And be proud of where we come from.

All of the stories that make us who we are, this is America.

We can learn that we all have humanity, that we all have family, we all have loved ones, and we could put aside our differences and look at our similarities.

It's just great to be able to experience different cultures, and so being able to go out and see different things like this is just like an experience that everyone should be able to have, man.

And especially with the culture that you're unfamiliar with, you come down and you get to experience them and you get to see different people and you know what those cultures are like.

You should explain or have it as much as you can.

So all the young kids out there, I just want to let them know that you belong here.

Um, if you're an immigrant, if you're a child immigrant, the city of Los Angeles is your home.

When we celebrate our heritage, we also encourage you to celebrate your heritage.

And another phrase I really love, Mikasa Sukasa, and we're here to celebrate that together.

I wish you all the best.

Go hey fatsuai.

One of the traditions of the firecracker run or bike is the lighting of the firecrackers.

It was uh such an exciting moment for the community.

We like probably over 100,000 firecrackers.

It is just such a fun way to just basically raise the energy before everyone starts off on their bike ride or their race.

This is a long-standing community event started by a group of friends that actually grew up in the community that wanted to do something other than just celebrating tradition.

They themselves are also very active, so they decided to go ahead and like bring in health and fitness.

It just grew over time.

Such a beautiful day for the 48th annual firecracker.

We just kicked out the 50 mile and the 20 mile cyclists, and as you can see, we got all our furry friends behind us for the paw walk.

This is the community of Los Angeles coming together, small business owners, runners, weekend warriors, just Angelinos coming together and having a good time on a Saturday.

I came up from San Diego.

I've never done this before.

Uh, it's my first time participating in the firecracker run, the 48th annual, and the best part is community.

You see the different cultures and the diversity, you feel each other's energy.

With everything going on in our society right now, it's really good to celebrate our community, uh, celebrate joy, be together, and really just also just have the buttons.

Chinatown is such a special place.

Our Chinatown in Los Angeles is historic.

Uh we have longtime small business owners, mom and pop shops.

The architecture is something that is a treat for Angelinos.

The vibe here in general is just people are excited to be in community.

They're excited to celebrate each other.

They're excited to have something fun to do with their families, with their pets.

Dogs, dogs, dogs.

Anytime you're around a bunch of dogs, the energy and the passion is just something that just goes through your body.

We worked so hard the last few months to really put this together and to see it all come to fruition is it's very exciting.

And initially, all the money goes back to the community, so local schools, local nonprofits.

They're celebrating Year of the Horse, 2026.

So it's all about down to full blessings and positive energy, and you know, Los Angeles is strong.

We're getting ready for the Olympics 2028.

We got the marathon next week.

It's a great day.

Back in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants build their community a few blocks away near what is now Union Station.

In 1938, the current Chinatown opened in LA.

As the city celebrates the lunar new year and the year of the horse, it is fitting to reflect on the broader Chinese zodiac, particularly the humble goat.

The goat has taken on a modern civic role in the city of Los Angeles as an essential environmental worker.

Long valued for their agricultural benefits, goats are now deployed for critical brush clear-ins and fire abatement.

This innovative, eco-friendly land management strategy harnesses their natural grazing instincts, proving especially effective on steep and rugged terrain where traditional mechanical methods can be disruptive, costly, or less efficient.

Vegetation management here in the Sepulveda Basin has been ongoing.

What we've been doing is looking at areas that might have a higher impact of fire spread during high wind events, any areas that might be connected to brush fire danger, and we're taking a look at that and managing the fuel by using our crews, our heavy equipment, and goats.

Fire grazers, we're a company that mow the lawns of several places all throughout the Los Angeles area, and we use goats.

Once they're out here, we've got three guard dogs in there now.

Okay, cool.

We're gonna protect them and take care of them.

That's how it worked.

When I first became a council member, and I noticed and caught that every year I had to use some of my discretionary funds to clear the brush here to avoid the fires.

I was hoping that we were gonna be able to get some gold tier, and here we are.

And look how beautiful they look, how happy they look.

Oh, thank you.

Everyone is super excited to finally see our city thinking outside the box for something that we know works.

They are definitely helping supplement our work.

They're consuming the fuel, and what it's gonna do is it's gonna limit the large fire breakout in the summertime by limiting the fuel now.

It's gonna help us later.

What these guys are going to do is they're going to devour all the weeds in the area that will turn into flashy fuels later in the season after they dry out.

It's uh not an invasive procedure.

You don't have tractors driving around, and we're just very, very, very excited that we're able to support this project.

I'm looking to get the goats into my district.

We have some hillsides that are tough to clear for humans, but for goats, they'll be a breeze.

The goats, their pay is is what they eat, and what they eat is what they're supposed to do, so it's all it's a win-win scenario.

You know, it's it makes sense.

I can I could see having some some LA goats become uh, you know, regular city employees.

The LAPD has secured funding to crack down on impaired driving citywide.

The Los Angeles Police Department will receive nearly one million dollars through a grant from the California Highway Patrol.

The funding will include DUI task forces, officer training, and community outreach initiatives.

Officials note that impaired driving includes alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs.

APD online.org.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has completed its first snow survey.

The surveys measure snow depth and water content.

Measurements are taken at Cottonwood Canyon, Big Pine Canyon, Rock Creek, and Mammoth Pass.

Data helps track runoff into the Los Angeles aqueduct, which supplies water and hydropower.

Surveys run February through April each year with monitoring to support long-term water reliability.

Learn more at LADWP News.com.

In the 19th century, Chinese immigrants in America formed powerful networks of mutual aid, family associations and business guilds rooted in shared hometowns, surnames, and traits.

At a time when discrimination was widespread, these organizations offered protection, employment connections, housing, and community.

From those gathering places grew neighborhoods that would become modern communities like LA's Chinatown today.

That same spirit of determination continues today, where we recognize Angelinos who have forged their own paths.

Among them is Nancy C.

Avery, who made history as the first black woman to lead the post office in Pacoima.

The Returning Citizens Project is a project that allows individuals to support them in housing, employment, and also behavioral health.

And with this project, the 30 individuals are now in job placement.

Once they are connected with the Amity Foundation and are provided that stable housing, CRCD's role is to connect them to not only a work experience opportunity, but the opportunity to create an educational goal, an employment goal, maybe even enter in a training for that employment.

And our team will help make that happen.

So they feel more comfortable expressing themselves and really working on their autonomy.

Many of them have come from various walks of life because they are just as involved.

Now they have an opportunity to find themselves and their right to work, and that's what we're excited about.

I had found out about the program through a friend.

You know, we were in a similar situation.

We both had been arrested before.

He basically told me, you know, this program is helping you housing and a job, and you should go check it out.

So I had actually went up to LA Trade Tech, the work source center.

I had met Emily and they basically gave me a job and housing.

Finding housing, finding employment, going to school, those are such incredible challenges and feats for anyone.

So to see someone who maybe at first didn't think that was an option or a reality for them obtain it.

Um that's why we're here and why we do this.

They provide stable housing, training, and the real opportunity.

Give me stability and uh allow me moving forward with dignity and the hope.

She was a tremendous contributor to the community in general, uh, and in and was a very positive spirit.

Uh, so she she could challenge you and and I enjoyed the challenges she presented.

I usually agreed with her on just about everything.

Um, but she was a very pleasant, uh wonderful person.

And sitting with her at that time, Miss Avery's hired me.

Uh back in 1983.

She hired me back in 1982.

Not only did she hire me, but I went on to become postmaster here as well.

Her legacy goes on and on, not just uh through me, but the people that I mentored who are former and present postmasters.

It's extremely important to recognize positive things in our community, particularly at a time when our country is going through so much struggle.

Um Nancy Avery was uh a prominent uh part of the history of the San Fernando Valley and a first.

And so uh the community is here to celebrate uh her legacy.

Can't ask for anything better than this.

I mean, to recognize her as being the individual that she was beyond words.

We're in the heart of LA's vibrant Chinatown, and at the center is Central Plaza with its pagoda style rooftops, neon lights, and bright red lanterns.

It was designed to honor Chinese architectural traditions while also embracing a bit of old Hollywood glamour.

This wasn't just a rebuild, it was a statement of resilience.

Recent investments are breathing new life into a long overlooked community space.

A move that reinforces the vital Los Angeles principle that there is a community for everyone.

This revitalization recognizes the perseverance of the young dancers who use the space.

Three, two, one.

We're so excited to be here today.

It is the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Green Meadows Recreation Center's new dance and movement studio.

This is a space that was an abandoned preschool and was being used by kids because it was the only space available for their dance and cheer practice.

And we came right in, and now the girls of the dance and cheer troops have somewhere beautiful to practice.

But not only that, it's going to serve the entire community, not just girls, not just youth, also senior activities.

This project has been extremely important to us.

This dance studio is crucial for this community.

It is so important to give a creative outlet to children and to the adults so they can see the community grow and flourish and thrive.

So we're so excited that at Green Meadows Recreation Center, the community has a brand new dance studio where they can exercise, feel safe, take classes, and we invite you to enjoy this space and continue to enjoy your local park.

This program for tax preparation runs until April 15th.

I mean, this is an amazing resource that you can come to the library and get this kind of tax help.

And even if you don't qualify for this program, they're able to give advice, and librarians at the library are able to give you access to resources online.

So the response in our neighborhood and I think throughout the Los Angeles Public Library area has been really great.

I know for our branch, we get long lines, especially as we get closer to April 15th.

I think everyone that's using this service is very, very appreciative.

Well, some of the requirements are that we do have income limits.

So the income limit for this year is $69,000.

It feels wonderful to be able to help the taxpayer in the stressful times to help them with any back years, taxes that they need to do, or any uh corrections or amendments to their tax return.

So we are a service that is not only here at the libraries during tax season, but we still do tax preparation uh at CSAC where they're our year.

The taxpayer has any questions or they need an amendment.

We're still there to assist them.

Patrons can go to LAPL.org slash taxes.

There's a list of branches that are hosting these programs as well as contact information to set up appointments.

Where's the money?

Where's the money?

It's time once again for the annual Gaelic and Garlic Party celebrating Irish and Italian heritage and pride.

For the first time, the event will be held at the Piazza Miramare in San Pedro.

This community event will feature arts and culture, live Irish and Italian entertainment, food, a beer garden, and festive vibes all evening.

Head to San Pedro for Gallic and Garlic on Saturday, March 14th from 11 a.m.

until 4 p.m.

For more information, check out the Little Italy of Los Angeles Association on social media.

Get ready for this year's Earth Day with a workshop at the Cabrill Marine Aquarium on Saturday, March 14th.

Join the aquarium for a morning of activities to imagine, create, and share visions for our world.

Friends and family of all ages are welcome with participants asked to register for your place at this free workshop.

Find out about volunteer days, conservation stories, and the Earth Day poster contest.

The workshop, Building Towards Earth Day, is on Saturday, March 14th, beginning at 9 a.m.

Learn more at Cabrillo MarineAquarium.org.

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

For decades, this neighborhood has been more than a tourist destination.

It's been a cultural anchor for generations of families, a place to gather, celebrate, and preserve traditions.

And nowhere is that more visible than during Lunar New Year.

As lanterns glow and families gather in Los Angeles, Chinatown, the symbolism feels fitting.

This community has shown strength, endurance, and forward momentum, galloping through history, determined to shape its own future.

So come and experience Chinatown for yourself, the people, the culture, and the cuisine right in the heart of LA.

Thanks for joining us.

You can watch these stories and more on Channel 35.

We're at lacity.gov forward slash TV and follow us at LA City on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

Until next time, get out there and explore all that Los Angeles has to offer.

You know, religion and culture.

Those factors create an identity for the community.

This is Chinatown.

How do you know that it's Chinatown?

Well, it's not just the lettering on the signs or the kinds of produce that you find in the stores.

Looking back, I never really like realized how everyone I would see in Chinatown would almost always be a um a familiar face and someone I recognize, and it feels more like we're a family and we're you always see people on the sheets helping one another and you just know almost everyone in this community.

And it's not until I stepped up that I realized not all communities are that close.

I am eighteen years old and I spent my entire childhood and a great part of my teenage years living and growing up in Chinatown.

We're a pretty tight-knit community.

It's sort of one of those things like you just know.

Like if you've ever been to Chinatown, you don't even need to live there for like 10 years.

If you've been just once, like, yeah.

It's central plaza.

You still have like the old shop.

And it's like it's a sentimental feeling because you know those are owned by hard working Chinese immigrants.

Not a day goes by when we don't hear.

We've been coming here for generations.

My grandmother brought me here, my mother brought me here, and I'm bringing my kids here.

And as families grow, they expand.

And we're very grateful for their continued patronage of this business.

But you know, they won't they won't hear of anything other than one of our strawberry cream cakes for a birthday or whatever celebration they're having.

Everything they make is so good.

Like almond cookies, they started out with um things like the almond cookies and the winter melon cakes.

Um black bean.

Well, yeah, well, red bean now.

I don't know what they put in it, but it's like heavenly, like it's out of this world.

Oh, yeah, this one's a very popular one.

I was somewhere in there.

I remember it being very, very crowded in Chinatown at that time.

And I think my father's in here somewhere.

But those are all the old dignitaries.

There they are with their lanterns, and there's my cousin Barbie Jean.

Barbara Jean Wong, she was called, and she was the jump majorette.

And she never ever took a bad picture.

She always smiled correctly.

She never had a double gym, nothing like that.

Anyway, yeah, that's the parade was starting.

