For kids who have suffered a lot and had a really hard go of it.

And um it's a really cool thing to experience and cool thing to help with it's a nice way to balance out the hard times.

By being sworn in, hopefully they feel a part of uh the Los Angeles Police Department.

It's an honor to be able to have the young people who are members of the Sunshine Organization as part of that.

It's a really really noble cause, and it's cool that they care too.

Because there's a lot of people who couldn't and wouldn't, and they do.

So it's it's awesome to have that.

Tree trimming or sidewalk repairs, these local concerns can often feel sidelined in a big city.

At a recent public works town hall, Angelino's brought their queries, questions, and yes, even complaints straight to the bureaus involved.

The Board of Public Works and the Department of Public Works are here at Augustus Hawkins High School located in Council District 9 for our Public Works Town Hall with Councilmember Kern Price.

Having current Deep Price, our council member in front of us for him to hear our concerns, our complaints is very important.

We hear from all of our residents, issues related to our lights, our sidewalks, streets, trees, uh everything that encompasses infrastructure, and we have all of our bureaus here in one sitting.

So you have a one-stop shop opportunity to get your voices heard and to get many of your answers related to your 311 questions as well.

Good evening, everyone.

So this is the first uh town hall of this kind here in Council District 9.

But with the new Board of Public Works here uh at the City of LA, we're going around the city in all 15 council districts to present our ideas and listen to our constituents.

And we're so excited to be here at Augustus High School in CD9 to listen to some of the concerns related to public works.

And our next one will be in November, hopefully in a neighborhood close to you.

So please follow our social media and our website for additional information.

And we are here to serve.

And so if you have any questions, problems or concerns, don't hesitate to contact the council office.

And the next town hall could be your chance to connect with public works.

A recent job fair at Los Angeles Mission College was all about knocking down some of those barriers and supporting those seeking a second chance.

So today we are having a second chance job fair for individuals who are just as involved and have been on probation or parole and are looking for that second opportunity back into the workforce.

So currently today my involvement with this program would be I'm here to assist the participants that come in looking for a job.

We have more than 10, 15 employers giving job opportunities to individuals who come in looking for employment.

We also provide help and resources for people who want to continue or start a trade.

Um they just need to know what they want to start and we're here to help.

Some individuals have different types of barriers to employment, and what we do here is we assign them a case manager who will help them with assisting them with their barriers, whether they're experiencing homelessness or their re-entry and they're trying to get some type of expungement or trying to find a program that better suits them.

Along with the help of EWDD, we want to make sure that we're able to help them become self-sufficient, help them land a good paying job and then be able to support themselves.

A mayor executive directive will help in LAPD hiring.

The Diane Watson Corridor is named for the retired congresswoman and a rapid response relief grant from Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez.

Mayor Karen Bass has issued an executive directive to accelerate the hiring of more officers for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The directive will establish new protocols between the LAPD and the LA City Personnel Department with the aim of completing officer selection within 180 days.

The executive directive will also install a new LAPD hiring division within the LA City Personnel Department.

Councilmember John Lee, Chair of the Public Safety Committee, said the directive will ensure efficiencies in LAPD hiring and aligned with commitments to a safe city.

Currently, the LAPD has over 8,000 officers, around two officers for every 1,000 Los Angeles residents.

For more information, visit mayor.lacity.gov slash press.

Councilwoman Heather Hutt announced that a portion of Coliseum Place from Victoria Avenue to Crinshaw Boulevard will be co-named as Diane Watson Corridor.

Diane Watson is a retired Congresswoman whose legacy led to significant advancement in civil rights, health care, education, and humanitarian efforts.

Watson was the first African American woman elected to the California State Senate.

And later, she represented the 32nd and 33rd California congressional districts.

Though retired, Watson continues to advocate on behalf of vulnerable communities, with her next focus being to protect seniors from financial exploitation and fraud.

For more information, visit cd10.gov.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez announced that she has secured funding to replenish the grant relief program for those impacted by ice rates in her district.

According to Rodriguez, the relief program is for individuals and families she represents who have faced financial hardship due to current immigration activity.lacity.gov.

Since LA's inception, multiple cultures have been intertwined with the city.

Councilmember Ulysses Hernandez led this year's city celebrations of El Grito and Mexican independence, addressing the current challenges and meeting the moment with joy.

The people of Los Angeles El Grito is something that it's been celebrated all over the city all my life.

Years ago, it got brought to City Hall, and it's one of our biggest celebrations of the year.

Los Angeles is the home of the largest concentration of people of Mexican origin outside Mexico City.

I am honored to be the Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles and to come and celebrate our independence, our pride in our identity, our culture.

Today for the city of Los Angeles, I think it's so fitting that one of our toughest Mexican Americans on the council, UNICE Hernandez is running El Grito this year, a year where there's so much fear, so much uncertainty, and so much creative thinking related to how we protect our community nowadays.

But today was supposed to be a day of celebration, a day of happiness, and we're making that happen.

The diversity of our city is seen in the folks that are here, and I'm just happy to be a part of it.

Much congratulations to Council District One and Satan.

We've had over 12 weeks of federal immigration raids on our city, and we wanted to show today especially what it looks like to resist, and that is through joy, through culture through food, through being a community.

That's what's gonna free-fill our batteries so that we can continue this fight to protect our communities here in Los Angeles.

Viva.

It's stronger than ever that we reinforce that belief.

I think it's a really beautiful event, especially to have in the time right now.

Um I know that a lot of people were scared to come, but I wanted to show that you know I can be here and represent the people who may not have the ability to have come.

And so yeah, I'm really glad that I was able to show up and that they had such beautiful music, such beautiful food, and the people were really amazing.

I think that's wonderful because I really like those scholars.

I like the energy here.

It's so positive and so like it even despite I'm from another country, I don't speak Spanish, but I feel so cozy like at home.

I just was walking around, I heard some music.

I thought I have to check it.

So here I am, and I'm glad that it's happened like this.

We should keep fighting for our rice because we made a difference in Los Angeles, the Mexican community because we're here to stay, and we're gonna continue making and building and making Los Angeles beautiful.

You know, I'm really proud that as a city we're continuing to show up for our community, even with moments of celebration, because this is what they're trying to erase and stop us from doing.

They're trying to prevent us from being authentically who we are.

And this event with everyone that's turned out is a reflection that we are in fact here and we will stay here.

Imagine celebrating in two languages.

That's the joy of the Los Angeles Libros Festival held at the Central Library.

This family celebration of bilingualism puts pride at the heart of Latino heritage.

The Los Angeles Libros Festival is a fabulous festival for the whole family.

It's a celebration of bilingualism for all Angelinos, where we re-dream and celebrate in those idiomas.

It's so important to celebrate languages, to be able to share music and community in English and Espanol.

Because it's the city, not only this city, but this country is bilingual, bicultural, and that's what we bring.

Adiosa mitas que está indo.

We want to make children feel excited about learning a language and feel proud of their heritage.

This is very important because this is also a celebration of Latino culture and the Spanish language, with almost half of Angelinos being Spanish speakers.

We think it's very important to celebrate both English and Spanish for those of us who are bilingual and for those of us who want to be bilingual.

Even just a few words in somebody else's languages creates connection.

That's why not only do we speak English and Spanish, but we've been learning other languages like American Sign Language.

And with one finger on each hand, we sign Friend.

This is the sign for friend in ASL.

So I came for the Libros event.

I was really excited to see what's been going on and discover new books as well as connect with the community.

I came all the way from Santa Clarita because I really wanted to see Sylvia Moreno Garcia speak.

It's a free event.

It's a great crowd, and it's a bilingual event, so I get to speak in Spanish and English, which I don't get to do a lot in Canada.

