Streets and when it rains, trash goes down to the storm drain and impacts the beaches and oceans.

So they're educated to that.

And then at the end of the school year, we bring out a few thousand of those kids to the beach, and that's what's going on today.

When you pick up trash, it's kind of fun because you can see like a lot of people here on this beach are helping the planet.

I'll don't connect all the trash because I don't want animals to get extinct.

And it helps the environment too.

So it's fun for me to pick up the trash.

It's sad and it's fun.

We're finding a lot of plastic and we're also.

Oh look, what is this?

It's like part of a straw.

We've been finding a lot of plastic.

There's capsules, cups.

I hope that these cleanups will make the kids better environmental stewards.

Um, it really does take all of us working together to keep our natural faces clean.

A lot of kids are not aware of what we need to do to take care of our earth.

So programs like this and celebrating earthly, it really makes us very conscious.

Anybody find their new trash?

I think it's important for their future and you know the Earth's future, and they get this experience and they learn that their action can affect the community as a whole.

Anybody that you talk to that's involved in this environmental movement, when they were a kid, they were at the beach and they fell in love.

So this is a love project.

This is getting kids down here to fall in love.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Welcome to Parthenia Place.

This is home to about a hundred and sixty residents.

I thank you all for being here to celebrate a major investment in this community.

We are very grateful and excited with today's announcement by Congresswoman Luz Rivas, who was able to secure $750,000 for the residents of Parthenia Place, uh, to be able to repurpose um a room into a computer lab.

This building was uh built in 2021 and it houses formerly homeless um and other residents.

Uh so this computer lab will be a great way to bridge the digital divide.

Children and families will have access to technology and the internet, they can use it for school, apply for jobs.

We want them to thrive in this building.

I mean, it's really going to heighten the experience here at Parthinian place.

I have teenagers.

I have all teenagers, and they need a place to do their homework.

And being upstairs with TV and their radio and their phone, it distracts them.

And actually having a computer lab for them to do their work is really good.

When I first heard it, I was like, oh my god, yes, away from my parents and away from my brothers.

So I was very excited.

When we invest in the tools, the spaces and support systems our residents need.

We are investing in stability, dignity, and opportunity.

Their residents will have access to technology to internet to uh also support for students support with homework or adults support with uh looking for a job or uh gaining access to their uh caretaker, or as the councilwoman said, also connecting with government.

Um so we think that it's really important that we bring um the resources and the support that uh residents need to be able to not just reach stability but also to get ahead.

I'm trying to go back to school as well, and I think having a computer here would be great.

My diet, my oldest is in college, have a high schooler, and sometimes it's hard for them to focus in the apartment.

There's TV, their phones and everything.

I feel like having it here close to home, they can do their work here.

Have a space to do it away from home, away from the noise.

I think it's gonna be great.

There's always something happening across Los Angeles from cultural celebrations and local leaders to events bringing communities together.

Here's a closer look at the stories making an impact in neighborhoods across our city.

The Office of Public Accountability is the official ratepayer advocate for the people of Los Angeles.

The Office of Public Accountability is an independent department that evaluates the LA DWP, the Department of Water Empowerment that provides electric and water service for four million customers and over a quarter million businesses.

The Raypayer Advocate Office is separate from LADWP.

We're not a part of the utility.

We are outside to make sure that there's an independent voice and independent analysis over LA DWP decisions and investments.

We evaluate their programs, their policies, their decisions to make sure that they're reasonable and in the ratepayers' best interests to support affordability and transparency and accountability here in LA for the ratepayers.

People contact our office all the time with challenges that they're facing.

Maybe it's because their bill is too high, maybe they don't understand what affordability programs are available to them.

We help to communicate who they can contact at the department and to understand what some of the solutions are for them.

We also look at these issues in total to try to understand where ratepayers overall have concerns and challenges.

And we communicate those trends and issues to the department and to city leaders so that we can be the best advocate possible.

So our office is working on a series of projects.

We've been holding community workshops to listen to the challenges that people are facing on affordability.

We've held three different workshops already in different parts of the city.

We've also been developing analysis around DWP rates and their bills and how they compare to other utilities.

To stay connected and updated on our work here at the Office of Public Accountability, the easiest way is to go to our website.

We've been redesigning it to make sure that it's accessible and understandable to all people.

We have information on where we are in the community, how to contact us by phone, by email, even our address here in City Hall has a welcome sign on the door.

We love people to come in because when people connect with us, that helps us be a better advocate.

So people should come and visit our community workshops, participate in our listening sessions, be a part of the conversation and give their voices.

Show up at DWP Board of Commissioner meetings that are on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.

All of these are ways to contact and stay up to date with our office and to help us be the best ratepayer advocate possible.

We envision a country where every city, town, and village has responsive early care and education systems where children are nurtured, families are empowered, and educators are valued.

We are at the LA Expo Center, and it is the first convening of the early childhood education consortium.

It's a program that uh started with a technical assistance grant from the National League of Cities.

It's such a joy to be in such good company of people who don't just want capacity or for capacity's sake or look to fill solutions without thinking about holistic needs and really wanting to be uh making sure that the decision makers are the ones closest to young children and families.

Early childcare and educated convening is such an important piece.

It's our first ever in the city of Los Angeles, and it's to bring professionals together, but also the providers that we are contracting in the next fiscal year to really learn about the challenges and how do we as a collective as a profession move early child care forward and make it more accessible for our communities.

When you're working and you're trying to improve developmental outcomes for children, you always have to be mindful that you need to be working at a neighborhood level.

Rather than just sort of seeing things as hey, this is the fix, right?

It's how do we take a view of the city as a whole?

How do we make sure that the community is really the one coming up with the solutions?

You have three goals.

One was to increase the number of early childhood educators to also help organize those educators and also to build the capacity of existing educators and early education providers.

We've been in the child care business for over 20 years.

Not too many people know that, but we do have child care facilities on top of our recreation facilities as part of our amenities, and then so uh we have a deep history in child care and just providing care for youth in our community.

The city of Los Angeles is already doing a great job supporting the early childhood community.

They've undertaken a year-long process of working with child care providers, with advocates like me to both understand the workforce issues and the actual child care facilities where people operate and run their child care businesses.

There's no greater investment that we can make as a city than in children.

We spend so many dollars on trying to solve community and social problems, in my view by not investing on the front end.

And I think sometimes early childhood, prenatal to reprenefight was an afterthought.

It's great to do, we'd like to do, and to me, it's an essential part of any city budget.

It's an essential part of any long-term transformation of community, particularly communities that have real community traumas and challenges.

So I think from a budgetary standpoint, and also just from a moral standpoint, that this has to be essential in every city, particularly where you have families who face real challenges.

We believe that every conversation can start and end with early childhood because the first several years of a child's life is so interconnected in all of those different components of the system.

In 2018, the voters of Los Angeles County passed proposition W, which in fact was a measure intended to reduce the reliance on water from outside.

We've received approximately 36 million dollars a year that's allocated in different ways.

To date, the city of Los Angeles has completed seven projects.

Examples would be the Hain Street Greenway Project, and then we also have the E6 Street Project.

There is also the Low Flow Diversions, which run along the LA River and Arroyo Seiko.

Their goal is to capture 356 million gallons of water and divert that into the sanitary sewer for water treatment and then reuse.

These projects are meant for water capture and water quality, and they're currently within the design and construction phases.

These projects are important as they're a direct investment to you know ourselves and then our community.

This event is the result of months of planning in our service area.

It's meant to heighten mental health awareness, awareness about resources in the community, destigmatize mental health issues and concerns, and basically bring out to our student population, particularly, but other community members resources.

So we've got fun things around self-care like massage and sound bath and art, and you know, just different activations that folks can do to sort of work on their coping skills, manage mental health challenges when they come up.

And then add to that, we've got music at Power 106 here, and we've got some yummy food vendors from our local community: tacos, hamburgers, hot dogs, all kinds of stuff for people to just enjoy and celebrate with us and become more aware about mental health resources in our community.

Mental health is a very important thing.

So it's really cool to have events like this to spread awareness, you know, to like have resources, offer help to people, to students, you know.

I mean, we want everybody to be successful.

I think that's the most important thing as a human overall, but especially as a student.

Your overall educational experience is entirely determined by your mental health.

I feel like in my experience, there's some time where like I wasn't doing the best mentally.

So I wasn't doing well in school.

You know, I reflected upon that and other things in my life as well.

That's a really big thing, and I think it's really nice to have this going on.

You know, it's offering support to people who really need it for sure.

Mental health really exists on a spectrum.

I think that's something that people don't always understand.

It's just like health, right?

You can be very well sometimes, or there are other times where you may not be doing very well.

There are a lot of different things that impact how a person does.

I think you can tell your mental health is at risk when you see changes going on.

Like maybe you aren't as interested in the activities you used to enjoy.

You're having problems functioning in school or at work or within your family.

There are so many resources now available to people to impact and improve their mental health.

We are the largest public department of mental health in the country, and we have all kinds of programs, everything from high acuity services, crisis intervention to outpatient services to prevention, everything from kids to older adults.

We also have a 247-1800 number that's 1800-854-7771, and that's our mental health and substance abuse helpline.

