Safety.

During a heat wave here in Los Angeles, we average about 200 more medical emergencies per day.

The leading cause of death for children ages one to four is drowning.

And the second cause of death for children ages four till fourteen is also drowning.

It's very important to keep your eyes on your children when they're in water at all times.

Even things such as innocuous as a bucket or a bathtub.

One to two inches of water can be dangerous.

Children have drowned while parents are replying to a text, checking a fishing line, or applying lotion.

So never leave a child alone and unattended, especially when they're in rivers, lakes, ponds, or the ocean.

Leaving pets or seniors or any person inside of a vehicle is very dangerous.

The ambient temperature outside is usually 30 degrees hotter inside of a vehicle.

Many times children are left in vehicles with the air conditioning on, but a car can malfunction and stop, and then you'll will have a person unattended in a vehicle that may not be able to save themselves, especially if they're older or their young children.

It is a potentially dangerous situation.

So there's a differentiation between heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Heat exhaustion can be reversed versus heat stroke.

You need to go to an emergency room and have the intervention to help you come back from those symptoms.

When someone's experiencing heat exhaustion, they typically have nausea, dizziness, fatigue, they feel muscle cramps, they have abdominal pain.

So those can be reversed by finding a shady spot, sipping some water, using ice packs in the armpits or in the groin.

When you have heat stroke, the person can't drink or sip water anymore.

They are unconscious, they could be having a stroke.

Stepping up to celebrate local improvements and heating the call to keep moving.

This was a block party that began with getting some steps in.

Uh, to uh exercise and to understand the importance of open space.

The Black Fly is going to feature games, information for kids and for families.

There's gonna be some food, and just a real chance to celebrate.

I'm from this area, so the city of the city beautified like today.

I couldn't I couldn't help but be a part of what's going on.

I think it's important to walk at my age to get out and continuously moving and being involved versus sitting down doing nothing and just getting older is so important to continue to move.

I wrote my bicycle here.

I live right down the street, and so I want to really encourage folks to uh appreciate and enjoy the open space.

So come on, get your body moving.

Let's have a great one.

Schools are back this week, but there was just enough time for one more event on summer break.

Council members Eunicius Hernandez and Isabel Herado gathered with their local community to help everyone get ready for that return to school.

Today we are on the border of CD1 and CD 14, celebrating our annual Lincoln Heights backpack giveaway, where we are giving over 1,200 backpacks out to community and families here in Lincoln Heights, as well as have over 30 resources and organizations here providing access to health care, access to food.

We're doing everything we can to support our families, and we're doing it in partnership with our neighboring districts.

I want to let all the families and our students or children know that get ready for school because our schools are ready for you.

Our teachers, your principals, everyone in schools are ready for you to come back and start learning.

Start connecting and playing with your classmates, and you know, making sure that you're safe.

So all the families and parents, I want to let you know that the safest place for your children is in site school.

So they will be safe.

We will protect them, and everybody's ready for the first day of school.

I know these are hard times, and our communities are afraid, and rightly so.

But in these moments, getting together and seeing one another and sharing space makes me feel safe, and I hope you all too.

No matter what, our community has to continue showing up, and that's what our offices are doing.

We're providing backpacks, a safe space.

We haven't had free haircuts down the way, and that's the kind of thing our community members want to feel right now.

I know Councilmember Hernandez and I are committed to making sure that you have more safe spaces here in the city of LA, Lincoln Heights, and beyond.

Council Member Adrian Zarian has broken ground on new tiny homes in Van Ise, which he says will add 100 beds and help give unhoused neighbors a path to stability.

The 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count reported that the unsheltered homeless population in Nazarion's district had decreased by 36% since 2024, according to Nazarian.

In the last eight months, interim shelters and a navigation center in his district have provided services to more than 1,500 individuals and shelter to 866.

In addition, Nazarian says the new tiny homes support his goal of helping those living in dangerous conditions and will help residents enjoy a cleaner and safer neighborhood.

For more information, visit CD2.lacity.gov.

Mayor Karen Bass announced the completion of the ELAN Solar Plus Storage Center, one of the largest solar and battery energy storage projects in the country.

ELAND is the latest addition to LA's clean energy sources from the Baron Ridge Renewable Energy Corridor in Mojave.

According to Bass, this center pushes the city's clean energy share above 60%, marking a major milestone in LA's transition to 100% clean energy by 2035.

The ELAN project can provide enough power to supply more than a quarter of a million households across LA.

For more information, visit mayor.lacity.gov slash pressment of its Section 8 housing choice voucher program.

The U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD gave the Hackla program top marks in accountability, transparency, and resource utilization.

With bonus points added, Hackla attained a score of 102%.

According to HACLA, the score represents the above and beyond dedication of its team in administering the Section 8 program.

The authority added that Section 8 is a lifeline to over 50,000 low-income Angelinos who might otherwise find themselves out on the street.

For more information, visit Hackla.org.

Surfs up at Venice Beach.

When the ocean calls, Reckon Parks wants to make sure everyone can answer.

Parasurfing is an all abilities program that teaches young Angelinos how to paddle out and catch the waves.

And we're trying to promote surfing.

This is Play Alean, and this is the Venice Beach.

And the surfing people are surfing there.

Play LA is all about getting kids from all over the city, all ability, all ages, to come and truthfully just have fun.

Today's event is like um surfboarding because some of the kids think that surfboard needs fun, including me.

When the families come out to Venice Beach or Cabrillo Beach, the kids light up.

They have support from our staff.

It's a beautiful experience for them because otherwise they wouldn't have access to surfing boards and getting these lessons from our staff.

We're gonna paddle.

They enjoy it, they want to come back over again, and we get repeat kids that do this program more than one.

I love this program.

I love this team.

This is a really great opportunity to enter the ocean and enter surfing.

Surfing has a lot of barriers to entry.

It can be an expensive sport, it can be a very intimidating sport.

Um, a lot of parents, you know, reach out to us and want their children to feel safe and confident in the ocean, and they might not necessarily have those skills, so being able to pass that on and to see kids having fun safely in the water is just truly the biggest gift of all.

It's really important and it saves lives.

First, you gotta get the surfboard, and then you you've gotta like scorpion legs on the surfboard, battle, and then like catch the way, and then you gotta bend your knees so you can balance better.

We want them smiling.

That's the most important thing.

Smiling, facey, stoke, and doesn't matter where you at, we will meet you where you need.

Um, getting involved with the families is also really important.

We make sure to have a close rapport, check-in.

Some, you know, some disabilities are more apparent than others, and we just want to make sure that we're being um available to all.org to research any type of activities we offer to any type of children with disabilities or without, and they can join in and have these experiencing like surfing, which is called parasurfing on our website, and we also offer paddle boarding, we offer swimming and a variety of other aquatic programs, and they'll see that their kids, once they come out here, even if they're a little scared, they'll enjoy this experience because it's a wonderful experience, and we offer these beautiful affordable programs to all of the children in Los Angeles.

Um where you make friends, have fun, go surfing on the water.

And the kids certainly are safe, smiling, and stoked.

LA's public library presented a celebration of black excellence in honor of Juneteenth and the achievements of African Americans with something for everyone.

It was a day of blessing, learning, culture, and joy.

It's an incredibly special day here at the beautiful historic Central Library in downtown Los Angeles.

We are here for June Jubilee, a celebration of black excellence.

I want to lift up our incredible staff who've done such a great job to put together this event as they have made the program happen in July this year.

It's extra special, and we're looking forward to many, many Angelinos coming to Central Library to explore all that we have to offer.

It's important that the library celebrates all cultures, and it does a great job of doing that.

And I think here at June Jubilee, you'll find displays like Karen Collins, whose African-American Museum of Miniatures shows the history of African American culture.