Hola.

Hola, hola.

I would like to invite everybody to visit your local library and get a library card.

It's easy, it's fun, and there are a lot of books, both in English and Spanish, audio, digital, and physical formats.

Together, they acknowledged how different the summer has been.

Well emphasizing continuity and solidarity in simple celebrations.

This end of summer celebration here in Herman Park in Council District 14 is so important for our communities.

You know, our Fourth of July events were postponed in part due to the ice raids.

You know, our Fourth of July events were postponed in part due to the ice raids, and this was a symbol of us getting together, showing that we're gonna stay strong and be brave in light of all that's still happening in our communities and really a coming together for CD14.

This area is so important to me because I grew up here.

I am a Angelino True and Troop.

My entire family has grown up here since we're little kids, and it means so much to see the different amazing parks and everything that goes on in them.

And we myself, my family, we've been coming to not only this park, but all the parks within the council district of 14.

And this is home to us, you know.

If it wasn't for programs like this, we wouldn't have been exposed to so much music and community that now make me personally want to give back.

So Create Now is an art-based nonprofit.

What we do is provide free art programming for underserved youth all throughout LA County.

We've been doing this for almost 30 years now.

And today we're out here with our biggest mural board that we've ever done before, allowing kids to paint on it and to see our new mascot characters that we're developing on top of giving away squishmallows.

All the kids love squishmallows and they love what we're doing.

I'm here singing with Pacific Opera Project, and it's very important for people to come out and support their local government and take part in the free events.

It's a time where you get to see it locally, what artists are doing, such as opera companies or small businesses, and it has been a joy to come out here and sing for the community today.

I fully encourage, you know, all these events that are going on.

You know, I think it brings us together, it brings different communities together.

It makes us more stronger.

You can tell that a lot of this community, we care about each other.

We all facing the similar uh problems and issues, and the more that we can do for almost vulnerable people in our communities is even better.

That includes a lot of small businesses that you know are facing outrageous uh rent increases besides the fact that sales are slow with with the occurring ice rates.

So uh me uh I took this as an opportunity to promote my store and to have a couple of sales and also give also free items for the community.

It is so important for you to join us here this year, next year, and the years to come with your family because this is part of the community, and this is not only what drives the artist but brings us closer together.

We are so excited to share this experience with you, and we hope that next year you come on by LA City's Department of Cultural Affairs encompasses a diverse portfolio of landmarks, and none can claim to be as unique as the Watts Towers.

These folk art structures were built from almost nothing, from scraps, but they now mark a place for the community, arts education, and excellence.

Oh, that's my plate.

That's my cup.

It's wonderful to see them go through and show that ownership.

The history of the Watts Towers is uh over 100 years old.

Simon Rodia started building these towers in the early 20s.

And over a course of 33 years, the towers went up.

And from there, this grassroots effort in providing arts education grew.

Classes were started in 1961.

Lucille Crasney taught the first classes on the burned out foundation of Simon Rodia's house.

The Watchtowers Art Center.

We're now six 64 years old.

We're now 64 years old.

In 1970, they were able to build this art center that we're in now.

In 1975, the city of Los Angeles took over.

The Watts Towers complements all of the artistic people that come from Watts.

More artists come from this area than any other place in Los Angeles.

And we can say that we have access to master artists here.

We have access to master musicians to teach our young people here.

One of our mottos is we don't do mediocre because we don't have to.

That's why the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs invests so much in this campus because it provides art and museum education for this community that it could not get if we were not here.

Our community can't afford to pay for piano classes or music classes or voice classes or art classes.

They can't afford that.

We provide museum and art education for our community when they can't get to Latma when they can't get to Mocha, but they can come to the Watchtowers Art Center campus to get fine arts.

It really represents the city on so many levels.

It's called Nuestro Pueblo.

San Rodia called it nuestro pueblo, which is in Spanish is our town, our people, our community.

Our community has been very, very involved from the inception, which is a phenomenal thing.

And our community does a lot with nothing sometimes.

And uh, but we're resilient.

We're still here.

We're not going anywhere.

You can't you can't get rid of us.

In this week's Things to Do, Art in the Heart of the Valley at the Resita Rising Art Walk.

Celebrate 50 years of Jaws with a screening and party.

And head to El Pueblo for the Muertos Art Walk.

All this up next on Things to Do.

Join the Department of Cultural Affairs for Councilmember Bob Blumenfield's Resita Rising Art Walk 2025.

Head to Sherman Way in Lindley for this all-ages celebration in the heart of the West Valley.

Enjoy a wide variety of artwork on display from projections and installations to costume figure drawing, live painting, and an aerosol station.

Local artists will be presenting their work for the community to appreciate.

Enjoy dance and DJ battles as well as music performances.

Support local artists and organizations, food trucks, and street vendors.

Experience all this year's Resetarising Art Walk has to offer on Saturday, October 4th from 5 p.m.

to 10 p.m.

For more information, visit Rosita Artwalk.com.

Just hearing the name brings the iconic music to mind.

Now imagine watching the movie from the water.

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jaws at a movie night and beach party at the Hansen Dam Aquatic Center.

Join Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez at this free movie screening on Saturday, October 4th, where there will also be food trucks, kids' activities, and more.

Dip your toe in the water for Jaws Movie Night and Beach Party on Saturday, October 4th.

Doors open at 3 p.m.

and the movie screening begins at sunset.

For more information, visit CD7.la City.gov.

Join Opueblo Historical Monument and the Elvera Street Merchants Association Foundation for the annual Mirtos Art Walk.

This event showcases the work of over 30 local artists in the run-up to the cultural celebrations for Dia de los Muertos.

Enjoy original artwork, jewelry, accessories, clothing, and more at Venderstalls in El Pueblo, the birthplace of Los Angeles.

Join in the celebrations at this family-friendly event, which will also feature live music and performances.

Head to the historical heart of LA from Raritos Art Walk on Saturday, October 4th from 10 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

For more details, check out OveraEvents.com.

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.

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.

Yeah, she was just going to acknowledge it.

Oh, I think it's okay.

All right, good morning, and welcome to the regular schedule meeting of your Los Angeles City Council.

Today is Wednesday, the first day of October, the year twenty twenty-five.

Public comment for this morning's meeting will be taken in this council chamber in person, Madam Clerk.

Please call the role.

Yes, sir.

Bloom and Field, Harris Stason, Hernandez, Hut Herado, Lee, McCosker, Nazari, and Padilla, Park, Price, Rahmen, Rodriguez, Soto Martinez, Yaroslavsky, twelve members president of corn, Mr.

President.

All right, first order of business.

Approval, the minutes of September twenty-ninth, twenty twenty-five.

Councilmember Park moves, Councilmember Lee Seconds, what's next?

Uh, commendatory resolutions for approval.

Councilmember Hernandez moves.

Councilmember Nazarian seconds.

What's next?

Mr.

President, there is a request from City Attorney to continue item forty-five to Tuesday, October seventh.

All right, without objection.

What's next?

Items one through twenty-nine are items which public hearings have been held.

For item twenty, a revised public safety committee report has been submitted and is available online under Council File two five-eight four eight.

Items thirty through forty-five are items which public hearings have not been held.

Items forty-six through fifty-three are closed session items considered by the budget and finance committee.

Mr.

Lee.

Thank you, Ms.

President.

Item number uh eight.

I'd like to make a motion to adopt the public safety committee report.

Is there a second to Mr.

Lee's motion?

Oh, Ms.

Roger, thank you.

Councilmember McCusker.

Councilmember Judato.

Thank you, Council President.

I'd like to call item three and thirteen for a separate vote.

All right.

