The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is located at Barnsdahl Art Park.

The park has five different entities.

We have the Hollyhawk House.

We have Residence A.

We have the Junior Arts Center.

We have the Gallery Theater, and we have the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

So the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery was established in 1954.

And they had a number of exhibitions in here until 1971 when the current building was constructed.

And this 10,000 square foot gallery is now able to exhibit even more artists.

We actually predate LACMA in becoming a museum of art.

We are always changing exhibitions.

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

We have summer, fall, and spring.

Every year we also exhibit the annual Cola Exhibition, which is the Department of Cultural Affairs award to mid-career artists.org or following us on Instagram at Lamag Barnesdall.

We are very prominent on uh social media.

Welcome to the city of Los Angeles, where history and culture meet at the last of the great railway stations.

Standing here at Union Station, we are reminded that Los Angeles is a hub of constant motion and connection.

Beyond these iconic walls, our city of nearly four million people continues to evolve linked by a shared vision of progress.

Did you know Union Station was first commissioned in 1933 and was completed just six years later.

Upon opening, it serviced 66 trains and saw about 7,000 passengers daily, making it the largest train terminal in the Western United States.

So whether you're arriving to party or just along for the ride, welcome to LA This Week from Union Station.

Open in 1939 as a result of decades-long effort to unite several competing rail lines into a single terminal, Union Station blended Spanish colonial mission revival and Art Deco styles.

Its construction in the heart of Los Angeles marked the final great railway station built during America's golden age of rail travel.

And just as Union Station was built to bring people and ideas together, Los Angeles continues to move forward through the vision and leadership of the people who share our city every day.

What women's heritage month means to me is having the opportunity to show future generations what kind of roles women can play, not only within their family, but within their community.

Women's History Month is just a chance to honor those women who do the work day in and day out.

My mother.

And Wonder Woman.

I love Wonder Woman.

I've always been interested in public safety and emergency management, going back to my days as a Girl Scout.

And so when the opportunity came up to transfer to a division that gave me the experience, I jumped at it.

In the generating station, people don't see the work that we do in order to make the lights turn on every day, the cars charge, and your cell phones, and I get to be a part of that magic in the background that makes it that makes it possible to operate on a day-to-day basis.

My perspective as a woman inspires everything that I do in City Council from children have a place to play and seniors have a place to enjoy their retirement.

For other women out there that maybe want to make a difference, I would say take a chance.

We are thrilled to be celebrating Women's History Month and so many women across Los Angeles County who are making history right in our own communities.

My fabulous sisters across LA County.

Get yourselves a round of applause.

We are celebrating, recognizing some remarkable women who have dedicated most of their careers to helping and advancing the well-being of women in Los Angeles County.

Our job as commissioners is to recognize to identify who these women in LA County are that are doing great work for our community that are doing great work for women.

The nominations come from the community members themselves.

We then go through a selection process.

There's so many remarkable women, but of course, we can only identify limited number.

You know, we've got so many leaders that are up and coming, and we're paving the way for young women, young girls like my granddaughter Luna to also excel and make a difference in the communities that we serve.

We're also commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Commission for Women.

The commission has been in existence for 50 years, and the supervisors that Los Angeles Board of Supervisors just declared their commitment to support another 50 years.

Leadership is about making sure that we use our tools to make a difference in the lives of others.

Remember that what we do for our community is what matters, right?

We have a system that says, oh, go, you know, get that award, get whatever.

But what really matters is is how you help other people.

Women who brought their own chair to the table, stand up.

Women who showed up without an invitation, stand up.

Women overlook silence and undervalued.

Stand up.

We know right now that there's been a focus on eliminating events like this and eliminating recognition of women in particular.

But in Los Angeles County, we will continue to elevate the experience, the leadership, and the value of women throughout the county.

After the rise of automobiles and air travel in the 1950s and 1960s, passenger rail declined, and traffic through Union Station slowed dramatically.

But rather than fading into obscurity, the station was preserved as a historical landmark and carefully restored.

Its architecture and atmosphere help secure its place as one of the most beautiful train stations in the United States.

And just as Union Station brings people together from across the region, My LA 311 brings together key city departments, connecting Angelinos with the services and support they need.

With a simple request through MyLA 311, Angelinos can report issues, request services, and stay connected to their neighborhoods, helping keep the city responsive and running smoothly.

311 Day is a celebration of connecting government with the most important group of people.

It's residents.

You got it.

Today is 311 Day, and it celebrates the agents.

Today at National 311 Day, we want to celebrate what they do.

Is it one pothole or multiple potholes?

They strive to have the pot hole filled within three businesses.

I consider each and every 311 operator one of those unspoken heroes.

311 is always improving.

Over three million requests come through 311.

That's a ton of data to show us where we're working and where we need to make improvements.

It'll help us triage better before it goes out.

Yeah.

So I think that'll be helpful.

The MyLA 311 app has several new features for residents.

First of all, you could just drop a pin everywhere.

You don't have to have a perfect address.

That's something that many users said they wanted in the new system, so we added it.

Secondly, it gives you the ability to follow a ticket.

So if you're submitting a ticket and you see that someone else already did it, you could just follow it.

You don't have to submit the ticket yourself.

Third, you get real-time updates.

So if you submit a pothole, someone in the field sees it, they take a photo, you get a real-time update that shows you that pothole filled.

In fact, over the last year, we've implemented over 1,200 enhancements, some of which you'll see, some of which you may not necessarily see.

That app should be on everyone's phone.

That is a big piece.

Thank you for calling 311.

Have a nice day.

The Port of Los Angeles recently broke ground on a 152 million dollar project in Wilmington.

The Avalon Pedestrian Bridge and Promenade Gateway Project will convert 12 acres into an entry plaza with seating.

The project will include pedestrian pathways, community gathering spaces, public restrooms, and two parking lots.

The signature bridge connects to the promenade, creating a safe crossing point.

The port consult the residents and stakeholders for input on this project.

For more information, go to Port of Los Angeles.org.

LA Sanitation has started its 2026 food drive.

Non-perishable items are accepted through May 8th.

Items can include unopened, unexpired canned foods, dry goods, and shelf stable beverages.

Donations can be made Monday to Friday from 9 a.m.

to 4 p.m.

at six city locations.

The food goes to community organizations that distribute it to those in need.

Learn more at Sanitation.lacity.gov.

LA County homeless deaths dropped in 2024, marking the first decline in a decade.

Homeless deaths declined 10% in 2024, what 2,208 total fatalities compared to the previous year.

Expanded overdose prevention and treatment led to a 21% reduction in drug-related deaths.

The report tracks homeless deaths using data from the LA County Medical Examiner and U.S.

Census.

For more information, go to public health.la County.gov.

Today, Union Station 14 heavy rail and four light rail tracks serve more than 500 trains each day, linking Los Angeles to destinations across California and beyond.

From the early days of steam locomotives to diesel engines and now cleaner, more sustainable transit systems, the station continues to bridge the gap between tradition and modern mobility.

Just a few miles away, the California Science Center also brings the past and the future together.

From fascinating historical displays like its ancient mummy exhibits to interactive technology and science experiences.

And whether you're a lifelong Angelino or visiting for the first time, a stop at the California Science Center is a must-see destination for discovery and inspiration.

The Science Center provides an opportunity for children and visitors of all ages to participate in science and not just read about it.

So this is where you can do science.

This is where you can do engineering.

This is where you can explore phenomena.

My name is Gretchen Bazella.

I'm the deputy director here at the California Science Center.

And I'm so excited to invite you down to the Science Center.

We have desert zone, we have the polar zone, we have the kelp zone, the inner tidal zone.

We have 188,000 gallon saltwater tank where we have fish and kelp forests just as it is off the coast of California here.

And so it allows visitors to have that perspective of being in the water with the fish, being in the water with the kelp.

In addition, they can go up to the top of the tank, they can look down from the top of the tank and see what it's like from that perspective.

And finally, they can also go to a touch tank where they can actually get up close and personal with some of these animals and be able to touch and learn more about them.

So we hope that visitors take away the interconnectedness of all ecosystems and how changing one part of an ecosystem can affect another part of an ecosystem.

We also hope that they take away the beauty and the inspiration behind these ecosystems, what it's like to experience them, what it's like to visit them, and what it's like to want to protect them and want to learn more about them.

A lot of people think of mummies primarily as Egyptian, but this is mummies of the world.

In Mummies of the World, we have on display intentionally mummified and naturally mummified animals and people from South America, from Europe, and from ancient Egypt.

Including we have a selection of mummies that have never before been seen in Los Angeles.

And we have CT scans of the full body mummies that let you look beneath the surface.

Mummies of the world is being shown in a science center, not in a cultural history center.

So we tend to look at this through the lens of science.

And through the lens of science, we're able to study more about the history of human health.

We're able to study the process of mummification and learn that mummification preserves biological and cultural evidence that let us know much more about our human history.

So we balance fun and learning by using hands-on inquiry-based science.

So that is really the inspiration behind the whole science center.

And here at the Game On exhibit, our visitors are actually able to participate in sports and experience the sport.

So the visitors are encouraged to play, to kick, to throw, to bat.

And this is really an opportunity to not just be reading about science or reading about physics, but to be doing science and doing physics.

So we'll be here through the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics.

So I think it's an incredible opportunity as we prepare for the Olympics to visit Los Angeles for children and visitors of all ages to come down and get an experience of science behind sport.

So the general admission to the Science Center is always free.

So we're very proud of that, and we invite all of our Angelinos and all of our visitors across California and the US to come down, not just to Gay Mom, but to the Science Center.

We have hands-on exhibits throughout where you can participate in your own learning, have active investigations, opportunities to see live animals, opportunities to see space, and I just would encourage all Angelinos to come down and check us out and spend some time here.

Yes, exciting morning of presentations.

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.

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.

Learning that I got this award, it was very emotional for me.

Um, after five years of working in the community and supporting street vendors, it was very uh beautiful to see that our work and the community work that I've been doing has been acknowledged and recognized.

Um, it makes me very proud.

And it also makes me want to keep going too and keep fighting more for my community and just be an example to brown little girls in the community from El Sorino that anything is possible with um hard work and determination.

So we know that women hold up half the sky, and in our neighborhoods, they're holding it down at home, in the workplace, on the streets, keeping our neighbors safe, and this is a moment where we get to reshape history and make sure it includes the powerful women and mujeres who are part of our communities to make sure that they are seen and heard.

And this is a moment where we get to reshape history and make sure it includes the powerful women and mujeres who are part of our communities to make sure that they are seen and heard.

And I feel like that was just my way of giving back, but I didn't think that I that people saw my hard work and to be recognized is just I feel very grateful.

Especially for women of color, for black women, for Latino women, for indigenous women.

It's really important for us not to be erased as we're seeing so many of our histories and struggles be erased.

So we really need to lean into our power and not work from a place of fear, but from a place of power.

She is someone who believes in the mission of the Boys and Girls Club 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.

And hopefully I'll be able to continue to build bridges where other women can continue to stand on and work through and have an impact.

Union station has been transformed into the heart of Southern California's transit network.

National Rail Service through Amtrak operates alongside commuter trains from Metrolink and multiple lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail.

Millions of passengers pass through the station each year, making it the busiest rail hub in the Western United States.

And just down the way from the historic archways of Union Station is the El Pueblo Historical Monument, which is home to Alvera Street's Mercado night, a time and place for Angelinos to gather for shopping, games, and community fun.

All brought together by this steadfast spirit of the merchants who anchor this historic plaza.

Well, first of all, I want to welcome everyone to Apuro Los Andes.

Tonight is our first night.

We are doing Mercado night.

We want to do this once a month on Friday evenings.

We want to build on it.

So we hope people lose Andrews come out and support the merchants here and support Al Pueblo.

We're having the shop stay open a little bit later.

We also have some music on the streets, so we would love for you to come and join us on our mercado nights.

The shopping is so fun.

It's so great.

I got such great treasures tonight, but also the food is fantastic.

You're not gonna get food like this anywhere else.

Tonight we're going to uh feature lottery or the game water that's uh very common amongst workers and households.

Loteria.

What brought me tonight to Abra is the Loteria game.

The way that was called, it was fantastic.

I loved how they showed us the cards and said the words in Spanish and in English.

It was so fun.

They can enjoy with family and friends a little game and be able to take home some prizes.

This was such a great opportunity to socialize with the people and the culture.

It was top-notch.

I highly recommend coming out at least one time.

We want to build on this event, do this once a month on Friday evenings from five o'clock to early the park.

Come enjoy the atmosphere.

This is a family-friendly place.

We enjoy and love being able to share our stories with the public, our traditional events with the public.

Our blessing of the animals is coming up soon.

So all of those things we love to be able to enjoy and have the public participate with us.

Join LA City's Department on Disability at the Abilities Expo from Friday, March 27th to Sunday, March 29th.

This year's expo takes place at the Long Beach Convention Center, where everyone is invited to up your game with cutting edge disability products, tech, and resources, conquer the accessible climbing wall, dive into adaptive sports, dance with the roulettes, attend info packed workshops and more.

It's an epic day out and free, so register today.

Make your world more accessible at the Abilities Expo Los Angeles, taking place from Friday, March 27th through Sunday, March 29th.

Find the full schedule and more information online at Abilities.com slash Los Angeles.

Venderfest Night Market gathers more than 40 street vendors at Gloria Molina Grand Park for an evening celebrating the people that bring the street to life and make our city unique.

There'll be food and artisan vendors along with one of a kind artistic tributes to LA Street Vendor Culture.

Learn more at Grandpark LA.org.

Bring the whole family together for a day of fun and unforgettable memories at the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks Spring Carnival.

Enjoy exciting rides, snacks and treats, and soak in the festive vibes.

Come early for a classic carnival day where rides and snacks will be available to purchase.

Head to Lincoln Park Recreation Center on Valley Boulevard for Spring Carnival from Friday, March 27th through Sunday, March 29th with various hours each day.

Learn more at Lincoln Park Rec on Instagram.

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

For over 80 years, Union Station in Los Angeles has been the stage for countless reunions, departures, and discoveries.

And today, it serves as a central hub for regional and national rail travel, connecting passengers through Los Angeles Metro Rail, Amtrak, and Metrolink.

And like the city it serves Los Angeles, Union Station continues to evolve, embracing new sustainable transit solutions while welcoming vibrant public art that reflects the spirit, diversity, and culture of the region.

Thank you for joining us, and you can watch these stories and much more on Channel 35 or at LACity.gov forward slash TV.

And don't forget to 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 King from the Art Department, Los Angeles Public Library, Central Library.

I want to share a little bit about Ruth Thomas Saunders today.

She was an artist, designer, topographer, printer, and an avid book plate collector.

In this small book that she published at her own studio.

There were 110 copies printed, and we have number three in our collection here at Los Angeles Public Library.

It is a collection of her own book plates that she designed for other people living in the Los Angeles area.

She studied first in Paris with Fernand Leger in the 1920s, and then returned to Claremont, California to open her print shop.

In addition to book arts, Saunders designed book plates for artists and musicians and libraries in the Los Angeles area.

She was vice president of the Book Plate Association International, and she also published a book of book plates from 14 countries around the world.

Saunders' criteria for book plates was quite simple.

She wanted a clear presentation of the name integrated with the design so that the topography and the image were worthy of placement in a book.

In the art department with its collection of about three hundred thousand books on graphic and performing arts, as well as recreation, a study of book plates, especially those that are online in the Tessa, our platform for digital collections, can serve as a starting point for an adventure into the world of prints and printmaking.

The design integrates the Los Angeles Public Library's own book plate with additional images that reflect the book worthy of the plate.

Okay.

Good morning, everybody.

Welcome to the meeting of your Los Angeles City Council.

Today is Tuesday, March twenty fourth.

We're going to take public comment in person in the council chambers for today's meeting.

Let's get the meeting started by uh calling the role.

Bloom and Field, Harris Dawson, Hernandez Hutt, Harado, Lee, McCosker, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Roman Rodriguez, Sotomartinez Yaroslavsky.

Eleven members present and a quorum, Mr.

President.

Okay.

Um approval.

Uh what's the first order of business?

That would be the approval of the minutes of March 13, 2026.

Okay.

Uh, Councilmember Rodriguez moves, Councilmember Woman Raman seconds next.

Commendatory resolutions for approval.

Okay, Councilwoman Hutt moves.

Councilwoman Herado Seconds, next.

Mr.

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

Okay, if everyone could rise in the chambers.

Uh, Councilmember Lee, would you do us the honor and uh please lead us in the flag salute?

Absolutely.

Ms.

President, I'd be honored to if everyone can face our flag, put your right hand over your heart.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Best flag salute ever.

Yes.

All right.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Hearing those wonderful voices, that leads me to an announcement.

I want to I want to recognize the Woodland Hills Private School folks that are here, uh, who helped us with the Pledge of Allegiance just now.

Hey guys, smile, you're on camera or you will be.

It's a great school.

My my kids went to uh pre-K there.

Uh it's a wonderful school in the neighborhood.

So thank you for joining us and for being here today.

Okay, Madam Clerk, let's uh run through the agenda.

What's that?

Oh, Councilwoman Rodriguez.

I just I just wanted to acknowledge you all.

If you could come every Tuesday to help us with the Pledge of Allegiance, that would be amazing.

Hearing your voices, I think is really important for everyone in the chambers to hear.

So I just want to thank you all for visiting your city hall, seeing your local government up close and personal, and my hope is that one day you guys will be in these seats.