You'll find performances like Jametta Rose and the voices of creation who are bringing joy and happiness and unity to the people of LA.

We're here to celebrate Black Culture, Black Excellence.

We started off the day with the libation and a drum ceremony.

There's lots more to see, including uh author presentations, craft activities for people of all ages.

We are gonna have the Afro-American quilters, which are gonna be on the second floor rotunda.

When you walk up on that floor, it's just gonna be an amazing site to witness all of the African American quilted stories that these women have put together.

We are also going to have an amazing Emmy nominated documentary, Black Barbie.

It's gonna be happening in the Mark Taper as well as a discussion panel.

For our community, all of you who are here, and we'll be going through these doors shortly.

This is your day, and don't forget, this is your library.

It's not my library, it's not the commission's library, it's not just the mayor's library, it is your library, and that's why we're here and we exist for you.

Not just at Central Library, but all of our branches throughout this amazing city of Angels.

To all of you, welcome to June Jubilee.

It's gonna be a great day.

Thank you so much.

Young players stepped up to the plate at a citywide tournament.

LA City's Wreck and Parks softball and baseball tournament brought four neighborhoods to the field, bringing out the best in competition and community pride.

We are excited to host the citywide baseball and softball tournaments today.

We have four regions represented.

That means players from all over the city coming from our recreation centers to compete for a citywide title.

You know, the parents are very dedicated, a lot of practice throughout the week, and they're able to get somewhere here to the championship, so something that they're gonna remember for a long time.

It's really positive for them.

We're hosting the baseball softball tournament right now, but we do have year-round sports.

You can find out information at LA Parks.org, where we have four different seasons of baseball, basketball, softball, flag football, soccer, and we're increasing and adding programs and new sports at all times because we're also part of the Olympic initiative.

So we're trying to make sure that we give opportunities for youngsters to get exposed to new sports and have an opportunity to try out and play things that are new for them.

The kids are able to exercise, take out all their energy, they play for their parts, they make friends, and this is the culmination of what we have going on for the past three months.

What it brings to the kids is self-confidence, self-esteem, community pride.

We're giving them an opportunity that they're never gonna forget.

It is an area of South LA where we want to make sure that we have a lot of alternative actions for young people to participate in and to foster a great path for them.

When they make choices about what they're gonna do with their time.

We're here to support that, give them activities to belong to, and we have this happening throughout the city, not just in South LA.

So we're happy to always provide that year-round.

That program is a home run for Wreckin Parks, and there are many more sports detailed on their website.

In this week's feature story, gratitude is the theme of the 2025 Nisei Week Japanese festival in LA's Little Tokyo.

Honoring the legacy of the district has never been more important, and the cultural celebrations kicked off with the Nisei Week Grand Parade.

We're kicking off Nisei Week here in Little Tokyo, celebrating our Japanese American community.

The theme for this year is Hancha, which is gratitude.

It's just a celebration.

A celebration of all the uh Japanese Americans who have been in LA over a hundred years, actually.

And it's just a reminder of uh all the things that we need to cherish about this place and about our culture.

A lot of people in the Los Angeles are not aware of the although this event is actually every year.

You don't ever want to lose your cultural heritage, it's important to keep that identity, and so this event helps to reinforce that on a regular basis.

It's important to have these parades in large part because it's a way for people to learn more about the culture and to be appreciative and um in tune with what the community wants, right?

It's important to lead from community, and that's what the Japanese American Heritage and Nisai Week is all about.

Yeah, it's a great way to support the Japanese community here in Los Angeles.

It's important for representation.

I think that's kind of the state of our country right now.

I think having this representation to showcase like inclusivity and that we care about our community.

It helps to bring people and community together.

Celebrating diversity, definitely.

Yes, yes, for sure.

That's why we're here.

Living in such a like diverse city.

We're so lucky to have all of these wonderful cultures around us that we can experience, and I think coming to events like these, you really get to feel, you know, the things you don't get to see in your everyday life.

So I'm excited to see all the Nisei Queens and Princesses.

I'm really excited to see uh the winners from the beauty pageant.

Um, they're my favorite part of the parade.

We went to Tokyo earlier this year, and being in Little Tokyo is just like a little snippet of uh actually being in Tokyo.

I've been coming to Little Tokyo since 1968, I guess.

It's changed greatly, but it's still really the as far as I'm concerned, the heart of Los Angeles and the jewel of Los Angeles.

And I feel very privileged to be a part of this.

Now more than ever.

Just so excited to be here to celebrate the diversity, which is the strength of our city.

I am so happy that the people from Los Angeles they do appreciate this event.

In this week's things to do, keep LA beautiful at the seventh annual beautification conference.

Learn more about our coastline at Cabrillo, and enjoy a special edition of Back to School Venice.

All this up next on things to do.

On Saturday, August 23rd, the Board of Public Works and the Office of Community Beautification presents the seventh annual beautification conference, celebrating people, purpose, presence.

Connect with fellow Angelinos to share stories, learn how to get involved, host your own community cleanup, and discover all that local partners and city agencies have to offer.

There will be over 30 exhibitors at the Community Resource Expo, and the conference will cover community engagement, volunteering, the My LA 311 system, and Composting 101.

Head to the Lincoln Heights Senior Center for the 7th Annual Beautification Conference on Saturday, August 23rd, beginning at 10 a.m.

Find out more under the Keep LA Beautiful tab at LAOCB.org.

Enjoy a guided walk with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Educators on Saturday, August 23rd, when they will be interpreting the various habitats of the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park.

The walk begins at the aquarium courtyard and takes in the native garden, salt marsh, beaches, and tide pools.

Along the walk, you'll see fossils, native plants, and other interesting finds of the coastal park.

Pack a snack, head outside, and meet at the aquarium for this Cabrillo walk on Saturday, August 23rd at 1 p.m.

For more information, see the events calendar at CabrillomarineAquarium.org.

On Saturday, August 23rd, join Councilwoman Tracy Park for a very special coastal cleanup and fire relief edition of Back to School Venice Beach.

This will be a coastal wellness experience and community celebration dedicated to supporting families, celebrating youth, and showing up for those impacted by the January wildfires.

There will be youth performers, local vendors, games, and raffles, along with a coastal cleanup, yoga, and a skate zone.

There will also be a backpack giveaway, free resources, and relief items.

Join Councilwoman Tracy Park for Back to School Venice Beach on Saturday, August 23rd, beginning at 10 a.m.

For more information, visit the Instagram account of Councilwoman Tracy Park.

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 LACityview.org.

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

See you next time for more LA This Week.

Did you know that the area of West Los Angeles used to be its own city known as the City of Saltel?

I'm Chris Kiefer, the senior librarian here at the West Los Angeles Regional Branch Library, and I have with me here the original SEAL from the City of Santel.

Sotel was incorporated in 1906, and in 1922, the citizens voted to merge the city of Santel with the city of Los Angeles.

The last city clerk from the city of Sotel was a man named Lyndon Burzell.

He went on to be a local businessman involved in many community organizations.

This library was built in 1956.

And upon its one-year anniversary in 1957, Lyndon Berzel gifted the City of Santel Seal to the West Halle Library so that we can have it here for the future.

And it still works.

The City of Saintel Seal features the Incorporation date, the motto progress, and in the middle a sycamore tree, which used to be a local landmark here in the area.

Until unfortunately, it was burned down by some careless children and firecrackers.

Oh no, no.

Oh, look, I don't know.

Okay.

And then we're going to do it.

Okay.

Regularly scheduled meeting of your Los Angeles City Council today is Friday, the 15th day of August in the year 2025.

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

Madam Clerk, can we begin our proceedings by calling the roll?