Any other specialists on my left, your right?

All right.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Item 12 for comments.

All right.

Councilmember Rahman.

Could I get item 24 for a separate vote?

All right.

Councilmember Padilla.

Yes, I would like to move the MSC recommendations.

And also I from for item three.

And for item 25, I have a technical amendment.

Technical amendment.

All right.

So we need a second for the committee report, which I'll second.

Uh and then the second one was 25.

Yeah, for technical amendments, which should be circulated shortly.

So it'll come around in a half a second.

Okay.

All right.

Any other specials members?

All right.

Seeing none, uh, madam clerk.

What items are available to vote on at this time.

Mr.

President, council may now vote on one, two, four through seven, nine through eleven, fourteen through twenty three, twenty six through twenty-nine, sir.

All right, those items are now before us.

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

Thirteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Next uh council may vote on uh item number eight, sir.

All right.

Let's open the roll on item number eight, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

Thirteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Next, council may now vote on item number three.

Okay.

All right, let's open the roll on item number three, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

10 ayes, three no's.

All right, what's next?

Uh next uh council can go into uh items 46 through 40 uh through 53, which were heard by budget and finance committee.

Okay.

All right, so the closed session.

Chairwoman Yaroslavsky, you can do the closed session.

Thank you, Council President.

Budget and Finance Committee considered and approved items 46 through 53 in committee on September 16th.

I recommend we approve uh these items.

Thank you.

All right.

We can read those items into the record and call the roll.

Yes, sir.

Item 46 in the case entitled Renee Mercado versus Christopher Brandis et al.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 180,000 in settlement.

For item 47 in the case entitled Hino Amercanian versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 375,000 in settlement.

Item 48 in the case entitled Candace Rodney versus Christopher J.

Curry et al.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 292,750 in settlement.

For item 50 in the case entitled Amgard Insurance Company versus City of Los Angeles, there's a recommendation to expend up to 600,000 in settlement.

For item 51 in the case entitled Jaffit Martinez et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 2,275,000 in settlement.

For item 52 in the case entitled Rosemary Hathorne versus City of Los Angeles at all.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 400,000 in settlement.

Item 53 in the case entitled Janine Jones et al.

versus City of Los Angeles.

There's a recommendation to expend up to 1.5 million in settlement.

All right.

Let's open the roll on those items, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

13 items.

All right, what's next?

Uh Mr.

President.

Council may now move on to public comments, sir.

All right.

Uh, before we begin public comment, uh, we've seen the names on the uh list of speakers, so we should be able to complete public comment by uh 1050, so 10 minutes until 11.

We'll allow 30 minutes for public comment.

We'll begin uh by hearing from the city attorney.

Uh and then your name will be called and you can line up.

Um folks, there's a small enough group in this uh in the chamber that everybody who wants to speak should just line up uh and we can go from there.

Mr.

City Attorney.

Yes, Mr.

President.

To people providing public comment, when it is 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 were 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 are items 30 through 44.

Again, the items that are open for public comment on the agenda are items 30 through 44.

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.

I have uh one more announcement that I'd like to have the interpreters make aloud to the room.

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.

And members of the public, so uh the as the council president has already stated.

Um, if you'd like to provide public comment due to the uh the the number of people that we have here, um if you'd like to, you can line up in any order on your left-hand side of the council chambers.

And if when that line exhausts, we will be done with public comment.

No, he said just line up.

Good morning.

Which items would you like to speak to?

All items and general public comment.

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

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

I'll speak at this clown show on all items and general public comment.

Item 32 and 33 is a perfect example that when you hire clowns, you get a circus.

These items are for the removal of a Coenga Boulevard and Limp Avenue property from the city's corrupt rent escrow account, where they fine and lean people's property so that criminal sleazy Dawson and out on bail with 12 count indictment and currently on trial current price can make money off abatement contracts and confiscate the public's property.

In my opinion, this item should include wording that would assist the homeowner and investigate corrupt sleezy D.

The entire corrupt rent escrow system in this clown council, these items should include funding, wording to investigate why we have this clown show of 40 people standing around up there four hours a day, three days a week.

Instead of Nithia Raman from walking around and clown face with pieces of paper talking to people, pretending she is actually doing something meaningful at these clown meetings.

I demand that worthless ramen and the rest of this incompetent $20,000 per month clown submit a motion to change the wording of these items to return the funds stolen from these property owners by Sleazy D.

35 is for another REAP property on Veteran Avenue.

Perhaps Nithia Raman's clown face ridiculous and worthless homeless proposition speech yesterday can be incorporated into this rent escrow motion in a manner that would actually assist the people of Los Angeles.

Worthless in Raman, instead of walking around with papers pretending to talk to people, should be listening to the public and put forth a competing motion to 35 that would actually increase commerce in her district.

What a great idea.

The rest of these $20,000 per month clowns should also change this motion's wording that would use the corrupt Gosen fees from these properties to pay for the tripling of the public sanitation fees these clowns imposed on the public yesterday.

Items 40 through 44 are also reap account items.

And in my opinion, this is another testament to the stupidity, incompetence, and corruption of this clown council.

Reap account items are the only items on this agenda because these clowns have no funds to allocate for the people because they bankrupt the city via incompetence.

Dawson's draining of homeless funds, corruption, and one billion dollar LEPD budget increase last year.

In my opinion, these items should read that whatever rent escrow funds are left from the incompetent clown council's bankrupting the city should be used to investigate white corrupt criminal out on bail.

Current price currently on trial with a 12-count indictment is sitting there voting on giving more city business to his wife's company.

In my opinion, all items should receive a no vote unless it includes wording to investigate why this city employees receiving a special contract consideration from the clown council of incompetence.

General public comment.

Four hours a day, three days a week.

Just look at this clown show.

A bunch of incompetent clowns putting on a show of homelessness, city bankruptcy and corruption, and a bunch of stupid presentation.

Some to hide their incompetence.

With all the massive city problems, this is how these clowns have run the city into the ground by just sitting there collecting their 20 to 30,000 per month's salaries.

Tens of thousand homeless epidemic emergency.

Next speaker.

Oh, so that's the hold on your three minutes.

For the items and one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

So that's the way you treat disabled people, right?

Well, this is how I treat the city of Los Angeles on this motherfucking item on number 12.

Am I able to speak on it, asshole?

Item number 12 is not open for public comment.

Please stick to the agenda items.

You don't want to rebuttal?

No, no.

All right.

Let's talk about the alliance.

LA Alliance item is number 45.

And if you were listening, it is not open for public comment.

Uh-uh.

All right.

I'll go to item number 30.

I got all this time to play with.

Smoking scan.

So look at this, everybody.

Housing.

Who is the leader of housing?

Can anyone in the public, can anyone other than Ramen Noodle who stole the money for housing for veterans?

Housing for Americans.

Can someone in here tell me where the fuck is the money, Ramen Noodle?

That's the question.

David O'Carter and I want to know.

Whereem are you speaking to, Mr.

Herman?

Which item are you speaking to?

What do you mean what item?

You said I could speak on 30 through one, asshole.

Don't you understand that?

They are reap items.

Look at not related to LA1.

Dickhead.

Item number 32 is about housing asshole.

Number 33 is about housing asshole.

This is your last warning.

They are reap items.

So if you'd like to speak to the reap items, you can, but they're not related to LA Alliance.

Listen, I never mentioned Alley Alliance, asshole.

I'm talking about housing.

Okay, so I asked you politely to stay on the on topic.

You've refused to do so.

You have one minute for general public comment.

What the fuck?

I feel so sad.

Smoke and scan.

I loved her first amendment.

Ran.

But mama, they're taking me out of city hall.

Here at last.

