abuses or anything.

We're not allowed in.

So if you guys show up, Hugo, you have my email.

I hope you read it.

Um if you show up, okay, then you're siding with them.

So that means the victims of Scientology, the protesters or anyone, the community at large will see that you side for them.

And there's victims who are coming forward.

I have one, you know, like there's people going to the police, they're going, they're starting to get lawyers, they're starting to fight back about their victimization.

And to see anyone from the city standing with them until everything's been adjudicated and the slave labor of dealing on public streets with slave labors dealt with, there's no reason for you guys to be there.

Next speaker, but I believe we're gonna need to read more names.

Uh, yeah, I'd like to call a few more names.

Uh Bread and Attilano, Amy, Jessica, and Kerry.

Good morning.

You have three minutes for the items and one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Uh, thank you very much, uh CD attorney small king scan.

Start with item number one.

Tower, you're in, chi, way to jam me, uh, she ting, she landed, and yo, eagle song lao san on tea china song lao san.

Low ping chuan.

E-bate, uh, yo, or shung logan or chan Item number two.

Chileo Mingang Jo Da Lian An.

Goon Jiao Da Lien.

Jin Chiao Tahao Rung Yan Huan Tai.

Pi Paduan Taio Chan Boo.

Yo Haobi Yan Po Shiolo Xian Chang San.

Uh.

Item Number Three.

Tai Yang Lu Xia Shan Chu Chong or Nao Sheng Shuan.

Good Lai Do La Woda Man Chian Yes Ya Liao Jin Wan Ju Sang Lai Xiang Hu S Yu Da Da U Hua Yan Uh Uh Chiu Y Sha Lia Min Shuang Jiang Na Ching Shu E Dwe Ching Ban Shuang Shuang Ju Tia Liao Hu Y Ching Di It Zhu Ching The Han.

Bian Chang Liao O Xiao Chur Lai Tan Ching Shui H Uh Uh Uh Bian Chang Liao Oh Xiao Chur Lai Tan Ching Chui Huh Uh Uh Uh.

And Speaker, Before You Move On to General Public Comment.

I just Again There's a Lot of New People Here And I'm Sure They Have Some Questions.

I just Wanna Make The Same Offer That We've Made To You Before.

If You would Like A Foreign Language Interpreter, Believe Mandarin Or Cantonese.

Um, I know Sometimes You Switch, Then You're More To Request One If You Let Uh 48 Hours In Advance.

We'll Do our B to Arrange for That.

Go ahead, You have One For General Public Comment.

Thank You Very Much City Attorney Very Mu.

First Of All I'd Like To Inform Our Friend Dana from Smoking Scan, Because Dana told Me That I'm No Longer Allowed To Sing A Song anymore.

So Today I Tried An Oprah.

I D Not Sing A Song Because Dana From Smoking Skin told Me That If I Continue To Sing A Song, She will ask Smoking Skin and D Our City Attorney To Deport Me Back to Asia.

And to Deport Me B to North Korea.

I Don't Want That I I Wish That Our City Attorney, Our Dana and Our Smoking Scan can continue to allow me a chance to live, to work, to study in this in the United States of America, under Scientology, of course.

But I would just want to make sure Dana that I kept that I kept my promise to you.

I did not sing a song.

There's no music.

There's only opera today.

And hopefully, my friend Dana will not get mad to me tonight.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker.

The next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Julian Alexander, Kirsten Peterson, and Katie Lafoon.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh, good morning.

My name is Carrie Rudolph, and I'd like to speak on item number two and uh provide a general comment.

Okay, so you'll have one minute for the item and one minute for general, and this goes for everyone.

The mic is adjustable, so feel free to adjust the microphone as you see fit.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you to all the city workers.

Thank you very much for your service.

Uh once again, my name is Carrie Rudolph, and I live on Pacific View Drive.

And I'm speaking on item number two, which is the vacation of the Eastman on Pacific View Drive.

I'm strongly opposed to the vacation of the East Mint.

The East supports the many public utilities in our very narrow and winding streets.

The applicant who uh the applicant for the easement vacation is a professional developer and builder, and he bought the land knowing that the easement exists and that it supports the public utilities for our neighborhood on this hillside.

So buyer beware.

The application is replete with inaccuracies and misrepresentations in section two of the environmental assessment form.

Mandy Raffity, the professional developer and builder marked no to 30 questions, and at least 14 should have been answered yes.

Here's a few examples.

Number number of 26.

Could the project generate a controversy or result in a public opposition?

The answer is yes.

Number 20, does the project involve construction in hilly or mountainous terrain?

The answer is yes.

Could grading, blasting, excavating, or drilling be required?

The answer is yes, and he answered no and marked no to all of these questions and others.

Uh we have we would have raised these uh questions and others at the June 11th hearing.

However, we were not, we did not receive notification of that hearing, and we would have addressed all of those then.

Um the applicant also is asking for relief from the hillside ordinance.

The ordinance exists, and every single homeowner is required to comply with the Hillside Ordinance.

We ask that the application be sent back to the subcommittee for further review and its impact on our small, narrow and winding street.

Uh, the city is being asked to give up an easement that has maintained for a century, which supports our neighborhood solely so that the owner can raise the value of his property and enrich himself.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

Uh my name is Carrie Palmer, and I'm speaking for Council District 8 and making a general comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute for general public comment.

Okay.

So I wanted to speak to the council and specifically Council President Harris Dawson and asking for your help.

There has been an increased uh criminal activity in District 8 in between the 96th and 98th Black of Hobart Boulevard and Los Angeles coming from the alley.

There is, we're trying to reduce the crime in the area, and we'd like to request a motion to reduce the crime rate and install metal gates to support safety in the area of 96th and 98th Street.

There have been multiple fires.

People's garages have been burned down.

The homeless is cooking in the alley and burning down the preschool next door.