So thank you for visiting.

All right.

Okay.

Let's uh go through the agenda.

Madam Clerk.

Oh Councilwoman Your Asselves, you ought to do it a quick announcement before we do that.

Thank you, Council President.

Good morning, uh colleagues.

Today I really am honored to host the UCLA Chancellor's Link program cohort here at City Hall.

You all can stand up.

Welcome.

Uh joining us this morning in chambers.

Uh we have the 2026 cohort as well as UCLA leadership, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Monroe Gordon, and Associate Vice Chancellor of Government and Community Relations, Jennifer Pulakitis.

Uh Lynx stands for leadership, innovation, networking, and knowledge.

This program is specifically designed to equip Bruins with the practical experience and leadership skills they need to thrive in their careers and contribute meaningfully to society after graduation.

These 25 undergraduate students represent the next generation of leaders.

Uh as part of the competitive program, they've already completed a rigorous on-campus seminar, and they're here today for an experiential learning trip to see leadership as it were in action.

Uh their itinerary includes a career round table with UCLA alumni currently serving in local government, followed by panels on governance and civic engagement.

They will conclude their day at the UCLA downtown campus with a fireside chat featuring our colleague, Councilmember Isabel Girardo.

Uh, please join me in recognizing and welcoming the 2026 UCLA Link cohort to City Hall.

Welcome.

Welcome, welcome.

All right, and before we get to the agenda, I believe Ms.

Rokosker, you have uh an announcement of some sort.

I I do.

I'm going to do it really quickly from the podium.

I can do it right now before we get to the agenda.

Yeah, go ahead.

Thank you very much.

Let's do it.

Thank you so much, Mr.

President.

Colleagues, colleagues, today I'm going to ask.

There we perfect.

I'm going to ask that we join together in recognizing a leader who has spent his career standing up for the women and the men who keep our ports and our economy, our entire world economy moving.

It's my honor to present a certificate today to Gary Herrera.

Gary Herrera, let's hear it for Gary Herrera.

He didn't know about this, by the way.

In recognition of his distinguished service as president of the ILWU local 13.

Woo.

Local 13 represents thousands of hardworking longshore workers who move the cargo that powers the ports of LA and the port of Long Beach, the two most vital gateways, economic gateways, not just to our region, but to the United States.

Throughout his tenure, Gary has been a steady and principled leader, someone who has fought to protect good union jobs, champion safe working conditions, and ensures that our ports, even as they modernize, do not forget that the working families cannot be left behind.

His leadership has helped strengthen the voice of labor on the waterfront and strengthen the voice of labor here in this room and reinforce the idea that the prosperity generated by our ports must continue to support the communities that make success possible.

In the harbor area, we understand that the strength of our ports is inseparable, inseparable from the strength of our workforce, and we need a workforce to keep our ports running.

Gary Herrera has embodied that principle throughout his service.

With that notion, I'm honored to bring Gary here today.

Gary came under the pretense that we are also doing something critically important that he has been pushing for.

Today we are introducing four motions.

A worker impact framework for the entire city, basically an analysis of what happens to jobs when we make decisions, when we approve projects, disapprove projects, modify projects, approve policies, but then a worker impact report framework specifically for Pola, given that these are public assets that we are using that we are investing in.

Also, a leasing policy framework that we'll be introducing today to make sure that when we make leasing decisions at the Port of LA, workers are never left behind.

And then a coastal development permit modification, clarification, because coastal development permits get used, as they should be, to get used.

They are utilized to make changes at the port, but the level of permit is important to make sure that we have the discretion to protect workers as we go.

Gary and his team and the whole waterfront leadership has been instrumental in making sure we're bringing those forward today.

I'm going to hold the resolution, hold the motion until Gary speaks.

I'm going to ask Gary Herrera to speak.

President of the ILW Local 13.

Council, thank you so much for having me today.

Um I am surprised as well as honored and humbled by this today.

I had no idea, but to be here today representing 16 different affiliates behind me of the four letters of the ILWU.

I want to say how important it is that you understand that we keep fighting for jobs.

I think this morning was a good example of how touched we were to hear the pre-K say the Pledge of Allegiance.

What we're doing here today is for their future.

The worker impact report, so that jobs aren't lost so that they have a job.

The UCLA, as they graduate and go into the workforce, that there's a job available for them, that this city recognizes the importance during times of automation and AI, that we look at reports to protect the workforce.

But is more than just that.

It's about my community.

It's where I live, it's where I give back, it's where we all serve to give back to a better community for our kids and our future.

I want to say thank you once again.

I'm honored.

I'm humbled to be here in your presence for all the work that you guys do and continue to do.

It's a thankless job, but from my heart to yours, I say thank you, and make sure that we keep protecting the future.

Protect those little ones back there so they can keep coming and have something to look for, and that's a job, so they can have dignity.

So, on behalf of the IOW, we say thank you, and please look at these motions and these recommendations because they're very important to the future as we move forward.

And to my brother Tim McCosker, I cannot say thank you enough.

You have been a true warrior and a fighter for your community, but especially for the men and women of the ILW because you recognize how hard we work.

You recognize that 40% of the nation's cargo comes right through our ports through your backyard.

I don't know how you have the energy.

When you get old, I say grow up, but to this council again, and to my friend Tim, you are a true warrior, and we appreciate you.

And to everybody behind me, and I can't say thank you enough to my wife, who's been my support and my back.

To my my my right, left-hand person in the workforce, Irene Huerta.

To Diane Middleton, works on uh been uh uh uh uh activist for labor all her life, and we cannot say thank you enough to my team, to my presidents, to all ILW, please never leave the worker behind.

That's all we got in this future for those little ones back there.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So, members, members, the significance of this group.

This is the workforce for the ports of LA and the ports of Long Beach.

This is local 13, local 63, local 94, local 56, the IBU, and all of the staffs and supporters.

This is 100%, 100% unified labor on the waterfront, thanking Gary Herrera for his very and his for his very democratic service to the union.

He's stepping down because those are the rules.

Those are the rules.

You serve one year terms, you serve a certain certain number of terms, then you step down.

And to everybody out there who has gathered the ire of this bull in a China shop.

Guess what?

He is now untethered.

He is now untethered.

So look out.

Here he comes.

We have the we have the ability as a council.

Nothing could nothing could match the support that he gets from the waterfront labor movement, but we have the ability as a council to thank Gary Herrera on behalf of all of us for his service in this iteration of his career working for the women and men of the Port of LA and the whole House of Labor.

And we have a few members on the queue.

Uh Councilwoman Rodriguez.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

McCosker, from for bringing Gary in.

And you know, Gary, your your voice and your work reverberates throughout Los Angeles, not just in the protection of the jobs and and how you help to ensure this effort that we have a strong functional local economy through the efforts that come from our port, but through an extension of your support and relationships throughout the city of Los Angeles.

You know, it was just a few weeks ago when I saw you make the trek up to Echo Park so that we could honor Sandra Figueroa.

People have no idea the level of reach and connection that you have to parts of our city.

And it's because of your again, it's your your connection and your effort and your work to build relationships far beyond the importance of our harbor area, but to understand that it's so important to the entire city of Los Angeles and the work that the members of ILWU provide and the work of our port.

So you will be sorely missed in this role, but I know this is just one role of the many that you have, and I just want to say thank you so much.

You've been a great friend and partner.

Um, and I am deeply appreciative of labor leaders that understand the implications of decisions that are being made, and that we make them in a not just in a linear fashion, that we have a real understanding about the implications that the decisions that we make and what it'll impact the workers, and to help make sure that those people that perhaps don't understand.

You've been a key part of making sure they understood real damn quickly.

So I I want to say thank you.

I appreciate your friendship and uh and again to all the members of ILWU.

I know this is just a momentary transition, and I'm sure uh, you know, the family is excited for at least a minute, because I know you won't slow down, but you know, congratulations on a wonderful tenure uh in this role.

Really proud of you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Soto Martinez.

Uh thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Uh Tim, thank you so much for bringing Gary in.

Uh Gary, it's been wonderful working with you these last three and a half years, and I'm really glad that you're surrounded by your incredible team, uh, a lot of powerful mujeres.

And you know, this team is just really um as diverse in their skills and their passions uh as any anybody, any union body, but you play that one piece that is passionate, that is like gritty, that is uncompromising.

You you act with passion, and most importantly, I think you do it because you just you're a person that loves deeply, that loves your community hard, and you're gonna fight always, and so that's don't ever change who you are, brother.

We need voices like this, especially when and I know it's hard to be in that in that zone for such a long time, but in this moment right now, when we see corporate America trying to take over every single part of our world, where we see this federal government just not caring about workers, we need people like you.

We need people like you to be holding the line and pushing everyone to just be uncompromising because these people we're fighting, they don't respond to compromise, they don't respond to weakness.

What they're gonna respond to is the power of working people and the power of the labor movement, and you represent that more than many people in this building.

So I'm just saying thank you so much and looking forward.

I know you're gonna be gone, brother, but looking forward to seeing you on the on the waterfront as much as possible.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Hernandez.

Thank you, Councilmember McCoscar for bringing in Gary.

Gary, thank you so much.

Everybody's spoken about your decades of work, fighting for workers.

But your bravery for me is one of the things that stands out, where you all are standing up against the automization of jobs that people make a living off of and setting the tone for how we need to be moving as technology tries to take up more spaces and more jobs for our community.

So thank you to you and your team for that fight and for allowing us to participate.

Also, you have been someone, you and your team, but particularly you have been someone who has welcomed us, right?

Some of us newer council members who are in our first terms, allowing us to build with you all, learn from you all.

I'm greatly, I'm deeply deeply appreciative of that opportunity to be able to work with y'all in the anti-almization fight and other fights.

Um, but just you know, those opportunities for us haven't been um all over the place.

So I I really much cherish the opportunity you gave us and for the partnership, and just I you know I know you're not going far, uh, but however we can be of service to you, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Park, followed by Padilla.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, and I couldn't agree with Councilwoman Hernandez more.

Thank you so much for the mentorship, the guidance, the very, very warm welcome and reception.

Gary, your leadership that I have seen as chair of trade travel and tourism has been extraordinary.

The way you have advocated for your workforce and your members is really nothing short of spectacular.

And um, you really have set the bar in educating me and the committee members about the things that matter to you and your leadership on those issues.

Um, really truly is commendable.

So, again, thank you for your service.

I look forward to keeping up our very close partnership.

And Councilwoman Padilla.

Well, Gary, this was a surprise to me this morning.

Um, you know, very saddened when these kind of changes happen.

But I'm really happy for you.

I think, like, as mentioned, I think this is a good thing for for your family.

Um, but I want to make sure that I also talk about thanking you for your service.

You know, uh, you really do uh you did represent making sure that all of Los Angeles understood the importance of the port and all of its impact that the port produces with the jobs and how these are good jobs and how these are living wage jobs, and how we have to make sure that we don't forget, despite sometimes feeling like it's you know miles away, it still has uh an effect on the entire region.

And I really enjoyed always having those conversations with you.

And more than anything though, um, you know, whoever follows you, I hope they realize that you set a real high standard for the kind of uh access that you had to us.

When you say, here's my number, I'm only a phone car, a text away.

You meant that.

You know, you absolutely meant that, and I appreciate that.

And we're really gonna miss you.

But congratulations, and thank you for such a great job.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Hutt.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

McCosker, for this big surprise.

I think that um coming in to talk about policy is really important.

But coming in to talk about people who really have been leaders in policy is more important.

And Gary, you know, the port you, ILW, you have been a friend of mine for 15 years, and working in that space alongside, being um able to march alongside to to say, wait a minute, we're people, working people that make a difference in this city, in this port, and in the region.

What happens at that port is uh it's the economic engine of Los Angeles, and I'm clear.

I'm clear about what automation will do, and I'm clear about the jobs and the sustainability that you deserve to have because it's hard flipping work.

And so I appreciate your leadership.

I appreciate your team.

I appreciate Irene.

And listen, I know whoever comes after you will step in some big shoes, but I'm sure that they have been mentored.

And when I said mentored, I mean go do this, go do that.

This is how it works.

And I'm excited about I know for my ring.

I'm excited about what the future for you will hold with your children, with your family.

You'll get to rest a little bit, maybe in six months, I'm sure.

It'll be a big transition.

But thank you for your service.

We really appreciate you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Tim, for bringing everyone in.

Councilwoman Herado.

Thank you, Councilmember McCoscar.

Thank you, Gary, for all of that you do.

ILWU, all of the unions.

You know, when you said a bull in a china shop, I was one of the pieces of China at one point in time.

So I know how formidable these people behind uh over there are, and the right and left hand over there.

I'm sure they're gonna bring in the new people, set them straight, and make sure that they fit these Gary Herrera sized shoes.

So thank you so much for all the work that you do, centering working class people.

And really the union represents what you can get when you keep fighting and preserving and giving the good life to working class Angelinos, you know, and for generations.

So thank you so much, and I appreciate you, Mr.

Marcoskar for putting this through.

Councilmember Lee.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Gary, just want to say uh thank you for the job that you've done and for you know, being that person that comes to council to remind us that when we talk about automation and certain jobs that there are humans behind those jobs and the importance of us saving you know pennies here, but how it affects us down the line if our jobs and our economy and you're that been that person over the years, and I just want to thank you for the job you've done.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you.

Gary, and thank you so much for all you've done.

You've got big shoes to follow to fill, as everyone has mentioned, and I've just appreciated and want to add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for all that all that you do, all that ILW does.

And uh Tim, thanks for bringing this uh presentation or this announcement quasi presentation together.

Uh and we we appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

We are adjourned.

Okay, now let's uh move to the agenda.

If uh Madam Clerk, if you could run through the agenda.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Items one through two are items noticed for public hearing.

Items three through 31 are items for which public hearings have been held.

Please note since the posting of today's agenda, community impact statements have been received for items four and thirty-one and posted to those respective council files.

The Arts Parks Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee report has been circulated and posted to Council File 26-1200-s9 for item 31.

Items 32 through 64 are items for which public hearings have not been held.

For item number 44, there is a journal correction, and the mover is Councilmember Soda Martinez, and the seconder is Councilmember Rahman.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

Without objection, those items are before us.

Do any members have items that they wish to call special?

I see a few members already on the board.

Councilman Hutt will start with.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, I'd like to call item 16 special for uh an amendment, but to have it held on the desk.

Okay, so see, have you circulated the amendment yet?

Or we'll we'll hold it on the desk.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, uh Councilwoman Councilmember Price.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh I'm accusing myself from item 10 because I am a landlord and out of an abundance of caution, I'm accusing myself from item four because the contents of the item are unclear for recusal purposes.

So 10 and 4.

Thank you.

10 and 4.

Okay.

Uh councilman Romans next.

Councilwoman Roman, you're next on the board.

For sorry, I didn't hear you.

Um, I had an amendment for item three that I'm circulating right now, so if we could um hold that one on the desk.

I and I had uh wanted to request a separate vote on item five, but we can do that before uh before public comment, I think.

Okay.

So separate vote on item five.

Uh next, Councilmember McCosker is next on the board.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Actually, I'd like to call item five special for my comment, not for just for a separate vote.

And we do have public speakers, so I'd like to have it go after public comment.

Okay.

Without objection, we'll do that after public comment.

Uh next council member Hutt was next on the board.

Although we already did you.

Councilman Rodriguez is next on the board.

Thank you.

I'd like to for item 13, move the government efficiency innovation and audits committee report.

For item 30, I'd like to flag for a separate vote, but to be conducted after the public comment.

And item 27 for comments.

27 for comments.

Okay.

And is there a second to the motion to move the government efficiency report?

I'll second that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next is Councilmember Park.

Okay.

Amendment being circulated.

Next, Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you.

I'd like to call item 51 special for comments.

Item 63 for a separate vote.

And item four special for an amendment.

Okay.

And councilmember Lee.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I'd like to call item number 30 for uh I know it's already called for a separate vote, but I like uh for some questions that I have and some comments I'd like to make regarding this item and 34.

We are introducing a substitute to clear up a technical issue.

That has been great submitted.

And Councilmember Sotomartinez.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Uh item number 26 for comments, please.

26 for comments.

Okay.

And then on uh item four, folks.

Uh the the item four moved forward without a um committee recommendation.

We did not have a majority on the committee.

Uh I had put forward uh an option as a chair just to move something forward, but I have uh I'm not putting that forward today.

I'm putting forward amendments uh that have been circulated that for item four.

So item four, it's already been called special, but uh we'll definitely be be call continue to call that special with the amendments that are being circulated.

Okay.

I see members are still on the board, but uh I think that's just uh they've already been called.

Is there anyone else who has any items that need to be special?

Looking to my left, looking my right.

No, okay.

Uh Madam Clerk, is there anything left to vote on?

Uh yes, Mr.

President.

The council may now take up items six through nine, eleven through twelve, fourteen through fifteen, seventeen through twenty five, twenty eight through twenty nine, and thirty one.

Okay, without objection, those items are before us.

Does anyone wish to be heard on any of those items?

Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Fifteen ayes.

Great.

And uh, as part of that, we just uh included the Gina Fields appointment, so congratulations, Gina.

Okay, what uh Mr.

Nazarian, for what purpose do you rise?

Thank you, uh Council President.

Item eight, forthwith, please.

Item eight, forthwith, without objection.

Thank you.

So ordered.

Okay.

And pardon me, Mr.

Chair, if the council would like to take up item 13 now before public comment.

Okay, we can take up item 13.