Goodbye to my second amendment of free speech.

Mama, I'm not coming home.

They want to sacrifice my freedom of speech.

You heard it right here by the chill of what I said was interpret as hate speech.

I'm going on through this change.

Doesn't anyone see the pain?

Smoking scan.

It's only you in I.

We interpret things I've shared with you.

Yes.

All I know is the world is bad place on evil place for you, Nickels to tell me.

Your time has expired.

Please vacate the podium so we can continue.

Time is expired.

Please vacate the podium.

Is there anyone else who would like to provide public comment?

Mr.

Herman, this is your first and only warning.

I'm trying to make an announcement to the room.

Do not disrupt this meeting.

If you do it again, you'll be subject to removal pursuant to rule seven and rule twelve.

Anyone else here for public comment?

Not seeing anyone going once, going twice.

Uh Mr.

President, I believe we have exhausted public comment.

All right, we want to thank everybody that came to participate in public comment.

Uh let's uh go to our agenda, madam clerk.

Yes, Mr.

President.

Council may now vote on items 30 through 44, sir.

All right, let's open the roll on those items, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 eyes.

All right.

Uh what's next?

Next would be item 12.

That was called special by council member Rodriguez.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Colleagues, today we have before us this item on a motion that I introduced that is restricting city employees from engaging in outside employment with uh ice with immigration customs enforcement.

Well, we have in our administrative code the ability for city employees to seek outside employment.

I thought it was important for us to really enshrine as part of our city values, that what would not be considered or entertained is the opportunity to seek outside employment with an agency that is constantly rolled into our city and countless other cities across the country and assaulted and abducted members of our community, and it's for that reason that I thought it was important for us to enshrine in our rules the prohibitions from allowing city employees to be able to engage in this outside employment at a time when we need to continue to foster trust in local government, particularly at a time when our federal government has made it quite clear they have absolutely zero intention in shoring up and strengthening people's trust in their government.

We must continue to be the example of how we show up for people in our own city and ensuring that Angelinos can have faith and trust in their local institutions.

And it's for that reason that I introduced this motion, and I thank you and ask you for your I vote.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguez.

I want to uh join one thank you for the motion uh and join you in requesting an I vote.

I just want to point out to you, you may not have anticipated this, but I had more than one reservist who is also who are also city employees who came and said, I'm really glad the city council is doing this because if I get asked to be a part of this as a reservist, I one I'll have my job as a shield.

I mean, they were both people who weren't gonna do it any anyway, no matter what, but they were very grateful for this motion.

So thank you uh on their behalf.

All right, on this item.

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

Nice.

All right, what's next?

Next would be item 13, and that was called special by council member Herano for a separate vote.

All right.

Uh let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

All right, what's next?

Next would be item 24, and that was called special by council member Raman for a separate vote.

All right, let's open the roll, close the roll.

Tabulate the vote.

I think council member Hernandez is your hand, is her hand up to speak?

Yes, sir, but it's for item 13.

Okay.

Okay, and for the record for item 13.

Uh Councilmember Hernandez voted no.

So the uh there will be 11 ayes and three no's.

Thank you.

All right, and we have a count on 20 item 24.

Yes, Mr.

President.

All right, what's next?

Now 24, and that was a separate vote by and call special by Councilmember Raman.

All right, what's next?

Uh uh, Mr.

President.

Council may now vote on item 24 at this time.

Two four.

Yes, sir.

All right, let's open the roll.

I think we just did 24.

No, no.

No.

No.

No.

No.

I apologize, sir.

No, there was confusion.

Uh, and 24 has not been voted on uh because I was trying to clear up uh the vote on item 13 at that time, sir.

Right on.

All right, so we all clear now to vote on 24?

Yes, sir.

All right, 24 was called special by council member Ramond for a separate vote.

Let's open the roll on 24, close the roll, tabulate to vote.

13 ayes, one no.

All right, what's next?

Next would be item 25, but uh we're waiting council the uh for the original amendments for 25.

Uh waiting for item 25a, amendment uh parked uh 25b.

Oh, I'm sorry, it was just handed to me.

Okay, uh council may now vote on items 25 as amended by uh 25A, 25B, and 25 C, sir.

All right, let's open the roll on that item, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Mr.

President, council has motions for uh posting and referral.

They are both posted and referred.

Just as clear, sir.

All right, announcements members.

Announcements.

Councilmember Hutt.

Good morning, colleagues.

Good morning, Mr.

President.

Um everybody, October's here.

Are the people here?

Okay, but I'll make the announcement nevertheless.

Um October's here and it's packed with events in CD 10.

Um today I'm excited to let you know about the 52nd annual uh Los Angeles Korean Festival.

It runs October 16th to the 19th at Seoul International Park.

Um, it is the place that you go for authentic Korean food, amazing music, dance, and cultural experiences.

This is where you need to be during that period of time.

Um, I believe we have a quick video.

Do we have a video?

So you can see how exciting it is.

Oh my god.

No, it's coming.

So that's what's to come October 16th through 19th.

Come to Seoul International Park and enjoy the festivities.

My neighbor to the northwest.

Good luck if you were.

Thank you, Councilmember Hutt.

And thank you for your support of this for over half a century.

This event has been uh our opportunity to showcase the the beautiful Korean culture before Korean food became popular before our movies and you know BTS and everything.

This this uh festival was really important to us because it was our way of sharing all the different things of our culture, and I appreciate you sponsoring it every year and having this for us, and I hope to see you there.

Thank you.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

All right, thank you so much, Councilmember Hutt.

Other announcements?

I got Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

And thank you, Councilmember Hutt.

Um, hoping that I can make my way over there because it looks like a lot of fun.

But on Saturday, and we will also uh have a little reminder on Friday, but on Saturday, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the making of Jaws.

And we are screening at the Hansendam Aquatics Center, which is being transformed into Amity Island, into a screening which people can watch from the pool if they dare.

We've got a number of surprises in store for the community, and uh gates open at three o'clock.

We're expecting a wonderful turnout.

Uh our movie nights are generally very popular, but given the history of uh this celebration for the 50th anniversary, we're really looking forward to screening Jaws.

Uh it was actually Jaws Movie Night was the first movie night I did uh back in 2018, which basically it was how I got the Department of Recreation and Parks to approve doing movie nights at the pools.

And so that was the first one we did at Hanson Dam Aquatic Center.

We are having this little anniversary run there, and it's gonna be a lot of fun with some fun surprises in store for the community.

So gates open at three movie starts uh at uh basically sundown.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rodriguez, did I understand you to say that Jaws is 50 years old?

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Um any other announcements members?

Uh all right, we'll ask everyone in the chamber to rise for adjourney motions.

All right, any adjourning motions to my right?

All right.

To my left, Mr.

Nazarian.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues.

We gathered here today to honor and remember a remarkable woman, Mary Garcia, a foundational community leader, a tireless arts advocate, and a pillar of North Hollywood, and also a dear friend.

I want to extend a special welcome to her family and friends who have joined us to celebrate.

I'm sorry, Councilmember.

I I don't know if anybody could identify who was clapping.

I think it was Mr.

Herman, but I'm not 100% sure.

Yes, so and last warning, Mr.

Herman.

Mr.

President, he was actually warned already, so he is eligible for removal if you would like I'm sorry, go ahead.

Council, I'm not gonna continue until he leaves.

All right, Mr.

Herman, you are removed.

Please exit the chamber quickly and quietly.

Why are you joining me?

Why am I always pause on your accusation and all the days of the couple of the other?

I'm sorry to the family members.

Why the fuck am I always honored allocation?

Why do you want to be with you calling it?

You continue to disrupt the meeting, even though you've been dismissed.