Um All right, good morning, and welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of your Los Angeles City Council.

Today is Friday, the sixth day of March in the year twenty twenty-six.

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

Mr.

Clerk, you begin our proceedings by calling the roll.

Bloomfield, Harris Dawson, Hernandez, Hutt, Herado, Lee, McOskar, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Raman, Rodriguez, Soda Martinez, Yaroslavski, 11 members present and accord, Mr.

President.

All right, first order of business.

Approval of the minutes of March fourth, 2026.

Councilmember Park moves, Councilmember Hudato, seconds.

What's next?

Commendatory resolutions for approval.

Councilmember Price moves.

Councilmember Hernandez seconds.

Can we run through our agenda?

Items one through eleven are items for which public hearings have been held.

Items twelve through thirteen are items for which public hearings have not been held.

For item number twelve, there has been a request to continue the item to March thirteenth, twenty twenty six.

Item fourteen on the continuation agenda is an item for which public hearings have been held.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

All right, without objection, those items are before us.

Uh special members, I see Councilmember Hutt on the queue.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I rise to call item one special for amendment, and the clerk has the amendment and should be circulated.

I don't have the amendment at the moment, so we'll hold it on the desk for now.

Okay, we'll hold it on the desk.

All right, any other specials members?

Oh, sorry, Councilmember Hutt, you weren't done, my bad.

I'm sorry.

And item three for continuance to March twenty-fourth.

All right.

Uh I also have an amendment to item one.

Uh, that's being circulated.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Blumenfield.

Okay, but could have uh item 14 to refer it back to Plum for the City Attorney's recommendation.

Uh, and item four special for a comment.

All right.

Councilmember Raman.

Um, I also have an amendment for item one, which I'll be circulating.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other special members?

All right.

Seeing no other specials, which items are available for votes at this time.

The council may now vote on item two.

All right.

So open the roll on those items.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

All right, what's next?

Would the council like to move into presentations?

Yes, exciting morning of presentations.

Uh, we will begin uh by ceding the floor to Councilmember Yaroslavsky of the Fifth council District.

Oh my marks my hand.

Alright, good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues.

Thanks for everyone who's here to celebrate with us the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women and Women and the 36th Annual Women of Impact Awards.

I want to thank Caprimadox and the Civil Human Rights and Equity Department for co-hosting this presentation with Councilwoman Hernandez and me.

For the past five decades, the Commission on the Status of Women has been championing the health, safety, and economic empowerment of women, girls, and gender diverse people across Los Angeles.

From its earliest days elevating women out of purely clerical jobs and into more powerful roles in city government, the commission has been at the forefront of integrating women into the ranks of the LAPD and LAFD, forging policies against sexual harassment in the workplace, tackling the HIV epidemic, combating human trafficking and domestic violence, and leading the way for gender parity on all city commissions and boards.

Today in the city of Los Angeles, we have our first female mayor, our first female city attorney, and the first female majority on the city council in Los Angeles history.

And that is in large part because of the years of work done by the Commission on the Status of Women and all the trailblazing honorees who are here today.

And so it's my honor to join with Councilwoman Hernandez in welcoming a remarkable leader who has dedicated her career to helping minority and women-owned businesses create clean, quality jobs in low and moderate income communities, and is also the chairwoman of the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, Tracy Gray.

Tracy, come on up.

It's all you?

Okay.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

Good morning, everyone.

And thank you for having the Commission of the Status of Women here in your chamber.

I am Tracy Gray.

I'm the president of the Commission for the Status of Women.

Thank you for welcoming us today.

This year we celebrate a memento, monumental milestone, the 50th anniversary of the CSU.

It was established by Tom Bradley in 1975 to ensure women have a permanent institutional voice in City Hall.

And it's really great today that we're celebrating this with the majority of the City Council being women.

For half a century, CSW has operated with an unapologetic legacy of action.

In 1980, we fought to get women out of the clerical typing pool and into the ranks of LAPD and LAFD.

We drafted the first comprehensive sexual harassment policy years ahead of the national curve.

And when we co-produced the 2015 report on the status of women and girls, we brought the data to prove that women made up only 28% of the city workforce, a fact that drove Los Angeles to finally achieve gender parity on its city commission.

We don't just advise, we get measurable results and return on the city's investment.

Today, amidst federal rollbacks on diversity initiatives, our work is more urgent than ever.

I am the founder of a venture capital fund and a former engineer.

I look at the math.

The math tells us that gender equity is not a secondary social concern or side project.

It's a strategic economic necessity and imperative for the city government and all of Los Angeles to invest in women.

The system remains fundamentally broken today.

Black and Latino women in California still make only 63 and 44 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by a white man.

We all know that the data.

Women reinvest up to 85% into their communities and their family.

Men just 35%.

All the research shows that when you invest in women, you solve the systemic problems.

That is why the CSU, with the invaluable support of council member Yaroslavski, is leading the charge to make Los Angeles the first city in the nation to formalize a workplace menopause policy.

We need a clap for that, please.

This directly addresses a health barrier that costs the US economy 1.8 billion dollars annually in lost productivity.

We are also actively strategizing with community-based organizations to revisit our historic anti-trafficking protocols ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.

We urge the city council to continue partnering with CSW to codify these equity principles into law, ensuring our economy works for everyone.

Fifty years in, we are not just celebrating our history, we are fighting a city that truly works for everyone.

Thank you.

Next, I will tell you about our great nominees from CSW.

One nominee that's not here is the mayor's nominee, Jocelyn Duarte, the executive director of the Salvadorian American Leadership and Education Fund.

And one of our CSW entrepreneurs, I mean, I'm so used to saying entrepreneurs, excuse me.

Honorees, Nora Hovisapian, was that for you?

Okay.

Oh, that's not her.

Okay.

She is, she's not here today either, but who is definitely here.

I would like to bring up Natalie Samardian.

I think I've known Natalie for 20 years now, right?

Natalie is the president and CEO of the Coral California.

Curl's mission is to strengthen the democratic processes by preparing individuals for effective and ethical leadership.

Under Natalie's leadership, Coral has developed a new strategic plan, expanding programs, partnerships, and revenue, and cultivating a growing community of coral alumni who are transforming communities around the country.

Natalie comes to Coral California from the California Women's Law Center, where she worked to address the comprehensive and unique legal needs of women and girls through impact litigation, public policy advocacy, and legal education.

Prior to the CWLC, Natalie was staff attorney and hello.

Uh will you just say that in there?

Okay, and fellow, fellow at the neighborhood legal services of Los Angeles, where she provided individual representation to victims and domestic violence, supported impact litigation, including a successful appeal to Montagner.

I'm sorry, okay.

Um, Natalie was a labor and employment litigation lawyer.

Natalie was also actively engaged in pro bono efforts to successfully representing an asylum seeker before the Department of Homeland Security.

Prior to embarking on her legal career, Natalie was a human capital consultant at Deloitte Touche.

Public sector practice where she led the firm's national public sector human capital.

I'm gonna stop there because I feel like it's a little awkward.

Okay.

She Natalie serves on the boards of Public Council Haynes Foundation and is a UCLA alumni.

Thank you, Mag so much.

Thank you.

Oh no, you're great.

Okay.

Do you want to do a picture right now?

Yeah, let's do it.

There we go.

Okay, next up is Veronica Delara.

Veronica, are you here?

Thank you.

Veronica Lara was born and raised in the Northeast San Fernando Valley.

The eldest daughter is a daughter of immigrant parents.

She proudly embraces her Mexican and Guatemalan roots, and is a dedicated champion for working families.

With more than a decade of public sector experience, Veronica has worked alongside grassroots community members to advance economic, environmental, and social justice.

She currently serves as a political coordinator at SEIU United Service Workers West, a statewide labor union representing more than 50,000 janitorial security airport property services workers across California.

Veronica has, yes, Veronica has led major campaigns at the intersection of labor and environmental justice, including efforts at LAX to advance zero emission electric equipment standards, expanded sustainable transit operations, and strengthen workers' protection.

Her leadership has mobilized airport workers, community members, and elected officials to move for a more sustainable, equitable future.

More recently, Veronica has championed policies to protect working class families in Los Angeles, fighting for fair wages and expanded health care coverage at the airport and hotel workers.

Her work seeks to ensure that rising health care costs do not leave workers and their families behind.

Veronica is deeply rooted in her community, is a longtime member of the Cesar Chavez commemorative community of San Fernando Valley, organizing annual marches honoring his legacy.

She also serves on the boards of Alcohol Justice and Pueblo y Salud, advancing public health equity.

Veronica holds a master's in public administration from Cal State LA and three BA degrees from UC Davis.

She's kind of an underachiever.

Veronica, thank you for all your work.

Thank you, everybody.

All right.

Thank you, Tracy.

So we're now gonna transition to each council district's nominees.

So would all of the nominees who are here please join their council members at their desks.

All right.

I am so happy to introduce Council District 5's honoree of the for the Women of Impact Award.

If you ever doubted that it's possible to do it all, then you have not met Emiliana Gureca.

She personifies everything that is great about Los Angeles.

As a young girl, she immigrated to our country from Mexico and grew up to do amazing things for our community.

She's an outspoken feminist, successful entrepreneur, activist, proud mother, wife, and a self-proclaimed badass Latina who has embraced the Jewish faith.

She is the ultimate Angelino.

In 2016, she founded the Women's March Foundation and was the driving force behind the 2017 through 2021 women's marches in Los Angeles.

She mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to stand up for women's rights, reproductive rights, gender equality, and voters' rights.

Through her organizations, she's registered thousands of new voters and developed year-round training programs focused on education, leadership, and community care.

She's currently working on the Feminist Street Initiative to recognize the contributions of women such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dolora Swerta, and Maya Angelou by naming streets after them.

Emiliana is a natural.

Emiliana is a natural born bridge builder through her work, women's march community hubs, one in East LA and the other in West LA.

She brings people together for a cup of coffee, meaningful conversation, and civic engagement.

What is most impressive is Emiliana's infectious infectious optimism and goodwill.

She's always the first person to offer support to the community, willing to take on huge projects, undaunted by their scope, and pull them off as if they were minor tasks.

Always there to give credit rather than to take credit.

Today I'm happy to give you just a little bit of the credit you deserve.

Emiliana, you're an inspiration to all of us.

I look forward to our continued work together, and I thank you for everything you are doing for our community.

So now I would uh like to turn things over to Councilwoman Hernandez, who's gonna start and we'll go numerically through the or however the council president wants to do it.

Councilwoman Hernandez.

Thank you, Councilwoman Yurosowski.

Uh, thank you for your leadership on this, uh, to the commission, um, for all of their work on this and um our city departments.

Good morning, everyone.

Um, thank you to Chair Gray as well for kicking us off today for our women of impact award celebration.

This event recognizes extraordinary women across Los Angeles, uh, who are organizing, leading, and transforming our communities every single day.

And today I'm honored to continue that uh presentation with someone who has been a phenomenal leader in our district, uh, Megan Ortiz.

Today I'm proud to recognize Megan Ortiz, a fierce organizer, leader, activist, and chingona who has spent more than three decades fighting for working people in Los Angeles.

As the executive director of Adepsta, Megan has built a powerful movement of day laborers and immigrant workers, the people who quite literally build and sustain this city, yet are too often treated as disposable by the systems and corporations that profit from their labor.

Megan's leadership is rooted in lived experience as the daughter of a single mother working in retail who raised her family with determination and resilience.

That experience shaped her lifelong commitment to dignity, justice, and worker power.

And let me tell you something about Megan.

She does not scare easy.

Right now, as immigrant families across Los Angeles are living in fear because of ice raids and attacks on our communities.

Megan is on the front lines, organizing, protecting workers, and making sure our communities know that they are not alone.

Our office has had the privilege of working hand in hand with Megan and her team at Adebscom to support day laborers and immigrant workers in Cyprus Park.

Uh, I want to be real for a moment.

Uh, being a woman of color, uh, particularly a Latina in these spaces is not easy.

You're told to be patient, you're told to be polite, you're told to play nice with people who hold power.

They even have a saying for it.

Callita te ves más bonita, which means you look prettier the more quiet you are.

Megan Ortiz does not play nice within justice.

When Home Depot tried to harass and push out day laborers with those cruel mosquito noise machines, Megan didn't look away.

She stared that corporation directly in the eye and said, and said, not in our community and not on my watch.

And together we pushed back and forced Home Depot to stop using those devices.

When day labor programs were on the chopping block during budget season, Megan led the charge and fought side by side with us to make sure immigrant workers were not abandoned.

And when there were attempts to evict day laborers from the Cypress Park Home Depot by Home Depot, Megan rallied the troops and made it clear, you don't get to throw people away who are responsible for your profits.

That is what makes Megan such a powerful leader.

She understands that justice comes from organizing, building power, and refusing to accept a system that treats workers at disposable.

And I say this personally.

Megan inspires me because in a city where too many people are asked to compromise their values to gain access to power.

Megan reminds us what it looks like to stand 10 tones down with the people and never back down.

Los Angeles is better because of Megan Ortiz and because she's in this fight.

Megan, thank you for your leadership, your courage, and your love for the city and the people who make it run.

Uh, felicidades Megan, gracias por nunca rendirte por luchar por nuestros trabajadores imigrantes y por recordarnos que la dignidad de nuestra gente no se negocia.

Congratulations on being recognized as Council District 1, a woman of impact.

Thank you.

You have these flowers for me.

Thank you.