I don't believe does anybody wish to be heard on item 13.

Seeing no members on the queue, let's uh open the roll.

Close the roll, tally the votes.

15 ayes.

Okay.

That was as amended.

Okay, what's next?

Thank you.

The council may now move on to public comment.

All right, if you could read the instructions.

Yes, Mr.

President.

To people providing public comment, when it's your turn to speak, please state which of the agenda items you'd like to speak to.

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

We will tell you when your time is up.

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

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

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

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

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

The items on the agenda that are open for public comment today are items one and two and items 32 through 64.

Additionally, additionally, there's been a request to reopen public comment for item number five.

So number five will also be open for public comment.

So let me repeat.

Michaela Gibson, Estella Garcia, Bobby, Jed Leano, and Sergeant Gunny.

So if you've heard your name called aloud, you can line up in any order on your left-hand side of the council chambers.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

Um agenda item 30.

So item 30 is not open for public comment, but you can speak to it during general.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

Um so VICA, or I'm here on behalf of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association or VICA.

VICA does not currently have a position on this ordinance, but we have serious concerns and recommended recommend amending it to remove non-traditional special benefit items, specifically the solar program, conduit replacement, new customer service groups, and field technology deploys deployments.

This change would help ensure that the assessment remains legally defensible, focused on core lighting services aligned with the recommendations in the CAO matrix report.

Thank you.

But there are a lot of other workers that don't know their rights, and they could also fall victim to things like wage theft.

And that's why we need this fair workers' ordinance for fast food workers.

Please approve this ordinance.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Harut Nazarian, Damien Kevitt, Alicia Balthazar, Madi Manji, and Barbara Brody.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hi, uh, my name is Brandon.

Uh just general general comment.

Okay.

So we have one minute.

Go ahead.

Thank you, thank you guys.

Uh I just want to say thank you guys.

Uh I've been coming in for a while now, maybe this past couple months.

But uh yeah, we do got the Olympics coming up.

I see you guys got a lot of work.

You know, some of you guys listen, some of you guys don't.

I get it, it's fine, I don't care.

But um politics is new to me.

Um, I do run, I do plan on getting it into politics.

It doesn't run in the family, but me having a strong name, not Telano, I think I do need to make it run in the family.

And you guys all know what I'm talking about.

So when people are up here talking to you guys, you know, just like Hernandez and Rodriguez, I expect you guys to listen.

These people, they pay your guys' bills, basically.

You guys are on a salary.

Remember, if you guys all got fired or let go, you'd all have to go back and apply somewhere, or maybe go ask grandma and grandpa for some help.

But yes, guys, we do have the Olympics coming.

Let's clean these streets because they smell like hell.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning, City Council, General Public Comp Public Comment.

Okay, and uh, if you could move a little closer, we can hear you.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

You have one minute.

Good morning, City Council.

I, for one, am not ready to pass judgment on Caesar Chavez until all the facts are in.

In light of Caesar Chavez Day being cancelled, I would like to acknowledge the Chavez family and my prayers are with them.

I would like to remember the plight of the farmers.

It it is it isn't easy work for those who work in the fields.

May the work of the farmers continue bring hope to those who can't find decent wages and work conditions.

Many who till the land and care for the sick don't get the respect they deserve.

Many of us are blessed with good food, know who put it on our tables.

Let's all be reminded as we celebrate 250 years of America that there may have been children abused during the farmers' movement.

Let's get people a chance to live the American dream.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh my name is Damian Kevitt.

I'd like to speak on item three, which I guess will be general.

Okay.

You have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Great.

Thank you.

Honorable council members.

Most of you know me, but for those who don't, my name is Damien Kevitt.

I am the executive director of Streets R for Everyone, a road safety nonprofit based in LA County.

Uh Safe has worked very heavily on AB 645 for four years, working to make sure that this program has a robust privacy and equity safeguards while making sure that the program can be effective in saving lives.

That said, I have been disappointed in the speed of implementation of this program in in LA City.

LH has seen more traffic fatalities and homicides for the last three years.

So I urge LA City to move faster with implementing this program.

Thank you.

Hello, Matthew Munji.

Okay.

So you have one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I'm Matthew Manji with Inner City Law Center.

We support uh the adoption of approach C option three as modified by uh as proposed by planning without modifications.

Uh this is the option that implements FP79 in a manner that most affirmatively further fair housing.

We're concerned that option one and two may not meet FP79's required capacity depending on forthcoming guidance from ACD.

Option three ensures that LA can defer F B 79 citywide, maintain local affordability standards uh and local planning standards, and give more time to SP 79 in low-income communities.

Uh, we're concerned that you know option one and two are less likely to meet those objectives and more likely to result in a situation where uh the city loses local control uh and that affordability standards are are not being able to maintain.

So we strongly support option three.

Thank you very much for your time.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh item numbers three and four.

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

Go ahead.

Uh, my name is Harut Nazaryan.

I'm a resident of LA, born and raised in the valley, and I would like to straight state my strong opposition to option number one for the measure regarding SB 79 implementation.

I think it will not build any housing with the up zoning, and I think it will make our housing crisis even worse.

I'm a union worker, I'm born and raised here.

I see my peers not able to afford housing.

I see my people living this city.

I'm Armenian, and I think it's critically important to maintain our community here.

And I think the only way we can do that is by building more housing for the people who were already here, for the kids in the back, for the union workers, we need more housing.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Courtney, Alicia Miles, Karen Gilman, Andrew Saliman, and Daniel Sosa.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh item number four in general public comment, sir.

Okay.

So you have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Thank you very much.

Jed Liano, senior policy advisor, inner city law, in reference to item number four, encouraging the council members to specifically support option number three, providing the most housing opportunity for the residents of Los Angeles.

On behalf of our clients at inner city law, the most housing unstable residents of this city, the poorest of the poor.

Option one does the least to provide housing opportunity for our most vulnerable residents.

It will result in zero housing in the next four years until we are deferred for uh the continued um SB 79 implementation.

We hope you will consider option three to provide the most opportunities for all residents of Los Angeles.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

I'm speaking on item number five and general public comment.

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

So you'll see one minute, you'll hear a ding, and then I'll go straight to general.

Go ahead.

Awesome.

My name is Alicia Baltazar, and a member of the Wilmington neighborhood council, and I'm here today to talk about the smoke shops and their close proximity to our schools.

So about a year ago in Wilmington, a couple uh community member came to me and let me know that him and his siblings were taking turns sleeping on their mom and dad's couch to protect them from the smoke shop that had opened right behind their residence.

They had said since the resident since that smoke shop had opened, people were in their yard, people were taking showers in their yard, people were fighting.

Um several of the people on that street has reported that it was just becoming a real big nuisance.

Um the second person was uh employee that works at the laundromat that's next to one of the smoke shops.

He let me know that since they have opened it, he was having a hard time um breathing.

He was being subjected to eight hours a day of cigarette.

Um, people were complaining about the laundromat, going home with their exposed, smelling like cigarette because this smoke shop right next to it, the smell of it is just coming into their laundromat.

My final straw though was when my son came home and let me know.

General public comment.

When my son came home, he's a tenth grader at Bounty High School, and he let me know that the pins on the corner were only $10 of vape.

When I asked him how he knew this, he said, because one of his friends who was under 18 just purchased one in the parking lot.

And that made me really take a look at how many smoke shops are in our community, how close they are to our school, and leaving two blocks away from our school.

My son has to walk past two of them to get to and from school.

So it's not just the fact that they're selling cigarettes, it's all the activity that they have going on and the kind of people they attract.

And in a low-coming community like ours, we need every protection we can get.

So we're here today to ask you to pass this, not only for the city of Wilmington, but for the city of Los Angeles.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

I wanted to speak on item four and general comment.

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

Um go ahead.

Uh, on behalf of our Westside Neighborhood Council Committee, I'm here to urge you to adopt option C one of the SB 79 options.

Here is why our community worked very hard to adopt a housing element plan that zoned our commercial quarters and neighborhood serving business streets to 10 stories from 45 feet.

We took our responsibility to meet the arena goals in the housing element.

Allowing any option that allows up to seven story apartment buildings on our one lots takes away an agreement, a social contract that homeowners made when we invested in the city of Los Angeles.

It takes away peace of mind.

It destroys certainty.

Developers have told the council for decades that they need certainty to develop in the city.

I'm here to tell you that homeowners also deserve that certainty and peace of mind.

Three story buildings is more than adequate.

We urge you C1 and to tell us what the amendments are that have been adopted and are being considered today.

Okay.

So Speaker, before you leave the podium, I I received a note and I want to confirm.

Are you the representative with the community impact statement?

We have there are other council files for SB 79 that are not related apparently to this measure.

But did the did your neighborhood council file or submit a community impact statement for the SB 79 item?

We did.

And are you the uh or are you here to speak on that on the neighborhood council's behalf, or is there another neighborhood council representative?

No, I'm here as the West Side Neighborhood Council representative.

So if you would like to give your community impact statement now, you're gonna have three minutes to do so on the SB 79 item.

If not, no worries.

R SB 79 item was the previous SB 79 item that has bearing on the content of this SB 79 item.

I want to be clear, we did not have time because Plum and its schedule and its failure to have a recommendation did not allow us time, nor do we have time to look at whatever council member Bloomenfield and whatever amendments have been made.

Okay, which is very problematic for all the neighborhood council.

Why don't we do this?

Can you wait off on the side?

It might take me a minute, but I'm gonna try and come speak to you just to get clarity on this.

If you do have a CIS that is for the item today, we can always come back to it.

But for now, let's we're gonna move on to the next speaker.

But if you could wait over there.

I appreciate that, but I also want to say that neighborhood councils need time to consider major issues that affect them all.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Um item five and general comment, please.

Okay.

So you have uh one minute for the item and one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

My name is Daniel Sosa.

I own and operate four licensed cannabis dispensaries in the city.

Uh, first of all, the cannabis tax rate in the city needs to come down.

You, City Council have the power to do this.

We currently pay 100 times the tax rate of other businesses in the city.

If a multi-billion dollar corporation grosses a million dollars in sales in the city, they pay 1,000 in taxes.

If my business grosses a million dollars in sales, I pay 100,000 in taxes to the city.

This is not socially equitable, and it is not a sustainable business model.

Our rate should be lowered to 0.1%, like all other businesses in the city.

Tax reform is needed immediately, and it should happen in conjunction with the tax amnesty program.

Now, on to the tax amnesty program.

It is really important that the tax amnesty program move forward as soon as possible.

This is because current conditions in the city are that all cannabis businesses have zero incentive to pay tax at this moment.

First of all, illicit businesses pay zero tax.

We know that.

Then you have licensed businesses, which are ringing up millions of dollars in tax debt, which it is currently the city's policy to renew these licenses, including just 48, which are responsible for over 124 million dollars in unpaid taxes to the city.

Which by the way, you guys sure got bamboozled by DCR on that one.

They aren't paying tax.

Then there's licensed cannabis businesses like mine who pay their taxes, but we know that the tax amnesty program is coming and interest in penalties will be forgiven.

So it will be effectively a 0% interest-free loan paid over 36 months to the city.

So those businesses are no longer incentivized to pay tax.

So at the current moment, the city has created conditions where there is zero incentive for any cannabis business to pay tax in the city until the cannabis tax amnesty program goes into effect.

So we need to move forward with tax reduction and the tax amnesty program.

Speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Jumbo, Thomas Irwin, Greg Bonet, Herman, Carmina Calderon.

Good morning, Andrew Salemian speaking on behalf of the LA Conservancy.

Um item four, so general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

I'm here to support option C1 on behalf of the LA Conservancy, but with the added amendment that all HPOZs be removed from implementation.

And then most of our HPZs that are already in this zone, uh TOIA six, seven stories applies because multifamily commercial already applies.

So this is a cleanup.

It brings three stories to all the single family areas.

And I also want to note that the Southeast Valley Community Plans and the West Side Plans are ongoing.

There's an opportunity to add more housing in the next couple of years.

But this is a base density, but I wanna really thank Plum and the City Council for moving quickly on this.

I think it's the best option moving forward, and it adds a lot of missing middle opportunity housing.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Yes, good morning.

Item three, four, I believe, is housing and then public comment, please.

Okay, so currently items number three and four are not open for public comment, but you can speak to it during general.

How about number five?

Isn't that the number five as well?

The the interim control ordinance.

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

Please begin with the items.

Number five, can uh uh candido Maris, AK today, onion picker, field worker from the age of six to eighteen.

Work the fields.

That's my item uh five.

Now I'll go to public comment.

You have one minute.

I too will not condemn Cesar Chavez.

Because there was a lot of good that happened during those years.

In 1979 in Denver, Colorado, I had the privilege of meeting him.

He didn't impress me.

But what he did and what and I pray to God and to the children, if there was anybody hurt, I I'm sorry.

I hope it didn't happen.

But when I meet you again, Mr.

Chavez, I will ask you if it is true.

But I can ask Ms.

Huerta.

You were an adult.

Why didn't you stop the abuse that was to come afterwards?

You could have stopped it.

You could have said no to the movement.

You could have done so much to relieve the pain of children, but you chose who's saying something.

You got the mouth come up.

Who's the one?

Who's the one?

Say there's always somebody here that opened their mouth, but they don't have the balls to come up.

Your time is expired.

Next speaker.

Okay.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh good morning.

I'll do general public comment regarding SB 79.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

All right, thank you.

Uh good morning, folks.

Um, my Antonio with Sage or Strategic Actions for Jessica Economy and Resident of South Central LA, Council District 9.

Um, we recognize that we want to invest in our neighborhoods, but through an equitable development framework, uh mitigating the displacement of working class residents and to tackle the historical scars of redlining or the racist practice of redlining.

So, which means um we uplift the third option, right?

To pause the implementation of SB 79 until we as a city establish stronger protections for displaced residents in already economically burdened neighborhoods.

We want to prevent folks from further falling into um the streets or being housing insecure.

Secondly, we want to develop genuine affordable homes in high opportunity zones where folks can also put their share towards a housing uh crisis um solutions.

Again, pause the implementation in working class um neighborhoods and move forward with development in higher opportunity zones.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Mr.

Who's the next person?

Mr.

Herman.

Which items did you sign up to speak for?

All motherfucking items.

You have three and non-gen of public comment, please.

Three minutes for items one, two, five, and thirty-two through sixty-four, filed by a minute general.

Please begin.

Now, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, members of unions and lobbyists.

We've all known the history of what alcohol consumption can do to young women.

Especially dirty women.

And we also know what alcohol can do in C D 13 to dirty women.

Rightly.

Yeah.

So Lee, in question here, as Pro Temp President, as I smell my ass on this item number one on dash 260217.

Fuck alcohol necessity and consumption.

It leads to more motherfucking problems and fucking problems are not what we need.

Matter of fact, that was the first item I'm speaking about.

Then I go to item number 12, Mr.

Lee.

Is that you?

Item 12's number.

No, asshole.

He's he's from CD 12 on item 46.

Pay attention, dickhead.

That's why I do my job.

You just listen.

Shut the fuck up.

So everybody, our community cop celebration, which I, your new mayor, a white motherfucker too, invite smoking scan and smoking scan audience to repeat after me.

Um the subject of approval by the worst black mayor.

We don't want a World Cup community.

We want black lives that matter.

Like myself, a black motherfucker with a bad attitude.

Thank you.

But fuck that item too.

Let me go into my other item because I got so much time of three fucking minutes.

Um, regarding here public safety.

I just came from a public safety meeting with Jimmy McDonald Ronald McDonald.

It's called the police commission meeting, 9 30 every morning.

Smoking scan.

And Mr.

Herman, what item are you on?

God damn it, I'm on number 58.

Pay attention, motherfucker.

I control the narrative, not you.

Get it?

Please.

Stop fucking on my three minutes, please.

Stay on topic, Mr.

Please.

So regarding public safety and the community police station, um, I observed in my documentary of NWA, fuck the police.

Is that I concluded that yes, society's fucked up, and we don't need a police station, we need good police officers.

General public comment, Mr.

Herman.

Uh all right.

You ladies and gentlemen, I'm not an immigrant.

I am the president of the United States of America slave of Donald J.

Trump, the best fucking president in the United States of America, who's done more than any one of these 15 assholes, and the dumb black mayor of Los Angeles, right, Ulysses?

Right, Nimalda?

Like you didn't know that Miss Huerta was getting poked by a fucking immigrant, and you didn't know that 14, 15-year-olds get fucked in LAUSD, and you didn't know that priests rape fucking boys.

Now there's something serious wrong here, and the problem that's wrong here is that why do grown fucking professionals want to fuck children?

Exactly.

Why Candido said Caesar Chavez Cavron?

Thank you, Mr.

Herman.

Hello, speaker.

Which items or general public comment did you want?

Hi, uh speaking general comment on in reference to SB79.

Okay, please go ahead.

Uh good morning.

My name is Carmina Calderon, and I am commenting on behalf of the Act LA Coalition and asking you to support option three today.

Option three maximizes use of the TOIA program and will provide both meaningful density and deep affordability.

The corridor program option in option one will offer no ELI or VLI units.

These are levels of affordability desperately needed by working Angelinos today.

Paired with exempting low and moderate resource areas, we can ensure that displacement is minimized while high resource areas are scaled up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, speaker, which items are general public comment.

Did you want?

Hi, I was gonna speak on general public comment and item four.

Okay, you have um I'm not sure if item four is open for public comment.

Please go ahead with your general.

Thank you.