Mr.

City Attorney, I want to recommend uh extended suspension for Mr.

Herman.

Understood, we will take that under submission.

Fucking go.

Fucking liars.

And you're all liar.

Total trip, right?

Oh, our deepest apologies uh to the Garcia family and friends, and to you, Mr.

Uh Nazarian.

Please proceed.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh I too.

My apologies.

It's part of the process, unfortunately, here.

But again, thank you to the family members and friends who have joined us to celebrate the incredible life of Mary Garcia, a remarkable human being.

Uh Linda, Alicia, David, Rebecca, Mike, and Vanessa.

Thank you all for being here.

Your presence is a testament to the love and inspiration she shared with so many.

Mary was born April 19, 1942.

To her loving parents, David and Corinne Gomez.

Mary lived a rich, fulfilling life filled with love and a relentless passion for building community and celebrating the arts.

In fact, it was infectious because she, whatever she touched, she was engaging, she was charming, she was knowledgeable, and she immediately attracted people towards her.

She had a gravitational pull.

Her legacy is woven into the very fabric of North Hollywood.

As the first president of the Midtown North Hollywood neighborhood council, Mary was a powerful voice for neighborhood empowerment, dedicating herself to improving the lives of her neighbors.

Her visionary leadership and collaborative spirit were instrumental in the creation of the Noho Arts District.

Working closely with Councilmember Tom Labange and the community redevelopment agency, she helped transform the area into the vibrant cultural heart it is today.

Mary's passion for the arts was boundless.

She championed the beautiful Chandler Bike Path Outdoor Mural Gallery, and as a distinguished alumna of Los Angeles Valley College, served on the Arts and Scholarship Committee, ensuring future generations had the same creative opportunities she held so dear.

Her commitment to cultural preservation was further demonstrated as the co-founder of the preservation of the Native American Cultural Institute.

Mary also served the city of Los Angeles with distinction as a commissioner on the Commission on Community and Family Services and was the driving force behind community building events like the annual 911 Memorial Park held in North Hollywood Park every year.

Perhaps her most significant accomplishment, the North Hollywood Arc Walk on Lancasham, stands as a testament to her deep love for both art and community, unifying people and solidifying her lasting impact.

Though recognized by mayors, council members, and even President Clinton for her service, Mary remained a humble and unassuming leader who always put her community first.

When she wasn't dedicating her time to North Hollywood, she was known for creating her own art, breaking bread with friends, and traveling the world.

And also advocating.

She was staunch at that.

Her favorite color, purple, was a perfect symbol of her compassionate and vibrant personality, her profound and lasting impact for North Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles.

It is with the deepest respect and gratitude and love that we celebrate her life.

Mary Garcia's spirit will continue to inspire us all.

I want to thank again the family members for being here, but also for sharing her and her bright light with all of us.

I had the pleasure of working with her for over 20 years as a young staffer, as an elected.

The last nine months I've been in City Council, given some of the challenges she was going through, but she will be sorely missed.

I thank you all for being here.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much, Mrs.

Nazaren.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Mr.

Nazarian, I'd like to join you in this adjournment, and I want to give you my condolences on the loss of Mary.

I was a staff member for Mayor Reardon in the Valley, and I remember Mary always being a frequent caller when the Nohoe Arts District was projected and envisioned, and she and Eric Ravini were thickest thieves among so with so many other business and community members there in North Hollywood to help champion that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Nazarian.

Thank you all for being with us.

And so sorry for your loss.

Any other adjourney motions members?

All right.

Seeing none, we're adjourned.

Thank you so much, everybody.

Bring their diversity to the department.

It helps us to evolve.

It helps us to better serve our communities.

It helps us to better understand each other.

We are always working with human beings.

And usually human beings in conflict or crisis.

When I see uh new recruits coming into the academy right now, they really welcome and embrace looking at our history.

So we feel like it's important to own the history that we've had.

Good, bad, difficult, challenging.

I don't think our officers or our community benefit when we don't learn how to talk about the difficult issues.

And really listen to each other.

I see that as a challenge across America right now.

Really listening to each other.

But it really is the only way to move forward.

What is a person's last monument?

Their headstone, marking the simplest facts of their existence.

Or is it their history?

Remembered, discussed, and honored.

It's Ollie Stewart got a raw ideal.

And there's not much you can do for someone who's been dead for 90 years, but at least you can rehabilitate his reputation to the extent that it is possible.

And police department's trying to do that.

There's a Martin Luther King Jr.

once said that the moral arc of the universe is long, but it's bent towards justice.

I think this proves that the arc of all long it is bent towards justice.

And this is an opportunity to give justice to this man.

That to me is what I'm always encouraged as just Michael Moore, as just an Angelino, is that right prevails.

And it may take time, and it may take it maybe long after you know someone's gone, but there's that that truth eventually comes out and is known.

And that encourages my heart.

For Officer Robert William Stewart, his legacy is larger than words etched in stone.

He has left a path for fairness and honesty in how Los Angeles reflects on its history as the city proceeds into the future.

Hi, I'm Christina Rice.

I am the senior librarian of the Los Angeles Public Libraries Photo Collection.

Our collection has over three million photos documenting life in Los Angeles from the 1850s to the present, which means there are a lot of photographers represented in our collection who produce these images.

So today I wanted to focus on one of them, and that's Carol Westwood.

So Carol Westwood was a local photographer.

She primarily did a lot of um film work, so she would be on the sets of movies.

But she also, you know, was a street photographer and loved the city she lived in and captured it, you know, from downtown to the ocean.

All of the photos she donated are digitized, so you can go to Tessa.lapl.org to view the archive.

And her photos kind of like run the gamut in terms of subject matter and style.

So sometimes, you know, she would take very kind of gorgeous um scenic photos of Los Angeles, be it the um the skyline or the ocean.

She would sometimes go to the airport and shoot the planes, um, taking off and landing.

Um, but she'd also, you know, just get into her car and just shoot the um the city from her car.

And so here's one example of that.

So it's Main Street, it's the Skid Row area, um, where you can actually see her car, and you can also see the side mirror, so that's how you can kind of identify and get a sense of where she was.

So that's how you can kind of identify and get a sense of where she was.

So there are a lot of interesting photos like that.

You know, she would also sometimes go into buildings, and this is, I think, a really fascinating photo.

It's the Taft building in Hollywood, where she had the vantage point to look into the building, and so we can kind of see people working.

So it's it's very rear window, this photo.

You know, and then there are their iconic photos of the Hollywood sign.

Here's just a really interesting rear view of the Broadway Hollywood sign.

And I mentioned she shot on a number of different mediums.

So we also have color photos, and so we have some slides.

And sometimes she'll just do just kind of whimsical things.

So we have the Smith Brothers Fish Shanty Restaurant on La Cienica, the entrance of which is just a giant whalemouth.

So this is something that no longer exists.

Sadly, I never got to visit, but it's wonderful that we have this color, you know, visual documentation of it.

Um she shot on Melrose a lot.

One of the images that really resonates with me is this image of our Ardvark's odd arc secondhand clothing store, vintage clothing store on Melrose.

And this was a shop I would go to quite a bit in the late 80s and early 90s.

My mom, when I was in high school, she would take me there to do back to school shopping.

And so this is an image that you know just brings back a lot of memories.

So I think Carol's is a collection that, you know, if you want to see the city kind of as it was in the 80s and 90s, it's there.

Um if you've lived through it, I think you can go and it can generate a great deal of nostalgia.

And I think it's just also interesting to kind of see a photographer's perspective.

So, you know, we have all of these photos in our collection, and I think a lot of times people will search for specific things, which is great.