There have been shootings, prostitution, drug use, drug sales, break-ins causing constituents to have to fight for their lives in their own homes, torched cars, stripped cars, weekly trash dumpings, loud noises and fights, and music played late at night in the alley.

So we're asking just for your help and your support, and we would love to meet with you to discuss a motion.

Speaker, thank you so much.

And we'll get behind it.

Thank you so much.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

My name's Katie LaFoon, and I have a general public comment since none of the agenda items have anything to do with what's going on in the city right now.

Okay, so I mean you can check the agendas, obviously they they change every day.

Um if you would like or well, they change for every meeting.

Um you have one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Um I believe we have some of your attention now.

Thank you very much for that.

Uh what we would like is for each and every one of you to please have a town hall in the next two weeks immediately.

A week on the ground is like a month out there, and I believe that there's things happening in the city in this district that you guys do not know about that you absolutely need to know about.

What we want is for LAPD to protect the citizens of LA, not to enforce ICE and DHS rules.

Mayor Bass gets on the gets on the TV and says that LAPD is not working for ICE, that it stands against the Trump administration.

They won't allow it in our city, but on the grounds, they very clearly have a much different directive.

They are watching our rights be violated.

They are squashing our First Amendment rights, and they are enforcing the federal government, they are not protecting LA, and we want them to protect us.

Please help.

Please help.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Eddie Alvarez, Luis Rivera, and Mandy Raffity.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

My name is Julian Alexander Makara.

General comment, please.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Good morning, honorary honorary council.

Community organizations have been at the forefront providing community emergency resources and aid within the city and the extended county.

I'm looking at eye contacts.

Community resources and the security of our constituencies.

The challenges that we're currently facing Trump, any stripes held in the past.

Our constitution is at stake, and we are realizing this.

Our people are living in fear.

We need each other's confidence in order to overcome these challenges.

We need revisions to LA ordinances 5507-4118, as they contradict each other.

We need storage space, collaborative references for resources to maintain emergency support and inventory.

We need to be able to hold an effective conversation.

Plural will be sending out emails to your offices.

We truly hope that we can supply them with storage, emergency resources, so we can consolidate mutual aid efforts.

Thank you guys.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Oh, yes.

Thank you, Mr.

City Attorney.

My name is Brandon Ozzolano Torres.

I'm not related to the Torres family that I know of.

But uh yes, just general public comment.

Okay.

So we have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I just want to start with key words.

I'm not a politician, but I will be a politician one day.

I'm from Orange County.

I have great friends.

We went to Angel Stadium for the football championship game my senior year.

Played against the 49ers center for the five-year championship reign that he had.

That was him.

But yes, I have 40 seconds.

I want to just spit it out.

These people come to you guys every week.

We're grateful for you guys for reading these long, boring agendas every day that need to be revised for the smaller class that don't have the brain capacity to read through these agendas.

And that's where you guys come in.

We need you guys really to just to put the vote to the reason why you're in office.

So people put you in office for a reason, maybe it was just for fun, maybe you got lucky.

A lot of you guys get lucky.

A lot of you guys are meant to be here by the grace of the gods.

But um, yeah, let's get her done.

Let's make these streets clean, clean, clean, clean.

Good morning.

Which items would you want to one through 13 public comment?

I'm sorry, you said which item in public comment?

I guess one through 13 in public comment.

So you have three minutes for the items that's one through 13 and one minute for general public comment.

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Hello, thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um, thank you for your time and leadership, city council members.

Um, we're here today.

Well, actually, I want to also thank a few council members, Padilla and um our um, for doing some motions on the cannabis and supporting small businesses.

Um I'm here as a social equity owner and advocate.

My voice represents many who are not able to be here because they've already lost their business, their license, and their dreams due to the DCR and its incompetence.

In the city of LA, you must have you must pay rent for over a year and a half uh to get uh license and open up your doors.

There's excessive fees.

The city of LA charges more than the state and other municipalities when it comes to its fees.

And just this year, 2025, all businesses were paid were were forced to pay a $4,000 renewal fee, along with an $8,000 annual application fee.

We also are in curring public health permits, certificate of occupancy, and have to pay other state and local fees.

There's no legitimate reason why the city is uh increasing their fees that they're trying to do.

One minute on item 13.

You're welcome to move on to another item, or you can continue during general if you'd like.

So the city is general public comment.

You have one minute.

Great.

Yeah, the city.

I mean, the DCR did not do any third-party fee study.

It chose to increase its fee to make up for uh the revenue shortfallings and put it on business owners through fee charges.

We want to make sure that you guys stop that.

There's no reason that you guys should be uh moving forward with that.

We want you to reject the proposed increase until a third party can conduct an independent um uh you know can do it independently with public input.

Uh, we want to provide real enforcement against the legal businesses and provide the direct financial grant that the city stole from social equity applicants this year and give that directly to uh uh licensees and those that needed to run their business.

We also ask that you please create a tier tax structure similar to this uh other cities like Long Beach so that we can um grow our businesses, and just thank you for your time.

Yeah, we really need the help, and we just ask that you please reject the fee study.

Thank you.

Uh general public comment.

Good morning, good morning, just go ahead.

Uh Eddie Alvarez, uh LALC building trades and a resident of District 14th.

Uh, I just wanted to comment quickly on the convention center.

I want to thank all the people that have been working very, very hard uh to get this thing across the finish line.

Uh we're almost there.

There's people here in Los Angeles in Sacramento and now Washington DC to do our best to get this thing finished.

Uh, this is a boon for the district that I live in and our membership, to be quite honest with you.

Uh, beyond the construction jobs, well, obviously, we're gonna build this union with a 50% local hire.

Um, our our members need this uh to spur on other construction in the community.

We we thank you for 1605 this morning, but that's not gonna be enough.

Uh to really get our homelessness problem to a place where we feel somewhat comfortable, we have to build and we have to build infill and downtown's a place we can do it.

So, again, I want to thank all the people uh who are working on the construction center on the convention of project from Webcore uh all the way up to our folks in DC who are helping us there, uh tickets thing across the finish line.