And I'm gonna pop corner now to Council District 12 to uh present council district two's honoree.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you, Councilmember who it is.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, Councilmember.

Well, I know.

Here, come over here.

Good?

Now it's super loud.

So, uh, thank you.

We're taking this a little bit of our order because I'm doing two presentations today, but first I wanted to bring up my honoree, Council District 12's honorary.

I'm proud to introduce everyone to Council District 12's woman of impact, Twi Trefonovich.

Born in Vietnam, Twee came to the United States with her family at age two as a refugee of the Vietnam War.

Her family was sponsored by the Catholic Church in Grand Island, Nebraska, as they began a new life filled with hope and opportunity.

They later moved to Orange County, California, where Twee grew up in a close-knit community that nurtured her values of gratitude, service, and perseverance.

Twee attended Loyal Mary Mountain University, where she met her husband, and together they started their family in Northridge in Council District 12 in both embracing Los Angeles as their home and raising three boys.

And as a mother, she has always believed in leading by example and giving back to her community.

For more than 13 years, Twee has served on the board of managers at an organization very important to me at the community and the community, the North Valley Family YMCA.

She has dedicated countless volunteer hours and fundraising efforts to many of the wise programs, including sending children to camp, essential child care, youth and government initiatives, helping to pack 4,500 Thanksgiving baskets annually to families in need and supporting foster youth across Los Angeles.

In 2013, Twi joined the Granada Hills Rotary Club, embracing the Rotary's motto of service above self.

She served as the club's president for two terms and currently serves as treasurer for Rotary District 5280.

Her orary work includes leading and supporting the club's high school scholarship program, service projects that uplift people in times of need, and community projects that leave a tangible and lasting impact on Granada Hills.

Twee's story is one of gratitude and purpose from refugee child to dedicated volunteer, committed to creating hope, opportunity, and connection through service.

I appreciate that all that Twee has done for our community, always with a bright smile and a positive attitude.

She's a shining example of what it means to selflessly give back.

I am honored to call Twee a friend, and I'm delighted to honor her today as Council of District 12's woman of Impact, and I believe we have a short video.

What?

Oh, okay.

No problem.

Okay.

Well, never mind.

No, it's Adren.

Okay.

Well, before that, Tweet, I just want to say thank you on behalf of Council District 12, present you with these flowers and the certificate of appreciation.

Okay.

Now it's the video.

Chantel, it is such a pleasure to recognize you as CD2's woman of impact.

From starting as an overnight client monitor at Hope Domission to now serving as their government relations manager, you've shown what dedication, compassion, and hard work can accomplish.

Through your leadership, you've helped build meaningful partnerships with our city and expand critical resources for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

As a first generation Latina, you are breaking barriers and opening doors for so many others.

And as a mother raising three daughters, you are showing them every day that their voices matter and that they belong in every room where decisions are made.

Your story is one of resilience, perseverance, and heart.

You lead with compassion, and you remind us that public service is at its best when it's rooted in lived-in experience and a genuine commitment to lifting others up.

Thank you for your tireless work for the hope you bring to our unhoused residents and for the example you set for our community.

Good public service can be infectious.

No one wants to hear me speak.

Okay.

So unfortunately, Councilmember uh Nazaria could not be here today, but that's okay because then I get to introduce another good friend of mine, Chantel, who I've known through the years.

Let me tell.

I'm very proud to honor Chantel Lopez on behalf of Council District 2.

Chantel's path at Hope the Mission reflects a deep commitment to service.

She began as an overnight client monitor and now serves as the organization's government relations manager.

In her role, she helps connect the work on the ground with the policies and partnerships needed to expand support for people experiencing homelessness.

She has devoted her career to ensure that resources go to our unhoused residents in CD 12 and in Council District 2.

And she has become the go-to person for CD2's needs at Hope the Mission, efficiently solving issues at the tiny homes with a great deal of compassion.

And she does all of this while being, as mentioned, a single mother of three daughters, providing an excellent example to her children and to future generations.

We are grateful for her dedication, her advocacy for our unhoused residents, and the impact she continues to make across Los Angeles.

Chantel can be Chantel has a few fans here.

Alright, I'm assuming we're going uh chronologically.

I'm gonna take the reins at this point.

I want to thank Councilwoman Yaroslavsky for bringing this forward.

This is always such an inspiring event when we do this every year.

Uh and for me, it's always so fun to shine a light on the fabulous women of the West San Fernando Valley, and today, especially to shine the light on my nominee's passion for her work, which has just been infectious.

Giamatti Ragsdale has been the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the West Valley since March of 2021.

Now, when she started, it was a very challenging time.

We were literally, as we were just talking about coming out of COVID, everything was closed down.

She takes the reins, and then we're starting to open up, and the schools are all calling her saying, okay, we need you, we need you, all the schools in the area.

Uh, and she's got to go from zero to sixty in you know less than a second.

But she did, and she rose to that challenge.

Uh, and she not only rose to that challenge, she took an organization that had been a staple of the West San Fernando Valley, and she grew it in a way that uh really many people didn't have the vision to see.

She took it from a 1.2 million dollar organization to a five point one million dollar organization, growing it, and and her vision doesn't stop there.

Even as we were talking here, she was hit me up about how we're gonna have this vision for the future with placemakers and and getting uh teams together to raise you know serious money to grow it even more because she is someone who believes in the mission of the Boys and Girls Club and and just channels that passion to grow that mission and to grow that organization, and frankly, you know, as as the council member in the area and seeing you from beginning until now, it has been inspiring because I've seen the work that you've done.

I've seen the impact when I get to go to the uh events and and hear the kids themselves describe the impact that it had on their lives.

Uh, and I'm just really grateful, and we all are really grateful for the work that you do, but more importantly, the passion with which you do it.

Uh, because of her commitment, her whole team just strives for greatness, and whether it's in Spanish, English, or French, Giovanni is fighting for the youth of the valley and always makes sure that they are heard.

So, thank you for what you've done, for your vision for the future moving us forward, and uh really for changing and inspiring and transforming so many lives.

And with that, I'd like to give you some flowers.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

And uh certificate, signed not just by me and the mayor, but by all the members of this council around the horseshoe.

Hold me, help me hold on.

Thank you.

Um thank you so much.

Um, this year I'm honored to recognize Council District 4's very own Mylene Morris as our 2026 woman of impact.

Every Monday morning in Van Nuys, Mylene greets her unhoused neighbors by name, because to her, they are her neighbors, regardless of whether they have a roof over their head or not.

And that has been the shape of her service to her community every single day.

Mylene serves as music director at Bethel Lutheran Church in Encino, where I've attended services that have absolutely transported me with the beauty of their song and the faith that they carry within those walls.

Every Saturday she rallies volunteers, including a number of local high school students who rap over 200 burritos that are then distributed by hand personally to people who are living on the streets across the entire valley, running what is fondly known as the burrito ministry.

And every more Monday, and she has the merch to show, and every Monday she leads a care day at Central Lutheran in Van Nuys that offers not just a meal uh but warm beverages, clean clothing, music, and genuine human connection, and the dignity of being treated as family.

Mylene also gives her time regularly to the Interfaith Solidarity Network, advocating tirelessly with faith-based groups across the city for a more just and compassionate Los Angeles.

She spent her life in LA and also in Washington State, but I am so grateful to have you, my leen, as a member of our San Fernando Valley community.

Through your work as a faith leader and a care leader, you have built a true ministry of care.

And it is my honor to recognize you this year as Council District 4's 2026 Woman of Impact.

Congratulations.

We also have a very big certificate signed by quite a number of people to honor you today.

Thank you so much, colleagues.

I'll be introducing Council District 6 honoree.

Uh today I'm presenting Council District 6 2026 Woman of Impact Honoree on behalf of Councilmember Badilla.

Sara Mena is a Hondurian entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, known for her resilience, leadership, and deep commitment to serving her community.

Originally from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, Sara immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 alongside her father in search of greater opportunities.

She's with us here today.

Entering a new country with a different language and culture was not easy, but she was determined to build a better future.

Sara earned an associate of applied sciences and paralegal studies and later completed her bachelor's degree in business administration, equipping herself with both legal and business knowledge that would later become foundational in building and managing multiple successful enterprises.

Sara has built each of her businesses with a simple yet powerful philosophy.

Listen to the community and serve with excellence.

Her enterprises do more than sell products.

They create emotional and cultural bridges between Honduras and the United States.

More than an entrepreneur, Sara Mena is a cultural ambassador.

Through food, commerce and philanthropy, she has helped our community and thousands of Hondurans, Hondurans, and California feel closer to home.

And I just want to say that today she's council district six honoree, but she also has a restaurant on 7th Street than Parkview in MacArthur Park called Doña Bibis.

So please stop by in Council District 1, please stop by in her businesses in Council District 6.

We have to do everything we can to support our entrepreneurs, especially women, women of color, immigrants who are showing us what is possible in this country.

And her philosophy is clear.

Never give up, stay persistent, believe in your dreams.

You can do it.

If something doesn't work today, it may become the lesson that makes it work tomorrow.

Thank you, Sarah for being such a phenomenal example for our communities.

Thank you.

And congratulations on being Council District 6 Women of Impact 2026 Honoree.

Thank you.

Now we're going to Council District 7.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hernandez, and congratulations, Sara.

Uh, my honoree actually is very much tied to your story because my honoree is part of the infrastructure in this city that helps to support the entrepreneurial spirit that so many members of our immigrant community bring to the city of Los Angeles.

I have the distinct honor of celebrating today a woman of impact for the Northeast San Fernando Valley, Maria Luviano, a recognized leader who has built a career and legacy in her own hometown.

Get over here.

Maria is a daughter of Pocoima, born and raised in the Northeast San Fernando Valley.

And for over 20 years, she has turned her passion for our hometown into a powerhouse career in social and economic development.

As the program director for Icon CDC's business source centers, Maria has become an engine for our local economy.

The numbers alone are staggering.

Having secured over 10.6 million dollars in funding for small businesses, helping to create and retain more than 400 local jobs, and for three years running, Maria has surpassed her performance metrics, setting a new standard for what this program can achieve.

From her early work in homeless prevention and family services to her leadership today, Maria remains a champion for the underserved.

She is a bilingual leader, a certified expert, and above all, a dedicated neighbor.

Her love, her love for family is what keeps her grounded in community and work.

She speaks with great pride about her parents who have joined us today, who continue to live in our community of Pacoima, and today she is joined with her mom by her mom, Lucy, her father Lupe Flores, as well as her younger brother David.

Bienvenidos, y felicidades a ustedes por ese reconocimiento.

Ladies and gentlemen, please help me thank and congratulate our woman of impact from the Northeast San Fernando Valley, Maria Lugano.

And now I'd like to turn it over to Council President, Mr.

Harris Dawson.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguez, and congratulations to all the honorees that are with us today.

It makes us so proud to see what's happening all over our city and the contributions that are being made.

And thank you, Councilmember Yaroslavski, for bringing this presentation forward.

I'm very proud to honor our dear friend and neighbor and constituent, one Miss Tanisha Hall, for her outstanding contribution to the culture and to the young people of South Los Angeles and Southern California.

Her work demonstrates how the arts can empower young people, strengthen our communities, and create opportunities that might not otherwise exist.

Tanisha is the founder of the White Hall Arts Academy in South LA, which is a performing arts organizations dedicated to expanding access and inclusion in high quality arts education.

Under her leadership, she supported thousands of kids.

And if you ever pass the academy there on Vernon, you'll see kids hanging out in front of it.

Those kids have gone on to be on the voice on America.

Yeah, they do hang out.

But those kids have gone on to be on the voice, American Idol, Broadway stages.

Many of them have received Grammy nominations, and some of them have performed uh in this various in this very chamber for various organ uh various events that we have.

The uh impact of the organization has been nationally recognized, it's earned two infusion awards, a Lewis Prize for Music, and a host of fans in our community.

She's been on the Kelly Clarkson show uh and done work with the Clippers and named a Los Angeles Sparks Lindustry Leader.

She also holds an annual rock the block festival uh in South LA, where thousands of attendees come uh and um celebrate with us.

Uh at their panels, there's food, it's a big fair.

Uh it transforms 54th Street uh into a big street party every year that it comes around.

Her work doesn't just develop young artists and teach people how to sing, it also teaches people how to enter the industry.

So she has a program called What's My First Job, so that if you're not gonna grow up to be Usher or Alicia Keys, uh you can grow up to work at the studio and work in the entertainment industry that our city has.

And so for your hard work and your dedication and for your love of the community and your family's investment in our community and investing what you have in us.

Uh, we're so proud to honor you as the woman of the year for Council District 8.

Thank you.

Alright, with that, uh Councilmember Price of the Ninth Council District.

Thank you, Ms.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh and just congratulations to all the awardees today.

It's really an honor and a pleasure uh to present uh my impactful presentation.

It's an honor to present Jessica Guerrero.

Jessica is a real Shiro in our community, a lifelong resident of the Ninth District.

She represents the very best of our community, someone who grew up here, who understands the needs of the neighborhoods, and who's dedicated her life to serving the people who call it home.

After graduating from Jefferson High School, Jessica began a journey of service that has now spanned more than 15 years.

Throughout her career, she's worked tirelessly with youth and families, helping to guide young people toward opportunity while supporting families facing difficult challenges.

Her work has focused on empowerment, mentorship, and ensuring that resources reach those who need the most.

Today, Jessica serves as program coordinator with Solidad and Richmond Action, a respected organization dedicated to improving the lives of youth and families throughout Los Angeles.