But sometimes it's also I think nice to look like at a photographer's body of work to kind of get a sense of what resonated with them and how they were viewing the city.

And I think it also um points out how important it is when you know photos are posted online that the photographers need to be credited.

Um, because you know it was their vision.

They produced this.

And in Carol's case, you know, she very consciously wanted to make sure that the world had access to her photos.

So, you know, the least we can do is honor her by crediting her.

So again, if you want to visit um Carol's archive, you can go to Tessa.lapl.org, where there's also over 135,000 photos in counting from our entire photo collection.

Hello, I'm Captain Eric Scott with the Los Angeles City Fire Department.

And the entire nation has been captivated by the videos, the images and stories from the devastating Maui wildfires.

Now, Angelinos have expressed their concern of a wind-driven fire that might happen locally, and they've asked, how are we prepared and what can they do to ensure their families are safe?

So I'm excited to say that we've assembled a team of experts to answer that question today.

So it includes Sergeant Eric Lee from the Los Angeles Police Department, Jennifer Lazo from Emergency Management Department, and David Barrett from MySafe LA.

As most people know, the fire department is responsible for fighting the wildfire and protecting lives and property.

Now, our friends at LAPD are the active partner relative to evacuations and security, both inside and on the perimeter of the fire zone.

In the emergency management department, they provide notification for people who may live in harm's way, and they ramp up the city's emergency operations center, which assists with the remote management of all aspects of a major disaster.

And MySafe LA's role is to instruct people about being ready before a fire occurs, what to do in the event they're in a fire, and how to start the recovery process after the fire has been extinguished.

So thank you all for being here today.

Thank you.

So we're gonna dig right in.

Now, first off, when it comes to wildfire prevention, there's three basic keys to success that are really the foundation, and that is thoroughly familiarizing yourself with the ready set go program.

That's proven.

The second is to protect your property, and that's by performing proper brush clearance.

It gives us a defensible space to do our job.

And third is to protect your house from flying embers that might land on it, and we call that home hardening.

So for more information about those three important topics, we really encourage people to visit LAFD.org slash wildfire.

But to begin with, we'll start with you, Sergeant Lee.

What in general are LAPD's concerns regarding wildfire preparation?

Yeah, thank you.

So some of our concerns are first of all is neighbors.

Really, what we need to do is get to know our neighbors.

We need to know which ones might need some extra help in preparing.

We need to make sure we know the names of them, and they know your names, their information, so that we can make sure that we are ready as a community to evacuate when that time comes.

Another issue is making sure you have a go kit.

And what I mean by that is you're prepared.

You've got the essentials that you need.

Now that does not include your home and everything in it, because those things are all replaceable.

So what we want to focus on are the people, the community members, right?

That's the those are the folks that are irreplaceable, your loved ones.

So we need to focus on those and getting out of harm's way.

And finally, when the evacuation time comes, we've got to make sure that we go and we leave when that order comes out.

That being said, there's one more thing I'd like to talk about, and that is uh if the warning comes out, red flag, that we need to not have street parking.

We all need to focus and make sure our vehicles are off the roadways.

And what I mean by that is that if people are parked on some of the streets that are tight in our community, it might be uh just barely enough for a small black and white to get by, but when it comes to the apparatus of the fire department, they're really gonna struggle to get by those parked cars, and that could exasperate the fire issue.

Yeah, those are excellent points.

Uming your neighbors, having your go kit, and certainly we do have a lot of hairpin turns and natural choke points and narrow roads in some of the areas that are next to wildfire.

So for those who want to get more information about that or to sign up for alerts to actually be notified when there are the red flag no parking restrictions, you could go to LAFD.org slash red flag.

So thank you.

Excellent points.

Jennifer, we'll turn it to you for a minute with the emergency management department.

Now, you play a very vital role in the preparation of wildfires.

Can you talk to us a little bit more about uh the role of the EMD and also particular to alerting?

Yeah, so the emergency management department makes sure that the city is ready to send emergency alerts in as many ways as possible the second that a fire is dangerous.

And so the notify LA system is what we use can let everyone know what's going on.

That system has a lot of elements.

So if you go in, sign up and register yourself in the system, you can actually choose the addresses you care most about.

It might be your home, it might be where your kids go to school, or where a parent is getting care.

You can put all of those places into the system, along with which ways you want to be contacted.

A cell phone, a TTY or TDD device, text messages, landline, VoIP phone, email.

All of those systems are available to you.

So if you go to notifyla.org and sign up, you can get alerts specifically for those areas you care about.

There's another really important aspect to that emergency alerting system, and it's wireless emergency alerts.

This is a federal national program that allows your cell phone to get an alert based on its active location in the moment the alert is sent.

So if you are in a fire zone, maybe you're going on a hike in the hills, maybe you're enjoying a concert and a fire breaks out, we can actually draw a shape around that area that needs to be notified and send a message to everyone's phones.

A lot of folks have gotten those before as an amber alert or a silver alert.

Use that same system.

And so one thing that we ask everybody to do is check your phone settings and make sure that you're opted in to receiving those public safety and severe instant alerts that you've got that you haven't changed the phone settings because you really need to get those in the exact moment in which we send them.

And the good news is the city of LA really does have one of the most robust alerting systems.

It's not just the emergency management department.

We partner closely with the fire department and the police department and back each other up on sending those alerts.

We've got the language pre-written, we just plug in the area that's at risk, and we can get those alerts out really rapidly to let people know what's going on.

One thing I'll add is we will send a couple of kinds of alerts during a wildfire.

So the first one is just going to be what we lovingly call the shake and shout.

Wake up, there's something happening, and we want you to know about it.

We want you to start preparing.

We're going to send that as soon as we know that a fire could be threatening structures or a large area.

Then we'll send an evacuation warning if we need people to be prepared to evacuate, an evacuation order if we need them to evacuate now.

So that evacuation warning, if it's going to take you longer to get out, if you maybe have pets or somebody who needs special technology to be able to leave their home, leave then.

Get out then.

But for everybody, when you get that evacuation order, as Sergeant Lee mentioned, we really need you to hit the road and get out of the way.

That will let the firefighters, the police officers protect your property, protect your home without having to worry about you.

Thank you, Jennifer.

That was really some great information about notify LA.

I like too that you brought up the fact that you could kind of reduce signal to noise ratio and make sure you're getting signal, not too much noise by saying the geographic areas that actually matter to you, and also the way that you receive them can be specific via text or email.

And I also know that when an emergency breaks out, we certainly have very close coordination, and we appreciate all that you do in notifying people.

It's our pleasure.

The key thing is make sure you get notifications in a lot of different ways.

You don't want to rely on any one source to get those messages.

Excellent point.

The more the merrier, especially when it comes to life-saving information.

So it's not just about individually being prepared, but it's also important to be prepared collectively as a community.

And so that's where David Barrett from My Safe LA comes in.

Can you talk a little bit about your neighborhood education?

Sure.

You've been talking about the collaboration in a response model.

So fire police, EMD, Red Cross, other people who would participate when there's an incident and people have to respond to that.

Our job is to help people understand what their role collectively, not just their home, but their neighbors, their homeowners association, even a neighborhood council, what their role is long before anything would occur.

And there's a tremendous amount of apathy that exists amongst homeowners that haven't had to deal with anything for some period of time.

So for example, this year, the wildfire incident numbers in Southern California are lower than they've been in in recent years.

So a lot of people think, oh, it's not a problem.

Well, this is the time when you can take advantage of that to make sure that the things we're all talking about, hardening your home, defensible space, understanding evacuation, that those things are taken care of in advance long before you need to worry about them.