Thank you.

We hope it gets across the finish line here soon.

Thanks.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Sunshine, Bree, and Gary H.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh item number two.

Okay.

So you have one minute for item two.

Go ahead.

Um, hi, my name is Mandy Raffity regarding the vacation process at um at the two lots on Pacific View.

Um, throughout this process, the main thing that we've done is try to realize that there is nothing that's going to be changed as far as the um the any any utilities or any public works.

That's why this process for 16 months has gone through all the different jurisdictions.

And I think the misconception is that the neighbors, which I've tried to talk to, and I've been able to talk to one of them, um, don't realize that the the road itself, the right-of-way is not is intact the whole 40 feet, and there's nothing that's being moved that the vacation is past that point and has nothing to do with it.

And as far as comments like we don't want to go through the hillside ordinance, of course.

Every project, we're in architectural frame, we've done many projects throughout the city.

You not only do you have to go through the process of the hillside ordinance, you also go through the rigorous um uh Mohall and corridor process as well.

So these are things, and these things have been approved for very modest 1600, I mean seventeen hundred and nineteen hundred square foot houses based on the slope analysis on the new lots.

So the understanding, the misconception is that you know we're not getting the the point across.

That's unfortunately the case.

Speaker, your time has expired.

Oh, did you want general as well?

Okay.

Do you have one minute for general public comment as well.

Go ahead.

I mean, the general comment again has been in regards to that.

The process that we've gone through for the past sixteen months, eighteen months actually now, and the twenty thousand dollars that we've spent doing this thing.

The first comments were regarding the utilities.

Do you really think that somebody will come and get these lots and move the public utilities?

No, those things were taken care of.

BOE approved this thing many many months ago.

We went through the first process and got that approval.

And again, I've tried to talk to the neighbors.

I've tried to through the person that you know I purchased the lots from, which is one of the neighbors, and you know that wasn't allowed to happen.

But the fact is that nothing is being changed on the on the right-up bait.

There is no utilities there.

That is a comp that's that is an absolute fact.

So I would like the council to realize and look at the actual facts rather than the things that are just coming up.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

General 13 and 18.

Okay.

Good morning.

So you have one minute for 13 and one minute for general.

Item number 18 is not open for public comment, but you can speak to it during general public comment if you'd like.

So we'll start you with the one minute for the item 13, and then we'll give you an additional minute for general.

Go ahead.

Hey, what's up, City Council?

My name is Sunshine.

Good to see you all.

Thank you so much for doing all the hard work you do.

Um, being a cannabis business owner here in Los Angeles, just got licensed this year, getting hit with about $30,000 in fees for the city, and then more state fees makes it really really impossible to.

Well, I'm not gonna say impossible.

Could you imagine difficult to convince people to invest into the industry, especially when there are so many illegal cannabis businesses operating in our city?

It makes competition really hard.

And it seems as though that is not a concern or a priority, which is making it really hard for Angelinos.

Now I got this email saying, hey, your fees were deferred, but you owe them I don't know what date yet, because it's unclear.

But it's gonna be huge.

And am I supposed to close my business down if I can't find an investor and move out of Los Angeles?

Do we want the type of city where Google General public comment?

Great.

Do we want the type of city where people who've lived here for 20 some odd years, 30 years?

I've lived here for almost 30 years.

I love the city.

This is my favorite city.

I love Los Angeles.

I believe world peace starts here.

I believe we can do it together, and let's get some peace in the cannabis industry.

Between the DCR and the people who are being regulated by them.

It's very important that you right now make the decision that's going to bring us closer together rather than create more division.

And if you vote for this fee increase, it's going to drive us completely into the ground.

And we need your compassion, understanding and drive.

Because we want to lead.

We want to lead and we need the resources to lead.

We need to produce because leadership requires production.

We need your help.

We need you to produce for us today to decide to make it easier for the legal cannabis guy to survive in this industry so we can thrive and bring more people back into Los Angeles instead of driving them out of here.

I lost so many clients to people just moving out of LA.

World peace is possible.

Thank you very much.

Crisis King.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh 13, please.

My name is Bree Warden.

I have a store in Chatsworth.

Um I'm speaking today on the detrimental effect that the fees and fines are having on the cannabis industry.

Uh, even if you run a tight ship, you have a great operation, uh, they're shutting their doors.

People are not making it.

These increases, people cannot pay our or cannot pay already.

Um, you guys are fueling the illegal market, which is shutting our doors.

Um, I hope that uh you can take these things into consideration and you know support us because right now we're being set up for failure.

Um, thank you.

Next speaker.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Candido, Dana, and Harriet Elliott.

Hold on, before the next speaker goes, Councilmember Raman.

Sorry, could I ask all speakers to just pull the microphone closer to them?

We we can't hear, I can't hear any of the public comment today.

Yeah, if folks can get closer to the mic and we could get our sound a little sharper because it's very very hard to hear today.

Echoey and uh low.

Thank you, Councilmember Raman.

Good morning.

Which which items would you like to speak to?

I'd like to speak on number two and general comment.

Okay, so if you could uh repeat, first of all, lift up the mic just a little bit because I get it's as the council members have just said it's it's really difficult to hear today because of the echo.

So you said item two?

Two minutes, yeah.

Two and then general public comment?

So general and item number two.

Okay, so you have one minute for the item and one minute for general.

Please begin with the item.

Go ahead.

Okay.

So on item number two.

Um, my name's Gary Hunt.

I work with Mandy.

Right.

Uh apologies, can you pause the time?

So it's uh normally they're not like this.

Just get as close to the mic as you can and we'll start from there.

How about yes?

That is better.

Okay, about that.

Okay.

Yes, my name's Gary Hunt.

I work for Mandy Raffity.

I put in the application for the vacation.

Um, the reason we are asking for the vacation is because of the hillside ordinance has specific height requirements and a lot of limitations.