In this role, she oversees the gang reduction and youth development prevention component of the city's gang reduction and youth development grid program.

Through this work, Jessica has been able to change the lives of countless atmosphere by providing mentorship and leadership development opportunities.

Jessica has also played a key role in organizing community peace initiatives and bringing vital resources directly to South Los Angeles families.

Through annual community health resource fairs, she has helped connect residents with services, support systems, and opportunities that strengthen the entire neighborhood.

Her work has brought together organizations, agencies, community members, in a spirit of partnership to ensure that our neighborhoods remain safe, healthy, and clean.

But beyond her professional accomplishments, Jessica's greatest motivation comes from her family.

She's a proud and devoted mother to her children, Desiree and Eric, who inspire her every day to continue the work she does for the community.

And they are no strangers to community activities as well.

Jessica embodies the spirit of service, compassion, and leadership that defines the city of Los Angeles.

Her dedication has touched countless lives, and her commitment to uplifting South LA continues to inspire all of us.

Jessica, on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, we thank you for your service, your leadership, and the incredible impact you continue to have on our community.

Thank you.

And as a token.

And now Council Woman Hutt.

Uh oh, am I on?

There I go.

First, I want to thank Councilmember Yerslowski and Councilmember Hernandez, Mayor Bass, Shreds GM, Capri Maddox, and the entire team at Shred, the Commission and Status of Women and Girls for bringing us this fantastic presentation every March for Women's History Month.

This is a time that we honor women for their contributions to our city and lift them up on at times that they might not always feel like we see them or we care for them about them, not for them.

It's an honor to recognize the incredible power of women who uplift our communities every day.

And congratulations to all the honored honorees.

Today I want to spotlight Maeve of West Adams.

The chapter's mission centers on motherhood, alliance, equity, village, and empowerment.

Five powerful words that embody the heart of community transformation.

Maeve West Adams is building a coalition of mothers in CD 10 that support one another and empower our community to create the neighborhoods they want to see.

Through community focused programming, volunteer service, and a commitment to lifting others, Maeve West Adams nurtures not just their own families, but the next generation of leaders.

We have the entire May board here with us today.

So that's why I have this crap.

And um, and we're grateful for their leadership and the way the group group strengthens CD 10.

To all the women of Maeve West Adams and every woman here whose work creates space for healing, growth, and opportunity.

Know this your dedication to one another and the incredible power you harness together is truly incredible.

Keep lifting one another, continue to build this village, and keep showing our city that when one when that when women come together to lead, the impacts are abundant.

Thank you, Mae.

Thank you.

So I have a certificate for Maeve, and then 36 certificates for the membership.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now I'd like to uh send it over to my good friend from the 11th District, Councilmember Tracy Park.

Thank you guys.

Thank you for this incredible celebration of women who redefine what's possible.

Today I am proud to recognize Nancy Voss as CD11's woman of impact.

She's someone who doesn't wait for permission.

She's just someone who shows up in moments when leadership is needed and gets things done.

Nancy's a SoCal native and proud graduate of Mount St.

Mary's College, an historic women's institution dedicated to leadership and service.

As an emergency department manager and house supervisor across LA hospitals, she mastered steadiness under pressure.

She later founded and led her own nursing agency, bridging staffing gaps during periods of high demand and workforce shortages.

Her resume in serving the community in various volunteer and philanthropic roles is way too long to recite here this morning.

But when the Palisades fire broke out, Nancy sprung into action.

No one asked her, no one directed her, but she already knew that things needed to be done, and so Nancy got started.

Within hours of seeing the smoke in the Palisades from her home in Playa del Rey, she mobilized the entire Rotary Club of Marina Del Rey and a massive volunteer network into coordinated relief operations with thousands of emergency responders from around the country and the National Guard staged throughout the disaster zone.

Nancy secured pallet after pallet after pallet of food and water and supplies and essentials.

She organized more than 250 volunteers to help with 45 flatbed truck deliveries to deliver more than 80,000 pounds of supplies to support our emergency and disaster workers.

Nancy, I remember one of those trips of PCH in the truck when we went up to resupply the National Guard headquarters up in Malibu.

It had been a really hectic morning, loading the truck, and then a noisy ride, everyone talking at the same time, comparing notes, checking in on friends, telling stories, and planning our next steps.

Up until we got to the disaster zone, it was noisy.

And then I remember how somber and quiet it got in the truck as we barreled north up PCH, past the burnout, Tahitian Terrace and the Palisades Bowl, and the once iconic Westside coastline.

The work that we were doing that day suddenly felt very real and very important in a way that is hard to describe.

You and the volunteers literally thought of every detail of every comfort item they might need to live and work day in and day out in such horrid conditions.

Meanwhile, back in Marina Del Rey, Nancy and her rotary volunteers set up their own massive distribution center for displaced victims.

They provided new clothes, shoes, beauty products, household goods, and full free shopping experiences to help victims release replace essential personal items.

It's really hard to describe how big this operation was.

When I say they had free everything, I do mean everything, aisle after aisle after aisle of new clothes that she secured directly from brands and household goods that she got directly from the manufacturers.

But what stood out the most was the way you greeted and treated everyone who walked through the doors.

People walking in that door were traumatized, and they needed help that they didn't know how to ask for.

You made it easy because you made it so they didn't have to ask.

13, 15, 13.

Thank you so much, Councilwoman Park.

It should be every day, but we're doing it today on a special day.

She first started at Lemon Grove, building an organization, being active in her community, and now she's basically the de facto leader of Lemon Grove Park, which does not have a rec center, but it acts like a rec center because of Pilar is organizing in the family, the community, and bringing folks together.

If you ever go to Juntos Park, you're gonna know that area that Pilar is one of the best leaders of that area, the area.

Sivana Juntos Parks that Pilar is one of the leaders masters.

We've done resource fairs, movie nights.

We have a Posada.

She organizes a Posada in December when the raids happened.

She connected us to folks that were affected by the raids.

She's done so much work.

She's done street vendor uh coordinated stream vendors to do street vendor buyouts.

She does so much.

I have worked with many leaders in my career here in the city of Los Angeles.

Pilar is most definitely one of the top most uh powerful top leaders that I've worked with in my entire career.

From her early days as a community leader at Lemon Grove Park, working with monolingual immigrant families who attended the park to her role as community leader for families in Glasshow Park, her commitment to bettering the lives of families, especially those disadvantaged from disadvantaged backgrounds is clear from the moment you meet her.

Okay.

The name says it all.

Families sharing food, community organizations mobilizing, and dozens of local creatives selling everything from handmade crafts to incredible street food or to hard to find vinyl records.

For many local vendors and small business owners, the night market has become a lifeline, a place to earn income, grow their business, and connect with community.

And when ongoing ice raids created fear and uncertainty for many of those same vendors, Vanessa showed what real leadership looks like.

She did it when nobody was looking, and she made the difficult decision to pause the market to protect the vendors and their families.

And then she stepped up to support them through vendor buyouts and community fundraising so they wouldn't lose the income that they rely on.

That's thoughtful, courageous, and with deep love for the people around her.

And because of that, countless small businesses, vendors, and families in El Serena are stronger today.

And she reminds us that entrepreneurship is about building community, creating opportunity, and making sure no one gets left behind.

So, Vanessa, we celebrate you, and on behalf of the city of Los Angeles and Council District 14, thank you for leading with your heart.

Thank you for showing us what it's like to uplift your community every step of the way.

And now I'd like to toss it over to Councilmember McCosker from the 1-5.

Thank you.

Come on, everybody.

Come on, come on, come on, come around us.

Once again, colleagues, the 1-5 is gonna bring it home.

Congratulations to everyone.

Congratulations to everyone who are winners today.

But I am honored to celebrate the 1-5's woman of impact, Maya Suzuki Daniels.

Maya was selected as our honoree for her unwavering commitment to education rights, to educator rights, educator rights.

Both.

Very good.

Community solidarity, and her inspiring work as co-founder of the Harbor Area Peace Patrols.

Maya Daniels was born on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana.

After attending Mancalister College in Minnesota, Maya relocated to Los Angeles, where she became a teacher within the private, the district, and the charter settings.

Currently, Maya is an English teacher at San Pedro High School.

In 2024, she was part of a group of educators who founded the Educator Defense Network, a collective dedicated to defending educators' rights, to open dialogue and activism around trans, Palestinian, and black solidarity.

Maya is known among her colleagues for her know your rights work among rake and file members pushing for better childcare and parental leave outcomes and her contributions to racial and social justice efforts.

She received the National Education Association We Honor Ours award for advocacy in 2025 and is a 2026 California Teachers Association Human Rights Award recipient.

Maya is deeply passionate about unionism and equity, and she is a champion for social justice.

On top of her tremendous accomplishments in the education realm, Maya and her husband Elijah, who's here, Elijah, founded the Harbor Area Peace Patrols.

And this is where I really came to work with Maya and Elijah and the Peace Patrols themselves, and saw particularly Maya's leadership style in action.

A person who really is committed to the team, has a command presence, has a command presence for sure.

She got that probably teaching English at Pedro High.

But committed to bringing the team with her and around her and committed to making sure folks are safe, have the information, feel safe, feel honored, feel secured, and deeply, deeply, deeply committed to the work.

Since its first patrol in June 2025, the Harbor Area Peace Patrols have provided daily information on ICE staging and activity in the harbor area communities of San Peter, Wilmington, and the Port of Los Angeles and all around that area.

As an organization affiliated with the community self-defense coalition, Harbor Area Peace Patrols stands as a testament to the power of grassroots organizing, community solidarity, and the principle that solo el pueblo salva el pueblo.

So I also want to say that I've come here in this these council chambers and talked a lot about what was happening in the harbor area, and it featured the peace patrols very, very often.

And so you weren't here, the peace patrollers weren't here, but you were because we were talking about all of the great work, particularly when ICE left Terminal Island.

And I gave a lot of credit to the Peace Patrol.

We don't know why that happened.

We don't know why anything in DC happens the way it happens, but a lot I gave a lot of the credit, I think appropriately to the Peace Patrollers because you were shedding light on the activity, and you were you, peace patrollers, all of you were making sure that our communities were safe, and that is really the greatest role of leadership.

So thank you, Maya.

The one five is grateful for your contributions.

Let's hear it for Maya Suzuki Daniels.

Thank you, colleagues.

Um, congratulations to every incredible woman recognized today.

Each of today's honorees represents the leadership, courage, and dedication that makes Los Angeles stronger.

To all of today's women of impact, thank you for your work.

Thank you for everything you do and for the example you set for the next generation.

Congratulations to all of our honorees.

Thank you.

Alright, excellent uh presentation this morning and uh a wonderful celebration that we get to do every year.

Uh the next presentation will be brought to us by Councilmember Hutt of the 10th Council District.

Good morning, colleagues.

This morning we rise to honor a remarkable public servant, a compassionate leader for our community, Mr.

Derek Tranel.

Today, Derek will retire from the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office after 28 years of extraordinary service to the people of Los Angeles.

That's 28 years of showing up, 28 years of lifting others, and 28 years of making our city stronger, safer, and more compassionate.

Derek began his career in 1997, a neighborhood network specialist with the commission for children, youth, and their families, serving South Los Angeles.

From the very start, he understood that government works best when it works hand in hand with the community.

He built partnerships with families, neighborhood leaders, and local organizations, laying a foundation of trust that would define his career.

In 1998, he joined the administration of Mayor Richard Reardon as a senior advisor for South Los Angeles, serving council Districts 8, 9, 10, and 15.

There, he led initiatives that strengthen our parks and libraries.

But Derek's most profound impact came after he joined the city attorney's office in 2001.

For the past 21 years, as the director of victim assistance program, he's helped thousands of victims across our city access critical critical wraparound services, financial assistance for medical expenses, lost wages, counseling, relocation, and burial costs during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Derek led the program with innovation and concern.

He created a victim assistance program app to give survivors immediate access to resources.

He launched and hosted the Victims Assistance 5K run for five years, raising funds for local nonprofit providers and shining a light on the importance of victim services.

Through every role, Derek led with integrity and genuine kindness.

He's been a mentor to colleagues, a steady hand in moments of crisis, and a fierce advocate for those navigating trauma and loss.

His work reminded us that justice is not only about prosecuting people, it's ultimately about helping them heal.

On behalf of a grateful city, I thank you, Derek.

Thank you for your leadership, for your innovation, for your compassion, and for 28 years of extraordinary service.

We wish you nothing but the best in your next phase of life.

May you look back at your time with the city with pride and stand in the knowledge that you made Los Angeles a much better place.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Anyone want to say anything?

Since you've got a big team with you.

I do.

Derek is very smart and creative, and I had the pleasure of him explaining to me how he was going to assist the community that he was serving.

So I made it a point to be here to celebrate and give honor to his contribution and dedication to making Los Angeles a better place.

Okay, right.

Thank you, Councilmember.

I appreciate this opportunity to come before you guys on my last day of service after 28 years working for the city.

It's been my pleasure to serve the city of Los Angeles for that period of time.

I've done a lot of things in my life, but before I started working for the city, I was a professional football player and played in the Super Bowl back so many years ago.

I met a lot of great people and did a lot of great things in that part of my career, but nothing tops the fact that I'm here serving the city of Los Angeles and the people who need our help each and every day.

I want to thank my staff who have been phenomenal.

These folks go out each and every day to serve folks throughout the community.

A round of applause to them.

Their talent is amazing and their commitment, and they do a wonderful job serving the city.

So all the elected officials are here today.