Yes, sir.

Bloomenville, Harris Thostin, Hernandez, Hutt, Herado, Lee, McCosker, Nazarena, Padilla, Park, Price, Roman, Rodriguez, Soto Martinez, Yaroslavsky, 10 members present and accord, Mr.

President.

Alright, our first order of business.

Approval, the minutes of August 13, 2025.

Councilmember Judah moves, Councilmember McCosker seconds.

What's next?

Commendatory resolutions for approval.

Councilmember Yaroslavsky moves, Councilmember Rodriguez seconds.

What's next?

Mr.

President, there are several requests.

There is a request to continue item four to August 22nd, 2025, and also to refer items seven and eight back to the budget and finance committee, sir.

All right, without objection.

Items one through six are items to which public hearings have been held.

The committee reports for items five and six have been submitted and are available online under their respective council files.

On the continuation agenda, items seven and eight are closed session items, which public hearings have not been held.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

Um items that require the city attorneys, uh, they're in court today.

So I believe we're uh there's a desire to recontinue those items.

Uh sir.

Seven and eight, uh, was referred back to Budget of Finance.

Got it.

Okay.

All right.

Um, without objection, those items are now before us.

Specials members, any specials?

I see Mr.

McCosker.

Uh no, I think it was already handled.

I was going to ask for item number four to be kicked over one week.

I think the clerk read that into the record.

Got it.

All right.

Councilmember Hudado, you have a you don't?

Okay.

Any other specials members?

All right.

Don't see any on uh my right or my left.

All right.

Uh which uh items are available.

Congratulations to whoever got their thing voted on it is leaving now.

Um I take it that was a yes.

Um what items are available for consideration at this time?

Mr.

President, council may now vote on items one through three, as well as five and six, sir.

All right.

Let's open the roll on those items.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

Ten eyes.

Alright, what's next?

Uh, Mr.

President.

Uh, council may now go into presentation, sir.

All right.

Uh, so we will begin this meeting as uh we've been beginning our meetings for the now almost 70-day siege on our city uh by uh federal uh armed agents in the name of uh immigration reform or immigration enforcement.

Uh and we will hear from council district 14 this morning.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, I rise today carrying both the joy of a monumental victory and the deep sorrow of a community under threat.

Yesterday we celebrated the grand opening of the Skid Row Care Campus, a place designed with and for the community where dignity, healing, and hope take center stage.

The energy was electric, the joy impossible to contain, and everyone came together to celebrate not just a ribbon cutting, but a bold recommitment to care, compassion, and dignity.

Every Angelino deserves.

But while one neighborhood celebrated, another braced itself.

Just a short walk away outside the Japanese-American National Museum, and during our beloved Nisei week, and one week after we just celebrated our consul general from Japan, Sonsei, ICE agent suddenly descended and detained someone, a worker delivering produce to one of our small businesses on the regular weekly route.

A brown man doing his job.

This was a stunt in political theater staged during Governor Newsom's press conference on redistricting as California works to strengthen and protect our democracy.

Little Tokyo is sacred ground.

It has withstood forced removal, incarceration, and wave after wave of displacement.

Where that man was taken was outside the Japanese American National Museum, which is a former internment site.

And yet, this community remains a stronghold of cultural memory, resistance, and resilience.

To bring ice here during its most cherished celebration of Japanese Americans born here in America is an insult to the legacy of those who endured internment and a threat to the values Angelinos uphold.

But our communities are not backing down.

And I'm proud to be joined today by two leaders who have long stood on the front lines of justice.

June Hibino of the Nikkei Progressives Immigration Committee, who leads the Little Tokyo Rapid Response Network, will first speak.

June.

Hello, good morning, and on behalf of Nikkei Progressives, I want to thank Councilmember Harado for your leadership and for inviting myself and my colleague Kimi Maru to speak this morning.

Nikkei Progressives is a grassroots, all volunteer, multi-generational community organization.

We're based in Little Tokyo.

We believe that people have the human right to seek safety from violence and to work to provide for themselves and their families.

And since 2018, we have been supporting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

And we are also part of the Shutdown Adelanto coalition.

We have set up a Little Tokyo Rapid Response Network and have been conducting Know Your Rights Training, which my colleague Kimi Maru will talk about.

Our Japanese American story, like that of most people in this country, is an immigrant story.

It is one of exclusion, exclusionary laws, of being scapegoated, and of being racially profiled as the enemy and being forced to leave the West Coast, our homes and communities, and shipped off to concentration camps during World War II.

And what is happening today is a prelude to what happened 83 years ago.

Last November, the City Council unanimously voted to establish the city of LA as a sanctuary city and to prohibit city resources, including property, and personnel from being utilized for any immigration enforcement.

So my question to the city council is what can be done to protect the city of LA.

There are more than 1.35 million immigrants here, comprising over 34% of the city's population.

How can school children be protected from having their parents snatched off the street or even themselves being arrested, as we have seen recently?

And how can workers who are just trying to feed their families be protected from being kidnapped by masked federal agents?

And what can be done to protect the residents, workers, and those of us who engage in churches and temples, community organizations and social services in Little Tokyo.

Little Tokyo is our cultural and historic center.

It is where generations learn about our history and where we practice our culture.

It is where we organize our community to work and fight together to improve the conditions of life for all people.

And it is our base from where we reach out to others in support and solidarity.

Yesterday, Little Tokyo was trampled on and disrespected by massed kidnappers who violated our community and the very space where our parents and grandparents were shipped off to concentration camps.

City property and sidewalks were being used for immigration enforcement.

So I call on the leaders of Los Angeles to enact some concrete measures that will put some teeth into our sanctuary city laws ordinance.

Somehow, we have got to protect our immigrant families who are being terrorized by ICE and CBP, and whose children are being traumatized every day.

We are looking for leadership from our city, from our city leaders.

Please don't let us down.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Kimi Maru.

I'm a member of Nikkei Progressives, and I happened to be in Little Tokyo yesterday when the ICE raid happened.

I was having lunch with friends at Mitsuru Grill, and then received a text message through our rapid response network that ICE was in Little Tokyo, right in front of Janum.

So myself and a couple other people who were there at the restaurant, ran down the street to First and Central to see what was going on.

Immediately, there were already people out there that were warning, you know, people in Little Tokyo that La Migra was there.

They were blowing whistles and trying to alert people to be careful and to for people to close up their stores and warning street vendors.

So myself and others who are part of the rapid response network notified people that what was going on and we people went door to door to the businesses and restaurants to tell them to lock their doors, that there could be a possible ice sweep in Little Tokyo.

We also told the street vendors along First Street and in the Japanese village plaza to do the same.

It was really a terrifying experience to see so many armed ice and CBP people wearing masks where their faces were completely covered, along with glasses and a hat where you could not tell who they were at all.

They were holding large rifles and actually, you know, pointing them at people at different times.

And it was very intimidating and a really you know outrageous show of vicious aggression against our community.

I hope that the city council can do more to stop these kind of things from happening in our community because it was clearly a case of intimidation and trying to make people feel fearful of just being out trying to have a regular day, you know, shopping and eating and carrying on their business in Little Tokyo, and it's completely unjust and outrageous that they would do this at a time like this during Nisei week, as well as it was a political stunt to do while Governor Newsom was having his press conference just like 50 feet away.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kimmy and June.

And I just want to underscore that yesterday was a peaceful day here in Los Angeles, and that the only violence that we've been seeing in the past couple of months has been the violence that has been brought upon to us by the federal government and their illegal ice raids.

And now I'd like to present Bill Fujioka, former city administrative officer for the city of Los Angeles and chair of the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum.

Good morning.

It's been quite some time since I've been in this chamber.