So with the vacation, we would be able to build something that's in the same scale and character as the rest of the neighborhood, and it wouldn't be something that was odd and tall and skinny looking, it would be similar to all the other residences.

Um, in addition, the vacation does not, we went through like a year of analyzing everything with the Bureau of Engineering.

There seems to be no utilities within the area we're asking for the vacation, and even if there were, we would not be moving any utilities.

We're also giving the street a 40 foot easement, which is more than required, and we are also shall I continue?

General public, yep, general public comment, you have a minute.

And um we're also planning on widening the street by two feet, so we'll have a 36 foot um street or a 40 foot street easement and a 28 foot pavement width when we're finished, and no utilities will be affected, nobody will be um put out of their utilities.

The street will be slightly wider.

Um it shouldn't affect anybody at all.

It should actually contribute to the character of the neighborhood.

So that's all I have to say.

Yes, which items would you like?

I was gonna speak on uh agenda item 19, which is uh the lights.

Um, do you know the last time I looked less than 30 days ago?

There's a 20-foot sign at Alvarado and six that is telling the mayor uh turn the light uh if you resign, we'll turn the lights back on.

Well, obviously, someone is holding the lights as ransom or anyway, some kind of mafia thing, and no one is explained what is going on.

Yeah, I wish somebody else would explain.

I'm moving on to public comment.

Uh, this woman uh wrote a book.

Uh it's about CIA pedophilia.

It's her uh fifth book, and it's called Deceive Beyond Belief.

I have the book at home.

It's uh shocking.

Uh three-year-olds are brought to orgasm by a male.

Okay, that was not her father.

By the way, uh Renee Pittman, I kept she kept saying she's a lifelong target, and I'm asking a person similar to myself.

How could she be a target?

She's not political.

She was in the army, she's an army brat.

Uh well, she was uh masturbated orgasm at a three-year-old.

She says there's uh plenty of others that uh have had the same experience.

I hope you read the book, by the way.

Um I also want to bring up um that Carol Rutz wrote a book called uh uh I forget the name of it right now, but you won't find it in the library, they've uh put it out of print.

It's about the same uh subject.

Yeah, but general comment.

Is it general?

Yes, okay, you have one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Uh, due to the refusal of accountability, transparency, and cruel and unusual punishment.

All of the juvenile detention centers and men's central jail need to be shut down immediately.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Jared, Mike, and W.

So, Mr.

Herman, if you are going to speak, please come to the podium now.

If not, we'll take the next speaker and then you can't fucking night.

Three minutes for the items and one minute for general.

I heard, uh-huh.

I heard.

So, um, regarding the necessity for more alcohol at Bristol Farms.

How much alcohol can we consume in America?

Even Donald Trump knows your cunt mayor is out of her mind.

Right?

But let's talk about the on-site, off-site consumption.

Madam Clerk, please stop.

Speakers, you have used a word in violation of council rule seven.

This is your only warning that this word or any of its variations is described in rule seven may not be used again in this council meeting, any future council meetings or future council committee meetings.

If you violate rule seven again, you will forfeit your speaking time and you will be subject to removal from this council, subjects to rule seven and twelve.

And to be clear, Mr.

Herman, that is for your use of the C word.

You were previously warned for your use of the N-word last week.

Please, do you have any type of paperwork at your notation about this?

Because I need the note.

Where are you telling me that I am abusing the first amendment by saying a word?

Pauses time.

All right.

The rule has been posted online, and so you can check it there.

If you'd like to speak about the rule itself, you can do so during general public comment.

But for now, stick to the items.

Go ahead.

So fuck alcohol, convenience, and public necessity, Mr.

Dogson.

Yeah, look at him sweat his face up there, everybody.

And item number two, drive in the excess of 40 feet public right away.

Fuck the public right away at number two.

Fuck item three and C D2, too.

And look at bucket hit over there.

A bucket hit ordinance on maintenance.

You're gonna put street lights on Figaroa.

How am I supposed to get a piece of ass if there's too much light for me to hook up with the pimp and his whip?

Come on, Cosker, all of a sudden you want street lights.

Are you fucking with me?

Look at item five in C D11.

Mr.

Attorney like yourself.

Fuck street lighting.

Item number six.

Fuck C D 14.

Jawardo, when are you gonna fix the fucking homeless crisis in C D 14?

Without those street lights, you continue to allow these fucking fools to put up their tents, put up their sleeping gear all over Boy Heights.

If I'm wrong, tell me now.

Tell me now.

You ain't doing shit.

Put more street lights and get the fucking evergreen path working too.

Got your attention, girl.

That's the way you should listen.

Yeah, where's burger girl?

Burger!

Uh, you're not in C D 12, but fuck it.

More street lighting.

That's all we need, everybody.

Street lights.

More street lights.

But we need them on Figaroa because smoking scan wants to do a research whether or not it's true.

Is there prostitution going on on broad daylight?

Because you don't need a buy lights.

You don't need lights.

The women are out there in the broad daylights, flashing their street lights.

Pimping their street lights, showing their knockers on street lights, right?

You're all ski.

Oh, she don't count because she juju.

I understand now.

But for the record, I brought these 15 pages and one for you, Mr.

Dog Eater.

And uh I'm gonna go into my non-agenda public comment under.

You have one minute for general public comment for the members of the public.

We appreciate your continued patience.

Snyder versus Falk 562 US 443.

Let's see if the asshole rules me off topic.

The placards read God hates the USA.

Thank God for 9-11.

America is doomed smoking scan.

Don't pray for the USA.

Thank God.

You simplify fucking faggot, that's all every day.

Let me finish.

Speak to something that is within the jurisdiction of a city.

All right.

Now let me finish.

God damn it, excuse me.

Fag troops, simplify fags, God hates fags, Maryland Tabalan, Fags doom nation.

Not the blessed, just the curse.

Thank God for priests rape bull.

And your time has expired.

If you disrupt this meeting from here on out, you'll be subject to removal and exclusion pursuant to Rule 7 and Rule 12.