There's also our LA County Department of Mental Health website, dmh.lacounty.gov.

It has listings of all the services that we have, different things going on in the community, a really wonderful resource to access.

Stay locked in.

Stay locked in, yeah, do what you gotta do.

Keep pushing.

Thank you all for coming together to celebrate the 10th annual Jewish American Heritage Month here in the city of Los Angeles.

This year's theme is playing it forward, and it's honoring uh basically the Jewish community in sports.

And uh, and how that intersects with with Los Angeles, and so it's uh it's a great event.

We had an unveiling of an exhibit at the bridge.

Three, two, one.

Woo!

And first, we have the legendary film and television actor.

Jewish advocate Eric Braden.

He is a TV and film icon and any award winning.

Uh, he's the people's choice award-winning actor.

Uh, he is a television icon and arguably the most popular character in daytime history, and has starred uh Victor Newman on the number one rated daytime uh drama series, The Young and the Restless.

He's been on that for over 46 years.

But today we are also celebrating him as part of the groundbreaking soccer team in Los Angeles.

So, Eric, please come forward.

Welcome.

I would like to recognize first of all Ellie Mamur who was left fullback in our team and Marshall Hoffman, Sweeper, Abram Cohen, and he benzaken.

They're all my teammates.

You said something under Shematik to Ali Mamu, we will stand up to you immediately.

I learned from that experience.

Do stand up to whatever prejudice encounters you.

Intelligence, genius is not only the purview of one group.

It is universal.

We just need to give people a chance.

Anyway, I'm here in LA, another city.

Been here for over 60 years.

And let's straighten out the potholes.

Thank you very much.

To be honored in front of the council with such nice words that was said by everybody after we accepted our awards.

Just makes you feel super special.

I'm very proud.

Went away for a while for the last 12 years, but we recently came back, and it feels like we came home.

So I'm very happy to be here today.

Thank you so much.

It really is my honor to be here this morning.

Good morning to everybody.

I went to Stephen S.

Weiss Temple.

My mom and dad were actually uh founding members of the congregation.

And I spent many years there learning about the Jewish heritage and what it meant to be Jewish.

And I started my training at LA Valley College on trampoline of all events, where I learned that the love of flying was just what I was meant to do in life.

I love the feeling of flipping and twisting in the air, and that eventually morphed into the coaches wanting me to try this incredible sport of gymnastics.

Mitch Gaylord uh talked about uh the 1984 Olympics where uh he had just come off a national championship in gymnastics with UCLA, and four months later he was winning a gold medal uh and scored the first perfect 10 ever in gymnastics history right here at the uh at the LA Games in 1984.

Great moment to play for UCLA fans, the LA community, and for uh for uh the Jewish community as well.

Our next honoree is Chelsea Goldberg, uh a SilCal native who started playing roller hockey at a young age and eventually took her passion to the ice, where she got recruited to play at Northeastern University.

Along the way, she broke both legs, which hurt her chances to make the U.S.

Olympic team.

Nonetheless, she was drafted by the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

One of the things I'm most grateful for is being able to combine two parts of my identity that means so much to me hockey and Judaism.

I truly love the intersection of faith and sport and the way both can bring people together, inspire resilience, and build community.

It's really important for the city to recognize you know the Jewish uh population, the Jewish people, just because one, it is it is a very highly populated Jewish city, Los Angeles, but also there's not that many of us around the world, and and uh the Jewish population itself is so close, and and when you're part of the Jewish family, we are a family, and so to recognize us and have everyone here to us recognize us in the history um behind us, I think is very powerful.

It's really a great occasion to kind of come together and celebrate, especially at a time when to be frank, you look at the numbers and you look at the the uh um stories that people are telling us in schools and in so many other places about the bias that they're experiencing, the anti-semitism they're experiencing, and it's good to have the time to come together and to also celebrate and to be proud.

I'm at a loss for words today because I didn't expect to feel the way I felt when we were standing up there, hearing the guys from the soccer team, the famous actor that he came from Germany.

Some represented not only his sport and soccer, but uh his heritage, and uh it really is a message of coming together for one another.

Three, two, one, today is our salute to recreation event.

This has been going on for forty-four years.

This is our opportunity to really highlight some of the programs that we of organizations giving out information and a lot of competition for our youth and adults.

They have food, they have giveaways, we do so many great programs, whether they be sports programs, summer camps, aquatics, and it's just our chance to like bring out the dance crews, bring out all the different programs, and have their parents see what they've been working on.

These types of events are really to bring community together.

I think it's something that's missing a little bit in our society today.

Having community in Los Angeles, it's really hard.

Being in places like these that can bring everybody together.gov slash TV, and follow at LA City on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

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

Today is Tuesday, the sixteenth day of March in the year twenty twenty six.

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

Clerk, let's begin our proceedings by calling a roll.

Bloomenfield, Harris Dawson, Hernandez, Hutt, Herado, Lee, McOskar, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Raman, Rodriguez, Soda Martinez, Yaroslavsky, thirteen members in a quorum, Mr.

President.

Alright, first order of business.

Approval for the minutes of June twelfth, twenty twenty-six.

Council Member Judato moves.

Council Member Price seconds.

What's next?

Commendatory resolutions for approval.

Councilmember Rodriguez moves.

Uh Councilmember Lee seconds.

What's next?

Mr.

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

All right, we'll ask everyone in the chambers to rise and follow along with Councilmember Nazarian for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Please note for items eight and nine, the financial disclosure statements have been filed and are available on their respective council files.

Additionally, for item nine, our a corrected report has been circulated and uploaded to council file number 26-1200-s22.

The item is an appointment, not a reappointment.

Items 18 through 59 are items for which public hearings have not been held.

Please note for item 29, a community impact statement was submitted by the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council and is posted online under Council File Number 26-0002-S22.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

Item 16 to June 23rd, 2026, and items 57 and 58 to tomorrow, June 17th, 2026.

All right.

And uh I'll uh call item number 59 uh special for comments.

Uh all right, uh Mr.

Price, I see you standing for is this for specials?

Thank you, Ms.

President.

Uh, with bonus of caution, I'm accusing myself from item four because my wife's previous employer has worked with an organization listed in the past.

I'm also accusing on item 59 as it's unclear which organizations are implicated in the language of the resolution.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Price.

Councilmember Park.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, at the request of Lawa, I'd like to move that we disapprove item 11 so that Lawa can correct some issues and resubmit the package to the Board of Airport Commissioners and then council.

So so this that would be a note and file, Mr.

Clerk.

This would actually be a motion to disapprove the item.

Oh, we have to disapprove.

So is that a vote or can we do that by uh so the motion will just need a second and then we can vote on it in the vote block.

All right, seconded by Mr.

McCosker, and we'll vote on an info package.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Uh all right, uh Councilmember Rahman.

Uh I was hoping we could hold number 13 for an amendment, which I will circulate in a few moments.

Okay.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Yes, I'd like to request uh item five held for comments and 55 for a separate vote.

All right.

Uh Councilmember Blumenfield.

Uh, an amendment for 16 that's being circulated.

All right, Councilmember Hudato.

My item has been called.

Thank you, Council President.

And to confirm, Mr.

President.

Uh Councilmember Bloomfield's um amendment was for item 16.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Uh that item has been continued to June 23rd.

Oh.

Just in FYI.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you, Council President.

I would like to call item one and fifty-six special for a separate vote.

One and five, six.

All right.

And then just to confirm as well, item one has been continued to June 30th.

All right.

Any other specials members?

Mr.

Nazarian.

No.

No, thank you.

We're gonna skip on it for now.

Okay.

All right.

Uh what items are available for votes at this time?

Council may now vote on items two through four.

One more time.

Sorry.

Price recuse.

Oh, I'm sorry, four is uh price recusal.

So item two, three, seven, through twelve, fourteen, fifteen, and seventeen.

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

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

Fifteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Uh there is also a request for item fifty-five to go forth with today, Mr.

President.

Without objection.

Thank you.

55 wasn't called special by someone.

Yeah, Councilmember Rodriguez for a separate vote.

Yeah.

Oh, yes, we haven't voted on it yet.

I just wanted to make the request out there.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh would council like to move on to public comment.

All right.

And you we don't need to vote on fifty-five now.

Not at the moment.

Okay, all right, all good.

All right, let's go to public comment, Mr.

City Attorney.

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.

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 are on topic, you will get one brief warning from me or the council president.

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

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

The items open for public comment on the agenda today are items 18 through 56 and item 59.

Again, the items that are open for public comment on the agenda today are items 18 through fifty-six and item 59.

Items 57 and 58, which are related to the ULA, have been continued to tomorrow and are thus not open for public comment.

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

During general public comment, members of the public may speak to any of the items or anything else in the city subject matter jurisdiction.

We will tell you when your time is up.

I have a couple more announcements.

If I could please have the interpreters make this first one aloud to the room, if you require a Spanish language interpreter, please make sure to pause every few sentences so the interpreters can interpret.

Or if you would like to do so, once it's your turn to speak, please raise your hand so the sergeants know that you would like to use the wireless handheld microphone.

