I've been doing this for 20 years.

It's so nice to see the kids, how they enjoy seeing the drivers that actually collect their trash.

I watch the kids come and they hug their drivers and they take pictures with them.

It's really enjoyable to see.

We have children that have been coming here for 20 years, if not longer.

And some of those children actually work for us now.

It's great to see that we had over 2,000 RSVPs for this event here today.

It's a great turnout.

It's great to really engage with the community and really understand not only the services we provide, but some of the needs of our residents.

I would recommend anybody come to this event.

In fact, I just took a whole video myself to show everybody I know what they have here.

And I learned about all different kinds of services that the sanitation department gave.

I also got to enjoy time with my little boy.

There's so many freebies.

There's hats, there's face painting, there's sitting in the trucks and getting to see how those work.

It was very entertaining and very informative as well.

Do not litter.

All this trash that we see out there doesn't magically come from outer space.

Us human beings bought it and dropped it.

We get off the bus and we know exactly what to do.

All through the year, we're going to schools.

We have an environmental education program about the impact of trash on the 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 other 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 that 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 actions 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 160 residents.

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

We are very grateful uh and excited uh with today's announcement by Congresswoman Luz Rivas, who was able to secure 750,000 for the residents of Parthenia Place 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 the in this building.

We need to really quickly heightened the experience here at Berkeley New Ways.

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's 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.

For students support with homework or adults support with 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.

They 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, which I think is 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 and Power 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 in 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 powered, 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 child care 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?

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 or 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 three, prenatal five is 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 reliance on water from outside.

We've received approximately 36 million dollars a year.

Um 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 East Six 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 a sanitary sewer for water treatment and then reuse.

It's making sure that we reduce our reliance on water from outside the area.

In fact, for too long, we've ignored stormwater.

We do have 12 other safe clean water projects in progress.

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.

Los Angeles is powered by the people, places, and stories that connect our communities.

Coming up, we'll show you what's happening across the city and introduce you to the people making a difference right here at home.

Good mental health is what sets us up to handle life situations the best way we can possibly handle them.

Mental health really is about how you're doing socially, emotionally, psychologically, all those factors that impact your life and the ways you can function in your life.

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

It's meant to heighten mental health awareness, awareness about resources and 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 about 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, they 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 mental health in the country, and we have all kinds of programs, everything from high QD services, crisis intervention to outpatient services to prevention and everything from kids to older adults.

We also have a 247-1800 number that's 1-800-854-7771, 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 fishing.

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 Emmy 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 pulled back on our team, and Marshal Hoffman, Sweeper, Abraham Cohen, Pini Benzak, and they were all my teammates.

You said something under Shematik to Ali Mamur, he 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.

I love the city.

Been here for over 60 years, and that's straightened 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.

My Jewish life and my gymnastics life actually started as a young boy in Ban Ice, California.

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 ten ever in gymnastics history right here at the uh at the LA Games in 1984.

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

Our next honoree is Chelsea Goldberg, uh a SoCal 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 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 it's 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 a time to come together and to also celebrate and to be proud.

Three, two, one.

Today is our salute to recreation event.

This has been going on for 44 years.

We have carnival rides, we have a lot of vendors, amazing food, amazing performances, a lot of organizations giving out information, and a lot of competition for our youth and adults.

They have dancers, 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.

It's important for people to know that they can get together in love and civility.

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.

It's always um something to celebrate.

Los Angeles needs to spend more time together.

These are the things that bring really community together, but we have all different types of opportunities across the parks.

That's a look at some of the stories and people making a difference across Los Angeles.

Thanks for watching.

Catch these stories and more on Channel 35 or at LACity.gov slash TV, and follow at LA City on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

Also, I don't know, as All right, good morning, and welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of your Los Angeles City Council.

Uh today is Wednesday, the 17th day of June, our last meeting before uh Juneteenth, 2026.

Public comment for this morning's meeting will take an in-person in this council chamber.

Madam Clerk, let's begin our proceedings by calling the role.

And a quorum, Mr.

President.

All right, first order of business.

Approval of the minutes of Tuesday, June 16th.

Councilmember Price moves.

Councilmember Hudato, seconds.

What's next?

Commendatory resolutions for approval.

Council Member McCosker moves.

Council Member Raman seconds.

Can we run through our agenda?

Thank you.

Items one through two are items noticed for public hearing.

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

The government operations committee report has been circulated and posted to twenty-six-ero eight zero seven.

Items six through twenty-eight are items for which public hearings have not been held.

For items seven and twenty-eight, the budget and finance committee reports have been circulated and posted to those respective council files.

For item 27, there will be no action taken in the regular council meeting.

Action will be taken for this item in the special council meeting, item sixty-seven.

Items 29 through 66 are closed session items for which public hearings have not been held.

Item 78 through 79 on the continuation agenda are items for which public hearings have not been held.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

Specials, uh Councilmember Park.

Okay, 78 for remarks.

All right.

Seeing no other special what items are available for votes on today.

The council may now vote on items three through five.