To everyone who's here, either in person or virtually, we sincerely appreciate your patience.

Um I see members of the audience uh voicing their displeasure quietly with the thumbs down.

I truly appreciate that you did not interrupt public comment.

Again, that is the way to do it.

Thank you so much.

Uh next speaker.

Which items would you like to speak to?

And good morning.

Hi, my name's Mike Mechler.

I'm speaking in opposition to item two.

Okay, so go ahead.

You have one minute for item two.

Yes.

I'm a resident of Pacific View Drive, just a few hundred yards from this proposed street vacation.

Uh in their application and here today, the developer says that they found the existing hillside restrictions too onerous.

But let's be honest, they don't need this vacation to build.

They want it to expand their lot so they can build a larger, more extravagant mansion on this tiny hillside plot.

Councilmember Raman, your political career has been centered on housing affordability.

Your website speaks of fostering inclusive, affordable, and opportunity-rich neighborhoods.

This project does the opposite of all that.

Every dollar of city effort spent on giveaways like this is a dollar not spent on affordable housing.

Your supporters would be deeply disappointed to see you backing the handout of public land to speculative luxury real estate developers.

I urge you to oppose this vacation.

Next speaker.

Uh before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Goat, Barbara Martinez, and Art Sawyer.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh Jared Kyler with United Cannabis Business Association here on behalf of General Public Comment and item 13.

So you have one minute for item 13 and one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Sure.

Here we are with item 13, an increase in fees to an already overly regulated, overly taxed, overly burdened industry that's just trying to grow in a city that has given it very little opportunities.

With over 4,000 illegal dispensaries and smoke shops and CBD stores that are all selling like or similar or the exact same items as the legal cannabis industry, we're in a difficult position.

We have 3,600 competitors who all have prices that are 50% less.

We can look at the taxes and we can add them up, but the reality is these taxes cumulate by taxing other taxes.

So the cumulative tax rate to the consumer, these are not just business taxes, is 44%.

Now in that 44%, we have a 10% gross receipts tax.

We charge that to the customer.

And then the city and the office of finance then go and charge 10% on the 10% we charge the customer, thus incurring another 1% cost to the business on top of the 10%, thus accumulation to 11% gross receipts tax.

I will go to general public comment.

So here we are at 11% gross receipts tax, the highest in the state, taxing other taxes.

We're not even taxing services anymore.

We have 4,000 competitors.

Where do you expect the cannabis industry to go from here?

That is the problem we're faced with.

We have hundreds of businesses going out of business.

We have hundreds of millions of dollars in back debt and taxes, and that doesn't include the debt that goes to other people inside the cannabis industry and in the supply chain.

We have a critical time right now where we either let the illicit industry take over Los Angeles, which it kind of already is, or we uplift some of the existing tax-paying regulated canvas businesses, give them an opportunity to survive.

Thrive is outside the scope of most Canvas people now.

We just want survival.

The City Council has an opportunity to vote on lowering the excise tax.

I'd really love to see a motion to lower that.

I know we have some economic studies, but we already see the studies of what's happening currently.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning, Mr.

City Attorney.

I'd like to speak to item number two and general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute for item number two and one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Mr.

President and honorable council members.

I'm speaking to item number two.

My name is Art Sawyer, and I'm a 28-year resident of Pacific View Drive in CD4.

The proposed vacation is a harm to the adjoining home landowners and the surrounding neighborhood.

It sacrifices a critical street and hillside buffer for the benefit of a single landowner.

His current lots allow him to build in compliance with the Malholic Scenic Plan.

Yet his application to receive hundreds of square feet of land via this vacation is, as he himself notes in his application not to build more homes, not to build affordable homes, but to build a bigger, more expensive home that reduces the present right of way.

It is not in the city's interest to make this vacation.

The city is not avoiding any liabilities through the vacation because the narrow street will still be impinged by the hillside.

Should the vacation go through, the city will find itself with less land and less control.

Should the vacation go through, the city will find itself with less land and less control.

If the vacation is not in the city's interest, not in the neighborshood interest, why should the vacation be made for a non-resident developer?

I respectfully ask that you reject this vacation as proposed or return it to the public works committee for further input.

Thank you for your time.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Charlie Albare, Jefferson Azebedo, and John Patker.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Public comment.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay, so I want to make sure that when my minute starts, I want to make sure everybody's listening and not just ignoring us because sometimes we feel that way.

Okay, so I'm gonna start.

Um my name is Barbara.

I'm here uh in support of Gaza and Palestine, where a lot of our children over there are getting killed and they're dying of hunger.

Uh, I came with my brothers and sisters here and in support of Gaza, but also what was going on in our community.

Our children are also getting um, our children and our people are getting uh suppressed.

They're attacking our children.

And by the by how?

By them going the immigration going to our schools and trying to um uh arrest them and deport them.

We gotta stop this, and USR council members need to help us out and do something in our communities and really protect our students.

Our people are here, hardworking people, and we're not here to kill or sell drugs.

We're here to make a better living, so it's not fair that they're doing this to us.

So we're here in solidarity with Agaza.

Palestine.

We Palestine.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

In opposition to item number two.

My name is Charles Alvarez.

I live on Pacific View Drive.

I'm strongly opposed to vacating the easement for the two lots in question.

Pacific View Drive is a narrow, windy street, and the removal of the easement would make the street even narrower and more dangerous.

There is also a large utility pole in the middle of the two lots in question that includes power lines, telephone, cable TV, internet lines, and a street light.

There's very little space or room available for an alternate location for that utility poll.

Contrary to the assertions and the application, all the owners of abudding properties on both Pacific View Drive and Los Altouras have signed a petition in opposition to vacating the easement.

I would like to present that petition to the city council.

And by the way, we were also not notified in a timely manner about the previous subcommittee hearings for this matter as required by the Brown Act.

So thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

I'd like to make general public comments and one through 13.

Items 1 through 13.

Good morning.