Finally, in order to help us accommodate as many people as possible, we would ask that you please wait until you hear the name that you sign up under called aloud before lining up in any order on your left hand side of the council chambers to speak.

The order in which the names are called is at random, that is to say it is randomly generated.

Thank you.

I'd like to begin public comment by calling up a few names.

So you have one minute, go ahead.

Yes, uh hello.

So I don't want to take too much time because you uh postponed the item that we came for for tomorrow, but I would like to ask please uh the contract that you need to sign uh in April, please don't let it take longer than uh that you should have signed in April, please don't let it take longer than the first of July, because it's just way too much to come and go and have to keep coming here.

Takes too much time for us.

So please I leave this as a homework for you.

Put your hand over your heart and think about the renters.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

Uh agenda item number 57.

Okay, so item 57 has been continued to tomorrow, uh, but you can speak to it during general public comment if you'd like.

So you have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Will Wright.

I work for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute Institute of Architects, and I want to thank you all for your leadership and your willingness to serve the city.

I recently came back from the AIA conference in San Diego.

I took the train down there.

I walked the sidewalks of San Diego.

It is healthy, vibrant, clean, it has investment.

I'm encouraging you to take the reform measures that the Mendit Don't End It coalition has recommended to you to make those very strategic improvements to measure ULA so that you can continue making LA a city that investors want to bring their dollars to.

This is extremely important for each and every one of you because this is your legacy.

If you cannot help ensure LA remains attractive to investment, you are basically shutting your door on vitality.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Ellie Levy, Lawrence Vasquez, Will Wright, Satoshi Nakamoto, and Clifford Pinkerton.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Community comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay.

About a month ago, Spindler said that Nithia is a commie.

Now, I don't know if Nithia wants my opinion on this.

I'm not talking to her, but uh I'm much closer than to the left than she is.

And what about a month uh four or three weeks ago?

She helped a developer.

She's helping a developer on a narrow street.

It was from the planning commission.

This is not communism.

Okay.

That's I didn't talk to Nithia.

What you did she want this or not?

That's not communism.

By the way, if you are on the left, you're cooties.

And what I want to do is post to community comment.

I'm not allowed to, they're making it hard on me.

And so I have to choose uh someone council member to talk to.

Nobody wants to be near anyone who's on the left.

So I'm being discriminated against.

By the way, if anyone saw um Journey, she's a uh pretty librarian.

She's been edumed.

If you've been thank you, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hi, uh the number 12, I believe.

No, 16.

Sorry.

Number 16.

So number 16 is not open for public comment, but you can speak to it during general.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

My name is Eva Valera, and I'm in the eviction proceedings.

I live in Los Angeles, and I'm a single woman that had unfortunate events happened that put me in this position.

Lucky for me, I was able to find EDN to help me work through the eviction process.

Without EDN's help, I would be homeless and thousands of other people as well.

If EDN lays off six six percent of their staff in the city of Los Angeles, that and that would only allow them to provide videos and classes, which you need more than that.

You need you get the support, you get a family when you enter into EDN.

So please put on your agenda a motion to advance in April 2026 allotted pending contracts negotiations.

The motion must be agenda by June 23rd.

The funds must be released no later than July 1st to avoid any layoffs and any more conflict homelessness.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh I'd like to do a general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning.

My name is Louis Vella.

I'm with SAIDS Strategic Public Strategic Action for a Just Economy, and I live in Council District 14.

I'm here to urge you uh to not put measure ULA on the citywide ballot.

Um the people already decided this back in 2022.

Um the council created an ad hoc committee to review the evidence and hear from all sides.

It did exactly that.

After months of analysis, the facts are clear.

ULA is working and generating uh critical resources for affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and tenor protections.

Please honor the work of the ad hoc ad hoc committee and make decisions based on evidence and not developer talking points.

Uh and also approve the stay housed LA contract for the April allocation.

Thank you so much for uh the time.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hello, my name is Lawrence Vasquez.

Um, I'm a student of the eviction defense network.

So one minute for general tenant empowerment program.

And um, so far they've been able to help me get dismissed two um unlawful detainers.

So I still have my home.

The EDN uh stands to lay off sixty-six percent of their staff as a city and as a city of Los Angeles resident, the EDN will only provide me with videos, classes, uh to prepare.

While I'm grateful for the videos and the classes, they are not enough.

I need the help.

Uh answering discovery, preparing my exhibit binder, and preparing uh my trial binder and negotiating during the actual trial.

Um I was on the bus several years ago and I met an old woman who was homeless.

I found out.

Uh she had sores all of her legs, and I gave her Neil Sporn and band-aids and a ten dollar bill.

Uh she had been evicted from her property, her apartment.

So thank you.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Well, Diaz.

Uh necessito traduction.

General, please.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

So tantas y muchas uh personas beneficiadas for La Medida ULA.

Yes, uh good morning.

My name is Vilma Vasquez.

I'm a member of Stage, and I am one of the several people who have benefited uh from the ULA measure.

In momentos que mi vida dignidad de una calidad de vida y el derecho a la vivienda I Stado amenazado.

My the dignity of my life, uh and my right to uh affordable housing has been threatened.

And this harm means that I am not doing well physically, emotionally, mentally.

And thank you to ULA.

I feel uh strong uh given these situations where I have been uh under uh serious risk of being on the street.

And it's a blessing that many of you that are sitting there don't know about uh the anxiety that one faces when they are at risk of being on the street.

And hopefully you will never feel this.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

My name is Ellie Levy, and I'll be speaking uh to urge you to divest from the apartheid Jewish supremacist state of Israel.

This morning you have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

Um ethnic cleansing genocidally executed, ethnic cleansing, genocidally executed.

As a concomitant of my birth, I am Israeli Jewish.

I'm also a United States citizen via naturalization.

That means that both my countries are co-genocidal, not complicitists co-genocidal, horrified behind words.

I don't know what's more pathetic.

You not do shit anything, not doing shit anything about this present-day Holocaust, or me standing in front of you begging you to divest, knowing full way you're not gonna do shit about it.

Do the right thing and divest.

It's way overdue, do the right thing.

Uh thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General comment.

Okay, so you have one minute, go ahead.

I want to express my disappointment in kicking the can down the road once again.

I mean, how many charter reform commissions can we even have before we even do something about it?

Ranked choice voting is a better voting system, and I think not everybody understands why.

Right now, we have plurality elections where you can win with less than a majority, a pie slice, the greatest piece of the pie, but still not a majority, which is over half the pie.

What we need to do is alter the mechanism for voting so that we what are you shaking your head at me for?

I'm shaking my head at you because I don't agree with what you're saying.

In a runoff, everybody gets 50% plus one in order to win.

But go on.

Well, I guess we'll just leave it at that.

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

Matthew Jones, Shuri here, Good Safar, Cynthia G, Nathan Lewis Gordon, Matthew Boyd, and Jenny Park.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Many people come here to speak because they know things are very bad.

But in fact, things are far worse than than they might realize.

Police are ignoring all but the most obvious violent crimes, the ones which cannot be easily explained away.

If people did realize how bad things truly are, they might come to the same conclusion that I did a couple years ago, which is that we urgently need a military level investigation of public misconduct.

Anything less will allow unnecessary suffering.

So I urge anyone who hears me to ask for one too.

I can see only one reason for someone not to ask for a military level investigation of police misconduct, and that is if he is being threatened.

If you disagree, please go to my Twitter and educate me about what you think I'm getting wrong.

It's at M-A-C-K-E-R-M-2.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hello, my name is Matthew Jones.

I'm attendant at the board in residents.

I'm sorry, speaker.

So before you begin, uh if you want, feel free to move the microphone if you can.

If not, if you could get a little closer, I can't actually hear it.

Yes, that is better.

Okay.

What did you want to speak to?

Okay, my name is Matthew.

I'm attendant at the boy in a resident in a skid role.

So you have one minute for general?

And a member of LA can.

I'm here speaking on on measure ULA.

Measure ULA has effective tools to keep people housed and off the streets.

It has helped thousands of people from falling into homelessness as well as provide real permanent affordable housing solutions.

Interim housing will not work, and there is no permanent housing to move into.

I'm deeply concerned that LA City Council is now moving to put amendments on ULA on the ballot.

Do not give in to real estate pressure.

They are some of the developers whose intentions are to banish our community and replace us.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hi everyone.

My name is Cynthia Gonzalez.

I'm a program manager for Sea House Delhi.

Um our agenda items got moved to tomorrow, but we still wanted to be here and um make public comment around why we oppose any um upcoming ballot measures, right?

We really want to make sure that you all understand that your constituents have already voted on ULA.

There's no need to make amendments to it, and to weaken essentially what the voters voted for about two years ago.

Uh we want to make sure you all understand.

There's gonna be a lot of people here tomorrow speaking about this.

I hope you all listen to them and why we are saying that we oppose any ballot measures uh going into the city.

Um, as well as letting you all know that, like, essentially you're weakening our civilian oversight for ULA when you do this.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Before the next speaker begins, I'd like to call up a few more people.

George Harrod, Maya Finley, Catalina Rhodes, Herman Thunder Spirit, Mario Hercules, and Martha Castro.