I think my call marks are on the center table when I present when I was a CAO for the city, my whole life was public service.

I spent 44 years, a big portion serving the citizens of the city of Los Angeles, and an even greater portion serving the citizens of the county of Los Angeles.

I'm now the board chair of the Japanese American National Museum.

Some of you have heard of us.

Hopefully, some of you have been there.

Yesterday, when the arrest took place, it hit a nerve.

It hit us deeply.

Because where the individual was arrested is the exact location where individuals of Japanese heritage were forced on the buses and taken to concentration camps.

My family, my mother's family, my father's family were forced on the buses at that site.

They ended up in a desolate area of Wyoming, Heart Mountain.

We lost everything, folks.

I mean everything.

The Japanese American National Museum stands for social justice.

A lot of museums in this nation started to scrub their websites of any reference to DEI.

As a board, as individuals, and as staff at the museum, we made a decision to scrub nothing.

We're standing tall for diversity, equity, and inclusion, because that's who we are.

We feel we're a beacon of social justice.

We stand tall for immigrants because what we do is not political.

It's honoring our legacy, folks.

The legacy of my immigrant grandparents, the legacy of my father who fought in World War II, and with a highly decorated veteran, the legacy of my uncle who led the dissenters at Hart Mountain to fight against the injustice.

I hope people understand the parallel between what's happening now and what happened in 1942.

In 1942, the Alien Enemies Act was enacted, and thousands of Japanese were deported back to Japan.

Then Roosevelt signed executive order, another executive order, 9066, which resulted in the incarceration of 125,000 Japanese individuals of Japanese heritage.

60% were American citizens.

So the birthright provision in our constitution.

We stand in support of all immigrants because I am the grandson of an immigrant.

What has to happen now is I hope that our elected leaders, and I'm confident in this because I lived here for so many years, and also the board will stand up and say this has to stop.

But to arrest someone, I don't think they understand, I don't think the word respect is in the vocabulary.

To arrest someone on that plaza where thousands of Japanese Americans or those of Japanese heritage were forced on the buses, is something that I gotta tie it, it just hit me to the core.

And people know those of some of you have worked with me in the past.

I have a little temper, but I had to control that at both times.

But for the museum, we're closed right now for renovation.

I want you to know what we stand for.

We stand for social justice.

We stand for DEI, and we will support the rights of everyone living in this community, especially the immigrant community.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, June.

Thank you, Kimmy, for all of your leadership and for reminding us that history is not behind us, it's with us every day, and we must meet this moment with clarity and courage that it demands.

Yesterday, thanks to several community members who alerted our office.

My team and I were able to respond quickly.

If you see ice, please call the LA Rapid Response Network immediately at 1888-624-4752.

I encourage everyone to say this number in their phone.

Again, it's 188-624-4752.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember.

Just a note, uh members, as uh things arise in your district and you have people uh who are comfortable to come tell their stories, we invite you to uh uh let us know and bring them to council.

Uh, we want everyone to hear from them, and we want to create a long public record for what's happening in our city uh during this terrible siege.

With that, we'll go to our uh first presentation for today, a very, very exciting one, and I think one that'll be educational for some of us, uh, led by Councilmember McCosker of the 1-5.

Councilmember uh Hutt, while Mr.

McCosker is gathering forces.

Could you you want to make a quick announcement?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I just want to announce that Genesee Center Youth Program is uh touring City Hall, and they're in the back of the chambers, young boys and girls that are learning really about civic engagement.

So I just want to thank them for coming in.

Let's give them a round of applause.

They're waving at you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hutt.

Councilmember McCosker or Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you so much.

Uh, Councilmember Hernandez and I are so pleased and honored today to recognize a monumental, as the monuments are being assembled here, the monumental milestone in the city of Los Angeles history, and that would be the 100th anniversary of the Bureau of Street Lighting.

Yeah, woo!

100 years old.

So the Bureau was established in 1925, and for the for a century, this department has illuminated our neighborhoods, our streets, our businesses, our city.

In the early 1900s, Los Angeles was a much different place than it is now.

Street lights were a luxury in the 1900s, but now they are a vital and essential part of our municipality.

Today, the Bureau of Street Lighting maintains over 223,000.

That's nearly a quarter million street lights across the city.

Each light, each light plays a role in supporting our communities, whether that's a business or a residence, the safety of our drivers, the safety of our pedestrians.

While we have a lot of work in front of us to improve the conditions of the grid, the bureau is embracing innovation in the past few years alone.

We've begun using solar technology, adding EV charging to all of our to many of our polls, and the Bureau is on the forefront of fiber optic connectivity.

A good example of innovation is in CD 15.

It was a great project that street lighting completed last year at Stanford Avenue and the 105 Freeway Underpass, which enabled custom color decorations at that underpass.

It is has been fun, it's been exciting for our neighbors.

It's also dramatically enhanced public safety in the area.

The neighbors love it.

It's right around the corner from a school.

The kids love it.

Even with limited resources, the bureau operates incredibly efficiently.

They're innovative.

To every current and past employee of the Bureau, thank you very much.

Your work is so essential for the safety and for the health of our city, and you will lead us into a better and brighter future.

Now it is my honor to introduce the chair of public works without whom none of this could happen.

Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Councilmember McCosker.

Good morning, colleagues.

As chair of the Public Works Committee, I'm especially proud to celebrate the Bureau of Street Lighting.

And I want to thank Councilmember McCosker for highlighting this special occasion.

100 years of the Bureau of Street Lighting, and in my opinion, there's no one in this city who does more with less.

Out of the general fund, unrestricted revenues, they get less than half a percent of that budget.

So I want to uplift that.

And they do so much with less.

Despite these limited resources, aging infrastructure, and ever growing demands, they work around the clock to deliver for our constituents.

The Bureau manages and maintains more than 220 street lights across the city of LA.

They repair outages, upgrade equipment, and maintain miles and miles of underground wiring.

This work happens every day in every neighborhood in this city.

And I'm not just keeping I'm not just talking about keeping the lights on.

Well-lit streets reduce crime, improve traffic safety, and give residents the confidence to be out in our communities after dark.

Your work has a direct impact on whether people feel safe while they walk to their car, ride their bike, or wait for the bus to at night to go back home.

Our street light network really is the central nervous system of our city.

It's not glamorous work and it's often invisible, but it is one that mo one of the most essential services a city can provide to protect its residents.

And even with tight resources, the bureau continues to lead on innovation, converting to LED lighting, integrating smart technology, and finding ways to lower costs while shrinking our carbon footprint.

So on behalf of this council, I want to thank every past and present member of the Bureau of Street Lighting for 100 years of dedication and lighting up our city.

I'm proud to fight for you to work alongside you and to celebrate this incredible milestone with you today.

Thank you for all the work you do.

Appreciate y'all.

Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez.

And at the helm of this bureau is GM Miguel Sangalang.

Woo!

Yay!

Thank you, Council Members, especially thank you, Councilmember McCosker, Councilmember Hernandez.

Um, I wanted to start off by acknowledging.

Well, my name's Miguel Sangalan.

Uh, I'm actually here with the rest of our city family and the bureau.

Uh we are a collection of people in the field that are cement finishers, uh, electricians, welders, office support staff.

We have our engineers, senior engineers as well.

And I know I have uh behind me somewhere our chief engineer, Fabian Chang and our executive officer Megan Hackney who helped make Bureau run uh much better.

Uh right now I'm kind of displaying uh a shot of Vermonica.

It's an installation that's actually in front of our yard uh by an artist, uh Sheila Klein.

It is a collection of all of our street lights over the years.

And uh we love it because obviously it represents it represents all of our work uh and it is a striking kind of feature on a sidewalk, right?