Hi, uh, my name is uh Greg Bone.

I'm an attorney with public counsel and a member of the Act LA coalition.

Act LA move uh supports moving forward with option three while removing low and moderate opportunity areas um that are eligible for delayed effectuation.

Act of A supports option three while removing low and moderate income areas because option three will expand the TOIA program, which will include deeply affordable housing at rents that low-income uh renters can actually afford.

Most renters cannot afford moderate income rents or market rate rents.

And the corridor transition program does not include any incentives for very low or extremely low-income units.

The TOIA program will build that deeply low-income housing, and that's why we're supporting option three while removing low and moderate income areas.

So please move forward with option three, um, removing low and moderate income areas to avoid displacement.

Thank you.

Thank you, speaker.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Chris Rye, Charlene Moyer, Ron G, Ginny G, and labor work.

Hi, Speaker.

Uh, did you want general public comment or speak on an item?

General comment.

Please begin.

Once again, we are being endangered by the menace of naughty words.

As I said before, there's a simple solution to this scourge, which would have the added benefit of wasting less of our time with scolding from the city attorney.

You need to put a big red sign at the entrance to the council chamber, which reads Attention, sissies.

The city council is categorized as a designated public forum, which means that we are legally prohibited from stopping the public from saying nasty words.

This regrettably includes the N-word and the C word.

However, we don't actually care about the law, and we don't care about you, as many of you who've attempted to report other crimes know very well.

So we silence you anyway.

If we actually believed in the law, we'd demand that the district attorney put the question to a jury so you can all get bent.

Sincerely, your city council.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hi, which items or general public comment did you want?

Uh item four.

Um I believe it's not open, but you can talk about it in general public comment.

So please begin.

Uh good afternoon, uh, council members.

My name is Thomas Irwin, representing Eastside Housing for All and the Faith in Housing Coalition.

And today I'm speaking in favor of option three for SB 79 in implementation.

Los Angeles is in a severe housing crisis.

Too many Angelinos are homeless, too many renters are crushed by housing costs, too many families are locked out of home ownership.

We must respond to the gravity of this crisis with ambitious housing reform and stop convincing ourselves that half measures will alleviate the suffering of our neighbors.

Option three is the best path for the city.

It allows housing at the scale justified by our highest quality transit and opens up high opportunity areas near jobs, parks, and other amenities.

And that matters not just for housing production, but is necessary if we actually care about reducing displacement pressure on our lower income neighbors.

The choice is clear.

We have invested billions in transit.

We should actually allow people to live near it.

I urge you to adopt option three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, speaker.

Which uh items or public comment did you want?

Uh item number four.

Okay, so it's gonna be general.

One one minute.

Please begin.

Uh good morning.

My name is Charlene Moyer.

I live in Council District 9, Zipcote 9001.

I know state bills affect the entire state, including Los Angeles.

In regards to SB 79, no one size fits all.

So please consider option three as your choice.

Option three is best for our community, focusing on affordable housing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Speaker.

Which uh items or general public general comment.

Please begin.

Hi, good afternoon, Council members.

Uh, my name is Chris Ree.

I'm an Eagle Rock homeowner, and today speaking on behalf of Urban Environmentalist LA.

Concentrating housing near transit jobs and services reduces sprawl into high fire risk areas at the urban edge.

It makes it easier for residents to walk, bike, and take transit instead of driving, reducing emissions and improving air quality.

Option three allows the most people to live in centrally located neighborhoods with high quality of life, including sustainable transportation options.

I also agree with previous speakers that option three is also the best way to advance fairer housing.

If we are serious as a city about climate resilience and ending segregation, we must make it easier and not harder to live near transit.

We urge you to adopt option three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Jesse, Antonio Hernandez, John Camera, Onion, Darrell Salceda, and Laura.

Hi, Speaker.

Well, what did you want to speak to?

I'm speaking on uh item four.

General then.

Please begin.

Members of the council, my name is Bobby Gardy.

I'm a renter.

And I'm here because we are in a dire housing crisis.

Rents are unaffordable.

Home ownership is inaccessible.

And we have 40,000 people sleeping on the streets every night.

To fix the pains caused by our housing shortage, we need housing abundance.

SB 79 was a great step forward.

We need much more density, and we especially need it near transit.

But our implementation matters.

Of the implementation options in the report, option three is clearly the best.

It is the most equitable and the most feasible.

But let's be clear.

And we should be working to achieve true housing abundance so that we all can have a decent life.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

And the next speaker.

Hi, which items are.

Mr.

General Public Comment?

I'm here to make general public comment.

Good morning.

Please begin.

Hi, my name is Gloria Villaciencio, and I am a subway worker.

And I am asking you to please approve the fast food workers and fair workers weight, fair workers ordinance urgently.

And I asked for you to pass that without delay.

And so I through these know your rights trainings, I've been able to gain the knowledge and the strength to be able to fight against things like wage theft.

And I actually found out through this that my boss was actually uh violating my rights.

But me preocupa que los trabajadores de otra tienda del mismo.

And so through know your rights, I've been able to fight for my the justice that I could have.

But there are other workers who don't have this.

And so these other workers are going through the same issues that I've gone through, and they don't know what to do.

And so we ask you to please approve the fair workers ordinance for fast food workers.

And so that way workers have the knowledge and the strength to be able to defend themselves and also their fellow co-workers.

Thank you very much.

Hello, speaker.

Yes, good morning.

Do you want to speak on an item or general public comment?

I didn't hear what you said.

Uh do you what do you want to speak to?

Um on item 30.

Okay, please go ahead.

You have a minute.

I don't have two minutes or one minute.

Do you want a minute of general as well?

Uh could I have two minutes?

I have a I have Yes.

So the answer is you have one minute for item 30, followed by a minute of general public comment where you can speak on anything in sub city subject matter jurisdiction.

I appreciate that.

So um I'm speaking on behalf of item 30.

Um I would like to make general comments.

Um and requested two minutes which I got 'em.

So my name is Darrell Salceda.

I'm here representing the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce and our membership.

Uh we understand that Los Angeles has a street light problem, not a broadband problem.

And yet today we're talking about tripling the assessment tax on property owners.

Um let me see.

We support funding the street lights 100%.

But what is before us doesn't quite do that.

Instead, we're seeing a pivot into government exploring broadband business.

The city is already experiencing with its Crenshaw Conoca Park project.

Um that's uh experiencing broadband.

So we're we're here on behalf of the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce and our members asking you to please amend the ordinance.

And this would help again, you know, it would, you know, in these times.

Please continue.

In these times, I'm just thinking that you know, raising property taxes could impact a lot of individuals, and we're asking that that you amend this ordinance as well.

I want to thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Audit LA, Gloria V, Scott, farm worker, Mike, Guiero de la Cuesta, Shirlene Moyer, and Irma Venegas.

Hi, Speaker.

Did you want to speak to the items or general public comment?

I'll be speaking to item four.

Okay, that'll be general.

So please begin.

You have a minute.

Good morning, Courtney Alicia Miles, Abundant Housing LA.

The only constant in life is change.

And implementing SB 79 is the optimal opportunity to do just that.

If creating space for all livelihoods to flourish in Los Angeles is actually what you want to accomplish, preserving heritage and cultural legacy is what is at stake in neighborhoods, then giving hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to create their own legacies and plant roots in high opportunity station areas as amplified in option three.

It advances fairness in how we build, attempting to block the building of housing closer to amenities, resources, and jobs.

The very factors that allow us to improve our lives is morally bankrupt.

Change is just change is essential, and change is necessary, especially when it involves the greater good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items or general public comment did you want?

Hi, sir.

I want everything.

I want the three minutes and then the one minute.

Okay.

So you have three minutes for items one, two, five, and thirty-two through sixty-four, followed by a minute of general.

Please stay on topic.

Yes, sir.

I'll try.

If not, I know smoke and scan will keep me on point.

Okay.

Um, number 59.

I want to talk about okay.

You guys want the LAPD to notify you and all your council districts and come up with a plan, right?

When something important's happening.

And you mentioned some very important stuff.

You mentioned school shootings, you're mentioning um different things, but what's not listed is the stuff that we've been coming here week after week, week after week for two years now.

Like, where's the plan to ask them to tell you what's going on with all that, you know, with Scientology and all their abuses and everything that we've been coming and all the police, everything we're dealing with the police with that.

That is just equally as important.

You know, you know, it's it's we come to every single commission meeting almost like every we've spoken to everyone, and you guys, you know, it's mostly seems to fall on deaf ears.

Like there's been public works has made a difference.

I know even the police are listening in some level.

Um you guys, nothing.

It's like crickets, right, Mr.

Lee.

But um, you know, but when you know, but you don't listen to us, right?

But then you want everyone to listen to you guys.

And President Dawson, I do appreciate a lot of what you said today at the police commission.

Okay, but see, he's not even listening.

I listened to every word he said at the police commission.

And how ridiculous is that?

Okay, and now he's not even listening to what I'm saying.

Smoke and scan.

I hope you call it and smoke and scan.

I hope you're watching live.

I listened.

That's uh the one with Mr.

Um Council President, his name on it.

I forget the number.

Okay.

We listened.

He made a lot of good points, okay.

But now, like when we come here, there's no listening.

So if LAPD calls you on these things for anything, are you gonna listen?

No, likely not.

And then I see a lot of stuff about banners and all that stuff.

I don't know.

The smoke and scan thing, we need the city council to pay for banners and and all this like nonsense, you know, lighting, what I good lighting, yeah.

We need lighting lighting, but not colorful decorative lighting.

You guys need to find a way to have um, especially since you're so desperate for money that you are you are now charging the seniors who need to go to the hospital for advanced life support, or if they fall, you're charging them.

You know, so if you have money, okay.

Oh, I guess that's how you're gonna get the money, right?

The seniors fall and you gotta pick them up, you know.

Then you know, I guess that's how you're gonna get the money to pay for freaking banners.

You know, uh I here I I could go on and on.

I could probably talk about anything right now.

No one's listening.

Can you see the uh city count the um Mr.

Lee Miss Lee, are you listening?

If you are, you still owe me an apology, sir.

Just a reminder.

I appreciate it.

Eventually, hopefully you'll get to that.

Um, but the city attorney, like you're not listening, nobody's listening.

That's how it feels every time we come here.

But you know what?

There was a respect for the council president when he came and spoke at the police commission.

He was respected.

Okay.

General public.

General comment.

Okay, so general comment.

I'm here to talk about Scientology, of course.

Okay, they are now opening their gateway for uh their new golden age to gear towards children.

Mind you, we have come, we have given you books, okay?

We have spoken of victims have come and spoken on the absolute child abuse and child horror that has happened right here in LA City that you guys ignored.

You guys allowed to happen because you care more about their, you know, Scientology is supposed, you know, First Amendment than you do about child protection and helping children who have been abused.

Okay, but you guys don't listen to that.

I bet smoke and scan would bet you wish you listened to us more to listen to anyone.

Did anyone feel listened to today?

I doubt it.

It's ridiculous.

Okay.

I mean, there's serious stuff going on in the city, but besides banners, and and I know there's other very important issues, but I'm here to talk about the abuse of Scientology and its members.

Thank you.

Before the next speaker begins, I'd like to call up Greg Bonette, Danny Jesus Rojas, Peter Hidalgo, and Jenny G.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items or general of public comment did you want?

General.

Please begin.

Scott Epstein, policy director with Abundant Housing LA.

Good morning, Council.

Um, this council directed city planning to center housing equity in its plan for implementing SB 79.

Option three is responsive to that direction and would make meaningful progress on affirmatively furthering fair housing.

Option one, on the other hand, is an up zone on paper alone, which will not produce meaningful numbers of housing units and will bake in the patterns of segregation that have plagued our city for decades.

The corridor transition area program has not attracted a single application in the last year, and its building standards are not robust enough to overcome high land costs in the high resource areas city planning is targeting.

We all love 1920's fourplexes.

That doesn't mean they are feasible in the miracle mile a hundred years later.

Working Angelinos are struggling to maintain a foothold in this city.

I ask you to help them remain in the city that they love.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker.

Hello, which items are general public comment, did you want?

Um actually four, but I'll do general comment.

Okay, please begin.

Um on SP9 uh 79, it's uh about necessarily creating housing, but it is creating a livable city within a city.

Being from Van Nuys, we're facing a lot of uh changes on our area just because the mapping place us as mostly the epicenter in the valley, so we know the challenges.

We just want to have a better vision, and I would like to see more architects, more designers who are local, who are know our local history, our local people, and everything that is part of LA.

Can I go to general public comment?

You're you're still on it, please begin.

Okay, 10 seconds.

I want to commend all the women who said about Cesar Savas, because it takes guts to say something like that, because you don't have to be indifferent of what you've experienced.

Thank you, Speaker.

I'll call up a few more names.

Orren Hadar, Huerta, Ron G, William Good, and Peter Hidalgo.

Hello, Speaker.

Um, what did you want to speak to?

Item number five and general public comment.

Okay, so you have one minute for item number five, followed by a minute for general.

Please begin.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Irma Lara Venegas.

I am a longtime resident of Wilmington.

And our community is being overwhelmed by smoke shops that are opening near our schools and parks.

Uh well, there's smoke shops slash mini markets.

So they sell candy and chips and other snacks that intentionally attract our young people.

Uh within one mile, we have five smoke shops.

Wilmington already has air quality issues, and we must protect our youth from dangerous tobacco products.

A temporary prohibition will prevent more shops from opening while other alternative solutions are being worked on.

This type of exposure needs to stop.

We thank council member McCosker for recognizing this issue and introducing this motion, and we request that you vote yes on the item.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Did you want a minute of general?

Okay, that's it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And what did you want to speak to, Speaker?

Hi.

Item number 10, item 30, and general public.

Okay.

So 10's not open.

30, I think you said is.

So if you want to speak an item 30, you have a minute, and then we'll give you a minute for general, and you can talk about the other items.

Okay.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

So for item 30, uh, we urge a no vote on the ordinance for item item 30, and the of the Bureau of Street Lighting should work on its core function of providing working streetlights throughout the city.

We do not need we do not need the city to become a mega broadband provider, especially at triple the cost of existing street lighting fees.

For item number 10, the ordinance before you uniquely harm Section 8 rental housing providers.

Section A requires 60 days advanced notice for any rent increases and obtaining prior approval for the housing authority of the city of Los Angeles.

As we already are 50 days passed to the newly proposed affected day of February 2nd, the notices of for section 8 will made invalid by the ordinance.

We urge a no vote on this ordinance due to its unfair, inequitable, and damaging impact on Section 8 rental housing providers that are providing desperately needed low-income housing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Speaker.

Would you what did you want to speak to?

I'd like to speak on item 30 and general public comment.

So you have a minute for 30, followed by a minute for general.

Please begin.

Thank you.

My name is Peter Hidalgo, and I'm with Spectrum.

And uh we recognize that streetlighting in Los Angeles is an important priority, especially as it relates to public safety, to neighborhood quality of life, and equitable access to safe streets in every community.

Recently I was driving through one of our neighborhoods in the evening, and you could feel the difference from block to block, where lighting was consistent, it felt safe and active, but where there wasn't lights, it changed the experience significantly.

And that's why this issue matters.

We appreciate the city's efforts to address the challenges, but we but we respectfully offer a different perspective, and that is how this proposal is being structured.

The assessment contemplates a significant increase in revenue, and we believe that there's an opportunity to further strengthen the proposal, focus on the bat on the basics of what's needed in Los Angeles and have 100% of the money go to fixing street lights.

Offer a guarantee to Angelinos that their lights are going to be fixed.

Instead, the proposal introduces experiments that um are potential broadband related activities, such as that are being proposed in Canoga Park, already active in Canoga Park in Crenshaw.

From our perspective, LA is already well served by multiple broadband providers, and we suggest that you amend the ordinance to accept the original CAO's report that does not include the experiments such as the conduit elements.

A clear and focused investment in street lights will deliver greater and most uh immediate impact to Angelinos.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next speaker.

Hi, which items are general public comment?

I would like to speak on agenda 59 and public comment.

So you have a minute for each.

Please begin.

Thank you.

Public safety committee report.

I feel like it says relative to the current policies and procedures for routine communications with council offices regarding public safety activity within their council districts, including but not limited to school shootings, federal enforcement activities, and protests.

When we were protesting the Scientology uh headquarters in Hollywood, they multiple times are calling the the cleanup crews falsely, calling the LAPD falsely.

This is causing major unsafe issues for protesters who were born and raised in this cult that are exposing the family disconnection crimes, the child abuse, the human uh elderly abuse that leave people that when they finally do want to leave Scientology and the cult, they end up homeless or on drugs or literally left with no help whatsoever because they're against psychiatry help, they're against public safety policies because they don't listen to the city, yet they they think it's okay to call and make false calls about the police and all that and have public safety cleanup protesting signs that we are protesting.

You can't come to a protest that is beautifully protesting.

People are it's getting the word out in a number one location of Scientology in Hollywood, where they're literally recruiting people to human traffic them and do the same thing they did to me as a child.

So why do you have the Hollywood city in any kind of situation stopping protesters, picking up their signs?

That has nothing to do with their job, and that needs to be known.

These are innocent people that are probably going to get go get you know the sidewalks cleaned or whatever because they hear false claims from internal Scientologists.

So that needs to be an issue.

It needs to come up.

I have this pamphlet that literally will let you guys know the infiltrating groups that Scientology hides behind.

These are the front groups that it they get into with the homeless with mental health programs, all of that.