Okay, and my understanding is that you've brought your own interpreter.

So uh who's speaking and who's doing the interpretation?

So she's gonna be speaking.

I'm gonna be interpreting.

Okay, perfect.

So uh if she could speak every few sentences, then when you start interpreting, we'll make sure to hold the time.

Uh we'll go that way.

So what what would she like to speak to?

So we'll make you a general of holy comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

So my name is Jenny Jedi, and I'm an attendant living in Korea Town.

I'm here with Kiwa today.

I'm here to ask today for you to reject any amendments to put a ballot on the November election to change, or we can measure your lay.

As an immigrant worker who lived in LA for over 20 years, I can see that our community is at risk with the ongoing rates, recent wildfire, and especially the housing crisis.

Without the programs funded by ULA, our community will only continue to suffer from the increasing rent and like a protection from the evictions.

Thank you.

Uh speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

And the whole and the good morning, you have one minute for or sorry, you have three minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Uh before you begin, ladies and gentlemen, uh, I suspect that we are about to hear some things that are uh borderline to very offensive.

Uh if you would like, uh, you are welcome to leave the room.

You do not have to listen.

You are welcome to listen if you would prefer to do so, uh, but we do need to allow Mr.

Herman to provide us public comment.

The fastest way to get through this is to just simply ignore it.

Uh and we appreciate your patience.

Go ahead, you have three minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Gracias Chingavo Koreano Puto.

Thank you, Korean asshole fag.

Rent escrow account program rape, known as reap at 202 West First Street, suite 500.

Oh, I'm sorry, uh Mr.

Price.

I meant Lacers.

That's the wrong address.

It's actually at uh here at property at 4061 South Main Street, case number 7408.

What?

Which item are you speaking to?

A dickhead, I'm on subject.

Number 41, you prick.

Pay attention.

Stop fucking interrupting my fucking time.

Moron.

Look at number 40, dickhead.

So I'm gonna ask you to stick to the items.

If not, I'm gonna move to general.

So you can continue with 41.

No, fuck you, I'm going to another number.

See?

Case number 558069, fucking assessor ID number 5107 029-002.

Another fucking rent escrow account.

Reap program and C D9.

Fuck you, current price.

So, you see, people, I control the narrative while that fucking Koreano up there tries to tell you.

So, you've been warned already, this is not on the agenda.

You are now moved on over to general public comment.

You have one minute.

Go ahead.

No, fuck you.

Fuck you.

Hey, asshole.

Fuck you, asshole.

Are you listening?

Pick up your head and listen to my criticism, asshole.

No, fuck this is your last warning.

This is your own hold on positive time.

Hey, okay.

This is your only.

Well, at this point, you are disrupting the meeting because I'm trying to give you instructions.

This is your first and only formal warning.

Do not disrupt my ability to provide you with instructions.

So you are on general public comment.

And as we've discussed, you are allowed to insult me, but you need to connect to something within the city's subject matter jurisdiction.

Mr.

President, at this point, he has been Mr.

Herman has been warned and continues to disrupt this meeting.

He is eligible for removal if you would like.

Alright, Mr.

Herman, you are now ordered removed from this meeting after receiving multiple.

If you were listening, I gave you the warning.

And I ask you to listen to the instructions that I was giving you.

And we paused your warned and you've been removed by the chair and the city attorney.

Goodbye, Mr.

Herman.

Goodbye, Mr.

Herman.

You've been excused from this meeting.

Please release the city's property of the microphone and exit the building.

Everyone who's here again, who's either here in person or is uh watching remotely, we do apologize for this.

Uh it is unfortunately a common occurrence.

Despite what Mr.

Herman continues to say, we continually give him instructions on how he can remain in the meeting and provide his public comment, but he refuses to follow those instructions.

Again, we apologize and we thank you for all your patience to the extent it is not abundantly clear.

Mr.

Herman's statements do not reflect the views of this body of this city or anyone individually around this horseshoe.

Uh, we apologize.

Good morning, uh speaker.

What would you like to speak to?

Um speaking towards general comments, okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Uh, my name is Nathan Lewis Gordon.

Uh, the state house LA contracts have been delayed for more than 15 months.

I'm a volunteer with the eviction defense network, and we stand to lose about 66% of our staff.

In the nine fiscal in the nine months of the fiscal year 2026, the eviction defense network has successfully closed 1,511 cases.

They are starting to turn away residents and offering them only intake videos and classes, which is insufficient.

If the city council wishes to prevent gentrification and the displacement of minorities and the unrepresented, then please put a motion on your agenda no later than June 23rd to advance the April allocation no later than July 1st so that layoffs can be avoided.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh general comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning, council.

My name is Shari Argutzifar.

I am an actor and an activist.

I have I and a human that believes in democracy, the one that I believed in as a kid.

I recently collected over 15,000 signatures for the upcoming ballot initiative.

So I've spoken to many of your constituents, and the Charter Reform Commission was formed because we obviously need charter reform.

And they recommended strongly that we include include ranked choice voting and expanding city council.

Um and we have studied it quite often.

Over the last 22 years, there have been over 800 elections using ranked choice voting, as well as 35 million ballots cast using ranked choice voting.

So we do know how it works, and I want to let you know that Irvine City Council voted five to two last week to create the language for their November ballot of ranked choice voting.

So Irvine, San Francisco has it, New York City has it.

And who's gonna be next?

Irvine, please listen to your constituents and add ranked choice voting and expanding city council to this November for our for the next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Okay.

So before you begin, uh if you could speak a little closer to the microphone.

And we vote for our government.

And what I've noticed is that it turns out that when there's an organization that's out there to help us.

And that's not how things should be.

So ULA has helped me a lot.

In fact, they've helped me during and after the pandemic.

I for a while I was in a van in which I had to sleep, but thanks to ULA, I have been able to keep my apartment and pay my rent.

Thank you, speaker.

Your your time has expired.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

A general comment?

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Maya.

I'm here with the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice.

I object to investments from two city workers and tire retirement funds, Lacers and LAFPP, being used to buy stocks from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers.

The genocide in Gaza took the lives of 70 that more than 70,000 Palestinian people, nearly a thousand more have been killed since the declaration of a ceasefire.

Now the combined militaries of the US and Israel are at war against the people of Iran, and the Israeli military is committing a genocide against Lebanon.

Our city must not enable this horrific militarism with money taken from its workforce.

In addition, war and militarism is a major driver of climate change and environmental destruction.

So the irony is that workers' retirement funds are going to corporate entities that are ensuring that their practices and through their lobbying that workers will actually have no sustainable future.

We demand divestment of money used from the Lacers and LA FPP retirement funds.

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

Nazi LA, Scott Sheffer, Jimerson dog, Marlene Delgado, Jay Bucket, Nathan Gordon, Nick Seven.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

The stay housed LA contracts.

Okay, so you have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

I'm here to address the state housed LA contract, which has gone unsigned for 15 months.

These this contract funds essential non-profits like eviction defense network, which in the last fiscal year alone has a has closed 1,511 eviction cases.

That is 1,511 Angelinos, whose housing was likely saved, and who are now saved from homelessness.

It is shameful that the city attorney has refused to sign this contract for 15 months.

These non-profits are on the brink of furloughing their staff and denying essential services to Los Angeles.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Elba Cuevas Valeris.

Patricia MC Callister, Seymour Justice, Elena Pop, and Michael Ackerman.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning.

My name is Marta Castro, and I'm with Sage, and I live in CD 13.

Um, I'm here to urge the city council to stand with Angelinos to protect Measure ULA from Howard Jarvis initiative, which will take 300 million away from funding affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

ULA has already generated one billion to keep people housed and giving tax cuts to developers means working class communities lose access to housing and consequently access to stability, feeling secure, and protection from displacement.

The people have already voted on this in 2022, so I ask that you continue to protect Measure ULA.

It has helped many and continue and can continue to help more Angelinos.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Go ahead.

Well, that's a lot of fucking items.

Tell them I'll answer that when I get back.

Man, number 18.

The arts development fee.

Fuck the arts development fee.

Art today is just mostly tagging, so I'm against it.

Number 19, we have the demon, the devil worshipper Nithia Raymond Noodle.

A number 19.

And what she gonna do?

She's gonna put speed bumps over there.

What does a meld the pedilla call speed bumps?

Amelda Padilla calls that gentrification.

That's what she calls, number 19.

And so we're against it because when my friends drive down Green Leaf after they do their business, it helps to get away from the cops.

But if you put those goddamn speed bumps there, you're gonna take away time for the getaway, fool.

That's against the ghetto.

Number 20, a coordinated street banner.

Fuck your street banners.

The 2026 festival for what?

Heatherhood worthless.

And another worthless heather hut.

Removing trash liners.

Refunding the supplement costs.

Well, that's actually good item number 21.

We need trash liners in the trash cans.

That way, when the homeless come and they burn the trash can, they'll have a liner that will make good tinder.

And I think Kurt Press just sat up in his chair, everybody.

And he, I think he supported that 12 felony cats.

Give him a hand.

So stick to the items or move from the movie to General Public Comments.

He's the best.