When you have an opportunity as you do your work every day to see the victim assistance program as you guys deliberate, make sure you guys continue to support this wonderful program in the city of Los Angeles.

Also, want to give a great shout out to my wife, Stacey Anthony.

I do not like the limelight.

I would like to be in front of folks, but she said you have to be recognized because of your contributions to the city after 28 years.

So she organized this and probably some other things I don't know about yet, so thank you, wife, for doing that.

I appreciate you.

So thank you so much, and I'm done.

Well, I have a certificate of recognition for you presented by the City of Los Angeles in Council District 10 presents a certificate in recognition of your unwavering dedication to strengthening our communities, advancing equity, and providing the lives of countless and pro and improving the lives of countless Angelinos.

As director of Los Angeles City Attorney's Office Victim Assistance Program, your innovative vision transformed the program into a nationally recognized model of excellence and expanded critical service to crime victims across the city.

Ensuring access to financial reimbursement, mental health support, relocation assistance, and compassionate advocacy during times of profound hardship.

The City of Los Angeles extends its deepest gratitude for your legacy of service and wishes you continued success and fulfillment in your retirement.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hutt and Mr.

Tanell.

We got a couple of speakers on the queue while you guys are getting photos.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hutt.

Hold on, Derek, you're not walking out this time.

Hold on, yeah, there's more people.

Hang tight.

No, you know better.

You know better.

Thank you, Councilmember Hutt, for bringing in our own gentle giant.

I remember it was 30 years ago or 28 years ago, that there was this former football player that was joining the Reard administration.

And everybody was just like, Have you seen the ring?

Have you, you know, it was this like oh, this good looking dude is coming to work with us, and you were an incredible colleague.

You were truly a collaborative partner when we were working in the Rear Administration.

I, you know, we we had a fun team.

You, Stephen Parker, Stacey Siegel.

Uh, it was it was a dynamic time in our city's history, and you were part of it, and it was it was really a special moment in time.

But to see you having taken the leadership and the experiences that you had, even joining city service before that.

It's no surprise that the experience you had playing on the sports team is what allowed you to come forward and be part, be a leader in this team in the very important work of this victim services in the city attorney's office.

So I want to thank you.

You know, some people take those kinds of experiences and maybe go off and do other things.

You dedicated your life to public service and to making our city better.

But you were an incredible colleague, and you know, and Stacy, of course, she had her own long career as continues to have a long career in public service.

Uh, I remember when you used to work around the horseshoe uh in staff, and so it's uh it's really special to uh be on this side and watch, have watched your career and watched your dedication in public service, my friend.

I'm very proud of you.

Congratulations on a well-deserved retirement.

Someday I'll join you.

But for now, I'm just gonna continue to do this good work and just of course lean on what all the example and the experience that you had and in the work that you brought in your incredible team and the legacy you leave behind in this very important work for our city.

So I just want to congratulate you on a well-earned retirement in this second career.

Uh, and thank you for all everything that you've ever done uh and all the friendship that you've always shown me.

I really deeply appreciate you and wish you the very best of health and retirement.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguez.

Councilmember Price.

Thank you, Ms.

President.

Uh Councilwoman Hutt, thank you for bringing this real giant uh in today.

Uh, you know, Derek, you've really been a source of inspiration, not just uh in the building, but certainly outside the building as well.

So uh we just want to say thank you, you know, certainly on behalf of the city family, uh, but also on behalf of the human family.

Uh we just appreciate uh your leadership, your sensitivity, your skill, your willingness to share, and really make a difference.

And so you have uh uh we all are standing on your shoulders.

Thanks for your service.

Congratulations.

Keep up the good work.

Councilmember Hunt.

We uh once again, as you heard from our colleagues, that your contribution has been incredible.

Uh, especially during those times, right?

The 90s were not easy in South LA, and you did a lot to make it better.

So we appreciate you.

Thank you so much.

And so, on this journey to retirement, got any plans you can tell us about.

I'm still trying to figure it out.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right, thank you so much, Councilmember Hutt, and uh congratulations to Mr.

Tanell.

The we'll now turn the floor over to Mr.

John Lee of the 12th Council District.

No, you're not up.

Sorry.

Councilmember Hernandez, first council district.

Thank you for being so willing to share your treasure.

Councilmember Lee.

Can we have our guests please join us?

Right over here.

We are lucky that we are here joined by some queens and some little kings and little queens.

How you doing, Chester?

Thank you.

And this is the same.

Chong, right?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Hello, everyone, and happy lunar new year.

Today we are joined by the Los Angeles Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the 26th uh 2026 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Court, and the Little King and Queen Court.

Today you'll hear from Chester Chong, President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mamie Hong Weinberg, pres vice president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and Victoria Beverly Yip, 2026, Miss LA Chinatown Queen, and by popular demand, the entire 2026 Little Court.

As the Lunar New Year's celebrations come to a close, I look forward to embracing the year of the fire horse.

I was born in 1990, the year of the horse, and I intend to take that energy in my work as well.

A year that promises passion, independence, and a drive for progress.

As a council member who represents the Chinatown neighborhood, I see that drive every single day.

I see it in our local and uh small and legacy businesses.

I see it in the eyes of these young ambassadors here today, and people, and people like Trester and Mamie, who do this work every single day throughout the year.

I spent years working alongside the chain Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and let me tell you, nowhere was that drive more visible than the 127th Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown.

Uh, to give you a glimpse, we have a short video of the parade.

Thank you so much.

And what a beautiful display of culture, tradition, and unity.

Can we please give them a huge round of applause?

A hundred and twenty-seven years of the golden dragon parade in Chinatown.

Now, what didn't make the cut is the food traffic uh that our local small businesses got on that day.

Thousands of people showed up to the Golden dragon parade, and they show up every year.

As I rode down Hill Street and Broadway, I was shouting recommendations.

I pointed folks towards the best cake at Phoenix Bakery, the best local food, which the Golden Dragon is one of my uh the green uh the yeah, it was like the green dragon, yeah.

Golden dragon, the building's green, but it's golden dragon, it's one of my favorite spots in Chinatown as well.

Um, and I pointed to where they can get their uh fireworks and other uh items that they might need in order to have one of the best uh New Year celebrations.

I want us to look beyond the boundaries of my district from the Sangroba Valley and all across of our 15 city council districts and throughout Los Angeles County.

The legacy of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans lives on well.

And wisdom tells us that we must protect what we love.

Isn't that right?

We protect what we love, that's right.

And we have to throw down for the Chinatown community, the Chinese community, for our seniors, for our youth, and today we're giving a little love.

Uh with that, it is my pleasure to welcome someone who throws down for this incredible community the president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chester Chong, to share a few words with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh I was speaking something from my heart.

And this is the theme with the everyone to work together with the parade.

Thank you for all thank you all uh the board member and uh council member for the support.

And good afternoon.

My name is Chester Chong, Chairman and President of China Chamber Commerce of Los Angeles.

It's my great honor to represent our chamber to dance still one council member Hernandez and uh all council members for all your strong support.

Thanks to your heart work, our community continue to grow and improve.

We are one big family.

Yigo, respectful, and supportive.

Building a more homeless and community together.

And uh let us continue working hard hand in hand to help more people in need.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it for your help.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Yes.

Now I would like to invite Mamie Hong Weinberg, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce uh the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the podium, please.

Good morning, esteemed council members.

My name is Mamie Hong Weinberg.

I am proud to be a lifelong resident of Chinatown.

I'm also one of the vice presidents of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

I also am the parade chair this year of the 127th Golden Dragon Parade.

Our theme this year was Unity in the community.

And I also was able to help with our three legacy events this year.

One being the little king and queen contest.

We had 35 kids participate.

That is amazing.

Um, our Miss Los Angeles, Chinatown, um, pageant, these amazing, accomplished young women, graduates of Brown, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, NYU, with many with uh several of them currently working on their master's and doctorate degrees.

All these wonderful boys and girls and young women coming together to represent our community.

Um, I really want to take this opportunity to thank Councilwoman Eunices Hernandez, her staff for all the support they've given our community and especially to our Golden Dragon parade.

We couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you so much.

And as I stand here in my lucky red outfit, I want to wish all of you a Kung Hei Fa choi, happiness, and prosperity in this year of the fire horse.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Hi everyone, I'm Victoria Yep, and I'm the 63rd Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen of 2026.

Yeah, yeah.

Alongside me is my wonderful court, which we've um been um appointed this last month, just actually.

And I'm so excited to bring in the new fire horse year, the year of transformation, the year of change and passion.

I am so proud to be an extension of Chinatown, an extension of the mission of the Chamber of Commerce, and that's to preserve heritage and enrich Chinese American culture.

I stand beside Chester, and I'm so proud of all my little queens and princesses to come up next.

Thank you.

Who's gonna speak on about the world?

Okay, hi everyone.

Hi.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year.

My name is Dylan.

I am seven years old.

And the 2026, Chinatown Little King.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good.

Hi, I'm Grant Su.

The 2026 Little King.

Yeah.

All right.

You want to let us know what's going on.

Hi, my name is Olivia Li.

My Chinese name is Li Tang An.

I'm in second grade, eight years old at Leo Elementary School, and I'm the 2026 Little Prince Princess.

And when I when I grow up, I want to be an optometrist.

And I wish you all a happy new year.

Thank you.

What a fucking year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alrighty.

Can we give a huge round of applause to the court, to the little princesses and little princes?

Before we wrap up, I just uh want to say my deepest gratitude to Chester and Mamie for investing in the youth and the future from the littlest ones to the ones that are a little bit bigger, but constantly making sure that the Chinese community, that Chinese young people get what they need to become leaders and take up space.

And I can't wait for you all to take over so that I can retire young.

On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, I want to recognize your contributions to the 63rd annual Miss Los Angeles Chinatown pageant.

This prestigious event, a prestigious event recognize uh recognizes and empowers young women as cultural ambassadors for the Chinese American community, fostering their leadership and preserving cultural heritage.

We thank you for your commitment to Chinatown and for inspiring the next generation within Council District One and Beyond.

Can we give a huge round of applause, please?

Thank you.

And I have a certificate that I want to present on behalf of the city.

Alright, before you give the goods, uh, you got a uh member who wants to speak on the queue, Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez and Gong Ye Fachhoy.

Uh, it's wonderful to have you all here celebrating lunar new year.

It's always such a special time, especially when we have such a vibrant Chinatown.

But I want to congratulate you because it's I know a labor of love and it's a lot of labor to produce these events and to do all the work that you do to support all the small businesses that are such an important part of our local economy in Chinatown, but also such a big contributing factor to the vibrancy of Los Angeles.

So happy new year, happy year of the fire horse, and uh wishing you all the very best of this new year.

Congratulations.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

Great, and before I present these two certificates, we've given certificates to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles.

Uh, but we want to recognize the two individuals that actually lead that work.

But before I hand it off, I want to give a shout-out to my colleague Katie Chen, who is the field deputy that represents Chinatown and has been on my team since year one.

We're very lucky to have her.

And now to celebrate two individuals giving uh Chinatown uh investment with their time, love, and labor.

I have two certificates, one for Mamie Hong Weinberg, and one for Chester Chong for their years of dedication to the Chinatown community, uh, here in CD1, but beyond.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Big round of applause.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you.

Yay.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We're gonna go that way.

All right, as they're heading back for pictures.

Council President, just want to uh Herman's over here making loud sounds and noises.

I don't know if we want to give him a first and final warning for interrupting.

This is your first and final warning, Mr.

Herman, uh Batman, Mr.

City Attorney.

Anything else for the good of the record?

Thank you.

Noted for the record.

Uh Mr.

Herman's on notice.

All right.

Our next uh presentation will be brought to us by council districts three and five.

Perfect.

Come on up, maybe we have to all the point everyone.

But that's the first circuit.

Yeah, everybody can come up.

You get to have good questions.

You know.

You can come to plenty of room over on the side, too.

All right.

Something that has often been said around the horseshoe is how the Armenian community in Los Angeles is leading by example on how to keep tradition alive, language flourishing, and a strong connection to your homeland.

Leading the charge is AGBU.

The Manigian Demijian School.

I've had the privilege of working with them and coming together on a number of different issues and working on the approvals needed for the new collaborative learning center coming soon.

And AGBU is has returned the favor for the community hosting the Winnetka Neighborhood Council for LAFD community emergency response teams, cert meetings.

I'm never surprised to see uh something is happening at AGBU school to with for the community, and it's always uh appreciated, and they really are of by and for the community.

AGBU is always ready to partner with the community, and again, I'm I'm I'm grateful and we're all grateful.

So, congratulations on 50 years.

Uh I cannot wait to see what happens in the next 50 years.

Uh, really, it's uh it you've been a shining example of of what a school and a community can do together and what what can be built.

So uh next, I want to introduce uh Ken Zorhan, the chair of the board.

Okay, thank you, Councilman Bloomerfield.

Um great to be here.

I think it's afternoon now.

Good afternoon, honorable members of Los Angeles City Council.

My name is Kev Zorian, I'm the board chair of the AGBU Monogunity Emergence School and the AGBU Western Region.

On behalf of the entire AGBU MDS community and the AGB Western Region membership, thank you to the City of Los Angeles for recognizing our school's 50th anniversary.

In a little over a month, we will also mark the 120th anniversary of the AGBU, the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

For the past five decades, AGB MDS, first in Van Nuys, and now in Canoga Park, Winnetka, has been proud to serve the families in the San Fernando Valley and beyond, providing a strong Armenian education, celebrating culture and helping shape students into thoughtful leaders and civic minders members of our city.