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

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

Thank you, Council President.

I'd like to call item twenty-two special for an amendment.

And that's being circulated right now.

Okay.

All right.

Um, if there are no other specials uh members, today is a very, very special day for us uh here in Los Angeles City Council.

Uh today is the day uh before our Juneteenth break.

Um so we'll do a little bit little bit of Juneteenth and uh black music month celebration uh today.

We have two very weighty agenda items.

This is, as you as everyone knows, this is the day that uh we decide uh to prepare language for the November twenty twenty-six ballot or not.

Uh so we'll have charter reform and we'll have other issues that we'll discuss as well.

So we'll be here a minute is the point.

Obviously, we've got a good amount of public comment that we'll hear today as well.

Uh so with that, we'll begin with public comment.

Uh I'm sorry, not with public comment, we'll begin with presentations, and we will start uh with Councilmember Jurado of the 14th District.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, I have a quick announcement.

I'm proud to welcome the Southern California Pilippine X American Student Alliance or SCPASA to our council chambers today.

Let's give them a round of applause.

Thank you so much for being here.

Since 1983, SCPASA has brought together Pilippine X student organizations from colleges and universities across Southern California, creating a strong network grounded in the values of community advocacy, cultura, and education.

And for over 40 years, they have empowered students to become leaders, celebrate their culture, engage in civic and community service, and advocate for positive change on their campuses and beyond.

At every single Southern California college, community college, university, Cal State, there's a Filipino organization, student-led organization.

I was president of the first one at Pasadena City College.

We have an annual uh convening, two of them.

One of them is the Friendship Games where we play traditional Filipino games and get to know one another.

The second one is our summit where we get to educate one another, mobilize ourselves, and try to activate for the future, and has been a breeding ground of community leaders that we have mourned led, and and you know, I used to attend those as well.

So shout out to the youth.

Thank you for coming for your commitment to unity, leadership, development, and community engagement.

We are everywhere in the city.

We know we have some Winetka folks there, Westwood, Van I, Sherman Oaks, and even outside of LA County.

So Filipinos are your constituents.

We're everywhere, and thank you for the students for showing up today.

Thank you so much, Councilman, a big round of applause.

Thank you all for being with us today.

You'll uh get to see some exciting stuff that you're you'll be able to tell your parents about this morning.

And our first presentation uh for this morning will be led by Councilmember Hutt of the 10th Council District.

Good morning, colleagues.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um, as we celebrate Black Music Month, I'm proud to honor two men who represent the very best of what black music looks like in front of the microphone and behind the scenes.

Today we celebrate Julian K.

Petty Esquire and Kamassi Washington.

Come on.

Kamasi Washington is a renowned composer, band leader, and multi-instrumentalist who was born and raised in the 10th district in Lamert Park.

His albums, including the is right on the border.

It was on the border.

Yes.

Okay, in the 108.

His albums, including the epic Heaven and Earth, and Fearless Movement have come to define contemporary jazz.

He has collaborated with icons such as Herbie Hancock and Kendrick Lamar.

Composed the score for the Michelle Obama documentary becoming and earned both Grammy and Emmy nominations for his artistry.

As he continues to elevate black artistic expression on a global stage, Kamasi continues to inspire us all.

Los Sanders is proud to call him our own, and we are thankful that he was able to join us today, because he has a very busy schedule.

The second person that we are honoring today is Julian Petty Esquire.

He's the executive vice president and head of business and legal affairs at Warner Records.

He is the man ensuring that black artists and black music are protected, valued, and positioned to thrive.

Over the course of his career, Julian has worked alongside legends, including Childish Gambino, De La Sol, A Tribe to Call Quest, and an iconic production duo, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Through the Warner Music Group Social Justice Fund, Julian helped establish a fellowship at his alma mater, Howard University, dedicated to building the next generation of black executives in the music industry, investing not just in music, but in the people who will carry it forward.

And like Kamasi, Julian is rooted deep in the 10th district.

And owners of All Chill, a hip hop ice cream shop as creative and community driven as the man himself.

We are proud of the work he's done for Black LA, and we thank him for joining us today.

On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, we congratulate Kamasi and Julian.

Thank you for your excellence, your artistry, and your unwavering commitment to black music and black artists.

Thank you.

And now I I will ask uh Kamasi to give us a few words.

I'd like to just say thank you to the city of Los Angeles.

It's my home.

I was born and raised here.

Um I was I learned most of what I know in the streets of Lamar Park under people like the great Billy Higgins and Kamal Daoud and Horace Hapscott.

And I'm I'm so thankful for to the city and and to you for not only keeping our city great but making it even greater than it has ever been.

So thank you so much for this honor.

And uh I'm uh just totally grateful.

Thank you.

I have a certificate.

I have a certificate of recognition.

Where's Band?

I'm gonna ship it this way for playing on those.

Yeah.

So we can see Band.

Or maybe you gotta come up next time.

Got it.

Thank you.

And now I would like to bring up uh Julian Petty.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh thank you for this recognition, uh, Councilwoman, uh, and everyone here.