But in most cases, I would venture uh as council member actually mentioned uh most cases most people won't actually think twice about a street light, and that's okay to us because what that means to us, we've actually become part of the background, the fabric, if you will.

And when we talk about the history of street lighting, it's actually quite fascinating.

Um these are two of my favorite pictures that I like sharing of us and a younger city and bureau about a hundred years ago.

Uh and these are two very famous uh parts of LA.

You have Miracle Mile and Sherman Way.

And what you see here are streetlights and a road.

And there is a uh billboard in the back that says locate your business here in Miracle Mile.

Not a single building in sight.

If you're to drive down there right uh today, right, it's a it's a huge juxtaposition of of buildings, commerce, of residents, of parks, uh, a whole different LA.

Um, and I like to say I like to point these out because it actually stems to our core.

We were born with innovation in mind.

We took the most dangerous thing in the world, electricity.

We took the most innovative thing in the world, the light bulb, and put it where people congregate.

And we saw that and we wanted to do it because we saw the likes of New York, Manhattan, Edison, and the light bulb, and said we deserve that too.

Our tiny Pueblo is going to be the the one of the largest cities in America.

And and by God, we're gonna have the infrastructure to show it and prove it.

And so over time, we've obviously grown up with the city itself, right?

A couple pictures of uh specials that for from Broadway, uh Hollywood, two different types of Hollywood specials here, uh, to what we have now, the council members mention it, right?

Quarter million street light, 400 unique designs that reflect the the diverse communities we have.

A whole network, 9,000 miles of conduit, 27,000 miles of copper wire, and I say a hundred years of expertise, that's the bureau itself, but centuries collectively from the people that have actually worked here.

And that innovation still is part of our kind of DNA.

That's why we've done LEDs, that's why we have become one of the first 5G cities in America with all of the uh work that we've done in our uh uh with our telecom partners and co-location.

That's why we do EB chargers and much more in the future.

I actually did want to point out here's uh a few pictures of our most latest things where you have modern juxtaposed against the new, uh the old.

Uh, but I also wanted to highlight a few firsts that we have.

Um this is a picture of uh the head of our field office right now, Sylvia Torres, who is to my right.

She is our first female superintendent that is running the bureau.

She is helping lead the charge when it comes to all the repairs.

Also a proud immigrant as well who who moved here from Mexico when she was young and stayed in LA City Proper Echo Park, actually, and and like myself, really claim to our our immigrant heritage as well.

So we we are a bureau, we call ourselves the City Family.

We are a family that resides in LA as well, and I've called LA home for a very long time.

Uh, and so we're we're we're very happy to serve here.

Um we've taken some of our history, we've put it online so uh what you can find on our website is actually some historical records that uh that show it geographically, so you can actually see in the neighborhoods when some of these street lights were were built, what type there are, pictures, and so you can find that as a new resource on on our website today.

And then um we just wanted to take a moment because uh we we obviously acknowledge that there are many things that we have to do, and and keeping the lights on is it's become uh a harder job, and we're dedicated to it.

I want to say though that we are thinking about what we need to do today and tomorrow.

So we're going to make sure that as we're repairing, we're thinking about how we can use this infrastructure and really make it so that it can be a platform.

We used it initially.

This is what I love about those original two pictures as the selling point of LA.

Now we want to be the platform that helps launch other things too.

And so with that, thank you very much for for your time and appreciate um the centennial that you're celebrating with us.

Thank you.

Mr.

President, if we have other speakers, we do now.

From the Great Sixth District, our own council member Imelda Padilla.

Um, well, that thank you, uh Councilmember uh Hernandez and McCosker for this great presentation.

As a member of Public Works, I'm excited uh to see you guys all here today.

Uh, you know, it's a hundred years is a big accomplishment.

You know, it's a big deal.

It talks a lot about the history of our city, and um, I know personally I've really enjoyed working with all of you.

I I the community feels when your work is done and accomplished.

You know, in the San Fernando Valley, we are a region where it's uh it's nice outside late into the night because of how hot it gets.

And because of that, we're a community that wants to be outside and we want to be at the parks longer, and we want to be on um uh business corridors longer into the night, and all of that helps bring economic development, right?

Um we mentioned it reduces crime, but it also brings economic development.

So know that we know that your skill set, you know, to all the workers and everybody that that does the actual work out there.

Uh the city recognizes it and we appreciate it, and we're very much looking forward uh to what the future is.

Uh, I know we went through some hard times recently with what we uh experienced with uh copper wire theft, but I appreciate that uh we're working really hard to think outside the box to address that in the long term.

Uh please know that you can count on my office as a partner um in these next steps.

But I did also want to just kind of mention in your beautiful art piece.

I'm glad you got the that's great.

Uh great thing to our in uh add to the archives of you know Los Angeles-based art, but also um this other image over here doesn't have uh the one related to our our new uh solar paneled lights.

So let's add it.

It really is part of the future.

And again, thank you for everything you've done, you're doing and uh uh let's light up LA a little bit more and enjoy our beautiful sites and cities.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Yes, I'll give you a chance to respond.

Thank you, Councilmember.

You you've uh made me realize that I failed to mention the two art pieces in front of me.

Uh both were made in-house.

Uh so we actually, over the past few years, have built up our our welding.

So we actually have plasma cutters, we have um 3D printers now that we're helping to use and drive down the cost to a tenth to a third of what we would buy off the shelf.

We're building in-house.

And so this was actually created by our weld shop just yesterday, and and kind of highlights the the capacity that we have now, and this is actually featuring our I believe it's our Olympic special that we have here, and then uh Jerry Rigg in a safe way, it's it follows code, by the way.

Um, the electrical, um, but uh it highlights the abilities that our field crew has right now, and and we continue to evolve uh as well.

And then to the right is is um an art piece that was created uh by our very own Dan Carouselli in the bureau.

Uh it highlights throughout the decades different um lighting styles.

Um we hope to make this available online for people to download, and also we we're we're going to be um giving them to different offices as gifts as well.

We'll have uh silk screen prints of these done.

So thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Council Member Councilmember Hernandez.

Just want to add something about the plasma cutters.

If you haven't gone to see it, you should check it out.

And why is it important?

Because our street pools have these little metal doors, right?

And those little metal doors have a cost.

And what the plasma cutter does is that now we can make these little doors in-house, which reduces the cost for them significantly.

So when we think about repair, when we think about reinforcement, not only are we doing it in-house and we're making it stronger, but it's also cheaper.

And that's again doing way more with the less that we have and being innovative.

Just want to excellent.

Thank you so much for that.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you, Council members, for bringing in this presentation and happy anniversary, happy birthday.

As a former public works commissioner that was assigned to be liaison to the Bureau of Street Lighting, I watched from the ground up from the field, some of the innovations that were born and birthed and welcomed by the leadership to be implemented.

And that has continued to sustain, I think, the growth and the work of the Bureau of Street Lighting, where you had to innovate because sadly the resources weren't augmenting so much of what you did.

From the co-location to the solar lights to helping to make sure our infrastructure was mitigating our risk with the high voltage work that you all were engaged in.

Um I was proud to be part of so much of that work that you were all a part of because you helped to ensure that the city mitigated its liabilities.

And I want to give special acknowledgement to those of you out in the field doing that work in the hottest climates and the hottest days to do, you know, clearing out that backlog to the fortification after repairing the copper wire thefts.

That all of that work, I've seen you all do it in real time.

I've been out in the field with you all doing it, and then you know, watching the innovations of actually what everyone forgets is before DWP was co-locating the EV chargers, it was really sparked.

No plan intended, but really sparked by the Bureau of Street Lighting's willingness to do it first.

You all were helping to lead the city in ways that perhaps other departments were resistant to doing it.