This milestone really celebrates the dedication of our teachers, our families, our alumni, our students, who have helped build this community since 1976.

AGBMDS is also a true example of Los Angeles story.

In 1976, immigrants from lands far away joined together with a vision.

They believed that education was critical to building a future here in Los Angeles while working to preserve Armenian culture and values.

They set out to build something that would take root and grow.

Little did they know that with their hard work, faith, and deep commitment to community, they could build a school that thrives today with a thousand students.

That spirit is what defines both our school and this great city.

We are especially grateful to the city of Los Angeles for its support over the years, including your help with the collaborative learning center, our latest development and building expansion.

We call it our CLC, and thank you to Councilmember Blumenfield for all the support in that process.

The CLC will be a state of the art educational hub that will redefine how students engage with knowledge, technology, and one another.

The project was envisioned as more than a building.

The way we learn, the way we work, the way we collaborate is changing faster than ever.

We are building the CLC as a vision for the future of learning where interdisciplinary collaboration among staff, students, and volunteers alike, project-based learning and civic engagement will converge.

Projects like the CLC are only possible with your partnership, and we are deeply grateful for the collaboration and encouragement we've received along the way.

It really does matter.

That support helps us take risks to build, to grow, to foster places that define all of our communities.

We're truly thankful to the city council, our councilmember Bob Blumenfield, our dear friend Councilmember Adjunazarin, who couldn't be here this day, and the leaders of the city, for taking the time to honor our school.

Your recognition means a great deal to our students and our families and reminds us of how connected we are to the fabric of Los Angeles.

We look forward to continuing to serve our community for many years to come, and thank you again for the special recognition.

Thank you so much, Kev.

Next, I'd like to introduce David Hojasyan, the head of school.

Thank you.

Thank you, David.

Honorable Councilmember Blumenfield, distinguished and honorable members of the LA City Council.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Milestone such as a golden jubilee gives us, give us opportunities to kind of reflect and recharge.

And we all remember because we commemorated this in the city of Los Angeles in a very big way, the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide not too many years ago.

And there was a slogan circulating at the time, which said something like, When they buried us, they didn't know that we were seeds.

We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts the city of Los Angeles for providing that fertile soil for this school to grow and prosper, and for this community to give back to the city of Los Angeles, to California, to the United States, and to the greater global community, including the historic homeland.

We have here representing people from our past, alumni.

We have our present, our teachers, our students who also represent our future, benefactors, members of our board, all here together to basically thank you for this beautiful, beautiful opportunity.

This tree has grown to become a very fruitful tree, and what we know about trees is that as much as you see on the outside, the roots are even deeper and more elaborate.

So we thank all of those from our past as well who have helped make this possible, and we look forward to a very, very bright future.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And our final speaker, I want to introduce uh Diana Kardanian, who is a member of the student council.

Diana.

Good evening, member, councilmember Blumenfeld, distinguished council members and guests.

My name is Diana Corradanayan, and I have the honor of serving as student council president at AGWU Manugyon Demujan School.

On behalf of our students, faculty, alumni, and families, thank you for recognizing our school's 50th anniversary.

For five decades, AGBO MDS has been more than just a school.

It has been a place where students like myself grow not only academically, but as leaders, thinkers, and members of a proud community.

Generations of students have walked our halls carrying forward values of education, service, and cultural heritage.

As students, we are incredibly grateful to be part of a legacy built by those who came before us.

We hope to honor that legacy by continuing to learn, lead, and give back to our community.

Thank you again for this recognition and for celebrating this milestone with us.

Be you ready for speakers?

All right.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

You know, I wasn't gonna give you a pass, Bob.

Um, but thank you so much for bringing in this wonderful institution and congratulations on 50 years.

Uh, I believe we collaborated in a drive uh after the attacks in uh Art Sach to do all the collections at my Poquoima field office, working with so many of your families and uh the students.

You know, you you teach so much about the importance of civic engagement and giving back, and it didn't matter how what distance the diaspora is from the homeland.

You still understand the necessity of giving back and preserving that connection, and I just wanted to congratulate you on being such an important example in teaching so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic.

You're teaching the importance of giving back and staying connected to your cultural roots, but more importantly, being an important part of the cultural fabric here in Los Angeles and being the example of what it means to truly be a community that gives back with tremendous generosity and heart.

So, congratulations on 50 years, and uh look forward to continuing to work alongside you in advancing the work for all of our communities.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguez, Councilmember Blumenfield.

Great.

Well, thank you and uh wanted to present this certificate to all of you.

Uh, this is certificate for AGBU.

And so if you would accept this on the 50th anniversary, I don't know who wants to come and uh accept it, get a couple of students here.

Thank you.

And uh we can take a photo and then we'll go to the back and take some photos.

So thank you and congratulations on 50 years.

Congratulations, another big round of applause.

All right, Mr.

City Attorney, I'll ask that you uh read the rules for public comment into the record.

Of course, thank you.

Uh to people providing public comment when it's your turn to speak at the podium.

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

You have one minute per item to speak.

Up to it's going to be two minutes total uh for items that are open for public comment.

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

During the general public comment section, members of the public may speak to any of the items or anything else within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city will tell you when your time's up.

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

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

If you're not on topic or if we can't tell whether you're on topic, we'll give you one brief warning.

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

And if you don't, unfortunately, you will forfeit the rest of your speaking time, and we'll move on to the next speaker.

The items that are open for public comment are items one and thirteen.

Um just for reference, item two was continued to March 13, and item 14 was referred back to Plum.

And if I can have the translator briefly translate this for members of the public who want to speak in Spanish, please stop every couple of sentences so the speaker can translate for you.

We will stop the clock so you don't lose your total speaking time.

Thank you.

And I should have mentioned that item one has some amendments which are available on the board for the public.

Alright.

Um, we have uh nearly 70 names on the queue, and there aren't close to 70 people in here, so it renders this list pretty useless.

So we're just gonna ask everybody who signed up for public comment to line up, and you can come up in the order that you lined up, and we will have uh 30 minutes for public comment.

So we will uh take public comment until uh 1240 this morning.

Hi, Speaker.

Um, which of the items are general public comment did you want to speak to?

Uh general public comment, and I don't know if the resolution on LA twenty-eight is that was referred to or excuse me, that was continued to March 13.

But you're free to talk about that now if you want during general public comment.

Okay, so you have a minute.

That sounds perfect, thank you.

Hello, council members, my name is Nick Stirblock, and I'm here representing Lane and the Fair Games Coalition, which has been advocating that mega events like the Olympics and World Cup benefit working families in Los Angeles.

I want to thank Council members Monica Rodriguez and Amelda Padilla for introducing the resolution expressing concern about the leadership, the LA 28 leader, Casey Wasserman, and the Epstein Files and calling not only for greater transparency around the games, but for upholding values of integrity and accountability among its leadership.

As calls grow for Casey Wasserman to step down as chair of L28, the Fair Games Coalition demands a transparent, inclusive process to choose the next leader of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

That decision, the decision to lead the Olympics in Paralympus cannot be be made behind closed doors.

Workers, community leaders, and elected officials must have a real voice.

The leadership of the Olympics should not, as LA 28 has done, appoint trap allies to the board or Kaw Tow to the Federal Administration on Security.

The games belong to the working people of Los Angeles, and the leadership must reflect that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I believe you're up next, Mr.

Herman.

Which items did you want to speak to?

All fucking items.

Okay.

You have two minutes for items one and thirteen, followed by a minute of general, please begin.

Members of the public on item number one, as you see, we don't have a full quorum because certain people like to abandon ship.

Talking about item one.

Please continue, Mr.

Herman.

Get on topic.

Housing and homeless committee.

What is housing to any one of you black motherfuckers here mean?

Apparently it don't mean a goddamn fucking thing because we still have a homeless crisis, right?

So they have some acronym here called SLBI.

Well, I believe in MWA.

What does it mean?

Well, it can mean a lot of things.

I listened to NWA.

And no one seems to give a fuck to care about housing.

Other than a black motherfucker like me with the mic.

Right smoking scan.

So instruction of fucking ramen noodle on this item 25-1259.

Who wants to be your next fucking mayor?

And the other dick, Juju Bloomfield, who abandoned the ship, as I said.

As you see, no one fucking cares about your public comment.

But me and you, the public.

So once again, the city's official land deposition for city fucking own properties that have been looted and stolen by the public for their own development issues.

Has no reality to my mentality.

That I guess smoking scan, I'm one bad black motherfucker here today, talking about homelessness.

And that's the reason why smoking scan understands a black motherfucker like me.

General, Mr.

Herman.

Now into my non-gender public comment.

Under the defense of the United States versus Baghdazarian.

Let this country be fucked for another four years because never in the history has a black person done anything fucking right.

I say fuck you, Mr.

Attorney.

I say fuck, because you're fucking simplified fags.

And I know the city very well that takes it up the ass.

And does it provide adequate housing ramen noodle?

And what about you, loudmouthed Miss Park, as you play on your little stupid bullshit computer?

If it wasn't for Fat Hernandez and that stupid wet back soto, Donald Trump never would have finished his mission.

Thank you, Miss Naomi, for your service.

And to all you black motherfuckers, fuck the police.

Please be quiet, Mr.

Herman.

Speaker, which not even fucking me, you asked me.

Okay, Mr.

Herman, you've now disrupted the meeting again.

Good afternoon.

Mr.

Herman, sorry.

Hold on, speaker.

Mr.

Herman, you've been ejected from the meeting.

You're disrupting the meeting.

Stop fucking fighting me for fucking shit.

You stuck that out.

Mr.

Herman, you're disrupting the meeting.

Leave quietly now.

You let that fucking pop up in the deal.

I'm not exceptional.

Fuck you, fuck it.

Oh my gosh.

Fuck you!

Hold on, speaker.

I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry to the public who's having to hear this and have the meetings erupted.

I am a voting.

I am noticing.

Hold on, hold on a minute, Speaker.

He's still shouting as he leaves.

We won't be able to hear you.

Okay, I'm very sorry.

Which which items are general public comment you would like to speak to?

Speak on general public comment in item number four.

That's council file 25-102.

Okay, so four isn't open for public comment, but you can talk to it in general.

So, um, I thought it was it was okay.

Um, I'll be trying to be quick then.

I'm a member of a coalition of more than 60 organizations that support a ban on artificial turf, and I'm here to urge you to oppose the installation of synthetic turf in the grass area adjacent to the Obama Sports Complex.

Please amend the motion to require the installation of natural grass playing fields that are not only cost effective and can meet the playable hours needed, but are also healthier and safer for people's health in the environment.

As you may recall, with the overwhelming public support and that of more than 29 neighborhood councils, Ellie passed the artificial turf motion to study how it can transition away from artificial turf and prioritize natural-based natural-based solutions.

Now is not the time to approve plastic turf that required studies are underway.

CEMO's report calls for a moratorium on artificial turf due to its toxicity, extreme heat, lack of recyclability, and the fact it contributes to climate change.

LA LAUSD just passed a resolution to stop installing artificial turf in the lower grades and in the high schools.

Please honor Obama's legacy and protect the health of LA's children today and tomorrow by installing natural glass pain fields that are better for people and the environment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Mr.

Grabner, which items did you want to speak to our general public comment?

Both of them 1213 general.

Um 12 is not open, one in 13 year old.

So why isn't 12 open?

Because it was continued to March 13th.

Cowards.

Okay, I'll just do 13 in general.

So 13 is related to a nomination to the Charter Commission.

So the Charter Commission has been blatantly not listening to the public.

They're trying to cut people off.

They're trying to kill all reform.

So hopefully this one number 13 on number 13 won't be a continuation of that.

I mean, this is a nomination from Bob Blumenfeld, so not a lot of hope there.

But maybe we'll luck out.

Maybe we'll actually get someone who's, you know, actually going to do some actual reform and not try to kill it all.

We can get someone to join the ranks of Pastor James, one of the few good commissioners on the commission.

But currently we've got a lot of cowards who are trying to kill all reform in the name of which is what Bass seems to be trying to do for some reason.

I don't know.

There's discovery meetings like a disaster over there.

So let's go to general public comment.

Okay.

You're such cowards.

You can't even vote on a very weak motion to just call for another investigation in the KC Weiserman.

You should be calling for him to be fired or to resign.

That's what you should be calling for at this point.

That's what you should have called four weeks ago.

Now we're finding out there's other members of the LA 28 board who had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

That's that's what the Olympics are at this point.

You got associates of Jeffrey Epstein running it, you've got racism, you've got xenophobia, you've got transphobia, you've got all this stuff that's making up the Olympics.

And not even one of you will say anything about it whatsoever.

Not even one of you will condemn the fact that they're discriminating against trans people at the Olympics.

None of you will say anything about that.

Why?

And you need to fire Jim McDonnell.

Get the racist.

Thank you, Mr.

Grabner.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items for General Bumblebee commented.

Fast food workers ornament.

I think that's general, so please begin.

You have a minute.

Oh.

Good morning.

Everyday fast food workers like me.

Lose an average of 3500 in wage theft.

In my case, for five years, I worked up to 12 hours a week without pay or breaks.

During this time, I was living paycheck to paycheck and accumulated over 21,000 in credit card debt.

Trying to survive.

I didn't know my rights, and my employer caught it on that ignorance to exploit me.

It is crucial that the city holds corporations like Subway accountable when they break the law.