Yeah, let's see here.

We got the Rangers, the River Rangers.

That sounds dangerous.

What are these motherfuckers gonna do here?

The Merca River Rangers.

What is that, Amilda?

That sounds like a gang.

Is that is that MRCA?

Is that what it is?

Are they part of 18th, Melda?

Is that what you got there?

No, we don't support that shit.

And let's see here, Tracy Irene Park.

Her district office doesn't answer the voicemail.

She's got two voice, two rules up here.

And then it just goes on and on this agenda.

27?

Fuck, 27, fuck, 28, fuck, 29, fuck, 30.

Fuck 31, fuck 32, fuck 33, fuck, 34.

Fuck a 35.

Fuck 36, fuck 37, fuck, 38, fuck 39, fuck 40, fuck 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45.

Now in a general government.

Did you know that somebody set Spencer Pratt's campaign office on fire?

Did you hear about that?

I said we're gonna do Marquee.

We're gonna play that game.

Are we going back to 1992, Marquis?

I said, what you trying to do?

Start another riot for development.

Now who the fuck goddamn goes around burning people's goddamn campaign offices?

Let's ask current price.

You know anything about that?

You know, you could shave two and a half years off that felony sentence if you give us a name.

I'm waiting.

You got a name.

You got a name of the awesome.

How about you, Amelda?

You you like you like fires.

You have a lot of them in your district.

You know, set that fire, no?

How about you bald headed motherfucker over those seconds?

Your comments repetitive, so please on.

Well, you're in a bad mood today there, Barcard.

Why don't you go eat another dog?

And your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh, general public comment.

Scott from the Marriott Tubman Center for Social Justice.

Uh I object to the city's handling of the investment of funds from two retirement accounts.

Uh, that uh are the retirement funds for city employees.

Uh we're amateurs, but from what we can tell, it looks like between 250 and 300 million dollars is being invested in Israel, the lion's share of it in the Israeli military sector.

I am frankly astonished that as the genocide ground on and the death toll of Palestinian infants, their moms, their dads, their grandparents, piled up as refugee tents were being firebombed by the Israeli occupation forces.

That no one on this city council proposed a change in the way these investments are being made.

You cannot invest in genocide.

You cannot invest in genocide.

This is the beginning of a campaign.

If you think you're off the hook after today, believe me, you're not.

We're gonna keep pressing.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

I would like to speak on the general public comment.

Okay, and if you could uh get a little closer to the microphone so we can hear you, I would appreciate it.

Oh, you have one minute, go ahead.

Okay, good morning.

My name's Marlene Delgado.

I'm a previous student of EDN, the eviction defense network.

Um, the program helped me a lot keeping my apartment in a time when I had no one for me there.

Um I had been in communication with district 13 and city council member Soto Martinez, but nobody was responding to my emails to help me.

Um EDN was there.

It created a family, and um if EDN lays off 90 66% of its staff, um, they would only provide classes and videos while I'm grateful for the videos and classes.

They did help me a lot, but we need help with discovery, preparing binders, negotiating.

Please put on your agenda for the motion to advance from April 2026 allocation pending contract and negotiations to July 1st to avoid layoffs.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Pat Barrett, Ida Rivera, Zach C, Killer Cobb, V.

Jamerson, Abel Fable, Jasmine P.

Dick, and Tito Choco.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hi, General Public, please.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Elva Cuebas Varela, the AK $3 million woman.

I am from Ace, District 1 in Los Angeles.

I was sued by my landlord for three million dollars and tried to evict me again.

And if it weren't for Stay House LA, I'd be in the streets now.

Expedite the contracts.

Pay the stay housed contracts no later than July 1st.

It's dangerous how you're playing with the housing crisis and how you're letting the city attorney with thousands of tenants housing and stay house LA.

Shame on you.

Many tenants won't have the representation they need and face drastic evictions, and that will be your fault.

Save and expand Stay House LA.

We the voters who voted for ULA don't want Ulla to be put back on the ballots to be wicked.

You haven't followed the dramatic process and you are rushing this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

No, I want to speak on two items.

One is general comment, another one is on 14 on homelessness.

I'm sorry, so you said general public comment and item 14.

I think it's 14.

It's the one housing and homeless committee report.

It's not 14.

And if to the extent it's related to ULA, those items have been continued tomorrow.

Okay, so those items will be open for public comment tomorrow, but you can speak for one minute during general public comment today.

So you have one minute.

I will right now.

Um, first of all, I just want to say that the council is supposed to be here to protect the people and give us the best situation that we can.

Right now they are not.

CD for I mean, channel five said we are the darkest city in the country, number one.

Number two is the two, but I'm in CD 14.

I've been here for 16 years, but the two people that set examples for others to follow is Monica Rodriguez and Tracy Park, and this is the way the rest of you should because the city is really bad.

I am asking for more police to have.

We only have New York City has 472 square miles, 33,000 police, Chicago has 234 square miles, 12,000 officers, Los Angeles, 469 miles, 8,700 officers.

Downtown LA, we just had a murder right by the crypto center, and we have thank you very much.

Thank you.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh I was here for the ULA, but I guess general comment.

Okay, so you have one minute for general.

Go ahead.

Uh hello, I'm a UTLA school teacher in Los Angeles Unified.

Uh I teach in Councilmember McCosker's district in the one five.

Hello, Councilman McCosker.

Uh I just want to.

I'm here about divestment from evildoers and military contracts that are creating a genocide still ongoing in Gaza and Lebanon.

And I want to start with a quote by Hannah Arendt about the banality of evil.

She, what is the banality of evil?

It's uh great atrocities are often committed not by fanatical monsters, but by ordinary bureaucratic people who uncritically conform to societal norms, obey orders, and fail to think critically about the consequences of their actions.

Divest from lasers and the other pensions, get our our uh pensions out of uh military contracts, please.

Pre-Palestine.

Thank you, next speaker.

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

Irma Lopez, Cynthia Hodges, John Parker, and Marlene Delgado.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General Public Hellman.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

My name is Elena Pop.

I am the executive director of the eviction defense network.

Thank you for raising your faces and looking at me.

I have probably stood at this podium over a hundred times in my career, and I'm still not used to when you don't pay attention.

Now I usually come here with asks and statistics.

This time I sent them ahead of time to each of you and to your key staff.

And we will be visiting your offices this afternoon because this is extremely urgent.

If you haven't gotten the message, we were gonna lay off 66% of the staff last Friday.

I postponed it because we raised a little money and got a little hope from the mayor.

But the hope from the mayor is that you're gonna do something about this.

The outgoing city attorney caused the problem, but it is your responsibility to fix it.

And if it isn't fixed, about 2,000 Angelinos will not get it.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General Pablo Comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

My name is Zach, and I'm actually a student from the Eviction Defense Network, and I couldn't have said it better than Elena Pop herself, and I piggyback on that.

And in just nine months, they closed more than 1500 cases with 97% success rate.

I wouldn't know what to do without eviction defense network.

I was left struggling.

I was in a motorcycle accident last year, shattered my leg, wasn't my fault, but if you're a motorcycle, you ride, it's not a matter of when it's if, or it's not a matter of if it's when.

I had to relearn how to walk.

I had nothing left, and no hope, no nothing, being evicted.

Um, not sure what to do, have kids, single parent, you know, went back to no job.

And if it wasn't for the eviction defense network, I would be homeless right now.

And my kids, I have no clue where they'd be.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh, good morning.

I'm here to speak on uh general public comment.

Okay.

If you could get a little closer to the mic, uh, that would help us hear you.

Uh, you have one minute, go ahead.

Uh, so I just wanted to uh ask for divestment on anything that's being uh uh funneled to Israel for bombs for anything that has to do with uh killing children in Palestine and in Lebanon.

Uh you guys are literally uh sending money over there through all the people that that are here and that are in the city of LA working very hard for their paychecks, and you guys are literally taking their money and sending it to Israel.

Why?

I don't know, but uh yeah, that's uh something that you guys definitely need to look into and that's yeah that's that's about it, man.

Uh you guys kind of suck ass, but this is what we got.

This is who we're working with.

Your time is like not forever, so at least try to do something good.

I guess.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment.

So you have one minute.

Just a little bit.

Okay, um, ULA here to stay.

My name is Mr.

Pankey LA Can Housing Organizer.

LAKM, one of the coalition members that worked tirelessly to help get this measure passed in 2022.

Campus, home bank, except, etc.

Reached one billion dollar milestone and is successfully addressing the housing issue, eviction defense lieutenant.

Shout out to the ad hoc committee.

Hey, Nazarian, how you doing, my man?

Good to see you for doing their job and providing evidence that ULA is working.

ULA here to stay.

And um, I'm supporting the contract for Stay House LA.

And I'd like to extend a um happy Father's Day to all fathers.

Can I get her right on?

Hi, Nissus.

How you doing?

You too.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

All right.

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

Shanice Bowton, Megan Hardwood, Emmanuel M.

Jumbo Shrimp, Angie Birdsong, and Eli.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Yes, hello, my name is Irma Locas.

I'm a member of Sage.

I am asking that you protect ULA.

This measure has already been voted on democratically.