You said general public comment and uh items one through 13.

Okay.

So you have three minutes for the items and one minute for general public comment.

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Begin with the items.

Okay, so um the first public comments I'm gonna speak on are in regards to the fee increases from the DCR.

Um, like one of my colleagues says we've been coming out here since April, trying to engage and and and um and speak on in regards to the industry as why those fee increases don't make any sense.

Um I wanted to provide some clear examples of some of the current functionality of it.

Uh right now, uh, in order to submit a new DBA for your business that's required by the city and the state.

Uh the city doesn't charge you any, or excuse me, the state doesn't charge you any fees to do a DBA into your license.

Neither does the Department of Finance here at the city, nor does the the city, the county.

But if you go to the DCR, they're gonna charge you over $500 just to submit a DBA.

Mine's literally a five-letter word that needs to be submitted to my record, and they want to charge us $500 for that.

Um just the general public comments um in regards to.

So another example that I've been experiencing with uh with the DCR and the social equity, um, is the pro rata disbursement.

Uh, it took about 10 months for us to get that pro-rated disbursement.

Uh, those funds could have been utilized for my business to be able to pay for uh for security guards for debt that I had occurred opening up, and so 10 months of of waiting and emails and follow-ups for getting a pro-rated disbursement.

Uh really hindered my business from being able to advance and have a strong leg to stand on.

Another issue we encountered too.

In the same year, we were required to pay a temporary license renewal that was about 4,500.

Within a month, I got an invoice um for another annual fee for the same cycle year, the same business year, approximately 7,000 and something dollars.

Ultimately, our social equity funds pulled that money out, but why would I be required to pay for two licenses from the same year?

It doesn't make any sense.

And I I hope you guys were looking to those speaker.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

General comment?

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

All right.

Uh I heard a lot about uh LAPD, the city of Los Angeles, and ICE.

And it's important also for us to understand that the Zionist state, uh training the police here in Los Angeles and other cities as well.

So, in order to support our people, and also the people in Palestine who are under genocide.

LA, as uh international city, needs to wake up and be in the forefront.

So need to divest from the Zionist state, also known as Israel, and from companies, the business with them, because that cannot continue.

We using our money to fund the people that are virtualizing us here and also killing children in Gaza.

We have to stop.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Chris Martinez, Daniel Sosa, and Kitty Hollerith.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Uh, we're from the three hunger strike, uh, three-day hunger strike uh for Palestine against starvation.

You know, the world is look, the world looks at Los Angeles.

And um, you know what you say, what you do can have a big impact on humanity against the starvation of babies of children.

Uh we know that uh you you you have uh issues that you spend on things, but you spend millions on militias against the protesters in Palestine against the ICE, but you spend band-aids on housing.

There's a crisis, and that's what's going on.

Now we know that the United States, if there's evil, it thrives on evil.

It takes our tax dollars, it takes our money, and sends it for massive weapons of NASA stress to Israel.

Now you can do you can make a resolution to say no, to say no to genocide here and there.

Why are you gonna do it?

Make a resolution.

Okay.

Before the next speaker, I'd like to call a few more names.

Lynn Sosa, Peter, and Richard.

And before the right, and after these speakers, I don't conclude public comment for today's meetings.

If those speakers can line up, and before we begin with the next speaker, would the person who's holding up the sign?

So we do have a rule that restricts the size of the signs, and the reason for that is um there are people that often sit behind you, it can block their view.

And so the rule says that the signs need to be or the flags need to be eight by eleven, regardless of what that they say.

So I would ask that you please not uh raise the sign for the rest of this meeting.

Good morning.

Uh, which items do you like to speak to?

I'd like to speak on item 13 and general public comment, please.

Okay, so you have one minute for the item and one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Um, my name is uh Daniel Sosa.

I own and operate four dispensaries in the city of LA.

The prospect of raising fees on cannabis businesses is a ridiculous and tone-deaf proposition.

The cannabis industry is in a state of crisis.

We cannot afford higher fees.

We cannot afford to operate under the current tax and fee structure.

We need sweeping changes to the tax rates and regulatory structure here in Los Angeles.

The average licensed cannabis dispensary in LA is in over a million dollars in debt to the city and over a million dollars in tax debt to the state.

Meanwhile, we are competing against an illicit market which pays no taxes and controls over 60% of the total cannabis market.

Plain and simple, we cannot afford to pay higher fees in such a hostile business environment.

Please vote against raising fees for cannabis businesses.

General public comment.

I really appreciate everybody listening to my important public comment.

Today is day 26 of 24 hour protests outside the Metropolitan Detention Center against ICE's presence in our city.

LAPD is continuing to harass, intimidate, and arrest peaceful protesters, and is using 4118 as an excuse to do it.

We are continuing to document and record them every time they do this.

When you guys passed 4118, many warned it was a slippery slope.

Well, the slope has slipped, and LAPD is now using 4118, the ordinance specifically created to address homeless encampments to harass and intimidate and arrest peaceful protesters.

These are serious civil rights violations.

They are opening the city up to liability, and it is a terrible precedent that LAPD continues to set.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Yeah, I'm going to speak.

I'm going to have a general comment and I can address one uh agenda item.

So you have one minute for the item and one minute for general.

Uh, please begin with the item.

Go ahead.

One minute each.

Okay.

And it doesn't matter what I start with.

So when we start, so we're going to go.

We're going to start with general comment.

So the rules we request just like everybody else, we start with the item and then we do general.

Okay, okay.

I'm sorry.

So the item I would like to speak on, it does pertain to lighting.

And uh I would like to bring attention to CD one.

And um the area that I'm speaking uh about is the tributary, the Arroyo River that goes along the 110.

I've brought this to your office's attention in the past.

And I want to say I really appreciate the work you're doing in the community to clear some of the encampments that are around there.

But this one along our freeway, it's it's really bad, and it just keeps growing and growing.

There must be, I mean, I don't know how many people occupy these encampments, but if there's two or three, there's at least, you know, eight of them.