So please be aware when I give this out.

Please be aware of that.

Thank you.

And you can give it to the sergeant.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

And before before you start, sir.

Mr.

Herman, please stop making all those gestures while the speaker is trying to speak.

It's distracting.

You did it before, so this is your first last and only warning.

Please go ahead.

Um you were adding more names to the queue.

Yes.

Uh I'd like to call up Chris Wilson, Scott, Brandon Altilano, and Ruben, Aidan Wright, Alexander Dobbs, and Joseph Cohen May.

Thank you.

All right, speaker.

Uh, what did you want to speak to?

Hi, my name is Orrin Hadar, and I'm speaking on item four.

Please go ahead.

You have a minute for general.

Thank you.

Uh today, SB 79 is forcing us to decide where we should build housing.

If you were to put your finger down on a map, you would pick the places being considered today, our city's best neighborhoods.

More kids deserve the opportunity to grow up there.

Please allow more homes there.

But option one, as currently designed, won't cut it.

First of all, the corridor transition program it uses is unworkable.

Zero projects proposed in over a year.

Option one is upzoning on paper only.

And second, for bigger properties, option one doesn't upzone enough to get them to the threshold where they can be delayed, which means SB 79 would fully take effect for those properties on July 1st.

If you want to delay, you need to pass a plan with more Slack.

Option three solves both these problems.

It has enough Slack to pass muster and will actually get housing built now.

Please address the housing crisis with urgency, not delay.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Hello, Speaker.

Which items or general public comment did you want?

Yeah, general public comment.

Please begin.

You have a minute.

Yeah, so last week, the city of Los Angeles reached a settlement with a woman who had been raped by an LAPD officer.

This officer took advantage of a woman who was in mental health crisis, didn't just have sex with her, he analyzedly raped her and he fisted her.

And you guys know about that because you guys all voted to pay for the outside counsel to defend the city.

Now, Nithya, you're running for mayor.

I suggest you pay attention to this and you speak up about it because this officer, ex-officer, needs to be arrested.

He needs to be charged.

I talked to DA Hochman, and he said, ask the LAPD to investigate it, but they investigated it.

They tried to bury it.

Now they found sustained complaints that he did all these things.

But yet he's not being arrested.

What are we doing here?

Nithy, you gotta decide.

Are you gonna stand up for women?

You're gonna stand up for a rape victim, or are you gonna protect an LEPD officer?

It's time to say something.

Enjoy your day.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items your general public comment did you want?

Uh uh item four and general public comment.

Okay, so four's not open, but you'll have a minute of general.

Please.

Before I begin, people have been having their names called on item four, regardless of whether they put in for general public comment or not.

So does that mean that they'll there'll be another public comment period on item four?

No.

I don't believe so.

No.

So this is your opportunity in general.

So you have a minute.

Uh yes.

Good morning, uh Jacob Pierce, Abundant Housing LA, here in strong support of option three and in option uh opposition to option one.

Uh, you have important choices before you on the future of our city, but this isn't just about your choices, it's about ours.

Uh giving Angelinos options for places to live if they want to drive less uh or choose a car light lifestyle, uh, options for people who cannot drive because of health reasons or because of disability, uh, ways for working and middle class families to live in the neighborhood of their choice.

Um, so we urge you to choose option three to allow homes at opportunity stations and continue to ensure compliance with state law.

The other two options open the city up to legal risk.

Option one in particular is a minimal fake upzoning, one that will expose the city to lawsuits we can't afford, especially given the state of our recurring budget crisis.

Please support option three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, speaker.

Which items or general public comment did you want?

Good morning.

Um 30 and general public comment.

Okay, so you have a minute for each.

Please begin.

Thank you.

Mr.

President and Council members, my name is Chris Wilson with Los Angeles County Business Federation known as Biz Fed.

While we appreciate and support the notion of fixing street lights throughout the city of Los Angeles, given its aging infrastructure, we are concerned that the item before you is not about that.

Instead, we're seeing a pivot into the city of LA, exploring involved in the broad being involved in the broadband business, which this also entertains the idea of tripling the tax assessment on property owners to expand the effort.

The city is already experienced experimenting with this in Crenshaw and Canogle Park.

Los Angeles is already one of the most connected cities in the world, with multiple private private providers competing and investing every day.

Respectfully, if this item is about street lights, let it be about street lights and maintenance and fixing them, not smoke and mirrors to taxpayers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Speaker.

Hello, Speaker.

Which items or general public comment did you want?

Item four.

Okay, so you have a minute.

Please begin.

Good morning.

My name is Anne Rubin from Carthay Circle HPOZ, between two purple stops and 99% covered by SB 79.

Carthay Circle is a foundational model for planned communities in Southern California.

And a hundred years later, this put us on the national register.

The famous Cartha Circle Theater was demolished in 69 and spurred our preservation movement.

The whole of Carthay Circle is greater than the sum of our parts.

We are the caretakers for the next generation.

We need mass transit without displacement and gentrification and true affordability.

No great city builds a subway or light rail and then destroys its past and the neighborhoods near the transit stops.

Option C one seems like the most responsible choice.

And please do two other things.

Press our mayor to join the pushback on Sacramento.

Establish a strong anti-demolition ordinance so we don't get stuck with more chain lake lots.

We're gonna look back at this as another era of urban renewal.

Thank you.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items are general public comment did you want?

General public comment regarding item number four.

Excellent.

Please begin.

There are big fair housing consequences that are not being discussed.

By 2030, all of the SB79 capacity must be accommodated.

If we're going to do the minimum possible upzoning now, that means in three years, either we're going to need to go back and significantly upzone these areas, or we're going to need to add all this additional density in low East Our S areas.

And I think if either of those options were explicitly before you, um, there'd be a lot more people out here speaking out.

So I think that if you're going to not do option three, that we should be having that discussion now.

There's also the question if called a transition to provide adequate capacity on a lot basis, it doesn't meet the 50% threshold for all lots, and also the um city's capacity analysis assumes the redevelopment of uh RSO buildings, which would lead to a lot of displacement if that were to actually happen.

So I urge you to make the safest and most equitable choice with option three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Speaker.

Which items are general public comment did you want?

Uh item number four, general comment for I remember four.

Okay, so you have a minute for general.

Thanks.

Hi everyone, my name is Alex Dobbs.

I'm the lead organizer of the Faith in Housing Coalition, and I'm here to echo the sentiments of all my colleagues that have come before me to urge you to vote for option three uh for the SB 79 implementation.

Just want to say really briefly, just um AB 686 was passed in 2018.

That is a state law that mandates every public agency to combat housing discrimination and overcome historic patterns of segregation by affirmally furthering fair housing.

Option three is the only option that really embodies the spirit to firmly further fair housing and give opportunity for low-income residents to live in high opportunity areas and also take displacement pressures um off of tenants and low-income areas.

Thank you very much.

Before the next speaker begins, I'll call up a few more names.

Kendito, Thomas Irwin, Carmina Calderon, Orrin Hadar, Alex Dobbs, Smoke and Scan, and Jacob Pierce.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

My name is Larry Watts.

I'm uh speaking on item number four.

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

Go ahead.

I'm a former chair of the Brentwood Community Council and former vice chair of the West Side Regional Alliance of Councils.

And I'm here to address the proposition that we do need to address our housing problem.

And we believe that a good compromise at this time is option C one.

It will provide increased housing and yet preserving our historic communities.

And that's what we support for our city.

Thank you.

My name is Aidan Wright.

I'm speaking on uh number four general comment.

Good morning.

You have one minute.

Go ahead.

All right.

I would like to speak in favor of option three.

Um I have lived in many cities all around the world, and the best places to live in those cities uh has always been directly in connected in connection with a public transit station.

Uh Los Angeles, many of its public transit connections do not have effective housing directly in connection.

SB 79 was directly created to address this.

Uh by choosing to go with option one, we're effectively creating a fictitious promise for more housing because developers are going to just wait for that timeline to expire where they would not invest in actually building three-story developments if they have the promise of being able to have a much more lucrative option uh extending out just a couple of years.

So I would strongly support we oppose option one and support option three for this.

Thank you.

I'll call up a few more names.

Daryl Salceda, Shelley Wagers, uh Bobby Garrity, Barbara Brioude, good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

I would like to speak to item four, and I respectfully ask for the attention of the council while I do so.

Okay.

So we have one minute for general public comment.

You can speak to number four.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Shelley Wagers, Beverly Grove Neighborhood Association.

SB 79 disrupts established neighborhoods and intact communities.

My own, Beverly Grove, qualifies for relief by virtue of existing housing capacity, but only under option B.

Community leaders here today may differ on the options, but we all agree on this.

During the effectuation delay, this council must make every effort to get SB 79 amended and to limit the damage, meanwhile.

The city needs to concentrate development on corridors, impose density incentives that can be lifted, and verify planning permits and funding before any demolition.

First, do no harm.

Second, take the fight to Sacramento.

Thank you.

Antonio Hernandez, Boozy, Larry Watts, Chris Wilson, and Gloria Villavicens.

Okay, so I don't see anybody standing up.

Um, if your name was just called, um, please stand up and make your way to the left-hand side of council chambers.

Thank one person in the back.

Nope.

And they're leaving.

Okay.

Council President, those were all the names called for public comment.

All right, that concludes public comment for today's uh meeting.

Madam Clerk, what items are available for votes at this time.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh, before we continue, do any members have any other items to call special?

Councilmember Lee.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

For item number 62.

I'd just like to move the ordinance that's dated March 24th, 2026.

That's on the council file.

Thank you.

Is there a second to that motion?

Councilmember Park, thank you.

Councilmember Hutt.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

On um item number 16.

I'd like to continue it to March 27th.

All right, without objection.

Thank you.

Any other specialist members?

All right.

There's okay, thank you.

The council may now vote on items one through two, 32 through 33, 35 through 50, 52 through 61, and 64.

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

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right.

Uh there's a motion to note and file item number 63.

Thank you.

Is there a second to that motion?

Seconded by Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you.

All right.

What's next?

Would the council like to move on to item three called special by Council Members Raman and Park?

Uh let's move to item three.

Is that for speaking or amendments?

Then the amendment is still circulating.

I believe it's already been circulated.

Okay.

Umoslovski.

Uh thank you, Council President.

Um colleagues, I rise today in support of moving forward with the speed safety pilot program.

Uh, this legislation authorized a pilot in six jurisdictions across our state.

LA is uh the last to implement it, and frankly, that's uh embarrassing and unfortunate.

But this pilot is limited, and this pilot is limited to five years, uh, and we're already well into that five-year period.

San Francisco already has its cameras in place, and the revenues going back into traffic calming improvements, street improvements that makes our streets safer.

Um just want to note how often we talk about how we don't have money to make street safety improvements or fund HLA mandates.

This is a meaningful source of funding for projects that are going to save lives, and we're just leaving it on the table.

Um speeding, as we know, is one of the most serious threats on our streets.

Cars are the leading cause of death for children in Los Angeles, and the rest of the country, it's guns.

That should stop all of us in our tracks.

Uh, this program gives us a tool to prevent those deaths and to protect people in every neighborhood.

LA should lead on pedestrian safety.

Um, I urge an I vote today.

I also want to reiterate my request to DOT to move with urgency and get this program up and running as soon as possible.

Um we'll make our streets safer.

It's gonna bring in tens, if not more, of millions of dollars a year for the very things that right now we can't afford to fund.

Um I welcome these cameras in my district and look forward to expanding their use.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, council member.

Uh let's open the roll on this item.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

Fourteen ayes.

Thank you.

And that is item three adopted as amended by motions three B and three A.

All right, what's next?

Would the council like to move on to item number five?

Called special by Councilmember McCosker for comments and council member rauman for a separate vote.

Councilmember McCoster.

Thank you very much, Mr.

President.

Before we get to item five, can I ask that item two be sent forthwith?

That's the uh Port of LA pilotage fees.

Thank you so much.

Uh so item number five is about smoke shops, and I'm asking for an ICO and CD 15 and the one five.

And I think we heard some of our speakers, and I want to thank Alicia Balthazar, who actually was very humble in her presentation.

She is the one that moved this petition uh throughout the entire one five and the entire um harbor area.

I want to thank Irma Venegas also for coming and speaking.

And as a side note, uh Ms.

Venegas is put up as a commissioner for the uh Harbor Area uh Planning Commission for some time in the future.

I'm sure she will be approved.

Um smoke shops are ubiquitous in so many parts of our cities, and what we are finding is particularly in the Wilmington community where where the issue was first risen by uh uh brought up by by great community members, but it is spreading everywhere.

What we are finding is these smoke shops, which are virtually unregulated on uh through any local action, uh, pop up and they become the places that draw in our youth.

They they are selling nitrous oxide that's flavored.

I mean, why are we putting bubblegum flavored nitrous oxide?

They are selling chips and sodas, they're selling tobacco products, they're illegal illegally very often selling cannabis, uh, which is a tax problem and a regulatory problem.

Uh, and they sell oven cleaner.

Sort of my my wake-up moment was when I walked into one and saw oven cleaner.

Who among us has ever driven home from work and thought I'm gonna clean my oven tonight, so I will stop at a smoke shop to buy some oven cleaner.

We know exactly what they are selling that for, and we know who they're selling it to.

And in the city of Los Angeles, we have a particular problem in that our processes are fulsome, but they're slow.

So we have a harbor area um community plan that is coming, and it'll be wonderful.

It'll be wonderful.

But it's coming and it's coming slowly.

It will provide some regulations of smoke shops.

Well, guess what?

When folks see that those regulations are coming, what do they do?

They run to the door to pull a ministerial permit.

An ICO is meant to do exactly what we're trying to do today.

By the way, we are too we are far too slow on ICOs as well.

If we were in you know, Burbank or Lamida or Monrovia, a council member would say, Hey, I want an ICO, and the following Tuesday they would have one, it would be in place, and we wouldn't have new smoke shops opening up or whatever.

Pick your obnoxious thing that we're protecting our people from.

We move too slow on ICOs.

The announcement of an ICO itself, the fact that it takes weeks and weeks and weeks, has the opposite effect of driving people to the counter to pull these permits.

We stop.

We have to stop it.

We need to stop these permits so that we can come up with reasonable regulations for how they space each other, which does exist in some parts of our city, and how they are spaced next to sensitive uses.

My push in the long run is going to be not just away from schools, not just away from each other, but away from parks and away from libraries.

We have a definition that is coming.

We don't have a definition currently in our Muni code, but we have a definition coming in our planning codes.

We need to put this ICO in place now.

So I will urge an I vote.

I will urge an I vote, and I will say that these circumstances are exactly why moratorium, the the law for general law cities and moratoria exist, and exactly why we put into our code the ability for us as a charter law city to have an interim control ordinance.

It is a thing that we use very successfully in Wilmington because of good people in Wilmington around the trucking uses.

We had a slow rolling set of regulations coming on trucking storage and truck parking, and it was taking so long that we put an ICO in place, and that ICO actually froze everybody in place until the new regulations could come.

I'm just asking for the same thing here for the good of our children for the good of our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

McCosker, Councilmember Yaroslowski.

Thank you, Councilmember McCosker.

I'm just wondering if this is something that we could talk about as a citywide uh ordinance and an ICO.

I would love it, but I can't.

Uh so I guess the question is for the relevant department, if we can do we can we act on that today and ask that we get a report back on what it would look like if we took this citywide.

I share all the same concerns, and a couple colleagues are asking why we can't also do it citywide, or at least look at the impacts and make that decision together.

Um so I don't know if planning is here and is it play?

Well, I'm assuming that we can do that.

Can we can we ask for that now as part of this adoption, or do we need to start the process all over again?

That might be a question for the well that's planning to come to the table to answer Council Member Yarzlovsky's question.

And that might be a city attorney question on whether we could.

I mean, I don't know that we all right now want to vote on expanding it citywide, but I think I'm there are a bunch of us who were like, why are we only doing this in 15?

Um it's a good idea, Mr.

McCostin.

Uh hello, Michelle Singh, city planning.

Um, well, we uh evaluated a citywide approach.

We did make a recommendation that this was a citywide issue, but at the moment, because um it was introduced in 15 and we have a solution coming through the community plan update program to regulate smoke shops through the harbor plans.

Um, our recommendation was uh that we can make the findings for the ICO and CD 15 at this time.

Okay.

All right.

Um so what could we ask now for an analysis to be done to make the findings citywide?

Or do we need to introduce a new motion and start this all over again?

Kevin Keller, city planning.

I think if that's it's a policy call.

So if the council would like to give us direction to also look city citywide, we can prepare that analysis.

We don't know what that analysis would look like, but we can prepare that.

So perhaps I can with friendly amendment, Mr.

McCosser, to ask as part of the adoption of the ICO in 15 that you all report back to the appropriate committee with um recommendations and um findings that would justify a citywide ICO.

Citywide because they already have the Mr.

President.

Yes, just for clarification, I would be delighted to make that friendly amendment as long as we are not holding up the preparation and the adopt the ultimate adoption of the ICO for CD 15.

I would make the amendment to this action today that we also ask for the same rigorous set of findings for citywide, but to have it not delayed the action that we are taking today to move forward for the harbor area and for Watts.

I'll second that.

Councilmember Raman.

All right.

Um if there are no other speakers, I just want to thank you, Councilmember McCosker, for using the tools that were available uh to us to confront this uh this challenge.

Um one of the things that we don't have the tools to get at these types of uses being contrasted concentrated in low-income vulnerable communities.