So one of the things that we are really focused on is helping a homeowners association organize themselves to have a consistent ongoing presence with their homeowners, whether it's a voluntary association or a membership association, to know what's happening on a monthly or at least bi-monthly basis.

What's the weather going to be?

What are we dealing with in terms of a safety fare?

What's happening with regard to recent fires or things that might affect us?

So, for example, we've been talking about Maui a little bit in terms of what happened in Lahaina, but other parts, Kulu and other places on the island, the island is not really very well protected in terms of prevention.

Here we have so many tools, we need people to be able to take advantage of them.

It's true with earthquakes, too, right?

So when we have an earthquake here, everyone freaks out and says, okay, I'm gonna get all of these different kinds of things to protect my family and home.

And they think about that very seriously for about three weeks.

So we have the same kind of a thing going on relative to wildfire.

So we're trying to kind of poke the bear, so to speak.

We're trying to get them to say, oh, I I I should do something about this.

And there's a couple of triggers that get them to respond, other than an actual fire.

When we explain, hey, if your home can't burn, if there isn't anything to ignite, then it's not likely to burn.

The same thing is true of your property.

If you've set up, it doesn't mean you have to have a landscape that is barren like the moon.

It means that you have to be thoughtful about it from the ground up six feet, not to have any kind of dangling ornamental vegetation, to not have branches touching the roof of your house, to make sure your gutters are clear.

These things don't cost a lot of money.

Maybe if you have a gardener or if you're out there on your own with your family, on your home, unless you want to, or unless you feel that it's very necessary.

But you do need to take some basic steps.

And when we explain that if you do this, you're not likely to lose your home because FEMA says 50% chance of survival if you harden your home properly.

If you add defensible space, 75% chance that you can reduce the chance.

If we look at Maui again, because people are so interested in it, we have the miracle of Maui, which is the house that is right on the edge of the harbor that's completely untouched with total devastation all around it.

That's a little extreme, and that that's a concrete house with a steel roof.

But the point of it is there was no opportunity for an embercast to get into that house.

Flames, you know, a wildfire is kind of lazy.

It looks for the easiest thing that it can attach itself to and burn.

If there's nothing there that's easy for it to attach itself to, what does it do?

It goes right on by.

Good points.

Yeah, excellent.

And I appreciate that you bring up that we all have to kind of fight apathy.

We didn't have too many significant wildfires, Los Angeles specific over the last few years, but we still need to lean forward, get that information that these communities and neighborhoods can gather through Mice AF LA.

Very helpful.

And when it comes to brush clearance, too, we really that really helps us out on the fire department side.

So we'll give just the basics on that, because we get a ton of questions.

But it's taking the weeds and the grass and bringing it to three inches.

And it's all those ground fuels we're really worried about, trimming the bottom third of a bush, the bottom six feet of a tree.

And for your roof line, like you mentioned, very important.

That's where all those embers get in.

We see some houses burn from the top down.

So if you're five foot tall and you're walking the perimeter of your roof, nothing should hit you in the head.

And then double that five feet to ten feet for the chimney, roadways, and fences.

And so that really, really helps us out.

When people have that proper brush clearance, we will put a firefighter between that wall of flame, between that home, and we will save it.

And one of the things that you just brought up, which is important as well, is if people properly defend their property, create defensible space, that also gives firefighters a place to operate.

If there's no place for them to actually get their hose lines in and set themselves up to defend that property, then the property is at greater risk simply because of the lack of access.

Yeah, excellent points.

Thank you for that.

So now let's discuss what happens when a wildfire breaks out in Los Angeles and it's actually headed in the direction of your home.

Now, on a typical topography-driven wildfire, we, the fire department, are going to hit it hard and fast.

We're gonna kind of say anchor, flank, and pinch to make it simple.

We're gonna anchor that fire, we're gonna make sure the base of it is completely extinguished, we're gonna flank it by sending teams of firefighters with progressive hose lays on the sides and try to kind of pinch it together to keep it small, and then use our aircraft to take the heat out of the head of the wildfire.

But now, if you get a wind-driven fire, that is way more concerning for us.

And or if a flames are actually getting close to your home, and that's when we're gonna start to discuss evacuation.

And that's where Sergeant Lee comes in.

And LAPD is really on our side because we will perhaps state the order, but you're going to enact that order and follow through.

So, what are some key things that people need to do to be responsible and responsive in the event of an evacuation?

Thank you.

So, one of the things is that when a brush fire or a fire is starting up, uh, knowledge is power.

And we really need the community members to tune in, uh, know what's going on in the area, uh, be aware of what's going on.

And when in a mandatory evacuation is declared, that is your time to move.

That's not your time to pack up.

The pack up time was when you were first made aware of it and knowing that it might come your direction.

But once the fire department puts out that it's a mandatory evacuation area, that really is your time to get up and move and get your loved ones to safety.

Uh come with us, and uh also large animals.

So out in the valley, especially we've had issues over the years of making sure that we think about the large animal evacuations, the equine that we need to get out of the area and the time that it takes to do that.

So we need to think about that ahead of time and not wait till the last minute.

One of the last things also is for the uh communities that we serve, especially those who uh might need some extra time in getting out, uh, those with disabilities or access functional needs.

We need to make sure that uh those folks are ready to go.

Uh they uh very specially need to make sure that they're tuning in, they are aware, because if it takes extra time for them to evacuate, we want to make sure they have that time and they're get able to get out and into a safe area.

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that.

And certainly back about going.

We we always remind people too, you don't have to wait till we formally tell you to go.

If there's a wildfire threatening your neighborhood or community, we encourage people to get out well ahead of that wildfire.

And also excellent points about animal shelters.

And the actual locations will be determined and they go out on those alerts.

So we really want people to get those alerts so you know ahead of time where the evacuation shelters are set up for large animals, small animals, as well as as people if they need to go to them.

So thank you for that, as well as the ADA compliance.

Excellent.

Thank you.

So now, Jennifer, we're gonna turn it back over to you.

You know, during a wildfire or really any significant natural disaster, how is the emergency operations center activated and what functions does that EOC perform?

So the fire department, the police department, and the mayor's office can all request the activation of the emergency operations center when an incident gets beyond the scope of any one department's normal emergency response functions.

And that has happened for everything from the COVID pandemic to even when we have a large special event like the Super Bowl or the LA Marathon, because this becomes the brain of the city, a place where all of the departments can come together, coordinate with each other, make sure they have the resources they need, and that they're communicating really freely about the current information.

So we most recently activated for the hurricane and earthquake, the earthquake part was a surprise, but uh for tropical storm Hillary, we were able to activate the EOC to level two, that's our medium level, and bring together all of the departments that had an active response role to make sure that we were well coordinated and we're communicating effectively.

We go to a lower level, a level three for something like a planted event.

And if we had a major destructive wildfire or a major earthquake in LA, we would level activate to level one, which could be more than 80 people in our emergency operation center all working together to make sure that the city is responding effectively.

Yeah, it's such a key coordination central hub where we might have a lot of spokes of other city agencies that come together.

Now, under one building, one roof, you have all these decision makers that can give us quick situational awareness, but also helps us to mitigate the problem because we have the people all in one room.

So thank you for being a part of that critical role.

Pleasure.

And I will tell everybody, we actually want their information about what they think our biggest threats are here in the city of Los Angeles.

Right now, we're in the process of updating our local hazard mitigation plan.

Wildfire is a key element of that plan.

And we've got a survey out there that we're really asking everyone you live, work, or play in LA, please fill out the survey.

You can find it at emergency.lacity.org to tell us what hazards you're most worried about and what projects you want the city to work on to address those hazards.

Yeah, thank you for that.

Good points.

And David, we're going to turn it back over to you for a minute.

Now, we know that LA has wildfires all year round now.