So there's over eight people, I'm sure, at least a dozen or more people, and the plastic is hanging over the freeway and waving around, and they just keep growing.

I don't know what the answer is.

I don't think anybody here knows the answer.

General public comment?

But we need to clear that, and I would appreciate it.

All right.

So moving on to general comment.

I heard the buzzer, thank you.

I don't think they were trying to buzz it on you.

I think it was just we were trying to reset the time.

Sorry, if you could start it at one.

Go ahead.

Okay, this general comment does pertain to the council members.

This side of the aisle looks like they're paying attention, but this side of the aisle to me right now does not.

None of them are looking at me.

And I was very impressed with one of the speakers a couple weeks ago that addressed the issue.

I am retired now, but I was a teacher for 26 years with LA Unified, and I want to know wouldn't you agree that students are expected to listen and pay attention to what is being presented?

As you know, cell phones were banned in classrooms.

You probably all supported that.

Why don't we ban the cell phones here during this session?

Maybe that is something you could think about.

It would make you pay attention, look at the speaker, and show some respect.

Do you talk in the church service?

Do you pay attention when you go to your child's recital or performance?

I would hope that you do.

You're not chatting with your friends like you are here.

Please show some respect.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker, and I believe this is the final speaker as well.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Hello.

I'm here to talk about general comment, please.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hello, I'm Eddie.

One of the primary organizers of the 535 elemental shoe protests.

Are you guys listening?

It's 24 hours, seven days a week protest that started June 11th.

Tina Ryra protesting.

Hold on, can we pause just time?

Sorry.

So hello.

Yeah.

Yeah, the mic is weird.

What's going on?

Yeah, uh, so you're speaking very clearly.

Just back up just a little bit.

If you could keep just say something.

Hello.

That is better.

I think you were a little too close to the mic.

So go ahead.

Can we restart it real quick then?

We paused your time for that, but but go ahead, you still have your remaining four.

I just restart it real quick, please.

Thank you.

I appreciate if you restarted it, please.

Again, we can't use our time.

Go ahead.

So you're restarting it.

Let's say it's 38 seconds.

Please restart it.

Again, now you're being repetitive.

No, it hasn't started restarted it.

We paused it when we were explaining.

I really want you guys to hear me, please.

Let me restart it.

This is your last opportunity.

Or I'm gonna have to ask you to vacate the podium and you'll forfeit your time.

So you have 27 seconds.

We paused it when we were giving you the instruction.

Go ahead.

He's taking the Olympics away from you.

Today, Trump is taking the Olympics away from you.

You guys are merely city council, but you're a city council council of one of the largest economies of the country.

Join us in fighting for the rest of the country.

If you can't join us because of your own cowardice, please don't be our enemy.

Please listen to the people.

I wish I had my whole minute to talk to you guys, but you keep silence me.

Don't silence us.

Please.

I really would wish to have a whole minute.

Your time is expired.

Alright, thank you so much.

Uh speaker, Mr.

Clerk.

What items are available for us to consider?

Mr.

President, the council may now vote on items one, three through thirteen, and 19 through 29.

All right, those items are now before us.

Let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

All right, what's next?

The council may not consider item two.

Hell for council member ramen for remarks.

Councilmember Raman.

Um, Council President, may I request a one-week continuance of this item for us to be able to address some of the questions that were brought up today?

All right, and for the record, that would be Tuesday, August 12th, 2025.

All right, that item will be continued to Tuesday, August 12th without objection.

What's next?

Thank you very much.

Council has motions for posting referral.

They are posted and they are referred.

But this is clear, sir.

All right.

Announcements members, announcements.

Council Member Raman.

Okay, announce you have an announcement?

Yes.

Okay.

Um, great.

I just wanted to flag for everybody as part of this year's budget process.

We created a Bureau of Homelessness Oversight in the housing department, establishing for the first time a place in the city that is charged with performance oversight.

Okay, I'm sorry, Councilmember.

So I'm going to warn the gentleman who's holding up the sign in the red t shirt.

Please do not disrupt this meeting.

So public comment period is over.

You were also already given the opportunity to speak.

This is your first and only warning.

The same goes for the woman in the yellow shirt who was raising her fist.

This is your first and only warning.

Do not interrupt this meeting.

If you continue to do so, you'll be subject to removal and exclusion pursuant to Rule 7 and Rule 12.

So, Mr.

President, the gentleman in the red shirt who's holding the sign is eligible for removal.

He has been warned, and it's still disrupting this meeting.

Sir, you've derived you've been warned from disrupting the meeting.

I'm gonna ask you to leave the meeting now.

You've been excused from this meeting pursuant to rule seven and rule twelve.

I am the black and brown shame.

And Mr.

President, the woman in the yellow tinted shirt with the raised fist and the glasses has also been warned twice, actually, and is eligible for removal if you would like.

Members of the public, we took public comment for over an hour.

There will also be an opportunity for public comment tomorrow and on Friday.

So please do not disrupt the meeting.

We're trying to hear announcements from Council Member Raman.

I'm sorry, and for the record, everybody, before we go back to Ms.

Councilmember Raman, uh just to note we had about 68 minutes of public comment today.

We took as many speakers as we possibly could.

Uh so just so folks knows.

Councilmember Raman.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'll start again.

As part of this year's budget process, we created a Bureau of Homelessness Oversight in the housing department, which is establishing for the first time a place in the city that is charged with overseeing performance to ensure that every dollar that we're spending on homelessness is working to get people the care that they need and that they're moving indoors.

And as a first step, staff from the housing department and consultants in partnership with the CAO and CLA have been working with Lhasa to identify and improve data collection about the four key areas of city investment in our homelessness response.

That's outreach, interim shelter, permanent supportive housing, and time limited subsidies.

That will help us answer questions like how many total beds we're investing in, and are we filling those beds every night?

How long are people staying in those beds?

What kind of care are we getting in those shelters?