So I want to thank you and congratulate you for constantly helping to keep our communities lit, even in spite of the copper wire theft.

Um I'm really proud of the work that you're advancing on solar uh on the solar installations.

I'm proud to see the progress that that has made, uh, substantial difference in my district.

I know we just closed out over a hundred cases in my district with your collaboration and your work.

So I just want to say thank you to all of you from the bottom up.

Thank you all for the work that you do in our neighborhoods to help.

You're an essential part of public safety in the city.

So I want to thank you for doing all that you do with very limited resources.

Happy birthday.

Thank you.

Councilmember Soto Martinez.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, thank you so much, uh, council um members uh McCosker and Hernandez for bringing this amazing uh department.

Uh thank you for Miguel for being an incredible leader with all your staff.

We work so closely uh in CD13.

And I just want to say that I really I think you hit it the nail on the head when you said innovation and having vision because uh this is one of the departments that really excites me uh because we're really willing to do so much with some some things, some people might just look at it as just a street light, but y'all see so much more.

You see the potential of what the city could be putting EV chargers, uh doing the solar, doing the the Wi-Fi, all that is really incredible, and uh we try I try as much as I can to talk to the public about how the city could work for them if we prioritize it the way I believe, and many of us believe that it should that it should.

Uh and I've had also the honor of going out there uh with your crews to understand how it works.

Uh and so I like the the policy wonk in me has really enjoyed going out there and seeing the infrastructure, how it's all connected, the welding.

It's just it's just a beautiful, wonderful team.

And as an office, we try to do our best to show that to the public because they should value the work that you do every single day as much as much as our as much as our team values that work.

And so uh we'll continue to uplift all the work that you do, uh, keep putting you front and center.

Because what's more important than having a beautiful lit street uh here in the city of LA.

And so again, thank you so much for for being here and as Councilwoman Rodriguez said, happy birthday.

Mr.

Blumenfield.

Thank you.

A lot has been said, but not everyone has said it yet.

So uh hundred years is pretty amazing.

And I it's important also to realize that we are, you know, the amazing stuff you've done, we're at an inflection point.

This is a really critical time in Bureau of Life because one, we haven't raised the rates since 1996.

We're about to go out to the voters to say to them, hey, we've been struggling as you as Councilwoman Renan has mentioned, uh, getting by doing so much with so little, but unless we actually start paying the cost of it, we're not gonna be able to get to that next step.

And what we've seen over the last few years, and what you've really led us to is that that next step of what it means to light up a city is dramatically changing.

It's uh, you know, it's it was great back in the day with when it was a light bulb on an empty street, but now you don't light up a street and a community unless you're not only providing that light, but you're providing all that co-location, all those ones and zeros, and you're providing that information, uh, and lighting up a city and light is is just a completely different thing, and it's gonna be changing even more radically, more quickly in the next few years as we go to uh the internet of things and how all the devices are talking to each other and they're talking to each other, uh making our communities function because of what's in those in those lights.

Because those lights aren't just the old filaments anymore.

It's not even just LED anymore.

Now it's now it's that technology that's going to allow the cars to talk to each other.

So, you all are in a really critical place.

This is an amazing point in time.

This hundred year marks uh couldn't have come at a better uh hundred years, and I'm confident that with your leadership and all of you who've been making this happen, the next hundred years are going to be even better, and and lighting is gonna mean things that we can't even imagine right now.

So thank you for all you do.

Thank you for spent specifically in my district with the on the orange line and the river, putting the solar lights in, all the work that we do together, all of you who are out in the field doing it.

Uh I know it's it's it's hard work and and especially now we have to make up for the fact that people are stealing all that copper wire tech.

You know, it used to be when you created this, it was created to quickly get it all out.

Nobody thought about actually having to protect it.

Now we have all these new things we have to think about.

So thank you all for what you do and uh keep up the great work and happy birthday.

Thank you so much, uh Mr.

Blumenfield, and uh thank you, members.

I I you know, all of you I associate myself with everything that my colleagues have said, uh, including uh the two presenters, Councilmembers Hernandez and McCosker.

And I would just add this.

Um you all are in one of the departments in the city that uh the average person doesn't know you exist until something goes wrong.

They don't they don't even think about what your job is until the light doesn't come on.

Um, and so it's not a part of your regular work to be doing customer service with uh with residents, and I just want to compliment you for the report backs that I've gotten from constituents.

When you all have come to fix their street light and it's been out for three months or four months, and they're not happy about it at all, and they decide that you're the person they should tell about it.

Um you all have done really good work, is what I'll say.

And uh folks have had a really good response.

So thank you in addition for to everything everyone else has said, thank you for that uh that you all have done and weathered during this very particular moment in our history.

Mr.

McCosker, Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you so much.

Having established that we all like street lights.

On behalf of the chair of Public Works, the Public Works Committee, I myself and the entire council, to Miguel, to your team.

Thank you so much.

Happy birthday, and here's to another hundred years.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Oh, we'll do it.

I don't think it's not a good one.

What are the details?

No, she's pretty relentless of it.

All right.

Um, Madam Clerk, uh, Madam City Attorney, if you can prepare us for public comment.

Yes, sir.

Yes.

Since items seven and eight were referred back to committee, uh the public comment will be for general public comment.

So members of the public may 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.

And if I could get the Spanish translator to translate this, uh to members uh providing public comment in Spanish, we ask that you please pause after every few sentences.

One item and general public comment, okay.

Let's start with the uh item.

Which item is that item seven or item I'm item eight.

Which items.

But you said I have one item.

Uh, so you have one minute for public general public comment.

Okay, well, okay, well, you just took away twenty seconds off my time.

Um yes, uh, thank you.

Um, I just saw that uh on the news that um uh LAPD, the CD attorney arrested eleven members of uh uh Figaroa prostitution ring.

And uh I just want to make sure that everybody is aware that uh how racist are you to arrest 11 black people?

How racist can you be?

I have to work my job on Figaroa, provide five dollar uh per head services in order to earn enough money to take Dana to a big dinner barbecue.

Thank you.

I need my job on Figaroa.

I'd like to call a few more names.

Mary F.

Manny, Michael Ackerman, Pete, Rob, Sal, and Sylvia.

I have to be my hand children today, so I can get up here to speak.

That's okay.

That's where you picked randomly.

I'm disabled, so it's taking me time.

Hold my time.

Uh Candido Maris, public comment.

Uh tell me when I can start, ma'am.

Don't start my time.

You already started my time.

My God.

You cheat.

You cheat.

You're no different than Donald Trump.

Please stop yelling.

We've restarted your time.

Alright.

Now that I've calmed down, I want to thank Ms.

Zar Slosky for her community standing up for what's going on in this city.

Bill Fukioka, he was here for uh over 44 years.

I watched and saw him serve as CAO.

He did a wonderful job.

Uh you know, what you know what really bothers me is Trump and the Republicans are doing this, and what are you Democrats doing?

Nothing, nothing.

Thank God we had newsome.

Why don't some of you start organizing?

Why don't some of you start fighting back?

Thank you, Miss Zeb.

I mean, all of you talk the big talk, but you walk the small walk.

You know, sometimes you gotta fight, and that's why I'm here every day.

And here is more photos of the Porter Ranch future Porter Ranch uh City Council fire.

I'd like to submit this to uh the officers, and again, you do nothing, your time is out.

Nothing.

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

Dan, Eddie, uh, and Kimmy Go.

Thank you.

You'll have one minute.

Thank you.

Um, I just want to say thank you to a few of the council members who were there yesterday at the ice raids in front of uh the Japanese American theater.

Uh I don't know if you guys know, but there was like a hundred cars that came out of the federal building to that ice rate.

They couldn't even get on to first street.