I don't know why you want to put it up for election again.

I ask that you deal with facts, not in arguments done by developers.

And this council cannot assign funds in the millions that were supposed to be for affordable housing.

This this uh measure is working for us.

It's really benefiting us, and they want to take it away from us.

It's not possible.

And it's unacceptable to a f to take away funds from the community uh for the sake of developers, and these funds should have been done by should have been uh reassigned for community members, people who are lacking resources.

Necessitamos permanent seguros in Nestras, tranquilos conestras familias, esta medida lo está logrando.

Les pido que la appoy and por favor.

We need to be safe on our streets and in our houses.

And this measure is uh is allowing us to do that.

So we ask for your support in that.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh for general company comment.

One minute, go ahead, sir.

Uh you know, from eighteen sixty five eighteen sixty-five after slavery to nineteen fifty, there are six thousand five hundred black men with uh black people lynched in that short period of time.

And if you look at the pictures, you can see spectators who are watching not only the lynching, but also the mutilation, the horror.

Right now in Israel, there's spectators watching the genocide and holocaust against the Gaza.

But right now they aren't the only spectators.

You're the spectators as well, but you're doing something worse.

You're helping a government commit a holocaust in Israel.

We don't need spectators, we need people who have the courage to fight for humanity.

So, basically, we don't need genocide.

We need divestment.

We don't need money going towards tour horror and white supremacy.

We need thank you.

Speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

I am a student in the eviction defense network, also known as EDN.

They have helped me with we in two cases, and we are in case number three.

I am being evicted because they want to raise the land to market value.

If eviction defense network lays off sixty-six percent of their staff, they will stop offering case management and representation to the city of LA tenants.

The classes and the voters are not enough.

In just nine months, in just nine months, they closed more than 1,500 cases.

97% of them successfully, including one of mine.

Please.

Thank you.

Speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

My name is Cheryl Campbell.

I am speaking regarding the eviction defense network.

As a constituent of many of you whom I have voted for and helped put in office, I am asking you kindly to support EDN, as I have recently had three heart procedures and am considered disabled.

And I'm facing this without any representation.

And I think that as a voter, you owe this to me, because I'm facing something as a woman of color, as a senior, as a disabled human being.

I need to appeal to my city council to do the right thing.

You don't see our faces.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Shut up, Pumpkinhead, Vilma Vasquez, Nathan, Gilbert Salceda, and Lena Sullivan.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

I'd like to make a general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Eli.

I'm with the Harriet Tubman Center.

Eunysis, who's is in the back there.

She's my representative.

Um, as many of you are aware now, the Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System.

The pension fund for our city workers has major investments in Israel with a market value at well over a hundred million dollars.

Now, while we're aware that Lacers does not screen based on geopolitical conflicts, this is something that we need to address immediately.

The people, the Harriet Tubman Center calls for the immediate divestment of funds from both Lacers and LAFFPP on the basis of the boycott divestment and sanction campaign led by the Palestinian people.

You guys will be hearing much more from us moving forward.

Free Palestine.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good morning.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

My name is Megan Harwood.

I'd like to speak to general comments.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning.

My name is Megan.

I'm currently in eviction proceedings, so I prefer not to give my last name publicly, but I live in, I've lived in the city of Los Angeles, and I'm now an unincorporated Los Angeles, and I have seen up close and personal how badly the contract that has been stalled for 15 months needs to be signed by the city.

I saw the city attorney two weeks ago say that he was going to have it signed within a week, and it's now two and a half weeks later.

To give context, I am a fire survivor of Pasadena and a tenant fighting to remain housed.

I concur with the right to counsel's coalition position.

I'm a student at EDN's tenant empowerment program.

Like so many you have heard from this morning, before EDN, I felt overwhelmed and alone.

Through the program that they have, we learn to understand court proceedings, organize evidence, and advocate for ourselves.

But these classes cannot do what the attorneys and the staff at EDN do.

Tenants need real help.

We need help with discovery, exhibits, and trial prep.

Please sign the contract.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

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

Cheryl Campbell, Claudette Contreras, Elda Forrest, Ezekiel, Olivera, and Maggie.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

So, okay.

So I'm gonna ask the group that's congregated towards the back and front of the blackboard to please not disrupt this meeting.

I'm gonna warn each of you.

This is your first and only formal disruption.

I see that you are leaving the room.

I would ask that you please do so quietly.

Again, I appreciate everybody's patience and for being polite during public comment.

A lot of people have been here for a while.

I know that it's important to everyone who has signed up for public comment.

So we appreciate your continued politeness so that other people can give their public comment.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Um general for general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Sure.

Um first of all, I'm here to request that you advance the agenda motion um from April 2026 and signed the contract for EDN.

This year I sustained uh a stroke, and had it not been for EDN, not only would I have been fighting for my life, I would have been fighting for the roof over my head.

It was the leadership and the lawyers, the paralegals at EDN that fought for me and continue to fight for me when I could not fight for myself.

So I'm asking you to please sign a contract and have it done by July 11th, along with my fellow Angelinos and um students for the empowerment program.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

On general comment, please.

Okay.

So you have one minute, go ahead.

I would like to request the undivided attention of uh Mr.

Harris Dawson.

Um I'm here today.

My name is Raina.

On behalf of my three children, my partner, my family.

We've experienced harassment.

We just successfully won an eviction against our family for having a new child.

Thanks to the EDN eviction program, the tenant and program tenant empowerment program that assisted us assisted us in learning how to stand up for ourselves in court.

If it isn't for them and for the state housed coalition, we would not be here.

My children would not have a home today.

Just today, yesterday, we were harassed again with ongoing threats from our from our landlord.

Today we are experiencing this harassment.

And without them, I cannot afford a lawyer.

So I am asking, please pay attention to us.

These are citizens who need help.

They need a home.

We all need a home, and not all of us can afford a lawyer.

Thanks to EDN and the State House Coalition.

We are here today.

So and have a home.

So I am requesting please release the file.

Time has expired.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hi, my name is Claude Contreras, and I'm from CD 14.

Isabel Jurado is our councilwoman, and I'm speaking to a development going on in our neighborhood.

Um we've been here before.

I haven't been here.

This is my first time for public comment, but we've asked for help.

We've asked to help stop a developer who keeps moving forward without demo permits, without community input.

Um, we've spoken with the councilman's office, and they just dragged their feet.

And it right now they're demoing something they don't have permission to demo in our community.

They did it.

This is the third time they've done it without the proper permits, without following AQMD requirements, and they've been out there to stop them as well.

Um, this morning we went out there again, and each time they have a police escort.

Last time they had four police officers helping them when we told them they don't have permits, nothing is posted.

It keeps happening.

Today, the guy laughed at us, the developer, and said, Oh well, do something about it, call somebody.

So we drove over here right now, and here we are.

We're asking for her to help us.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning, counsel.

My name is Ezekiel, and I stand before you to talk about history.

History about a council member that stood in these chambers by the name of Edward Royble, who was a person who was discriminated against when he wrote when he went to go buy uh buy a house in Monterey Park.

History is often forgotten about what the accomplishments of Mr.

Royball did.

There's a bill called 686 by Miguel Santiago, who talks about concentration of housing in one particular area in the city of Los Angeles.

Whether it's on the east side or the outside, it's not equitable.

And I'm here to talk to you about what the Claudette just spoke about.

There's development that's happening at the corridor 5100.

We've been very vocal about it to the city council, and we are asking to listen to us, write those motions that support us.

Thank you, Speaker.

Your time has expired.

Council President, those are all the names for public comment.

All right, thank you to everybody who shared with us this morning in public comment.

Mr.

Clerk, what items are before us?

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Before we vote on the items, there's been a request to change the continuation date for item 16 to Friday, June 26, 2026.

All right, without objection, that'll be the order.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The council may now vote on items six and then 18 through 54.

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

15 ayes.

Alright, what's next?

Council may now vote on item five called special by council member Rodriguez for comments.

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Colleagues.

As we continue to move forward in reaching our benchmarks associated with the LA Alliance settlement agreement, I wanted to reiterate that the county has a role, and we as a body have the responsibility to keep pushing the court to hold the county accountable for its part of the alliance agreement.

As part of the agreement, the county has been directed to work within our city-funded interim housing sites and permanent housing sites to identify individuals that require higher need of mental health care and connect them with the appropriate services and bed.

But sadly, we continue to hear stories about that, how that's failing to occur.

And right now we have a moment with this alliance agreement.

I penned a letter to Judge Carter seeking his assistance to continue to advocate on our behalf to ensure that the county shows up to fulfill their part.

The county continues to assess millions and millions of dollars from taxpayers, from tax increases, and repeated efforts that have now separated themselves from Lhasa to continue to operate their own system, and yet they failed to deliver for the people of the city all of the promises to make sure that we have access to equitable access to mental health and substance use disorder beds.

So I will uh provide a copy of the letter that was sent to Judge Carter, but again, just want to remind you that this is an opportunity for us to come in as a unified voice to ensure that the county is doing its part because while our taxpayers continue to pay into this system, they are getting shortchanged repeatedly.

And our community and our city and the housing that we have stood up is continuing to serve as a waiting room for the services that the county is not providing to our residents.