And weather plays such a critical role in how we fight them and how people need to be prepared.

So, how are you teaching participants in the Wildfire Resilience Alliance about weather and how it would impact wildfires in them?

So the first step is probably to define the wildfire resilience alliance.

So that's a partnership between MySafe LA and the Los Angeles City Fire Department.

And it's designed to create multiple layers of activity that trains, creates awareness, and also stipulates how things are changing.

What's going on in weather, of course, is one of the most important things that is changing.

We're seeing things occur.

Hillary is an example that we haven't experienced, at least not in 80 to 100 years.

And this is becoming more and more dramatic as we go along.

Climate is changing.

The source of it is another conversation.

But the fact is it is changing.

And so we have longer periods of heat.

When we have these wonderful rainy seasons like we had at the beginning of this year, everyone was so excited, so all the hillsides are beautiful and everything looks great, and there's a lot of moisture around.

All I see is fuel, right?

Because all of this stuff is growing and becomes fuel.

And what people may not recognize is because of how our canyons are aligned, either with the sun from the east or from the west, that in or out of alignment on those hillsides can dry out vegetation.

It's simply a matter of moments.

So understanding not only your property, not only your building, but also what's happening with nature.

It's a huge part of it.

We're building a community wildfire protection plan for the city of Los Angeles.

There are some that are around.

So the Santa Monica Conservancy has one, LA County has one, but they stop at the city's border, right?

So the hazard plan that EMD is developing, the CWPP that we're building, those kinds of things need to interact with each other and need to be available to everyone.

It's a community plan.

It's not a fire plan per se or a police plan.

Everyone's involved.

But it's really for the community to be able to say, I'm interested, and I want to know what's going on and why it's going on.

I think the most significant things to share about weather is that it's dramatically different than it was even five or ten years ago.

And we need to think about that.

When it's raining, we think, or when it's cloudy and it might rain, we think about what are those things.

I need to have a raincoat, I need to have an umbrella.

We want people to think about kind of the my three things if there's wildfire weather.

So if the moisture level is very low, if the temperature, it could even be cool, but typically it's gonna be hot, and if it's blowing wind, what are those things?

Turn your car around so that the it's facing out of your driveway, make sure it has more than half a tank of gas.

Think about those things that you would do, and if you don't need to do them, well, it's it's repetitive work.

It's like a drill.

And as that happens more and more, you'll become more comfortable with being able to take action when something really does take place.

Yeah, very excellent points about really keeping cognizant of the weather, what it's doing, and how that can affect disasters.

And you brought up uh the recent rain, and yeah, we do see that increase in grass crop, and that we're seeing that kind of slightly delay some of our wildfires.

Um, but like you mentioned, it's a it's it's fuel, and that's a light, flashy fuel, very susceptible to a spark, and soon enough it's gonna be all cured and dried, and then we're gonna see that.

And uh the southwest facing aspects is really where it's even more dry.

You can look, it's way more sparse and thin branches compared to uh the other side, the the northeast.

Um but yeah, very good points that you bring up, a practical application.

We we appreciate that.

It's really when you get the increased temperatures, the low relative humidity, and the wind.

The wind, the wind, the wind is our main concern.

We've reviewed a lot of information here today.

We want to make sure that you and the public have access to all of it.

So if you need additional information, please visit these important sites.

It's LAFD.org/slash wildfire, LAPD online.org, emergency.lacity.gov, and my safe LA.org.

So again, thank you all for being here.

We really appreciate your input as subject matter experts, and you've really shared some potentially life-saving information.

And together we are one team, and we really want Angelinos to be part of our team.

That's why we're sincerely asking you to please heed these warnings and be prepared.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

The park has five different entities.

We have the Hollyhawk House, we have Residence A, we have the Junior Arts Center, we have the Gallery Theater, and we have the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

So the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery was established in 1954, and they had a number of exhibitions in here until 1971, when the current building was constructed, and this 10,000 square foot gallery is now able to exhibit even more artists.

The gallery continues after 1971 to really focus on Los Angeles artists, and in actuality, it is the first institution in Los Angeles that is dedicated to exhibiting only art.

We actually predate LACMA in becoming a museum of art.

One of our unique qualities is that we do not have a collection.

We are always changing exhibitions.

All the exhibitions at the Municipal Art Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting the art of Los Angeles artists.

We have three exhibition periods a year.

We have summer, fall, and spring.

Every year, we also exhibit the annual Cola exhibition, which is the Department of Cultural Affairs award to mid-career artists.

The gallery is free, so you're able to come in and see these exhibitions and learn about new artists sometimes before they've even been featured in a gallery.

The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery provides this space as an outlet for artists, and it's so important to continue to support the arts as a medium for our community to respond to the issues that are occurring in our world today.

The arts are incredibly important.

They provide that additional outlet for our community to express themselves and to learn from others.

The municipal art gallery can be a place where dialogue can occur between different groups and learning about diverse issues that are happening in our society today.

It is so inspiring to see the visitors coming into the gallery and engaging with the art.

That is really what our institution is all about.

How do the visitors get to learn about something new, uh, be challenged by ideas that different artworks promote and also see beauty?

It brings me much joy and satisfaction to know that I am I'm just overjoyed.

To really honor and promote the arts and local artists.org or following us on Instagram at Lamag Barn Stall.

We are very prominent on uh social media, good morning everyone.

Good morning, buenos días, buenos días.

Uh, thank you to my colleagues here who are joining us today.

Uh, thank you for being here to kick off Latino Heritage Month with us.

Latino Heritage Month officially starts on the 15th.

So technically we're a little early, which is a first for us, but we're here.

We are here today to open Viva La Resistencia, a celebration of joy, art, and community, as acts of Latino resistance.

So, this is what it looks like to resist with love.

This is what it looks like to resist by supporting our families.

Um, with all the ice raids, so many of us try to hide our Latinidad and blend as a form of survival.

That's what we've seen our communities have had to do.

That's what this administration wants for you to assimilate, for you to speak English and not Spanish.

They want us to live in fear, to shrink our presence, to feel shame.

But this exhibition is the opposite of that.

This exhibition is brown and proud.

The works you'll see inside were created by Altura Art Gallery, a community-based art gallery in Lincoln Heights, right here in Council District One.

These artists are our neighbors, our storytellers, and our truth tellers.

Thank you, Altura for bringing together these incredible works that reflect the heart and soul of our people.

Thank you to DCA for the partnership to make this happen.

And thank you to my colleagues, Council members Monica Rodriguez, Similda Padilla, Hugo Soto Martinez.

Each of us is a part of a powerful wave of Latino leadership here at City Hall.

We are here as sons and daughters of immigrant families, as people who carry our culture in our names, in our voices, and in our stories.

Even when you have the self-hating Pocho Chicanos just trying to ruin everything because they don't even understand their own identity.

So whether it's through song, mural, poetry, or simply getting together in a celebration of who we are.

We always found ways to preserve our identity, to stand in solidarity with one another, and to work towards a better future.

As a daughter of two immigrants who came to this country in search of a better life.

And that's what we're celebrating here today.

My parents work hard to give me a chance at a better life.

And I'm here to be grateful.

And my story is not unique.

It's the story of so many in our community.

One of the greatest ways to resist is by telling our stories loudly and even louder than those that just want to be haters, as we're experiencing today.

And as creatively and as honestly and as authentically, not just for the waves and the drama.

And that's what we're excited to start this week, this month.

We're hardworking, we are resilient, we are united.

And our stories, our shield and our and a guide for liberation.

That is why in the past, Latino Heritage Month celebrations, I've tried to honor individuals who unapologetically tell our stories, whether they're artists, comedians, authors,