Uh and we got a long history of that in our city, and different ones come up with different solutions.

And so I thank you for coming up with the solutions.

But I just want us to keep our eye on the prize that it's no mistake that Wilmington is the epicenter in your district for these types of uh this type of land use as opposed to other neighborhoods.

And so, with that, uh let's open the roll.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Forthwith.

Thank you.

Without objection.

Thank you.

Would the council like to move on to item 26 called special by council member Soto Martinez for comments?

Councilmember Soto Martinez.

Thank you so much, Mr.

President.

Uh, first of all, thank you, Council, for um for everything I'll do.

Uh I want to thank uh Councilmember Hernandez Price uh McCosker and Yaroslavsky for seconding this motion.

This motion is about taking a comprehensive citywide look at economic development, what works, what doesn't, and how we can build a strategy that actually delivers results for our residents.

For too long, our city has struggled to carry out economic development in a strategic and coordinated way.

We found this conversation happening when we were doing the restructuring of departments and even having the debate over the convention center.

Instead of leading, we are reacting, and we miss the biggest opportunities to create lasting economic growth.

This report will examine best practices from other cities and will and will allow us to learn from their challenges so we can avoid repeating the same mistakes.

We need an economic development plan that is grounded in evidence, aligned with our city's needs, and focused on real outcomes.

We cannot keep fighting over the scraps.

We need to grow the pie.

Growing the pie make sure that we can fund our city services and do so much more.

And this motion is about doing that, doing exactly that.

So I want to thank the departments and staff who have been doing their hard work on this issue, and I look forward to report back as it comes so we can have a citywide vision for economic development, and I respectfully ask for an I vote.

Thank you so much.

Uh Mr.

McCosker, Councilmember Yarosowski.

Oh, no?

Yes.

Uh thank you, Council President, and thank you, Councilmember Soto Martinez, uh, for introducing this crucial report back and getting the conversation started.

I'm hopeful that this assessment of our economic development within the city can be complemented with a look at how we work with partners in the private nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to better leverage our city assets toward economic growth.

I strongly support the motion.

I want us to identify the best ways to structure expertise within the city and without to support our economic development work.

Um but I want this to be mirried to efforts that look at how we leverage our city assets for growth.

This includes developing underutilized city-owned property.

It includes activating landmarks within our city as event spaces where our city can be a backdrop for people's lives, and that includes a motion I recently introduced to refresh the city's visual identity and look at licensing our intellectual property assets.

Uh, to do this right, we need to move all of this work in parallel, and that includes looking at our charter reform, including Section 104G, which right now limits the city's ability to enter into commercial enterprises.

Uh, we shouldn't let the charter tie our hands when it comes to ways of generating new revenue that we desperately need to staff our departments, pave our streets, and reinvest in the Los Angeles.

We all love.

So I urge your I vote and urge us to keep this conversation at the forefront of our work as a council.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Yarosovsky, Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Soda Martinez, for this motion.

I only wish that there was this consideration when the conversation was eliminating the department and the work of economic development with so many businesses are struggling.

So I look forward to hopefully re-establishing some independent form of economic development strategy that we can do in the city.

Meanwhile, businesses right now don't have that.

We have you know decimated that.

So I appreciate that this level of effort is now coming forward.

I wish it was demonstrated during the consolidation conversation.

But colleagues, we are in dire economic times, and I think it's really wise for everyone to start thinking more constructively about the decisions that are being made here and what the implications are for businesses, for job creation in the city, particularly when we're starting to see so many businesses closing their doors.

We have to do more with not just eliminating it in Spain, we'll figure it out later.

It's about being very thoughtful long in advance of doing more harm.

So I'm glad this is going forward.

I hope it merits and generates uh some constructive uh outcomes going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rodriguez.

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

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Would the council like to move item to item number 27 called special by Councilmember Jigas?

Councilmember Rodriguez, item 27.

Yes, so item 27 is about helping those very same small businesses that we keep talking about wanting to help, helping them find a fast pass essentially to being able to compete for the contracts as it relates to LA 28.

We have seen some frankly bad actors in the space of uh the types of different pathways for businesses to be able to compete for these LE28 contracts, and so this is an effort to actually make sure that local businesses here in Los Angeles will be green lit so that they won't be held up or there won't be other identifiable excuses to not ensure that local businesses in Los Angeles are able to compete effectively for contracts associated with LA28 and all the other activities that we're doing.

So I want to thank uh BCA for their assistance and support with this.

Um, creating a pre-certification process for these businesses will help them be more competitive when it comes to contracting opportunities as it relates to some of these um LA 28 contracts, and so I ask for your I vote.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguez.

Let's open the role on this item, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Would the council like to move on to item 30 called special by Councilmember Lee and Rodriguez?

Yes.

Uh Councilmember Lee for questions or comments.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Yeah, I'd like to ask the the Bureau of Street Lighting.

I believe they're here if they could come to the desk to answer a couple questions.

So, colleagues, I I wanted to take a moment to clarify the intended scope of the Bureau of Street Lighting as we consider this assessment and you know related infrastructure investments for the final time.

You know, ratepayers expect um that when they are asked to fund these core services like street lighting, maintenance, and public safety enhancements, that those dollars remain tightly focused on that mission.

Uh I just like to confirm for the record that the Bureau of Street Lighting's primary mission is the installation, maintenance, and operation of the city's street lighting system.

And uh wanted to just make sure that for the record, I would just like it for the record.

Can you confirm that the Bureau Street Lighting does not intend to become an ISP?

Miguel Sanglung, Director of Bureau Sheet Lighting.

I can confirm that it is not the intent of the Bureau of Street Lighting to become an ISP.

What the what item number 30 specifically and uh in front of the council is solely for the operations and maintenance of the street lighting network that Los Angeles has.

Well, thank you, Miguel.

I you know this is important.

I just wanted that on the record because this is a function of core service of the city of Los Angeles that we have obviously fallen behind in providing.

And this is a pure public safety need in our city of Los Angeles, and I wanted to make sure that the rate payers understood that we are focused on that and not divulg that money into other areas.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

That's it.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you, Council President.

Um thank you, Miguel and team for being here.

Just for clarity for me to follow up on that question.

Are there any when you look at the assessment?

Is there any particular language that determines the only viable use for those dollars or that could creates guardrails with those dollars?

State law and um city uh policies and laws as well.

Uh it is a special fund.

It is collected solely for the purpose of operations and maintenance of the street lighting network itself.

Um, those are detailed out in our engineers report.

That's also in part uh listed out in our long-term operational plan, which the assessment is based on.

Great, thank you.

And Council President, I just have comments and I'm done.

Thank you.

Uh colleagues, today, one in ten street lights in the city of LA will sit dark.

For 30 years, the Bureau of Street Lighting has been operating on a frozen budget while thieves strip our lights for parts.

We cannot keep throwing money at temporary fixes, putting copper back into the ground only to watch it get stolen again.

We need in innovative and cost-effective fixes.

That is exactly why I'm excited to see this move forward because it's going to give us an opportunity to implement some of those fixes, such as solarization, where we don't have to keep replacing the wire over uh copper wire over and over again.

Uh just thank you, colleagues.

I hope you can support the much, Council Member Hernandez.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Um, colleagues, and so I I registered my no vote on this item uh when it came before us last week.

And I think given again the economic constraints of what we're dealing with, I recognize where we are right now with the Bureau and its needs.

But I also recognize that taxpayers are also there's other proposals for other funding sources that essentially are kind of doubling up on the amount taxpayers are going to be charged to help repair our street lighting infrastructure in the name of solar lighting and a number of other efforts.

And so I just want to make sure that at a time when we talk about, you know, everyone talks about the rent is too damn high or oh, affordability.

I just want to remind everybody this also affects affordability in this city at a very difficult time when families and and businesses are struggling, and so that part can't be ignored.

And so I recognize it, but we can't keep going to people asking them to give us more money without a plan.

And the plan that we have is based on 2022.

Uh, when I asked this question, and here we are asking people in 26.

So I just that doesn't sit well with me.

I believe taxpayers deserve better uh in and more respect for all the various tax measures that they're going to be asked to consider in the next several months.

And so again, as far as I'm concerned, you don't get to pick and choose when you talk about how expensive it is to be in this city.

This is part of it, and I completely believe it is an essential part, an essential part of public safety, an essential part of making families feel safer in their neighborhoods.

But we better be very thoughtful about what other measures we're taking to restore lights in this city and the dollars that are being used for that.

We are in severe fiscal crisis, and we know this, but we also have an obligation to have a very clear, concise plan for the restoration of and preservation of these lights, the protection of that infrastructure, the coordination with.

I mean, I know in my district we had LAPD was effective at uh catching somebody with $50,000 worth of copper wire.

So there has to be components that allow us to maximize efficiencies, guarantee the restoration and the acceleration of the restoration of these lights with a thoughtful plan to do so that maximizes everybody, whether they're using discretionary dollars or whether you're getting additional a windfall of taxpayer dollars.

Those things really matter.

But again, I just want to make sure that what we're not doing is double dipping on to taxpayers' dollars its pockets to help do this work when there are a number of other proposals being considered.

We got to do this right.

They deserve more.

The affordability crisis is very real, it's palpable, and so I'm all for it, but I want to make sure that we are being as lean and mean as possible to be able to do this work.

That's why I believe a 2026 plan was warranted before we go forward with this.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rodriguezing.

No other speakers on the queue.

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

13 ayes, one no.

All right.

Thank you all so much.

Uh what's next?

Thank you.

The council can move on to item 34, a called special for a substitute by council member Lee.

So the first vote could be whether to substitute the item.

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

14 ayes.

All right.

Okay, and now substitute motion Lee Rodriguez is before the council.

All right, let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate to vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Thank you.

The council may move on to item number 51, called special by council member Hernandez for comments.

Councilmember Hernandez.

All right, let's open the roll on this item.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Thank you.

The council may now move on to item 10 called special by council member price for recusal.

All right.

Give Mr.

Price the opportunity to recuse.

All right.

Uh any speakers on this item.

If not, uh let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate to vote.

13 ayes.

All right, what's next?

And apologies, the council may do item number 62, which is motion Lee Park to move the ordinance dated March 24th.

You sure we didn't do that?

We did 63.

63 is a note and file.

That's done.

We didn't do 62.

All right, let's open the roll.

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

All right, what's next?

The council may now move on to item four.

Item which one?

Item number four.

Four.

All right.

Uh we will start uh what I think will be a very invigorating conversation around California State Senate bill.

79.

Um is our former state senator coming back.

We we gotta have somebody to scream at.

It's Mr.

Price.

Huh?

On 79, on AB7 on number 42.

Oh wow, okay.

Of course.

Um, Mr.

Bloomfield.

Okay, thank you.

Colleagues, Los Angeles, California, we have a housing and affordability crisis.

To solve that, we know that one of the things we must do is more housing.

We also face a climate crisis in Los Angeles.

A huge contribution, contributor to climate change is is our development patterns and urban sprawl that increase reliance on single occupancy vehicles.

There are these are problems that have been decades in the making.

We're not gonna solve them overnight.

Uh we've made some strides.

We you know, the CHIP program was really uh a major effort, and it shows that we're serious about housing.

We've make strides as a city overall and individually in our districts.

You know, the Warner Center in my district is is a great example of where housing can go and how to build it, and has just caused it's why this district has grown faster than anywhere else in the city.

But we we also have a ways to go.

And while we as a body we opposed uh SB 79, uh many of us felt that it was it was sort of a ham-handed kind of sledgehammer approach.

Uh the reality behind it though is that the reason for it was was legitimate, not necessarily the uh the way that it was written, but it's to create more opportunities for housing construction and to focus development in areas of high quality transit that are less car dependent.

That is a worthy goal.

Um and now SB 79 is a reality, and we need to figure out how we as a body implement that.

SB 79 takes effect July 1st.

Um we had three options that were presented to us initially as a as a committee A, B, and C.

A was basically just just say, all right, 79 is the law, pedal to the metal, just turn it on everywhere.

Option B was anywhere we can legally, because there's some outs on it, anywhere we can legally say delay, let's legally say delay.

And then option C was more of the Goldilocks, which is let's be a little bit more thoughtful about it and keep with the spirit of it, but let's let's try to be smart in the way that we delay.

Because the option B, which was the delay everything that you legally can would have created really foolish discrepancies where you would have a lot of uh building you know density in uh in the valley in areas not along transit and then along the transit lines, you would have um no development.

So we as a committee we said, all right, let's look at option C.

And then within option C the planning department came with three sort of sub-options C1, C2, and C3.

And you've all heard about these different options.

And we discussed this during committee, and uh we really we didn't have a full committee, and so we actually did not get consensus.

And there was thought about keeping it in committee, but I thought, you know what, let's move something forward because this is an issue that every single one of us is gonna want to weigh in on and be part of.

So we move forward, uh, you know, sort of the middle one of the C A, you know, A, B, and C.

And I can have planning come talk about the options, but basically of those of those three options, there they're different levels of development.

Option the the third one is sort of the most uh immediate development, but all three of those options allow for us to develop a alternative, a local alternative.

And that's ultimately what we want to do as a city.

We want to take the sledgehammer of SB 79, and we want to say, okay, we understand we have to have that density, but this law allows us flexibility to make thoughtful decisions about where that density should go and where it shouldn't go.

And I think all of us realize the places where it really needs to go is along those major transit corridors and along commercial corridors.

Those that's where it should go.

There's been a lot of talk about upzoning also.

I want to make clear, none of these options actually up zone.

What they do though, and we we use that term, and I don't I'm not very fond of that term being used here.

We're really creating incentives around transit because there's no none of the none of a C one, two, or three is actually changing the zoning.

So even if you do C1, C2, or C3, you're not actually getting all of the stack benefits that you would get with a zone up and up zone.

But you are seeing around transit more incentives put forward.

So been talking to some of my colleagues uh that I can talk to within the Brown Act and Councilwoman Yaroslavsky and I came up with uh basically a version of option C, C1, to move forward, um, which I'm putting forward today as a as uh amendment 4A, which is a C1 alternative, but I'm also introducing a motion as well that is not part of this package because it had to be an independent motion that that it basically is gonna help light a fire uh under our planning department so that we actually get this done before four years because really we we want to see those alternatives, those thoughtful alternatives put in place as soon as we can.

Um, because ultimately that's the way that we can we can meet the goals of SB 79, but do so in a less sledgehammer-y, less ham-handed way, um, that we can get it done.

So, colleagues, what I urge, and I know there's been a lot of discussion, and I'm happy to have planning talk about in more detail those three options, but what I'm putting forward today and asking for your support is is Amendment 4A, which is a variant of what is known as C1.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Blumenfield and uh members of the planning committee.

Uh, Councilmember Raman on the queue.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Bloomfield, for that summary of what happened in the committee, and I think that was uh that was indeed the outcome of the discussion.

I had a couple of questions for the planning department if they're able to join us.

So uh Amendment 4A suggests that we put forward options option C, option one from the report, which basically extends the corridor transition incentive program in many parts of the city.

And I just wondered whether you could tell us a little bit more about the corridor transition program.

I know it's already part of the CHIP program.

We heard from some public commenters today that no projects have been proposed under the corridor transition program, and I just wanted to hear whether that was true or not, and if so, why?

Blair Smith, senior city planner, thank you for the opportunity to respond to that question.

The corridor transition program was envisioned to offer missing middle housing incentives ranging from four to sixteen units and two to four stories as part of our mixed income incentive program adopted uh last year.

The program, when it was originally envisioned, was intended to imply to single family properties as we were developing the CHIP program.

So as it was brought forward through the adoption process, it ended applying to a lot much more limited uh geographic area of the city, in general, basically saying that there are very few parcels today that are eligible for the CT or corridor transition program.

We weren't surprised to learn that we didn't receive any applications because of that limited application.

In addition to that, we've been um after the adoption of CHIP, we conducted additional economic analysis for the program to better understand if we could make program revisions to make the program more desirable.

Um we mentioned that briefly in our report, but as we bring forward any options, whether it be C1, C2, C3, we would be proposing some modifications to the program to make them more economically desirable.

And so under option C1 here, how many more parts of the city would the corridor transition program apply to?

I don't have an exact count on parcels in part because SB79 mapping is still evolving.

Um we could bring back that information when we bring forward the ordinance, but it would be a very substantive expansion of the program.

And what happens if the city of Los Angeles puts forward a plan for adopting SB79 and it doesn't meet the requirements set by the state?

We have a number of pathways, we're choosing one pathway.

Is there anything that this pathway needs to do in order for this to be approved by the state as a pathway that we can follow?

We are working with HCD to develop and review ordinances as we're preparing them.

So we're um working to get their guidance as we develop the program to ensure consistency with the statute, but if there was a fly with flaw with the statute, we would come back and seek an amendment.

So you're confident that either option C1, C2, or C3 would be approved by the state as a way of meeting the goals of SB79?

Yes, so in addition to offering the the incentives in the program today, we would also add amendments to ensure that you are able to achieve at least half of what SB79 permits.

I know there were some comments about whether large sites would be compliant under the CT program, those amendments would ensure that if the site is large, 20,000 square foot, that they would be entitled to at least half of the density permitted under SB 79.

I'm sorry, could you say that again?

That was a little confusing.

Yeah, under SB 79, in order to delay or pause or phase in implementation, a site has to permit half of the density and building volume that's permitted under the bill.