And so I ask and encourage you to please follow suit with your own contact and outreach to Judge Carter.

Thank you.

Alright, thank you so uh much for that.

Let's open the roll on number five.

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

Fifteen ayes.

All right, what's next?

Council may now vote on item 13 called special by council member Raman for an amendment that has been circulated.

That item has been amended and circulated.

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

Fifteen ayes.

Alright, what's next?

Council may not vote on item 55 called special by councilmember.

Council member Rodriguez for a separate vote.

Alright, Councilmember Rodriguez.

In comment, no comments.

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

Eleven eyes for noes.

All right, what's next?

And just confirming item 55 has been requested to go forth with Mr.

Without objection.

That'll be the order.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The council may now vote on item 56 called special by Councilmember Hernandez for a separate vote.

All right.

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

12 eyes, three no's.

Alright, what's next?

Council may now vote on items four and fifty-nine called special by council member price for recusal and then as well as comments for 59.

59, who are the uh from the Mr.

You, Mr.

President.

Oh, okay.

The comments are not for Mr.

Price.

All right.

Correct.

Thank you.

That was gonna be weird.

All right.

Uh all right.

Let's open the roll on item number four.

Uh close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right.

Uh that takes us to item number 55.

Members, we have in front of us uh a motion uh responding to the action of the Trump administration last week to pull funding from uh Lhasa uh through the uh Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This resolution condemns the action uh and commits the city to fighting back on behalf of our homeless neighbors.

Um this uh action uh comes, some would say it's not a surprise, others would say uh it is a surprise.

Uh we don't exactly know the source of it.

Uh there's been lots of rumors about what the federal government may or may not do.

And many of us, many in the press, uh uh many at the county, many at small cities have lots of criticisms of Lhasa.

We they're well documented.

Each of us, I think at one point or another has said, you know, Lhasa either uh doesn't deliver for us, uh the our providers routinely call us and say they haven't gotten paid, or uh a variety of other uh issues.

But what I want to ask this council and this city to do is to say yes.

There may be problems with fraud, there may be problems with mismanagement, they may be problems with poor governing.

You don't solve that by kicking houseless houseless people out on the street.

It's just not the way to deal with it.

Just like last summer, I can acknowledge there are people in the country that shouldn't be here that didn't get in here legally.

You don't deal with that by knocking over car washes and day labor centers.

If you really want to deal with fraud, you deal with the people who you think are carrying out fraud.

You do not kick people out of housing who you know the only way they qualify for that housing is uh that they don't have the ability to provide housing for it themselves.

And so uh again, our struggles will continue.

Our fights with the county will continue, our struggle over what to do about Lhasa and what form Lhasa takes, that will play out and it'll play out in the appropriate time.

It should not be debated and struggled over on the backs of people who are the most vulnerable in our society.

And so we uh this motion uh asks us to go on record uh denouncing the action, asking uh HUD to pull back and to reconsider.

Uh and again, leave our people housed, investigate, indict, do whatever you want.

Um, uh that this is typical uh for organizations to have challenges.

It doesn't mean you shut down the whole thing and you kick people out on the street.

And so with that, um members, I'll ask for an I vote on this uh topic, and I have two speakers on this queue.

Uh beginning with Councilmember Padilla.

Um I just wanted to uh now that we're discussing this, uh give uh attention to a lot of the community members that came to speak up public comment related to ULA.

Colleagues, tomorrow when we are discussing ULA.

I hope that you remember that technically what we are putting in front of ourselves is whether to cut 30% of our funding that we as a city ourselves have been acquiring in order to address the homeless crisis.

So now that you're not getting your federal funds, but you have a nice stream locally that you really think about that given the circumstances before we put something on the ballot related to cutting it down.

No further comments.

Thank you, Councilmember Padilla, Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

But colleagues, I'm just gonna continue to remind us that the conversation around separating ourselves from Lhasa is a two-year-old conversation.

And when there were certain people that were leading the charge to beg the county to stay invested in it, that should have been our sign to actually take action.

But that action has been punted, squatted on, and not moved.

And so what I encourage us is to not continue to be tethered to what is clearly a fledgling system that is not being responsive.

We have a responsibility to address the needs of the people that are unhoused and to make sure that we have a functional system.

Currently, we are still tethered to a system where the county still has legislative input in how Lhasa functions, and it's imbalanced because they pulled out all their money.

It makes absolutely no sense.

But you know, sadly, there was no movement for more than two years on this issue.

And we know exactly what the source of that problem was, but I digress.

This is a moment for us to actually take this as a sign for action and a call to action and stop allowing people to wait for a promotion before they actually do their job.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cosker.

Thank you very much, Mr.

President.

Um thank you for your comments, Mr.

President.

I agree wholeheartedly that the answer isn't to suspend and cut money and put people on the street.

And Councilmember Rodriguez, I agree that we need to we need to move and we need to move with greater speed.

We will be in committee today in budget and finance discussing a motion that Councilmember Jorado and I brought uh regarding what I think what I believe personally is just one of 15 is the inalterable step towards carefully, if not speedily, removing ourselves from Lhasa to put ourselves in a position where we are focused on the folks who are uh who are we collectively with the county with the state and with the feds have responsibility to care for and prevent from being unhoused.

Um and I think there are gigantic conversations about the responsibilities of the county, and on the last item, Councilmember Rodriguez's comments are very well placed.

Um but I'm gonna be for this motion today.

Obviously, I think several of us signed on to this.

This is not a full-throated endorsement of Lhasa, this is a full throated commitment to caring for the people who are our residents and need to be cared for.

And I think it is the world has changed, and I think the discussion today in budget and finance will be different because of the letter that we got uh from the feds a couple of days ago.

So I just want to urge an I vote, and I want us all to commit, I will commit that we put ourselves on a course to make sure that we have a more rational, more coherent, and more effective system uh in working with every layer of government, county, state, fed.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, uh Mr.

McCoster, Councilmember Verado.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you to my colleagues.

Uh last week when this news came out on Friday, it was pretty damning and scary and put folks into a panic if it was going to be a come effective immediately and thinking about the unsheltered homeless folks and everybody in my district and beyond and thinking about the impacts that it would have on us.

Right now, we need decisive leadership in this city to turn this issue around.

We stand in opposition of what the federal government is doing, but I stand by um Councilmember McCosker's and my motion to make sure that we take decisive action on what we're gonna do with Lhasa in order to do it and do it with all deliberate speed because we can no longer wait.

We have to make sure we take action, and so, colleagues, as we continue to grapple with this issue, I think we're all united and that we need to address it, but continuing to move the conversation forward and taking the next action.

So, thank you so much, and uh thank you uh uh members.

I I associate myself with the comments of all the members uh today.

I think all of it is is uh right on point.

Uh, and again, thank you to this council for affirming our responsibility to Angelinos.

Uh, this is the city council of the city of Los Angeles.

Uh, and our first responsibility is to our people, especially the people who are the most vulnerable.

And again, um, you know, I can't even sit here and say who's working on behalf, who's working with the federal government and who's working in on behalf of our people.

I can't say any of that with any confidence, uh, but what I can say is that uh this council in this city is gonna stand with our our neighbors no matter what.

I got uh councilmember Padilla back on the queue, or did you speak already?

You ready?

I get it.

All right.

Let's uh open the roll on this item, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

Mr.

President, just for the record, um, the ordinance for item 55 will be held over to Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026 for second consideration since the vote was not unanimous.

All right, and council has motions for posting and referral.

They are posted and referred announcements members.

Councilmember Nazarian.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh, colleagues, MCC United Church of Christ in the Valley is opening a drop-in center for queer youth who are 18 and older, aged out of foster care, and currently unhoused.

They'll be able to get hot meals, clothes, and a shower and a place where they feel welcome.

To make that happen, we need and are seeking donations.

We're hosting a donation drive to help stock their shelves and uh they'll need hygiene products, clothing, and laundry surprise supplies.

You'll see donation drop boxes uh located at the fourth floor elevators.

So I welcome your support, your donation, and your love, and uh thank you very much in advance.

All right, council member is Councilmember Blumenfield.

Just a quick comment.

Uh, you know, this this past weekend was a uh a big one for uh birthdays.

As you all know, I'm not talking about someone in the White House.

I'm talking about Sharon Seo over there and Tim McCosker.

We're both uh had birthdays this weekend, so happy birthday to both of you.

Thank you, and happy birthday to both of you, Councilmember Padilla.

Yes, colleagues, today um we gather with a with heavy hearts while we recognize the anniversary of our nation's flag.

As many of you know, it was flag day this weekend.

We share in the grief of our brother our broader Southern California community.

Yesterday morning, a US Air Force B-52 uh straddlesforth crashed at Edward Air Force Base.

We hold the families of those brave service members in our thoughts and prayers, and we are reminded that the freedom and security we enjoy often comes at the ultimate price.

It is in the spirit of service and sacrifice that we reflect on Flag Day, honored this past Sunday, June 14th.

Flag Day marks the moment in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes.

Since then, our flag has remained a symbol of freedom, unity and resilience and democracy.