We are calling for increased investment in labor enforcement and mandatory normal rights training through the fast food ordinance so that no other worker is forced into a cycle of debt and exploitation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hello, which items are general public comment.

Did you want to speak to?

General public comment.

Please begin.

Public Marquisi Dawson CD 8 is a food desert, the highest unemployment rate in the entire country, the highest homeless rate.

With votes of Nithia Rahman, Bob Bloomfield, that is what you really think about black culture.

Our city, state, and federal tax dollars are being used to drop bombs and yet another war for Israel, and I demand an immediate resolution from this criminal coward council that condemns it yet another war against the Iranian people at the behest of Israel.

We the people are starving while these cowards are silent while this government drops bombs for Israel and genocide bloomfield.

Here is a solution.

Let's elect Nithya Rahman mayor.

Public, when you hire clowns, you get a circus.

Black history is world history.

Hi, Speaker.

Did you want to speak to general public comment or an uh?

Yes, I have a comment.

Okay, please go ahead.

Hi, I am a taxpayer.

I pay my taxes.

I am barely getting by.

I lost my job.

I am being gang stalked.

This is not okay.

Since when does the victim become the victimizers?

Since when?

How does this defend my oh?

How does this defend my rights, my constitutional rights?

What is wrong with you guys?

You guys are sick of letting people get with this.

The community neighbor community neighborhood watch is meant to help people not to step on them when they're on the floor.

You're not supposed to kick somebody when they're on the floor.

I've lost my job.

Because people are spending rumors.

People can see me through my phone in my house when I'm taking a shit when I'm taking a piss when I'm taking a shower.

What is wrong?

And I know the feds can see it and they know and they're doing nothing to stop it.

Why?

Why?

I am a taxpayer.

I don't come here and live off welfare and take money on top and work cash.

Thank you, Speaker.

Thank you.

Speaker, which uh items are general public comment.

Please begin.

Um, you have a sign back that it says laws reason without passion, but ironically, uh Council District 11 has different policies for that.

We have submitted some evidence into a striking contradiction.

A CD 11 preservation policy.

The video show that Tracy Park's passionate support for saving the Marilyn Monroe House is a brightened irony to the berry building.

Switching gears into the AB 52 consultation, uh, the city has failed to legal duty its legal duty under AB 52, just as in coination uh in the coination case, the city unilaterally unilaterally closed tribal consultation with the Kish Nation and breach confidentiality on sensitive data.

The final EIR in the berry building case is flawed.

You cannot claim no impact while ignoring excavation goes beyond the five feet and exposes sensitive soils.

We know the item has been moved to back to plum.

Thank you for doing that.

Welcome, thank you.

Hello, speaker.

Which items are general public comment.

Good afternoon.

Uh general public comment.

Please begin.

My name is Bob Blue.

I strongly support the appeal to save the berry building.

In 2007, City Council designated this an HCM without owner opposition, creating a legal duty under administrative code section 22.171 to maintain it.

Today's the request that we're gonna be facing for demolition is based on a self-imposed financial hardship.

After evicting all tenants in 2017, the owner chose to let a revenue generating building sit vacant for nearly a decade while ignoring maintenance.

If this appeal is denied, the only financial gain will be for the Munger family, not the public.

The public will be left with a scorched earth, just like the three houses and art gallery they demolished and left as dirt lots for over a decade.

Never got an answer on the on the houses why they did that.

This blight was directly caused by the applicant.

We must hold the property owner accountable for their stewardship and not reward them for their neglect.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hi, which items are general public comment do you want?

General public comment.

Please begin.

Good morning, council members.

Why do you think I come to City Hall?

I'll tell you why.

I love this city.

I don't care what anyone says.

There is nothing like Los Angeles.

We have the 28 Olympics coming back to our city, and we must do everything to show the greatness of our city and our people.

After all, when you live in Los Angeles with the people of the world, every day you get the opportunity to share that day with the people of the world.

Same people that will be here representing their countries.

Mr.

Bloomfield, thank you and your office staff for helping Latinos and minorities in your district.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hello, Ms.

Morris.

Which items are general.

Oh sir, good to see you.

Thank you.

And as uh what's that uh thing that watches us?

I'm sorry, I'm forgetting a lot of things.

Um I'm kissing your ass, but I hope everything's well with you.

Uh item one, which is homeless.

Uh, and then the thing for uh Wasserman, that's their team.

That was continued, but you can talk about it in general.

So let's take it okay.

So we'll take one in general.

Okay, please begin.

Item one is about homeless.

And here we had a man who, and I'm sorry that I got into an argument with Herman, uh, but he supports a man who has taken so much money away from this city and for uh from the people who are homeless in this city.

So I'm not I consider him a good friend, but I can't put up with the stuff he's putting up.

Uh, because it's the same spew that uh Trump is doing.

Uh we need to help homeless people.

We we can't just keep saying things, supporting people who are uh hurting our city and and those those who are on the streets because uh if you really go down there and see what's happening down on sixth and seventh uh you know it's amazing.

Uh let's move on to uh you said public comment.

You know, uh this issue with Wasserman, uh and he's tied to Epstein.

You know what?

If you're tied and you're that close, there's there's smoke, there's fire, and uh you you have to do the right thing.

You need to remove him.

You you need to do the right thing for this city, and because who knows, in four or five months, something else may come out that we may uh that may embarrass the city.

And uh I do want to let you know that uh something is happening with me physically that I apologize if I sound like I'm uh slowing up.

It's not that that, but I do have a problem communicating these days.

So I'll try to be good, but I love Herman, but I can't stand by as a young girl is up here on her one of her best most wonderful days, and he's saying dirty words behind her.

Uh, just can't do that.

You can't what kind of a human being are you if you don't?

You don't do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And you sound great, Mr.

Morris.

Hi, Speaker.

Where did you want to speak to?

General or general public.

Okay.

Uh Andrea Solomon speaking on behalf of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Again, um, we're here in support of Angelinos for Historic Preservation's appeal of the Barry Building Demolition.

It's a designated HCM.

Um, thank you for putting it back to Plum.

I think it needs a more thorough discussion there.

And I think the the process has been a little bit subverted by the owner and the owner who seems to want to get his way, whether the code allows it or whether this should be allowed under city regulations or not.

So we'll see you again at Plum.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello.

General comment?

Okay, great.

Item 14.

I'm sick of greedy property owners intentionally letting historic buildings deteriorate so they can knock them down.

Let's remember that historic property owners receive juicy tax breaks, so let's hold them to it and save the berry building.

I'm also sick of hearing council members say that they can't oversee the LAPD, claiming it's the police commission's responsibility alone.

There is nothing in the world preventing you as individuals from asking the governor to conduct a military level investigation of public misconduct.

Please don't act like Marie Antoinette.

Finally, would the city attorney here please attempt to make a written general public comment using the provided instructions?

If you're unable to do that, please stop claiming that written general public comments functionally exist.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hi, Speaker.

Um, did you want to speak on general or an item?

Uh just general.

Great.

Please go ahead.

Um, my councilwoman is the Thea Raman, and I was on a town hall with you last night, and when asked about if you would uh Jim McDonald if he became mayor, you said that you would replace him.

But why would you wait until you became mayor?

Why would you not vote to replace why would you not bring it for a vote before the city council where you could remove Jim McDonald with a two-thirds vote?

Why would you wait until you became mayor?

We don't have time, we don't have, we don't have eight months, we don't have eight days, like people don't have time to wait until an election happens.

We don't have time to wait for this stuff.

These he's the chief law enforcement officer, and he said he would disobey a state law.

He said he would break a state law.

So the police, the law enforcement officers break laws and they're not held accountable, and the people are don't have due process, and the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, and that's okay, and the police are not held accountable.

We need to remove Jim McDonald.

We need to stop ICE from collaborating with the LAPD.

Thank you.

Hello, I would just like to make a quick announcement to the public.

Please be advised public comment will end at 12 40.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, speaker.

Well, let's keep going so we can get through as many people as we can.

What did you want to speak to?

Just general.

Okay, please go ahead.

Uh my name is Eric Langberg, a photographer who's been documenting the city's response to ICE since June.

Um, here because I know that you've uh recently passed a resolution to ask LEPD chief Jim McDonald to come address the council about the department's interactions with ICE.

I'm gonna let you know that the report delivered to the police commission on Tuesday was wholly inadequate.

I think it boils down to us defining assistance differently, or maybe it's that they define federal enforcement action very specifically.

Um the report boiled down to them saying we keep trying to tell them that we don't work with ice, but they don't want to believe us.

It helps nobody to pretend that the public thinks the LAPD are offering to grab an arm while ICE grabs a leg as they both toss somebody in a van.

That's not what we're saying, and I think that everybody knows that.

There are so many other kinds of assistance being provided to ICE, and we all know it.

So when you have McDonald here, I hope that you press him specifically on what counts as an enforcement action that's letting them dodge the complicity that we all know is going on.

Um beating protesters so that no one bothers the detention center guards is assistance.

We should just admit it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hi.

Which uh items for general, did you want?

Um, are 12 and 13 available?

So, no, 12 was uh continued in 13 was or 13 is available, excuse me.

Okay, I guess I'll take um 13 and general.

Please go ahead.

We've got shadow reform, but it's kind of a mess.

Meetings have been a shit show.

They've been taking less of comment from the public.

They ignore our demands, because we're not who they're serving.

They're just rubber stamps.

They work for the mayor, they ride for the council, establishment puppets, they're not for the people, except Dr.

Thomas and Carla Fuentes.

They are good people, but for the rest, they're all the mayors, puppets, the mayors, puppets, the mayors, puppets, Carrie Morrison won't be different.

Um, isn't it also a little bit late to be appointing people to the charter commission?

Isn't that um gonna be due to this body for review sometime next month?

Seems a little silly, but it's kind of useless.

I think this whole process needs to be canned and started over with an elected commission.

Here on Wednesday, a guy who said he's a running for mayor, try to address the people until he hit a snare.

Because that's when Jonathan Groat said he can't address the audience.

We can only address the council, even though they never pay attention.

This is the part where I say on the record, this body has such disrespect for your constituents, the people that you represent.

This is the part where I make a suggestion to voters who are listening.

No one on council deserves your vote.

Their behavior is embarrassing.

No one here on this body deserves a vote, whether it's for re-election to your current seat or election to a different seat.

I'm looking at you, Councilmember Ramon.

Your behavior and voting record is embarrassing, and the fact that you even put your hat in for the mayor is shameful.

You should all be embarrassed.

Fuck ice and shout out smoke and scan.

Woo!

Oh Robby!

Hey, Mr.

Quan.

What do you want to speak to?

I was gonna speak to all items in general, but I'll try to keep it brief in the interest of not taking people's time away.

Um item 12 is on Cassie uh Casey Wasserman, and uh it's just shameful the way our mayor has shown a lack of leadership on this issue.

As the city prepares for the Olympics, you are championing enhancement to our youth sports facilities, but it's baffling to see this council, who is elsewhere come out against synthetic turf, installing a new synthetic field at the Obama sports complex in item number four.

How many kids are gonna end up with cancer because they grow up playing on this soccer field?

Councilmember Hutt has always looked out for the youth, and it's really something that we should think twice about.

Uh, the Olympics are a Trojan horse for the fascist Trump regime, and you need to cancel them.

Um, when the feds come storming through the city, they'll receive an LAPD escort.

When they are near the protest, LAPD will have their backs to the feds and their munitions pointed at the people of LA.

LAPD will be tear gassing the city to subdue it.

Our elected officials lack the direct power to do something as simple as ban tear gas at protest.

Karen's charter minions successfully blocked an attempt to give you direct power over LAPD last night.

The item came one vote short for Kerry Morrison, and I do want to speak to more items.

Okay.

Which ones?

Uh 13 in general.

Okay.

Item 13 is on Carrie Morrison, and anyone brave enough to enter the snake pit of the Charter Reform Commission deserves your respect and approval.

Um my plea to this council is don't waste another three weeks with this three weeks with this charter reform commission.

Pull the plug now before your attention is overwhelmed by election of season and the budget and the conversation around ULA reform that you punted on and the revenue generating measures you punted on and negotiating the ballot measure wars between labor and business.

This commission has been sabotaged, and we are infinitely better off with our council members taking over the conversation as soon as possible.

I'd like to conclude by highlighting some of the insane shit Karen's charter minions have tried to force through the commission.

They wanted to give the mayor the power to appoint and fire department heads without council approval.

Instead of improving the way we uh uh handle the process for appointing people to fill a vacancy in elected office, their solution was to maybe give the mayor the power to appoint someone to fill those vacancies.

Thankfully, those proposals were narrowly defeated.

You're welcome.

Some of the most proposals did pass and will be up for a vote soon, including giving the mayor more power to single-handedly reorganize departments and increase their power to transfer funds and employees between departments.

Thanks.

Insane.

Hi, what do you want to speak to?

Can you repeat for me what items are available for comment, please?

So it's one and thirteen and then general.

So one is open.

Yes.

Okay, so um I'll take all available items and general public comment, please.

You have two minutes for one and thirteen and then a minute for general.

Please begin.

Okay, so um item number 13.

Uh, we have an appointment to the Charter Reform Commission.

That's kind of a joke.

Considering whatever happens needs to be on the ballot.

At the end of this year, the last Charter Reform Commission had, I believe, at least two years to get to work, especially if you consider all the work that was happening before the Charter Commission was even announced.

Uh, if you listen to the uh public comment from that period, it's available on the LA City Clerk's uh YouTube.