So as we bring forward these corridor transition amendments, if option one is to be chosen, we would also have have an allowance that ensures that every site is guaranteed at least half of what is permitted under SB 79 that are eligible for the program.

Okay.

Um and then what happens at the end of the period that we have to adopt it?

Like this is for now, and then in three years, what happens, or in four years what happens?

Yeah, we we see implementation as being a phased implementation.

So we start with this pause of the bill and this initial rollout, and then we will be bringing back recommendations for how we develop local alternative plans.

So that includes recommendations related to the distribution of capacity, which stations grow and reduce through the local all plan process consistent with affirmatively furthering fair housing, um, as was directed in past report backs, um, and then also what sort of needs we're gonna have to be able to do that effectuation.

But to be to be abundantly clear, if option one is chosen today, many of the parcels will require future op zonings.

And what is the timeline for that process?

Yeah, the the legal statute is one year following the adoption of the housing element about 2030, um, but there are also requirements to publish draft materials alongside the housing element adoption process, which is about 2028.

Um but there are also requirements to publish draft materials alongside the housing element adoption process, which is about 2028.

Okay.

Okay, um, thank you.

Councilmember Yaroslovski.

So I think Councilwoman Raman pretty much asked all my questions uh about corridor transition.

Um so I just want to because we've been hearing rumors that if we do option C1, we're gonna be out of compliance with affirmatively furthering fair housing.

And you said pretty you said unequivocally that that's just not true.

It goes beyond what we're required to do under the law.

Um more question, I guess.

As we look ahead, is it is it gonna be possible for us to take a phased approach where we move forward with option C1 now to meet the June 1 deadline, July 1 deadline, and then focus on additional planning in high opportunity areas to get closer to full SB79 implementation in the near term while we develop a broader citywide plan for 2030 per Councilmember Blumenfield's uh motion.

Yes, those would be the next steps.

Okay.

Great.

Um I have some remarks, which I will just get through quickly.

Um other folks have questions for planning, though I don't want to, why don't I just the councilwoman, the queue is empty for you, so if you can make your comments, I'll call on the next person and we might get to vote.

Okay.

Um so I want to thank Councilmember Loonfield for your leadership on this.

Um I want to start by colleagues focusing on what is in front of us right now.

The question before us is how we implement SB 79 in a way that actually works, allows for thoughtful planning, and results in more kinds of homes people want to live in and can afford to live in.

Bigger units for families, more affordable options for middle and lower income angelinos, and stability for seniors who can't afford rent increases year after year because they're not covered by RSO units.

Because right now, this conversation has been reduced to something overly simple.

You either think SB 79 is the best thing to come out of Sacramento since Joan Didian, or you think it's gonna destroy every neighborhood in Los Angeles overnight.

And I think we all, for the most part, can agree that neither is true.

Uh, you may recall that I didn't support SB9 when it was proposed.

I say that as someone who strongly supports building housing near transit and wants more density.

My concern has always been with the law itself.

Uh SB 79 has a lot of flaws that still haven't been worked out.

For example, there are 90,000 rent stabilized duplexes, the law does not exempt.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty about where and how SB79 will apply.

And we have to be honest about that.

Even if we agree on the intent of the law, it shouldn't be beyond reproach.

But it's also the law of the land, and colleagues, it's a real opportunity for us.

We need more housing.

What we decide today will shape what actually gets built across the city if we do it right.

Option C1 moves us forward, and it's allowed under the law, as the planning department reiterated.

Here is what C1 actually does.

It allows more housing near transit right now in higher and moderate opportunity areas by expanding and making better the corridor transit program.

The corridor transit the corridor transit program or CT was created as you all just talked about through the citywide housing incentive program or CHIP, which this body adopted just over a year ago.

CT allows roughly three to four story buildings and small multifamily housing.

The option we're discussing today would allow this type of housing in single-family neighborhoods near transit for the first time in decades, and some for the very first time ever.

At the same time, option C1 delays the full impact of SB 779 in lower resource areas, fire zones in historic districts until 2030.

In my mind, C1 is phase one.

It adds meaningful housing capacity now and gives us time to decide where the rest of the density should go within our own communities.

That is a path SB 79 explicitly allows.

But I want to be really clear.

If this doesn't result in housing that gets built, none of this matters.

And that's why I'm introducing an additional motion today that's gonna, I hope, go through committee.

Um, the motion focuses on making sure the homes we are legalizing today actually get built.

So the corridor transition program we created under CHIP is supposed to allow small multifamily housing, four plexus, sixplexes, up to about 16 units, two to four stories.

This kind of housing we have not built in large numbers in decades.

But there is an elephant in the room we need to address directly, which is what Councilwoman Raman just brought up.

The corridor transition program is currently designed isn't working.

In the first year of CHIP, it resulted in zero applications citywide.

Zero.

Not because there's no demand for this type of housing, but because the math doesn't work.

We excluded single family parcels from qualifying for the program when we adopted SHIP a year plus ago.

We added requirements that increase costs, and we didn't provide enough incentive for projects to pencil.

If we expanded this program, if we expand this program today without fixing it, we'll get additional zoning on paper and not necessarily housing in reality.

And that for me is not an acceptable outcome.

Option C one begins to fix that by including single family parcels included under SB 79 and making more land available.

But the motion I'm introducing later today, which has been circulated, I think goes beyond that further.

It directs planning to fix the incentives that are holding these projects back.

It means increasing allowable floor areas so projects pencil.

It means updating height and unit mix rules so builders can include more three and four bedroom units in their projects, which right now, if you're a renter in LA, you know you cannot find a four-bedroom apartment to rent pretty much anywhere in the city.

Um not in theory, but in practice, actually build this housing.

Uh I mentioned that option C1 is phase one.

I want to talk quickly about what comes next.

Option C1 adds some of the housing required under SB 79 now and delays the rest, but that's temporary.

By 2030, we still have to plan for the full amount, which is why option C1 directs planning to start work now on a citywide local alternative plan that allows us working with each of our respective communities to determine where the rest of that housing is gonna go, so we're ready to fully implement SB 79 in 2030.

That timeline matters because it allows us to protect lower resource areas in the near term, because implementing a citywide local alternative plan before 2030 would immediately require upzoning in lower resource areas.

High fire severity zones and historic districts.

I don't believe that's an appropriate path forward, and I think many of you agree with that.

Uh at the same time, we do not have to and shouldn't wait years to act in higher opportunity areas.

I appreciate Councilmember Bloominfield's leadership on this and his effort to move more quickly in those areas, which colleagues includes most of the circles, if not all of the circles in my district.

That approach still allows us to do thoughtful planning that focuses higher intensity along corridors in near transit and steps down in scale as you move into neighborhoods, including those currently zoned for single family homes.

Taken together Councilmember Blumenfield's motion before us today, and the motion I'm introducing later, would accomplish three things.

We're legalizing a meaningful amount of new housing near transit right now.

Three and four story buildings anywhere within a half mile of 55 transit stations.

We're fixing the corridor transition program so that housing actually gets built, and we're directing the next step now so that future density is placed where it makes the most sense.

This isn't the end of the work, not even close.

There are additional changes we should be pursuing, including single stair reform and state legislation like AB 1406 and AB 1903 to expand homeownership opportunities.

Because right now this is all gonna be rental housing.

Um but I've gone long on long enough, and I'll leave those that conversation for another day.

I just want to close by explaining why this is personal to me, deeply personal.

I'm a renter, I have three little kids.

I also have an aging parent looking to downsize.

I spent the weekend trying to find a place for my mom to live somewhere near us, and we couldn't find it.

We can't find a home in this part of Los Angeles that works for a family like mine at a price that's attainable.

I am literally priced out of my own district.

I'm not unique, there are hundreds of thousands, if not more, families across Los Angeles facing the same reality.

This vote is gonna make an impact.

We can move forward, we can build more housing, and we can take responsibility for getting it right.

And that's what this approach does.

And so, colleagues, I respectfully ask for your support of C1 as uh as moved by Councilmember Bloomenfield.

Thank you.

All right, I have uh Councilmember Soto Martinez and Councilmember Raman on theCUBE.

Thanks so much, Mr.

President.

Uh first of all, I want to just give uh my thanks to the planning and land use committee uh with our chair, uh Councilmember Bloomenfield for really digging into this issue.

I know it's one of the most important ones uh you know for our city right now.

And I also want to thank Councilmember Nazaring for introducing 4D.

Uh I was thinking about the same thing, and glad you were too.

Uh it's about asking money to send out notices so that neighborhoods can know about what's going on.

I believe that as we work through these issues, we gotta work with our community uh and really get in the weeds uh, you know, and find the right solution.

Um I don't know at what moment is this would be appropriate, but I would like to move option two, C2 of this.

Um we could do it now, or we can move it when we get to item 4A.

But you know, I I get the conversations about trying to implement SB 79, but I just don't think it goes far enough with option C one.

Uh I think option two represents a thoughtful balance between gentle upzoning and most of the affected high opportunity areas and targeted increased density and higher overall affordability in areas of most needed, such as Hollywood, uh, which has a really robust uh light rail infrastructure that I believe we should be upzoning as high as we can.

Uh for this reason, I believe option two is the most pragmatic of the options we have before us, regardless of where the vote ends up.

Uh, I know this is not the end in 2030.

We'll have we'll have a lot more conversation about it, but I do look forward to working with everyone on the full rollout of the local implementation of SB79, because I think we agree that we certainly need it uh here in the city of LA.

So uh at some point uh we'd like to move option uh C2, uh, Council President.

I don't know if it's now, but you should yeah, so you don't have to push your button again.

Well, I like to move to instruct the Department of City Planning to initiate a code amendment for an alignment with approach C option two, relative to an analysis of the impacts and implementation of Senate Bill SB79, including the results of modeling analysis and options for open zoning and temporary delayed effectuation on today's item.

Thank you.

I don't know.

Can I get a second on that?

Thank you so much, Councilmember Rahman.

All right.

Councilmember Rahman.

Uh thank you.

I just wanted to uh say that Councilmember Yarslavsky appreciate your remarks from earlier.

I have introduced an amendment for C, which looks exactly at this question of how we can, if we are moving forward with option C1, which it seems like that there is quite a lot of support for, um, that we are not moving forward with something that uh is going to be ineffective in practice.

And so this amendment, which I hope that you will all support, uh asks for the Department of City Planning along with the report back for this to actually look at this incentive program to use the economic analysis that you've done uh already and to recommend a corridor transition program that actually generates new units.

Uh and uh I hope that we don't have to wait for a motion to go through the plumb committee in order to do that, that we can just vote for this uh amendment today.

Second thing I just wanted to say thank you, Councilmember Soda Martinez for um putting forward option C2 uh before this body uh today.

We had an opportunity, I think, when we first talked about SB79 on this council floor to not just unilaterally oppose it, but to actually look around and to say, how do we want SB 79 or a piece of legislation that has the goals of SB79, which is to produce a lot more housing around transit, which we all agree is important, to actually play out in a city like Los Angeles, the largest city in the state, the largest housing producer in the state.

We had a lot of power to shape that discussion before SB97 was passed.

This body chose not to do that and just to unilaterally oppose it.

Now we're here again at a moment when the law has been passed with no input from us, no meaningful input from us.

And we are saying again, let's pause, let's make sure that we're doing uh the minimum amount possible, and talking about how we can actually implement the law four years from now.

Colleagues, we have a housing crisis, we have to make it easier to build housing, and I don't feel like at any moment in this conversation around SB 79, which is at its heart, a conversation about urgency around housing.

Is this body actually moving with the urgency required at this moment?

So I would just say that I would ask for your I vote on Councilmember Soda Martinez's amendment today.

I think it moves us a little bit more quickly towards what SB79 is asking this city to do at a moment when we all agree that it is necessary.

Um if it doesn't find support, that we move forward with the speed that Councilmember Blumenfield underscored and clarity, so that we're actually moving forward with options that neighborhoods see as legible.

That they're not surprised by new options, that they understand what's coming, that we're using tools to explain to everyone what is happening, because I think that is a huge part of where the opposition comes from, is that you think rezoning is happening in your neighborhood, and suddenly rather than a two or three-story building, you see an eight-story building because of density bonus and other incentives.

Let's ex let's take move away from complex complicated planning language and actually lay out a plan for Los Angeles that is legible to everyone around this horseshoe, as well as everyone who lives in the neighborhoods that are going to be most impacted.

And so I would ask that Councilmember Bloomfield, as you're putting your work forward, uh, your motion forward, that we also ask planning to um present us options that are legible to everyone who will be impacted by them.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Yaroslavsky.

Uh thank you.

Just a point of clarification.

Can you confirm C1 is not doing the least amount allowed under the law, correct?

There's a reduced version that would up that would that would turn on far fewer of the circles, and we chose not to do that.

Is that correct?

Yes, we uh C1 uh exceeds the minimum requirements for delaying a factuation, that would only be about 12% of parcels in the city.

C one applies to uh a far larger number.

Okay, thank you.

I just wanted clarifications.

Colleagues, C1 does a lot more than we have to do under the law, and it gives us time in our respective districts to figure out where to put that addition the last 50% of the density.

We're saying yes to 50% right now in single family neighborhoods, which is you'll recall when we had this conversation about chip a year plus ago, certain council members were advocating for basically this into single family neighborhoods a couple of blocks.

C1 goes half a mile.

So this goes far beyond what people were advocating for a year ago, and now they're saying that it's not enough.

So the goalposts keep moving on what it is that shows that we truly are serious about housing.

And so I just want to I just want to ground us in that because what we're doing today, up zone it it adds a lot of um allowable building into single family neighborhoods of half a mile.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Um I just wanted to thank you, Councilmember Yarosovsky, for your comments.

And I wanted to just thank the planning department.

You've had to do this now twice because you already did it under CHIP.

So this false notion that this council wasn't already committed to helping to increase the density along transit corridors.

This isn't a new concept, and it isn't something that the city wasn't embracing.

Uh back when I was working for LA Unified, we did it in partnership with LA Unified.

So that's a bunch of nonsense for anyone that acts like this is something brand new.

We did it under CHIP.

You guys already did the work.

We considered all of those things, and now we're just doing it again because Sacramento decided that they wanted to step their foot in it.

So uh I I support Councilmember Yaroslovski and thank you, Mr.

Bloom and Field, but I'm not gonna sign on to this false narrative that everyone wants to advance or perpetuate that this council has been obstructing.

In fact, we it through the adoption of the CHIP ordinance, we were already doing it.

But congratulations, we made you do the work over again.

Uh thank you for your great work.

Thank you for in advance for all of the repeat work that we end up assigning to you.

And I just look forward to calling the question.

All right.

Uh I'll take that as a call of the question.

Uh all right, madam clerk, uh, what's before us?

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh before the council now, we will start with the last motion in amending motion introduced, which would be council member Soda Martinez motion seconded by Ms.

Rahman.

We would call it 4E.

If he can Councilmember Soto Martinez, if you can please clarify what that amending motion is.

Um the Department of City Planning to initiate a code amendment for in alignment with approach C option two relative to an analysis of the impacts and implementation of Senate Bill SB 79, including the results of modeling analysis and options for upzoning and temporary delayed effectuation.

That is what is before council now, for E.

All right, and Madam Clerk, just so uh all the members are clear.

Uh we have two amendments that um give this different answers to the same question.

Uh what happens if they both pass?

What happens if they both fail?

The the last vote taken will prevail.

Okay.

All right.

Let's uh open the roll.

Close the roll.

Tabulate the vote.

Four eyes, nine oh's.

This motion fails.

All right, what's next?

Next would be amending motion for D, which is Nazarian Soda Martinez Herado.

All right, I'm gonna move that we send this to Mr.

Nazarian, but I'm gonna just before you speak, I'm gonna move that we give this to budget committee in and as it in as much as it has a uh general fund impact.

But Mr.

Nazari.

There is uh no general fund impact, council president.

We're is am I reading the right one?

$650,000 for yes, but but there's an instruction that says the city uh asks the CAO's office to identify funding in an amount not to exceed 650,000 for the purposes of mailing courtesy notices to property owners and tenants within each SB79 TOD zone uh prior to the city council's consideration of an ordinance to phase in implementation of SB79.

So I'm I'm asking for an for identifying of the funds.

And uh I was going to add a technical amendment which was not written that says to for the once the funds are identified for them to be transferred to planning 68 that um uh slash 100 account for the purposes of mailing.

All right, uh any other comments on this item.

I'm gonna I'm gonna move that that go to the budget committee as I would any item that spins that much money uh because it has to come from somewhere.

I don't know that it comes from the general fund, but it has to come from somewhere.

Okay, well then I would respectfully ask for a vote on this matter because I think this is this is part and parcel.

In fact, this was a motion I made in Plum Committee, and so for there to now be a new motion that also excludes that.

That didn't include that, yeah.

Uh I I found find it to be um at best um dishonest with our constituents because it's something that they asked for, and it's critically necessary for us to be very transparent.

I mean, we have these conversations here, but how many people actually are paying attention to us here?

Well, our actions are much more important, and our actions come with where we spend our money and how we inform our constituents to know what decisions we're making.

So I respectfully ask for an I vote for this.

All right, uh, I got a few members on the queue.

Uh I got uh council member Hernandez and Councilmember Soto Martinez.

Can uh I have my vote changed on the last amendment to yes?

I know there's not gonna be any change.

All right.

Can we come back to that when we get done with this item before it's council member Soto Martinez.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr.

President.

Uh I I want to just concur with Councilmember Nazarian.

Um my understanding was that this there was this was a conversation at Plum, uh but somehow I didn't make it to the final report.