And as leaders in this building, it is our responsibility to uphold these ideals every day, not just in name, but through our commitment to transparency, public service, and protecting the voices of our constituents.

Our work here is driven by commitment to the people of Los Angeles, prioritizing neighborhood health and safety, expanding access to essential city services, and ensuring that every resident has a voice in their government.

In honor of these values, I am proud to recognize 29th 16th Aviation Battalion, also known as the Raptors, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Michael A.

Scoza.

Based in Fort Irwin.

This battalion exemplifies the discipline and readiness required to keep our community safe.

Their mission is constant.

The Raptors provide 24-7 aviation support for more than 50,000 military personnel who train at Fort Irvine each year.

Beyond their military duties, their Charlie Company, known as Desert Dust Offs, serves as a vital lifeline for our entire region as one of the busiest Aero Medical Evacuation Units in the United States.

Many of these service members call Los Angeles home, bridging the gap between their duty to our nation and their dedication to the city.

They represent the very best of what Flag Day calls to us to honor, service, sacrifice, preparedness, and deep commitment to protecting others.

Joining me today, we have a cadet from the Military Explorers Post 124 who work hard to develop the leadership skills necessary to serve their communities, a mission that aligns with our goals of empowering the next generation of leaders in our city.

They are representing a special uh commendation for our council accompanied by the U.S.

flag flown at Fort Irwin.

So this is to us council, to the entire council.

So it's my honor to also recognize 29th 16th Aviation Battalion, the Raptors for their outstanding service of our nation and our community.

Thank you for your service, your leadership, and your continued commitment to keeping our communities and our country safe.

Thank you for joining me in this presentation.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Padilla.

Any other announcements, members?

Seeing no other announcements, I'll ask you that we all rise for adjourning motions.

Look to my right.

Look to my left.

See Councilmember Hutt.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Colleagues, I rise today and to adjourn in memory of Reverend Bishop Theodore Larry Kirkland Sr., who we affectionately call T.

Larry Kirkland, a distinguished spiritual leader, community servant, and a beloved pillar of Los Angeles, and my old bishop.

Bishop Kirkland was the 114th elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was affectionately known as the Down Home Preacher with the Uptown Message.

His calling to the ministry began early in life.

He preached his trial sermon at just age 17 and devoted the remainder of his life to sharing his faith, strengthening communities, and serving those too often overlooked.

In 1977, Bishop Carklin was appointed to lead Brookins' community AME Church here in Los Angeles in the 8th District.

At the time, it was a newly established mission church with a small congregation.

Through prayer, tireless outreach, and a deep commitment to the community.

He helped transform it into the fastest growing and most well-established churches in Los Angeles.

Bishop Carklin also understood that ministry extended far beyond the walls of the church.

He reached across denominational and political boundaries, supported families during the most difficult moments, and offered to utilize eulogize those who passed away without a church home or a means to pay.

As a bishop, he led the AME district's encompassing communities across the Western United States, Alabama, and across Africa.

He helped strengthen schools and churches, established a modern health clinic serving underserved communities in Birmingham, and expanded access to computers and digital literacy training in his community.

He did delivered the eulogy for civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Introduced Senator Barack Obama during his campaign for presidency, and offered prayer at the inauguration of Kamala Harris as California's attorney general.

No matter who you were, Bishop T.

Larry Kirkland always treated every person with dignity, compassion, and the conviction that every life carried equal value.

Joining us today is his beloved wife of 60 years, Mrs.

Mary Kirkland, his daughters DJ Kirkland Vaughn, Makita Kirkland Robinson, Sharon Bergmann, and Carol Robinson.

He's also survived by his son Theodore and a host of nephews, nieces, cousins, and close friends.

To the Kirkland family, please know that the city of Los Angeles joins you in celebrating and remembering a life defined by faith, leadership, and service.

Bishop Kirkland's legacy will endure through the church and institutions he strengthened, the communities he served, the thousand of the lives he touched, and the generations of leaders he inspired.

May Bishop T.

Larry Kirkland Sr.

rest in peace and power, and may his life be an example to continue to guide us.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh Councilmember Hutt and uh with your permission, I would like to be added to the adjourney motion.

The Brookins community is a powerhouse in the Eighth Council district.

And the Bishop was icon and I one of our iconic preachers.

Um at one point in history, he drove he drove a distinctive car, and he'd go down the street, and everybody goes, Oh, there goes Bishop Kirkland on the move throughout the community.

And so he was truly a gift uh to all of us and to uh the entire AME family and to Brookens.

And so we are grateful and we wish that he rests in the peace and power uh that he deserves and thank you to uh his family for being here and Commissioner DuPont Walker for being with us as well.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Hutt.

Councilmember Price, Ms.

President, I too want to be added to this adjournment of Bishop Kirkland was a real power, powerhouse, the eighth, the ninth, the tenth, citywide.

And so his spirit uh and calm measure of leadership will be missed for ever remembered, so thank you.

I'd like to add that we do have a resolution for Bishop T.

Larry Kirkland uh signed by the mayor, the president of council, and all members of council.

I'll present that now to the family.

Thank you so much.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you so much, everybody.

So by the time 1952 came along, the plant had five tables inside of it.

Eight tables, eight hundred and fifty women, cleaning fish.

Plant four was built in 1952.

It was on four and a half acres of land, it cost two million dollars for I think the land and maybe a million dollars to build the plant at the time.

And plant four, by the way, was the largest single unit tuna cannery in the world.

It contributed three hundred and fifty million dollars a year in salaries.

That all went into the local economy.

It was it was the economic engine in San Pedro.

The economic stimulus that Starkist Plant 4 and all of the other seafood canneries operating in the Port of Los Angeles gave to the local community was massive.

The industry was a key driver for good middle-class jobs and was especially important to women because of the unique opportunities to work that it provided.

It was very important because there was no other work for the women except being a housewife or working in a retail store.

Only women were cleaning fish.

You had a thousand women dressed in white standing all day long, you know, cleaning fish, and it was a hard job.

I mean, and they'd take the ferry back and forth to San Pedro Terminal Island back and forth every day, catch the bus down there in Harbor Boulevard.

Those canneries employed a lot of people in San Pedro a lot.

Most of the women that worked in the cannery too, their husbands fished.

So there was a lot of dual payrolls there, one from the fishing industry and one from the canning industry.

Although cannery jobs taken by women played a major role in creating dual incomes for many San Pedro households, it was an even more important job for the single moms.

As an example, Belia Olgain Smith's mother had a job at a cannery that helped her provide for Belia and her seven siblings after their father left the family.

It was a job she took great pride in.

She was wonderful.

She was fast at her work.

I remember that.

Because her lady friends would come that worked there that worked with her, would say, your mother.

She's so fast.

And it was real positive, and it seemed very positive situation.

My mother was wonderful.

Although the fishing and seafood canning business at the port of Los Angeles experienced tremendous growth during the 1950s, it still wasn't large enough to meet the growing demand, and local industry leaders began to look overseas.

The popularity of tuna and the amount that was required to keep the population uh supplied was huge.

And around 1957, my father realized that the supply was not meeting the demand, and he made a major trip to Japan to investigate and begin importing tuna to this country.

It would come here frozen, and then it would go through the same process as when we had the fresh fish that would be offloaded from the boats.

In 1957, we were already starting to build parts to build a plant in Puerto Rico.

And not because we're trying to get away from the labor dollar, we needed more tuna.

In the mid-50s, uh Starkist had a small cannery down in Peru, and they needed to have some of the gentlemen of a fisherman here go down to Peru and fish.

But it was a long run for the guys to go all the way down to Peru, fish and bring all the way back to San Pedro.

So eventually, my father, Butch Dewanitz and his brother Larry Sewanich went down to Peru and actually developed uh the tuna industry down there for Starkist.

The importance of the fishing and canning industry to Los Angeles was massive.

It played such a key role that an image of a tuna was placed on the official seal of the county of Los Angeles.

In addition, the fisherman's fiesta, a blessing of the local fishing fleet by the Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, was the second biggest annual event in Southern California, only behind the Rose Bowl Game and Parade.

Although the popularity of tuna continued to grow, the expansion of the industry would eventually spell doom for local cannery workers and fishermen at the port of Los Angeles.

Beginning in the early 1960s, there was a shift in the industry, and the conglomerates entered the scene and started to take over.

In San Pedro, the demise of the fishing industry came about around 1962, and that was because uh multinational companies purchased the local canneries.

Starkis, which was the biggest, uh, was purchased by H.J.

Hines, and I believe Van Camp was purchased by Ralston Perina.

And so these multinational companies are more bottom line focused than say uh on the you know welfare of the workers or the fishermen and that kind of thing.

They're they're bottom line driven because they have shareholders to to uh answer to.

So those companies look for ways to run uh plants that were, you know, had labor costs that were less, that had less environmental restrictions, that had just less regulation.

And so they looked overseas.

So for instance, Starkus built the big plant in Puerto Rico.

They also built the plant in American Samoa.

So it was a process of looking at the numbers and the cost of the labor and all the expenses for that.

The labor dollar got to be expensive.

Remember, everything could be automated on tuna except the cleaning.

Cleaning has to be done by hand.