They were like around the corner.

There were so many cars coming out, and there was a lot of uh, sorry.

I get very emotional about this.

This is my I was here a few, I saw you guys on Monday.

My Nisei week 20 years.

It's Nisei week this year.

This was mine when I was the princess 20 years ago.

And um, it's still Nisei week, and so it was kind of shocking to see closing ceremonies of this week, and I hope to see you guys there.

So please, if we could have some support and maybe some help with the police.

Uh, I'm worried that we're gonna be like DC and get federalized.

We really need the police on, you know, working for our city.

If there's something that you guys could do to try and put some precautions.

Thank you so much.

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

Woody, Donald Harlan, Andrew Grabenner, Bibi, Boxer, Candido, and Chris.

You'll have one minute.

I was born in Los Angeles and lived here for a long time, but I don't live within the city boundaries at the moment.

Where I do live, the city's legal advisor has been giving advice, which is increasingly fringe, to say the least.

I can only speculate as to why this is happening, but I sense the same thing is happening here.

My point is that is that an attorney's opinion does not absolve you of having common sense.

In 2006, Rocky Delgadillo wrote an opinion that you disregarded when you approved the new rules on swear words.

It seems that you've been flouting other accepted practices as well.

You owe it to yourself to seek out lawyers with opposing views, have them square confidentiality if necessary, and seriously consider that you're being led astray.

The danger isn't that the city will be sued.

The danger is that you'll be tossed in prison.

Thank you.

I signed up as Woody Dick.

Woody Dick, I signed up as a speaker one minute for general public item.

For one fucking reason.

I hate news scum as much as I hate 15 members of this council like Soto Martinez who supports wet backs.

He supports immigration like Padilla, the cockroach woman over here.

And that other fat burger with no cheese Hernandez.

I demand to recuse her as we did with Price, but we'll go back to Prices issue September 12th when we deal with that fucking developer wife, bitch, second woman in his life.

What's her name?

Richardson Robertsons.

But again, ladies and gentlemen, help support ice.

We demand ice.

More ice!

Mr.

Candido.

Please stop disrupting this meeting.

This is your first warning.

Mr.

Herman, your time is up.

Mr.

Herman, please stop shouting.

This is your first warning.

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

Frank, Geronimo, JP, Jesse, Ken, and Michael Ackerman.

Speaker, you'll have one minute for general public comment.

Hello, I'm Eddie.

Good morning.

You know, I don't want to be here.

I'm so tired.

I don't want to be here.

This, I'm here because a lot of people don't show up and voice their feelings.

I've been coming here since April, and you guys don't even talk to me.

I've sent you emails, and you guys don't respond.

Some do.

I'm not gonna lie.

There's like three of you that have responded.

But Marnandez, you're you're my person, and you've ignored me.

You have ignored me.

I have a video.

My friend got arrested, and she called out for your name because she's also one of your constituents, and you ignored her.

We have the video.

We have so much video of you guys.

I've been coming here since April.

And you guys are gonna get shamed.

You haven't already been shamed.

Please listen to us.

We're protesters.

We care about our community as much as you guys pretend to say that you do.

Goodbye.

Speaker, you'll have one minute for general public comment.

I don't understand all the confusion with I see.

Almost anyone can get in this nation.

It's so easy.

I don't know what I'm talking about.

But people come and go out of here so quick, it's not even funny.

If uh they wanted to stop it, maybe they should box some of those holes.

I don't believe the president is that uh uh uh vicious to have all white men looking after uh people that they don't think belong here, but I believe he has more compassion than that.

I also believe that uh he would handle it better if they didn't have all white men looking for uh people to deport.

And I don't believe they're looking for uh deportees, I believe they're looking for people that commit crimes, and a lot of these people come in here if they're not committing crimes, they want jobs and to live uh peacefully.

Um again, I don't believe uh uh there are holes in here that they can get in real quick.

If I was fun enough, I could get in and out of here real quick, but I don't know how to do it.

All right, uh, thank you so much, uh, folks who came to give public comment to us uh today.

Uh Madam Clerk, uh, what's before us at this time?

Mr.

President, Council has motions for posting a referral.

They are post- No, I'm sure.

Alright, uh give me a second before we post a referral.

All right.

Uh the motions are now signed and they are posted and referred.

Mr.

President, the desk is clear, sir.

Alright, announcements members.

Announcements.

Councilmember Nazarian.

Thank you, Council President.

Want to invite everyone to join us in CD2 this Saturday at 7 p.m.

in North Hollywood Park for an evening with Anoho Summer Nights.

We will be featuring Brittany Beep, the ultimate Britney Spears experience.

So for all of everyone from the late 90s, 2000s, please, who love the music from the late 90s and 2000s, please join us.

Grab a blanket or a chair, bring your friends and family and enjoy this free community event at No Ho Park.

And don't forget to bring your non-perishables to donate to the North Hollywood Interfaith food pantry who will be at a booth.

Thank you very much.

Alright, Councilmember Yarsowski.

Yes.

No announcement?

All right.

I have a couple of announcements.

First, I want the group of Councilmember Heather Hutt.

You have announcements?

Yeah, yeah.

I guess I think so.

Huh?

I do have announcements.

I guess it didn't go through on the thing.

It did.

Your council president failed to look at the screen.

Oh, well, everyone, tonight at Chateau Recreation Center in the 10th district, which is 3191 4th Street.

We have movies in the park.

And we'll be showing the Wild Robot.

Starts at 6 o'clock.

It's free to everyone.

Please join us.

And then tomorrow at 11 a.m., we have at Westside Park a splish clash.

So that's jumpers that has water in it.

It's great for kids.

Come and join us in the 10th for family fun.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hutt.

I have a number of announcements.

The first announcement I want to make is around, and I believe there's a graphic, is congratulations to our city attorney's office, the Los Angeles Police Department, the sheriffs, the mayor's office.

Literally all of my life living in Los Angeles, there has been rampant open and blatant prostitution along Figaroa Boulevard.

We when I first got elected, I asked our previous city attorney to set up a task force, and that didn't go very far.

This city attorney set up a task force, brought in the federal government, the state government, and as well as the county sheriffs, set up an operation.

We've been able to reduce street activity significantly, and just this week we got 11 people charged in a federal federal indictment for sex trafficking of minors.

So I wanted to acknowledge their work in a public way.

And again, it doesn't mean, doesn't mean that prostitution is going away on Figaroa, but it it shows the world that this community does not accept this, and we're gonna do everything we can to root it out as fast as we can.

So again, please a big round of applause for our city attorney and our law enforcement folks.

Also, uh I'll ask our team members to stand who are there on the front row.

We are saying goodbye to our uh summer interns uh for this year.

We have Mia Alman, Juliet Hawley, and Daniela Torres, who've uh served us well this summer, along with Diana Castro, Melissa Ramirez, uh Michael Pink Pickney, Kimberly Gutierrez, Andrew Smith, Nicolas Segura.

Did I get everybody?

Alright, uh there they are.

Uh folks, uh, please wave so everybody can see you on the cameras there.

These folks came and worked in our office for this summer.

They allowed us to have more movies in the parks and more summer activities than we would have had otherwise.

So thank you for your service to the city, and we sincerely hope that your experience with the people of Los Angeles helps you in all your endeavors going forward.

Thank you again, another big round of applause for them.

Alright.

If there are no other announcements, I'll ask everybody in the chamber to rise for adjourney motions.

Thank you.

Colleagues, this week we lost a prolific Los Angeles architect, Louis Naydorf, at the age of 96.

It's impossible to travel through our city and not come across his work.

Some of his most famous buildings include the Capitol Records Building, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the now demolished LA Memorial States Sports Arena, the Beverly Center, the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the Ronald Reagan State Building.

