The Los Angeles City Council convened on August 13, 2025, for a regularly scheduled meeting. The session included routine approvals of consent calendar items, extensive public comment on various agenda issues, discussions on homelessness accountability and state legislation, and several special recognitions. The council also held a closed session for a verbal update with no action taken.
We need to have more programs like this. For the kids that have these kind of opportunities is just no comparison. We get all walks alive. You got people that actually are in college that maybe to be able to get to a bigger, higher level. You have people that are not in college that actually gets in because of this program. It's something that this is a need. All of us need it. It's a good thing for all of the communities because you got some real competition out here. You got a lot of dudes that's upskill and their basketball talent. These are the kind of things that we try to provide and have these young men come together and have a good time. The city's emergency management department is making sure a new generation is prepared. And it's Camp Ready LA. Young Angelinos got insight into emergency response procedures and the opportunity to check out careers in the field. We're here at the City of Los Angeles Emergency Operations Center, and this week is our fourth annual Camp Ready LA week in the City of LA. So Camp Ready LA is a week-long program that we facilitate here at the emergency management department. It's designed to expose 18 to 24 year olds about the profession of emergency management and other public safety sectors and disciplines. The campers go through a number of different activities over the course of the week that will familiarize them with the emergency management planning topics, emergency response procedures like fire extinguishers and first aid, and ultimately they'll leave at the end of the week with a better skill set and familiarization with the emergency management profession. I've enjoyed learning more about emergency management, about CRT, the crisis, a response team. I didn't know that existed, especially here in Los Angeles. We had a course on the bleed out, we put out a fire, we learned how to use the fire extinguisher. Just very interesting, very rewarding. I wanted to know how else the city of LA, like all of them help each other out. I wasn't too familiar with uh all of that, so I wanted to get a deeper understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. We also just been uh talking about what the uh emergency operations center does and how it helps out the community, and there's just so much that I I'm learning about that I didn't know about before. I actually have a better idea of all the different things that uh city employees do. I mean, it's not just like the things you see with, you know, LA F LEPD, like there's people like in the background, and so it's really exciting to see. So I actually started as a camper here. I was a participant of the Camp Ready LA program, and from there I got interested in emergency management, and I applied to be a fellow here at the emergency management department. When I was a camper, I was just interested in what emergency management could be, and now that I have the experience doing emergency operations center activations, I know what it's like to be behind the scenes and actually help the community, and I think that's what's the most rewarding about this. I would definitely recommend any student, i school, I think it's 18 to 24, anybody in the age range that qualifies or that could take this program to definitely apply and do this program. It definitely opens up a lot of doors. You get to meet a lot of people. I've met a lot of great people here so far. Even if you're not entirely sure what you want to do, or if you're studying something unrelated, this is great to kind of just get your foot in the door and kind of really start that like next part of adult life. We caught up with the office of LA City Attorney Heidi Felstein Soto. The team are meeting with seniors to connect them with available resources and get feedback on services they would like to see in their neighborhood. The city attorney's office is today. We are here in Council District 10, specifically at Jim Gillian Park, and we are meeting with our seniors in the community. This is a program that the city attorney's office has been doing for the past about five months now. We have visited various council districts. This is our sixth day event today, and essentially the goal is to bring services and to introduce our seniors to the various departments and services that the city of LA as well as nonprofits across the city provide. A lot of the times as seniors, they're retired, they're out the loop. So when you have an opportunity to bring the information and services directly to them, they feel a lot more empowered. And it's one of the best ways of how we build community is to inform each other, keep each other in the loop with what's happening, and you have an opportunity to mastermind different ways that we can get the information to them in ways that they can contribute to what they also want to see and not just what we want to offer. We've received some great feedback from community members, and we are happy to continue hosting these events. Right now, we are aiming to host at least one event at a different council district each month. It's really essential for all programs if we're gonna thrive and provide services that are well meaning. A lot of times people are interested in doing one off events, but I think when you can have a web, it generates that real care that can grow, and you can be so creative, and then when you combine the resources, I think the sky is the limit. Mayor Bass issues an emergency executive order related to the Palisades. A new guide will support City of LA child care providers, and the LA Zoo now has two Tasmanian Devils on view.