And then I know I've I've had conversations with planning department about how they could do this.

Uh you know, our ability to reach our constituents are limited for some of us right now.

Um and so we uh you know I have parts of my district that are gonna could be potentially affected by that.

So I don't know if planning can ask ask uh answer the sort of budgeting question or how we were able to do this, but my understanding is there was a way to do it right now.

Oh the question is about where the funding would come from.

Yeah, yes, please.

You know, I uh I'm probably not the best person to answer this question.

I think oh but somebody else is here you go.

Hey.

Hi, Councilmember.

Uh Kevin Keller, city planning.

Uh the department did prepare a quote for a notification, a courtesy notification that goes above and beyond our uh publication in our uh newspapers or or records.

Uh we did prepare that quote.

I believe that would need to be funded.

We have a small amount of money that's much less than that number in our current budget.

So that was the direction for the CAO um if that's how the motion was done to identify the funding.

I I believe it it would likely be coming from a general fund or a different source, but we can take a thorough look with the CAO if we can assist on any other option to find that.

Well, we got a we got a lot of speakers on the queue, Mr.

Nazarian.

Um are you comfortable with the scenario where the funding is identified, which your motion calls for, and then that that that report comes to budget and we bring it to this full council.

I'm concerned about a notion and and we'll have to have a vote on it.

If not, I'm concerned about a motion that just says go find money and put it in an account.

Without any further review.

What is the plan?

Because that's what I understood you read.

So so once they find the funding, I don't know why if why there would need to be an extra step.

Again, I'll do respect to the budget and finance committee, but but if we can appropriate that ourselves as a council and this, we would we will we would appropriate it ourselves it would just do that.

It would just go through budget because appropriating money for that might mean not appropriating money for something else.

And those are the things that we resolve as our budget committee.

Uh so long as uh it's a it's identified, and B it is not delayed in the process.

That's that's key.

That's the most important thing.

Yeah, and I'll defer to the budget chair, but I think we can get this done in time enough to get the mail out in time before this goes into motion.

Councilmember Yarsovsky.

If we can also make sure it's before CPC.

CPC prior to the uh planning commission.

Councilmember Yarzowski.

Our next budget, uh Councilmember Nazarin, our next budget meeting is scheduled for the second week of April, and my team has confirmed that we can put this on the agenda then.

As you know, this greatly impacts my district, and I would love nothing more than to give everyone impacted by this across the city notice.

So you have my commitment that we'll do everything we can to work with CAO to find the money.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Same in my district.

Thank you.

Okay.

I got a number of folks on the queue for this item, Mr.

Boemenfield.

Thank you.

Um I think what we discussed in Plum Committee was asking them to identify how much it would cost, which they did do in this.

So I don't think that it was I don't think they they didn't do what we asked them to do.

What you're asking is is uh an appropriate ask, but in terms of what was discussed in Plum Committee was how much would this cost?

And you came back with a number, so you've sort of checked that box.

Now the question is where do we get the money for this and and do we do this?

And I do want to say it is an extraordinary thing to do.

We didn't do it with CHIP when we were in multifamily areas, we didn't do special notice to the apartment folks.

We didn't do it when we do community plans.

Um it is a it is it is an extraordinary measure that is very different than what we normally do.

So the question of identifying funds is also I don't want to split hairs on it, but it's one thing to say, okay, go look for funds, and then we can decide if those funds make sense.

They could they could find private funds.

There may be philanthropic folks who wish to spend money on this.

Certainly, I'd be open to that.

Um if they if we just tell them to identify the funds, they'll come back and the the CAO will say you could take it out of the general fund.

And I think at that point we need to have a real discussion about what the value of this is, because that's six jobs uh of city workers that we would be sp that we would be cutting in order to do something extraordinary uh compared to all of the other zone changes and things that we've done that we don't do.

So I guess I would I would be willing to support the identific, you know, looking asking the CAO to come back with possible funding sources, including non-gener sources, including private uh sources, because if we can find a source of money that doesn't tap the general fund and doesn't compete with something else that's a priority, then doing something extraordinary like this might make sense.

Um but I would have reservations taking it out of our our general fund uh because I I'm too aware of what we're about to face in our budget, and that those that also means real jobs.

So I don't know if there's a way to tweak that, but to identify funding, you know, or to ask the CAO to identify you know potential general fund or non-gener funding, uh you know, and then bring it back to the council to or bring it back to the budget committee.

Thank you, Mr.

Blumenfield.

I think we got something more from Councilmember Nazarian.

You know, uh since my good colleague uh seat mate showed me uh uh a previous 4D, I just wanted to clarify.

Please read the 4D that has the bullet point.

There was a 4D motion introduced that was erroneous, and it should be the one with a bullet point.

I think that addresses your concern as well, Mr.

Blumenfield.

All right, I got Councilmember Jurado, Raman, and Rodriguez.

Nothing, Council President.

I just need my bullet point.

Councilmember Rahman.

I'm I'm okay.

I'm happy to move forward with this.

Okay, Councilmember Rodriguez.

I just you know wanted to offer up if there's people that are concerned because the budget is what it is, and for the affected areas, it would be as much as a council office using its own discretionary to do a mailing about the implications in the area.

So that shouldn't be that much of a a lift uh given those that are concerned with specific geographic areas to do it without having to search general funds.

So just offering a solution for those that are concerned.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Hernandez?

Yeah, Councilmember Hernandez wants to vote.

All right.

Uh Madam Clerk, what's before us on this item?

I think we got to something that we can move on.

Is there still a motion to refer this item 4D to the budget and finance committee?

Unless there is change in the language so that the when the resources are discovered, uh, that that gets brought to the budget and finance committee meeting.

Councilmember Nazarian, would you like to change that language in your amending motion?

Uh I think I got the commitment of the budget chair to address this in April.

So I'll be fine with that.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Nazarian.

All right.

Uh so uh we can with that change, Madam Clerk.

We could open the roll on this item.

Thank you, yes.

Close the roll.

Tabulate the vote.

Thirteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Thank you.

Before the council is item four C motion Raman Soto Martinez.

All right.

Let's open the roll on this item, close the roll on this item.

Tabulate the vote.

Thirteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Uh Mr.

President, before we move forward, I just want to clarify that Councilmember Hernandez has changed her vote for item 4E.

The motion still fouls, but it is now five eyes and eight no's.

All right.

So now before council's motion, amending motion four B Hernandez Herrado.

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

Close the roll, and tabulate the vote.

Thirteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Next is motion four A.

And that is uh introduced by Councilmember Blumenfeld, Yarislavski, seconded by Councilmember Harris Stawson.

All right.

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

13 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Now before the council is 4A, as amended by 4C, 4B, and 4D.

All right.

Let's open the roll on item 4 is amended.

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

13 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Thank you so much.

Members of the Department of City Planning.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The council has motions for posting and referral.

They are posted and referred.

We have a forthwith request on item 30.

I don't know if that was already done.

No, thank you.

I will mark that.

Item 30, forthwith without objection.

Announcements members.

Uh Mr.

McCosker.

No?

That was a head fake.

Okay.

Any announcements members?

Okay, I'll ask everyone to uh in the chambers to rise for adjourning motions.

And uh we ask for as much silence and reverence as you can muster as we conduct adjourning motions.

Mr.

McCosker.

Thank you very much, Mr.

President.

Colleagues, I rise to adjourn today's meeting in memory of Thomas Carl Amalfatano, better known as Tommy Amalfitano, or just Tommy.

He successfully led the world-famous San Pedro fish market for years and years for decades, and he was a loving, unforgettable pillar in the harbor community.

Tommy was born at San Pedro Hospital on December 10th, 1942.

His family was uh from the Italian island of Ischia, and they had a background in fishing.

A lot of Ischietani and San Pedro.

The family eventually immigrated to San Pedro, where Tommy was born, and they settled into their life in the harbor in 1956.

Tommy's uncle, Mackie Ongaro, opened a small store called Vista Seafood on 9th and Myler in San Pedro.

Mackie employed his son Henry Angaro and Tommy, putting them in charge of the shop when they were 15 years old, those two boys.

Tommy and Henry were an innovative business duo, expanding the business by introducing new items like live crab and lobster and shrimp cocktails.

In 1972, a brand new restaurant was opened at the old Norm's Landing building, and this location ultimately became known as the San Pedro Fish Market.

Since then, the fish market has become a staple of the harbor culinary scene and even has gained worldwide recognition.

Many of you have seen the kings of fish, if not, streaming live on prime video, the kings of fish.

The San Pedro fish market was a key part of the original Ports of Call Village on the waterfront.

The fish market became a coastal attraction.

It served 200 tons of shrimp annually to cruise ship passengers and local families who loved dining on the waterfront.

While Sam, while the ports of call no longer exists, the San Pedro fish market will be one of the restaurants in the new West Harbor development.

They have opened now and they're going to be moving into more permanent space into West Harbor when that reopens.

Today they've successfully operate two locations in Long Beach and in San Pedro.

Over his life, Tommy made the most of every single minute.

He was a true self-made man.

He believed in hard work, straight talk, and earning your place in the world.

He was incredibly proud of his business.

And he was a testament to perseverance.

There was nothing fancy about Tommy.

He was loyal, reliable, tough, hardworking.

He was known for his quick wit and a sense of humor that would catch many people by surprise.

He had incredible stories, a contagious contagious laughter, and an unforgettable presence.

He had a command presence.

Above all, he loved his family and was dedicated to those close to him.

Tommy was also a tremendous supporter of the boys and girls clubs of the LA Harbor.

He would say that he inherited the qualities of his life from his mother, Mary.

He's survived by a gigantic family, a loving family, including his devoted partner, Mitchie, his children, Michael and Amy, his grandchildren, Amanda, Matthew, Andy, Samantha, Kylie, Alex, and his great-grandchildren, Millie, Olivia, Andreas, and Chiara.

He's survived by his sister, Rosemarie, his nephew Richard, his niece Julie, and his daughter-in-law Maria.

He was preceded in a death by his father, Catello, and his mother Mary.

His daughter, Tiffany, and also preceded in death by his son Tommy Jr.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the boys and girls club of the LA Harbor.

He will be deeply missed.

Thank you so much, Mr.

McCosker, Councilmember Hutt.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Mr.

McCosker, please add my name to the adjoining motion.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Seeing no other adjourning motions.

Before I release everyone, I want to one recognize I failed to do so during the meeting, that we had in our presence three of our former members, Councilmember Yaroslavsky, Councilmember Blumenfield, and Councilmember Buscaino.

Upstairs, they're having a discussion.

Huh?

Bonnen, Bonin.

Who did I say?

Bloominfield?

Sorry, I'm yes.

I know.

I'm SB 79.

Um, so uh Bonnen, Bouscaino, and uh uh Councilmember Yarosovsky, Councilmember Yarosovsky's hosting a conversation between the two council members who sat right there where Councilmembers Hutton and Hernandez are and disagreed about almost everything.

Uh yeah, disagreed about almost everything, but found ways to work together, and they're talking about that upstairs uh today to any staff or member that would like to attend.

I think it's a very important conversation.

So thank you all.

We're adjourned, and the community of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the community.

Do other cities have the same kind of collection and and you know lore that we do?

Obviously, I mentioned the fact that this, you know, it was a while ago, but 1909, the handsomest street lamps.

Are you proud?

Do we have the best?

I think I'd venture it with Cell A, so I venture to say we're we're iconic.

I mean, there's other places in the continental US that might have slightly larger systems.

So for instance, Houston, um, I believe is nearing 300,000.

We're at a quarter of a million, right?

For for the city of Los Angeles.

Uh but given the history, given the fact that we looked at design over a long period of time, uh, and all the interesting things we do because we are our own bureau, right?

The city has a uh a bureau and department that's looking at at these assets.

We've been able to evolve really quickly too.

All right, so let's actually talk about the bureau legitimately.

A quarter of a million lamps.

Yeah.

What does that geographically encompass?

I mean, that that seems like a lot of light bulbs to change.

Yeah.

So 250,000 lamps.

Yeah.

It it it is.

Uh so quarter of a million lights uh connected by about 9,000 miles of conduit underground, 27,000 miles of copper wire uh that power the whole system.

Uh and it covers about two thirds of the city.

Now there's there's obviously some neighborhoods that that don't have lighting for for various reasons, including um the desire to have less light.

Um, but also there's large places like Griffith Park, right, where it would be a little bit uh uh darker per se because there's not as many street lights.

Uh but we cover almost every neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, right?

Ever uh you know, two out of three streets in Los Angeles will have a street light on it that we manage.

Uh I would say too that uh we've been doing a lot in terms to to modernize that too.

And 10 years ago we were uh embarking on our LED replacement, right, to actually drive down our cost and increase efficiencies and and save some greenhouse gases too.

All right, so the with the switch to LED though, I'm gonna switch into something slightly problematic, and Los Angeles is not the only city that is facing this, but the LEDs did have an unforeseen challenge as time passed and they age.

They turn purple and blue.

Some of them, not all of them.

I should be very specific about that, and it's not just LA's issue, it's uh, you know, it's all over the place.

So that must have been slightly unexpected to everyone that was responsible, and how are how is that going to get fixed?

Right.

Well, the interesting is uh it is a problem with with LEDs for some.

Uh it's actually a manufacturing defect.

Got it.

So the LED films are peeling apart from each other, which is forcing that type of light to come through.

Then because LED by its very nature is blue, and it's the filter on top that allows it to appear white to the human eye.

Right.

So there's there's all of those then that are exactly peeling off.

So um and for LA, luckily, that is a small share.

Now granted it's a quarter of a million lights, so a small share can be 500 to 1,000, right?

Right.

Um but but those are a small share because we've done extensive testing to actually make sure that the manufacturers we have are of the highest quality in comparison to uh other cities which have then deployed larger kind of swaths uh early on.

Um whenever someone sees that I do ask that they report it's 311 because it's a manufacturing defect, we might be able to actually get it replaced at no cost.

Oh, good plan.

Good plan.

And how has the whole progression, you mentioned LED lighting because they're more cost efficient, et cetera.

How has the progression of what's the best way to light an urban area for the benefit of every living creature in that area?

You mentioned Griffith, I'm sure it's dark because there's animals there, et cetera.

But what are what are some of the progressive things that are happening within the whole idea of the R.

I I think that's a that's a great question because you know, we're obviously at our hundred year.

Correct.

And we're thinking about what the next hundred years are.

And and what we see on our end is, you know, we really want to go back to some of our roots where it's it's a neighborhood asset, right?

It's it's part of the culture of of where you grew up.

And we've we've been looking at options that include more dynamic lighting.

So some of the things that we've done, which uh includes second street tunnel, right?

And we also did one with council district 15 where we lit an underpass with more dynamic lighting to just uh make it a little bit more vibrant, right?

Uh and and those dynamic pieces hopefully party, and you wanted to light it up blue or red or whatever color you'd like.

That's possible.

It it is now with technology, right?

And and what we have is the ability to deploy very dynamic systems in comparison to just having the light itself there now.

Um talking about LEDs that actually freed up many uh uh many different things for us to do.

So uh one of the things that it most people don't know about the beer street lighting.

Again, when you look at the name, it's fairly straightforward, but below it is a lot of different things.

We're one of the largest municipal deployments of EV chargers on the right of way.

I was gonna ask you.

So about about 700, well, we expect to have about 900 uh by the end of this fiscal year.

And those are great opportunities for us to ensure that we're approaching transportation electrification in an equitable way, right?

Being able to get to neighborhoods that are dense that might not be able to build their own EV charger, we're the public option.

It seems a natural fit and the fact that they're both electrically powered, and if you have electricity going to a street lamp, why not utilize that electricity for something else?

But then again, who's responsible for care maintenance and cost of all that too?

Is that something that is, I mean, that seems that it could possibly be problematic, especially in an urban environment, because the you know that's kind of a that's an expensive piece of technology to be putting on the street.

Yeah.

And so it if I'm can there's I think a couple questions in your question there where you know who's re who's responsible?

Ultimately us, right?

And and that's why we're testing and piloting uh a range of technologies.

Uh that includes EVs, that includes sensors, that includes um uh air quality monitors, et cetera.

Because we're trying to see what actually works on the right way.

Got it.

And uh I would go back to to our history where we originated by bringing the most innovative thing and the most dangerous thing to where people congregate.

We're at that time again.

So we're we're actually testing and iterating to see what works.

When it comes to something like EV chargers, I mean it makes sense because the fact that there is electricity there, but it's also expensive technology.

It's also uh, you know who's responsible for it considering it's sitting right there in an urban environment?

It seems that it's a great idea slash an unknown as well.

And the answer is yes, it is.

Okay.

Because we are ultimately responsible for it.

As a Bureau, we're deploying those EV chargers.

Uh those are owned and operated by us.

Okay.

Uh it is it is something that we're testing and we're seeing.

We do see benefits though, because uh again, we're we're seeing what other considerations should we have for the public wide way.

And I think people are using it in many different ways now.

And is it being rolled out in certain neighborhoods?

As you said, you were looking, you know, for an equitable solution to something like this when EV chargers may not be able to go into a neighborhood that uh had space or the resources for it.

So is it specific or is it kind of in a swath?

Not at all we're what we're looking for uh existing markets and hoping to create emerging markets.

What I mean by that is we're going to places where there have been requests, high demand, where we've placed chargers.

We're looking at our analytics and seeing should we place another one close by, right, in order for people to have more usage.

But we're also trying to get