He also led the six-year restoration of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, and he designed the Rancho Mirage residence of former president Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford.

He was born in 1928 in Los Angeles.

He found his calling at a very young age, getting his first architectural books at 12 and drafting tools at 13.

He studied architecture at UC Berkeley and soon got off his first industry straw industry job at Welton Beckett and Associates.

At the tender age of 24, he got his first big shot on a what was then a secret project that turned out to be the iconic Capitol Records headquarters.

Throughout his career, he never forgot to hand his experiences and knowledge to the next generation, mentoring generations of young architects and teachers at UCLA, USC, Cal Poly Pomona, and later becoming the Dean of Woodbury University School of Architecture.

Mr.

Nadarf helped usher in a modern Los Angeles, and the indelible impact he made on our city should not be forgotten.

He is survived by his daughter Victoria from his first marriage, four stepchildren from his fourth marriage, and all of whom call him dad, and 11 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

May he rest in peace and may he redesign the heavens.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Bloom and Field.

Mr.

Soto Martinez.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Councilmember Bloomfield, thank you so much for honoring Lewis.

Our team, I heard about him just because of Capitol Records and all his legacy and his loss certainly reverberated in my council district because Capitol Records building is such an iconic building.

You know, when you think of LA, that's one of the buildings you think about.

So thank you for honoring Lewis' life today.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Bloomfield.

Any other adjourney motions on this side?

Mr.

McCosker.

Thank you so much, colleagues.

I ask that we adjourn today's meeting in memory of a member of the city family, Najib Kurri, who was a remarkable public servant, an attorney and Angelino, but most importantly, a great husband and a great father.

Najib was born and raised in Los Angeles.

His father, Nabil, was a well-respected family physician.

And alongside his loving mother, Ragida, and his older sister, Marabel, they were a tight-knit family unit.

His aunt Nabila and her family also lived nearby.

For those who knew Najib, you knew the grace, the curiosity, the innate wisdom that defined him.

While his father was a physician, Najib was more interested in the humanities.

He decided to move across the country where he attended Williams College in Massachusetts.

In 1997, he graduated with a double major in history and political sciences, political studies.

During his time at Williams, he spent a semester, a semester abroad in the West Bank, where he studied Arabic writing and literature.

This sparked his passion for the pursuit of justice and equality.

Najib decided that the best best path for him was to study the law.

He was accepted into Harvard Law School.

He graduated in 2002.

While at Harvard, he accepted a clerkship in Alaska, where he gained first hand experience of the legal relationships of Native Americans with federal and state governments from a judicial perspective.

After graduating, he returned to Alaska to serve as a law clerk to Justice Dana Fabe of the Alaska Supreme Court.

In 2006, Najib married Fadia Rafidi, the love of his life.

In 2008, just six months after the birth of his daughter Bahia, Najib was diagnosed with a rare cancer.

Throughout the exhausting chemo treatments and other medical procedures, he found the time and he found the energy to be a loving father and a great husband.

After completing his treatment, Fadia gave birth to their second daughter, Samar, in 2011.

Professionally, Najib was a formidable force as an attorney, and he excelled at every opportunity.

While working for Howarth and Smith, he was featured on the cover of Super Lawyers magazine, highlighting his trailblazing accomplishments in his early legal career.

It has been said that once an opposing attorney called his firm to tell him how impressive Najib was on a case, which is kind of rare in the legal world to have opposing counsel call and tell one of the partners that Najib would later go on to become director of labor relations for LAUSD, where he oversaw the bargaining and administration of 12 labor contracts covering 40,000 employees in 2018.

He became the executive director of the Los Angeles City Employees Relations Board.

As executive director, he oversaw the resolution of labor disputes and compliance with collective bargaining agreements, among other essential practices to our workforce.

Najib also ran an excellent and independent practice as an arbitrator and a mediator.

In a career filled with many accolades, Najib's proudest achievement was being inducted into the National Academy of Arbitrators at the young age of 47.

It's very rare.

Najib enjoyed spending time with his family and sharing his insight on history, philosophy, sports, and so many other subjects, a lifelong scholar.

He honed his intellect through his academic pursuits, his curiosity about the world, and a heart that led him to pursue peace and justice.

The world is a better place because of him.

He passed away.

Sadly, on August 8th, 2025.

He resided in La Crescenta at the time of his passing.

Arrangements are under the care of Forrest Lawn and Glendale.

Najib will truly be missed by the entire city family and those who knew him, trusted him, and loved him.

May he rest in peace.

Thank you so much, Mr.

McCosker.

Any other attorney motions?

Left or right?

Alright.

Colleagues, it is with uh great sadness and an acute sense of loss that I ask that we adjourn this meeting in the mere memory of one Mr.

Dr.

Darrell Harrington, one of our city's great renaissance men.

Dr.

Harrington was born in 1964 in San Pedro and grew up in the Harbor Gateway and Carson.

He attended Los Angeles Union and Linwood Academies.

Later attended UC Riverside, earning his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine.

His medical uh career spanned more than three decades, most of it right here in our city.

He served as the associate medical director and chief of general internal medicines at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and Director of Graduate Medical Education and the chief academic officer for LA County Health Services at Harbor UCLA in Harbor Gateway.

His expertise in internal medicine was matched by his leadership in training future doctors, developing uh clinical protocols and pushing the standard of care higher for patients across Los Angeles County.

His work wasn't just work, but it was an investment in the health of our entire community in a system where our folks are not supposed to benefit, but he made sure to provide real quality services to everybody who walked through the doors of those hospitals.

Most of whom uh were on some type of subsidized health insurance.

Dr.

Harrington wasn't just brilliant in medicine.

He was a true Renaissance man, a man of deep faith, a gifted musician, a biker, a golfer, a salsa dancer, a drummer, and a scholar.

If you knew him, you knew his joy.

He played with the Compton Community Centers at Singers.

He also played at his home church, Normandy Avenue, Seven Day Adventist Church, and countless uh bands, uh, too many to name.

Uh, he was either a drummer, a singer or otherwise uh helping create the sound.

He cherished his family above all, his wife Julie, his children Isabella and Elzy, his sibling Sharon, Andrea, and his twin brother uh David.

I first uh met uh Dr.

Harrington uh as a child.

I think he was a teenager by the time I met him.

Uh he was already really, really cool, and he wasn't a doctor yet.

Uh and uh he was he and his twin brother and my uncle.

Uh we looked up to them uh as young people.

They could drive before we could drive, they could pick out their own clothes before we could pick out their own clothes.

Uh they could talk to girls before we were allowed to use the telephone.

Uh and they did all of it in the coolest way possible and uh set the best example.

And uh Dr.

Harrington uh went on to complete his education and became a physician.

And then as an adult, when we had a family member who was sick, we knew if we took them to Harbor UCLA, they would get the best care.

And sometimes family members had really good insurance and they could go to a fancy hospital, and we would say, nope, we're gonna go uh be with Daryl and he's gonna look out for us and he's gonna make sure we uh have everything uh we need.

And so uh his family is with us today, part of my family uh is with us.

Uh, and again, uh a true Renaissance man that I I think I'm I'm still a little bit uh envious of because not only was he a great physician and scholar, he was also a great musician, uh, and was a little bit of a comedian.

My wife Carrie is with us today.

Uh he served as the MC at our wedding reception uh and kept the crowd entertained while we did all the first dance and cake cutting and the whatnots.

Uh, and we still have that as one of our very fondest uh memories of our union.

And so uh it is with great sadness that uh colleagues, I asked you to join me and my family, my extended family uh in celebrating the life uh and adjourning in the memory of one Dr.

Daryl Harrington.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you so much, everybody,