Uh, the old videos uh of that public comment from Charter Commission.

You'll hear people thanking Zev Yaroslavsky for having worked on it before it was even announced.

Um, that's so we already know that the Charter Reform Commission is not really about what they claim the catalyst that spurred it on.

Uh, in this case, we had the quote-unquote LA Fed tapes.

Um, I hope I'm not being too boring, homies have fallen asleep right here.

Um, uh, I'm just kidding, I didn't mean to put you on the spot.

He's like he's zoning though.

Uh he's peeking.

Um, and then uh they had to over two years.

We need more time.

Um, item number one um that's the small lots, big impacts, uh initiative, I believe.

Um, we've seen a lot of dragging people through all kinds of uh red tape, mahooplah and bullshit to uh do anything on their properties or not do something on their property or have to get a soil study or whatever.

Um I think the way the city runs things is kind of ridiculous.

Uh this is gonna involve arguing with the Santa Monica uh Mountain conservative conservancy people.

I might be saying that word wrong.

Um, but it just seems like the spaces that big money wants to protect are gonna be safe no matter what, and this and the spaces that the rest of us want to protect, we're kind of beholden to just whatever y'all decide to do with it.

So it just seems like, you know, if you don't have enough money behind you, fuck your green space.

And if you have a lot of money, well, they'll protect it to the end of time.

Um, now general public comment.

Yes.

Uh y'all are weak for pushing the Casey Wasserman item uh continuing it because the media was here.

I also notice there's a lot of women that are lined up, so the fact that you guys are gonna give uh arbitrary time limit after you had all them fucking presentations, and you don't want to hear all the women that are here.

Uh, it's really funny how you act like you're for a women and that you want to stand for them and all that bullshit.

We all see we all see the truth.

We see that women come up here crying about being evicted and being fucking thrown out, all that shit.

Y'all sit up there talking and munching, and I don't know how you can have an appetite while somebody comes up here and cries about their fucking their trauma and shit.

And I hope Marquise is actually recording this, not up there just texting with his phone up, because this is ridiculous.

We had Hugo and Heather up there talking with the president during public comment.

This is the time you're supposed to listen to the public.

Now, I'm gonna give you an opportunity here, Marquise.

I look you in the eyes, look at mine, and I think we know everything we need to know about each other, even though we don't know each other personally.

I would extend an invitation to have a conversation with you sometime, past all this bullshit, and we don't wear the fake smiles, none of that.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Next speaker.

Hi, speaker.

Would you want to speak to general or an item?

General public comment.

Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, council members.

I want to raise a serious concern and ask for clarification.

Many of us working in the field are hearing that there's currently a moratorium on prosecuting illegal dumping in Los Angeles.

If this is accurate, the public deserves to know.

In communities like Harbor Gateway and surrounding areas, illegal dumping is not a minor issue.

They are directly connected to blight, crime, and deterioration of our neighborhoods.

Business owners and residents already struggle to keep their properties clean and safe.

When there is no enforcement, the message is to the offenders is simple, there are no consequences.

The people who live and work in these communities invest their time and resources to clean up dumping dumping sites and report these crimes.

They expect the city to stand behind them.

So my question today is straightforward.

Is there currently a moratorium on prosecuting illegal dumping?

And if so, when will the enforcement resume?

Thank you very much.

Hi, Speaker.

Please extend the please come out.

Hi, what did you want to speak to?

Good afternoon, council.

Um, my name is Barbara Tyson.

I stand here before the council um in regards to the moratorium for illegal dumping.

I would I'm hoping that this is not true.

What I'm hearing, because I have truly I stand here before our Harbor Gateway.

Um we have a high dumping area, and our kids have to walk to school through this, and I'm hoping that this is not so because we work hard to keep um illegal dumping in our area controlled, and if this is, then there's no consequences for people's actions for dumping.

So I'm hoping that this is not so.

And thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you.

Hello, thank you.

Hi, it's 12:40.

We've taken 30 minutes of public comment.

Council president, would you like to close public comment?

All right.

Folks, we're gonna do we're gonna do 10 minutes, but you guys we gotta be quick.

You just get to the podium as quickly as possible.

Sir, you're disrupting the meeting.

You do not have to uh you do not have to take up all the time.

Okay, speaker, um general public comment or an item.

Yeah, good afternoon.

We've been here since 9 a.m.

and I think that it's injust that these women uh left the days of work to be here.

My name is Sarah Garcia, so member of the Collective Communitario.

My name is Eva Garcia, I'm a member of Community Power Collective.

And it's we're here because it's very important that you defend ULA.

And we need you to approve the motion done by council members Jurado and Hernandez to approve the study of ULA and implement it.

Even though in my opinion it's a ULA has not been.

Respect the democratic vote.

How would you know that ULA does not even work if you don't even give it the chance to work?

With demands and demands.

And we're not in agreement with this.

And we need ULA to defend the living situations, the housing and the tenants who are day to day battling it out in courtrooms.

So we urge you as council members that you protect ULA.

Hi, Speaker.

Hello, my name is Maria Luisis Gutierrez.

I'm here from Community Power Collective, and I'm here to urge that you protect ULA.

The ULA measure was a collective community democratic process done by the LA voters, and it should be respected as such, and it should not be put again on the ballot.

And this measure has been generating good results, more than a billion dollars for legal representation for tenants and for housing for several people.

Los Angelino necessitamos medidas como ULA para enfrentar la crisis de Vivienda.

Angelinos need uh measures like ULA to protect their living situations and to give representation to the tenants and to better our living situations in general too.

Good afternoon, my name is Christina Garcia, member of CPC, Community Power Collective.

Yes, we are asking that you defend ULA because it has helped us many members of the community for tenants to be able to with to get help with rental assistance as well as legal representation to avoid being out on the street.

Yeah, and ULA was uh won with a democratic vote, so I don't think it's just that it goes back to the ballot for to be voted on again.

I don't understand why you do this if it was won democratically.

I don't know why you want to take away from those who have few to give more to those who already have a lot.

We want we want to see it's like you want to see more of the same.

We want support.

It's like you guys want to just give less to the people who are already down and you want to support the people that are already on top.

Okay, thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, please begin.

So ULA was won by a democratic process.

So why right now do you not want to respect the voters?

Presentada por las Los Concejalas.

We also want you to support the measure done by Council Persons, Corrado and Hernandez to support a complete study of the impact of ULA.

Before considering any measure on the vote on the vote ballot.

ULA is already generating good results, such as generating over a billion dollars for legal representation for tenants.

Allow families to or that help families to stay within their houses.

Thank you.

Please begin.

Good morning.

My name is Anna Martinez, and I'm here with my community group.

I'm also here as a community member, a class uh working class tenant, a mother.

Um, here usually I come and I have my notes ready and I read off them because I have really bad anxiety, but I decided that I'm just gonna speak from the heart, and I'm here to defend um measure ULA because I see that this is something that we can change our city, and there's already a housing crisis in Los Angeles.

Five percent is not too much for what we're gaining.

We're gaining housing, social housing, more affordable homes.

We're gaining less people off the street, we're gaining legal representation.

We are gaining more, and I can see the future with this measure, and it's now being attacked, and it's being talked about putting in the ballots, talked about being modified.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great job, please speak in.

Uh good morning, council members.

I just want to speak about ULA as well.

My name is Bijan Gayemy.

Um, with community power collective.

If a ballot is passed passed by the council and then approved by voters, which will end up gutting resources and funds for ULA.

Um it's gonna be a free win for the developer class.

And it doesn't make a lot of sense.

They're gonna end up, they're there, they're you guys are being influenced by them, and they're gonna lose, they're not gonna miss the money that they're paying in taxes, while immigrants who are now facing even more housing fights, even more housing struggles due to immigration and ice are gonna have less resources for rental assistance and and lawyers.

Aren't you guys supposed to stand up for that type of stuff?

You're betraying the progressive pro-housing base that voted you in.

And then um, people expect to uh gain higher office um you with those tactics.

Sorry, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Dawson.

All right, that concludes public comment for today's meeting.

Sir, you've disrupted this meeting.

You're just your excuse from this meeting, sir.

You you're warned.

What's before us, Mr.

Clark?

The council may now vote on item number one for amendments.

All right, item one is amended is before us.

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

You have a nice.

All right, what's next?

The council may now vote on item number four called special by Council Member Blumenfield for comments.

Mr.

Blumenfield.

Thank you, colleagues.

Uh, I call this item special uh to register my concern with the lack of a policy on the use of artificial turf right now.

Uh I'm very concerned about uh the health impacts of artificial turf and the environmental impacts for both the the students who often play on it, but also for the the what leaches into the ground and to all of our all of our health.

As many of you know, I introduced a motion which was approved by council to uh issue a scientific analysis of the impacts of artificial grass to the environment, to our own health, and to our parks and fields.

The reality of plastics in our soils in our water and polluting our air is very real, and my policy seeks to right those wrongs.

That initiative is still pending at Wreck and Parks to give this council a recommendation on next steps.

So uh my hope is that as we move forward in the future, we won't have to be dealing with one-offs of one one you know conversion or park or another, but that we can develop a cohesive policy based on science that will allow us to move forward uh in it in a more rational and cohesive way.

So that's that's why I raise this as an issue because I do have concerns, not specifically about this part, but really about this issue in general.

All right.

Uh seeing no other speakers on this item.

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

All right, what's next?

The council may now vote on item number thirteen.

All right.

Let's uh open the roll on this item.

Close the roll.

Tabulate to vote.

You have a nice.

All right, what's next?

The council has motions for posting and referral.

They are posted and referred announcements members.

Seeing no announcement, I'll ask everyone in the chamber to rise for adjourning motions and ask if there are any adjourning motions to my right.

All right, seeing none, we're adjourned.

See you next week.

This community event will feature arts and culture, live Irish and Italian entertainment, food, a beer garden, and festive vibes all evening.

Head to San Pedro for Gallic and Garlic on Saturday, March 14th from 11 a.m.

until 8 p.m.

For more information, check out the Little Italy of Los Angeles Association on social media.

Get ready for this year's Earth Day with a workshop at the Cabrill Marine Aquarium on Saturday, March 14th.

Join the aquarium for a morning of activities to imagine, create, and share visions for our world.

Friends and family of all ages are welcome, but participants asked to register for your place at this free workshop.

Find out about volunteer days, conservation stories, and the Earth Day poster contest.

The workshop Building Towards Earth Day is on Saturday, March 14th, beginning at 9 a.m.

Learn more at Cabrillo MarineAquarium.org.

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

For decades, this neighborhood has been more than a tourist destination.

It's been a cultural anchor for generations of families.

A place to gather, celebrate, and preserve traditions.

And nowhere is that more visible than during Lunar New Year.

As lanterns glow and families gather in Los Angeles, Chinatown, the symbolism feels fitting.

This community has shown strength, endurance, and Ford momentum, galloping through history, determined to shape its own future.

So come and experience Chinatown for yourself, the people, the culture, and the cuisine right in the heart of LA.

Thanks for joining us.

You can watch these stories and more on Channel 35.

We're at LACity.gov forward slash TV and follow us at LA City on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

Until next time, get out there and explore all that Los Angeles has to offer.

The things that attract people are food, family, and uh, and culture, you know, religion, and culture.

Those factors create an identity for the community.

This is Chinatown.

How do you know that it's Chinatown?

Well, it's not just the lettering on the signs or the kinds of produce that you find in the stores.

But it's also the people greeting each other and say, Hey, how are you, cousin?

Or what's uh what's going on with uh with Joe Wong and his family.

Looking back, I never really like realized how everyone I would see in Chinatown would almost always be a um a familiar face and someone I recognize, and it feels more like we're a family and we're you always see people on the streets helping one another and and you just know almost everyone in this community, and it's not until I stepped out that I realized not all committees are that close.

I am 18 years old, and I spent my entire childhood and a great part of my teenage years living and growing up in Chinatown.

We're a pretty tight-knit community.

It's sort of one of those things like you just know, like if you've ever been to Chinatown, you don't even need to live there for like 10 years.

If you've been just once, like, yeah.

It's essential plaza.

You still have like the old shop.

And it's like, it's a sentimental feeling because you know those are owned by hardworking Chinese immigrants.

Not a day goes by when we don't hear.

We've been coming here for generations.

My grandmother brought me here, my mother brought me here, and I'm bringing my kids here.

And as families grow, they expand.

We also have people that travel great distances now to come for their special cakes.

And we're very grateful for their continued patronage of this business.

But you know, they won't they won't hear of anything other than one of our strawberry cream cakes for a birthday or whatever celebration they're having.

Everything they make is so good, like almond cookies.

They started out with um things like the almond cookies and the winter melon cakes.

Um black bean.

Black bean.

Well, yeah, well, red bean now.

It's called red bean now.

I don't know what they put in it, but it's like heavenly.

Like it's out of this world.

Oh yeah, this one's a very popular one.

I was somewhere in there.

I remember it being very, very crowded in Chinatown at that time.

And I think my father's in here somewhere, but those are all the old dignitaries.

There they are with their lanterns, and there's my cousin Barbara Jean.

Barbara Jean Wong was she was called, and she was the jump majorette.

And she never ever took a bad picture.

She always smiled correctly.

She never had a double gym, nothing like that.

Anyway, yeah, that's the parade was starting.

We are at the Los Angeles City Hall and proudly able to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids.

It's significant because this is the first African American union formed in the country.

What they had to endure, what they agreed to go through for the betterment of their children for the betterment of people that they would never know was just uh so incredibly selfless.