This is the kind of data that we can use to identify problems in program implementation and solve those problems to help as many people as possible to come indoors into safety.

We can also use this information to advocate for better resources from the county.

A presentation on the data and how it could be used to improve our system's performance will be made in the H committee meeting tomorrow afternoon.

Staff will also showcase one example of how this data has already been used to yield results by filling MT PSH units across the re across the city.

And since this is a topic of widespread interest, I want to make sure and make an announcement here to encourage you or appropriate staff to listen in, and I welcome your feedback as this process moves forward.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Roman.

Councilmember McCosker.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Raman, for that.

Members, I know that many of us have national night out events in our districts.

I just want to highlight that this is uh national night out day.

I want to highlight a couple in the one-five for the listening audience.

Across Los Angeles, it's an annual community building event that serves to promote public safety, community partnerships, and neighborhood camaraderie.

In the one-five, we're really proud that we're going to be hosting for the first time ever, two at the stations.

So the Harbor Harbor Division is going to have one, and the Southeast Division is going to have a national night out as they usually do.

We also have a national night out event uh from 4 p.m.

to 8 p.m.

That'll be at uh the Harbor City Recreational Center.

So it covers the entire range of the district.

Uh at each of the events, there's going to be free entertainment, food, games, resources, uh, for the public.

Uh come on out.

And I want to say that every single resident, every resident in the city of Los Angeles is invited out.

It is a place where you're going to be safe.

It's a place where you're going to be safe.

You're going to have an opportunity to participate as a resident, regardless of your status, to make sure that we're all working together on our own public safety.

So thank you.

Thank you so much, and we'll see you at uh Southeast Division tonight.

Councilmember McCosker, Councilmember Budia.

I just wanted to let everybody know that what I brought up last week related to LAUSD and UTLA seeking partnerships for uh going back to school on August 13th.

Uh, has been forwarded over to your offices from my office.

So for those who are saying what we're doing or what we could potentially do to help the children of Los Angeles, I brought it up last week.

It's now um in your inboxes, and looking forward to uh, you know, hopefully we can all be partners in one way or another with our schools.

Thank you so much.

And the first day of school again is August.

It's next Thursday.

Okay, okay.

So I so next Thursday school starts.

And what they want is for people to be there at the receiving end when they arrive.

So that's children feel like their neighborhood has their back.

Right on, right on.

And and uh Thursday's uh not a council day, so hopefully, uh some or all of us can make it out to a school that morning.

Any other announcements, members?

All right, seeing none, I'll ask everyone in the chamber to rise for adjourning motions and ask if there are adjourning motions to my left.

Councilmember McCosker.

Thank you very much, Council President and colleagues.

I ask that we adjourn today in memory of Violet Moretti, a proud San Pedro native, devoted mother and grandmother, and beloved member of the harbor area community.

Violet passed away at the age of 91, leaving behind a legacy of family, faith, and service that will long be remembered by everyone who knew and loved her.

Violet was born on August 9th, 1932 in San Pedro, to Joseph and Lubica Ursich, immigrants from the island of Brach, Croatia.

She grew up in a close-knit neighborhood, which was very common in the harbor area in those days, where family ties ran strong, and everyone was within walking distance of uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Though she never learned to ride a bicycle, says her daughter.

Violet's childhood was full of freedom and fun.

She roamed the bluffs near Crescent Street, played near the quicksand, where warehouses nine and ten are now constructed.

Would later.

She also rode in the Fishermen's fiesta parades, which were quite a thing for folks in her generation, where she said she felt like royalty, where they would wave to people on the docks from the boats that were all decorated before they were blessed and sent out to sea.

Violet attended Dana Junior High and graduated from San Pedro High School in the winter of 1951.

After studying at Harbor College, she worked over a decade at Douglas Aircraft where she was introduced to customs for the first time, out of college, for the first time, introduced to customs outside of her Croatian upbringing.

That's how the harbor area was in those days.

She spoke about how amazed she was to learn that Americans put sour cream on their baked potatoes and other things that were she was unaccustomed to being in her San Pedro Croatian cocoon, which I say lovingly.

She was a lifelong member of the Dalmatian American Club.

Violet learned to dance with the Kolo folk group in traditional Croatian culture.

She married Louis Moretti, a fellow Croatian, a longshoreman, and together they raised two daughters, Marilyn and Kathy.

The family remained very deeply connected to Mary Star of the Sea Parish, where Violet volunteered in the Christian care ministry.

Her truest vocation, though, was nurturing her family with love, tradition, and food.

Whether it was her Sarma, her stuffed bell peppers, her leg of lamb, or homemade palanchica.

Her kitchen was always the heart of the home.

Her greatest joy came from being a grandma to her three grandchildren, Bianca, Gabriella, and Brandon in retirement.

Violet and Louie spent peaceful years in Wildemar.

Their days were spent swimming in the pool, picking tomatoes on the farm, and enjoying the fruits of a well-lived life.

Her story reflects the enduring spirit of the communities in the harbor area.

Hardworking, family-centered, faithful, and rich in culture.

And today we honor her memory and extend our deep deepest condolences to her family who were all so fortunate to share her life.

I knew her family, but I met her and uh spent a few years with her.

So thank you and God bless her.

Thank you so much, Mr.

McCosker.

Beautifully said.

Any other adjourney motions on my left?

Journey motions to my right.

All right, we're adjourned.

Thank you so much, everybody.

Incredibly not worthy.

And I I don't really know why.

I don't know what why I feel like I've done something wrong, or I'm not, I'm not enough.

But I just feel so ashamed of how I am right now.

I'm like so fed up with trying to find some place to sleep.

Everywhere you go, every turn you make, there's obstacles, barriers.

Well, I got a security camera right there, staring at me.

Watch it.

That would work.

Now on the way, we see something better.

We see something better.

I think we just gotta realize it's raining and we got no tent right there.

Smashed at the front.

Smashed at the back.

Look, have a look.