Um this is a very special month, Black Music Month, you know, started by Kenny Gamble and Deanna Williams.

Um Black Music is one of the most powerful exports we have here in America from jazz to RB to blues to hip hop to our to let let's not forget rock and roll also.

Uh but the truth is while we we are on the stage and we are behind the mic many times, we are not always in the executive suites and have those positions.

So one of the reasons I'm I'm getting this honor is a recognition of the establishment of the Warner Blavotnik Center, which is a music business program at Howard University with the intent of creating a pipeline for black executives in the music business.

Uh I looked around when after the George Floyd travesty, and I realized that it was a huge void.

There was only one black head of business and legal affairs in the music business.

Me.

There was only one CEO at the time, Sylvia Roan.

There was only one head of music publishing, John Platt.

And while there's been musical chairs since then, those numbers are still very thin.

So the intent is to get more black kids into the music business into the C-suite so they can impact change and create change.

And I'm proud to say, as of now, we have hired, we have placed over 200 kids throughout different positions in the music business.

So thank you very much.

Uh I am very honored and uh have a wonderful day.

And I I'm remiss as a as a New Yorker if I don't say this.

Go next.

Alright, uh Councilwoman.

Um, after this uh presentation, uh we have a speaker on the queue.

Councilmember Price.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Councilwoman Hood, thank you for bringing uh thank you for bringing the heroes and she rolls to us today.

We certainly during uh Black Music Month, the time of real celebration.

Uh we know uh all chill uh certainly is a real staple in uh in Lebert Park.

Uh my wife and I swear by it, uh, and uh she's gonna be delighted to know that you were here today.

And of course, uh we certainly want to give a shout out to uh Julian Petty.

Julian, you've been a real pioneer.

You are the real pioneer behind the scenes in front of the scenes, and a real positive role model.

So thank you, sir, for your service and for your for your leadership.

And for Kamasi, what can we say?

Everyone takes credit for your success, as we all should.

But I remember uh you know, before you started that ascent, uh you were at the Central Lab New Jazz Festival, uh swinging those sounds, and so we always appreciate your your presence there.

And so we just appreciate all of you celebrating.

This is an exciting time for us, exciting time in the city.

Uh Councilwoman, thank you for making sure that we recognize and appreciate the bag Black Music Month.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Price, and thank you, Councilwoman Hutt for this uh great uh presentation, a great celebration of our tradition of celebrating uh Black Music Month here.

We couldn't have two better examples of what black music means to the world, but also what it means to the city of LA.

And so thinking about that Lamer Park neighborhood where it is producing the most talent, and Julian, you're making sure we get to be in charge of our talent and the value that it creates uh for so many people around the world, but far too seldom for us in our our community.

And so uh thank you for everything uh you've done Kamasi and the way you represent uh us to the world.

When when I go to Tokyo and I say I'm from South LA, they say Kamasi Washington.

Uh and so you are the representative of us uh in so many places and you do it uh super well.

And again, um Julian, thank you for uh taking the opportunity to kick down doors uh and make sure they stay open um so that you know for those people like me who aren't as good uh with the instrument uh a little bit better with the pen, we have an opportunity to participate in our culture and in the business that is our culture.

So again, thank you so much and congratulations for this award.

Councilmember Hutt.

Um, I also know that this is men's health, and so I'd like to give you both your flowers for everything that you could that you contribute to our community, and for some reason, we were able to find orange and blue Nick's colored flower.

Oh my goodness.

It's been 53 years, it was long.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Uh our uh next uh presentation, I really appreciate uh Mr.

Petty for explaining Black Music Month um and why we celebrate it.

Folks should know that uh, you know, gamble and Huff made uh got President Carter to make it a part of the official recognitions by the White House and by the United States, and of course, our president now, Donald Trump has canceled that.

So we don't recognize it's not recognized in the United States, but we still recognize it here in the city of Los Angeles, and today we have a second presentation uh brought to us by Councilmember McCoskar, the one-five.

Mr.

President, if I may be for the presentation begins, to clarify for the record, items three through five were adopted with 12 members present.

Also, there is a request for all items to be adopted forthwith today due to the holiday on Friday.

Without objection, that'll be the order.

Thank you.

There is also a request to hold number 23 on the desk.

All right, without objection, all right.

With that, we'll go to Mr.

McCosker.

Thank you so much, colleagues.

As we just heard, the month of June is special for so many reasons, but one of those reasons is that we celebrate here in Los Angeles Black Music Month.

Black Music Month is a time for us to recognize and celebrate the key African American black figures in the music industry.

In the city of LA, we take great pride as the global epicenter of film, television, and recorded music industries.

But it is extra special when those stars are actually born and raised and committed to Los Angeles.

And the one five, by the way.

And the one-five.

That is why it's my distinct privilege to stand alongside one of the most pivotal figures in the history of music, Mr.

Alonzo Williams.

Let's hear for Alonzo Williams.

An instrumental figure in the rise of West Coast hip hop from being a local sound heard in our neighborhoods and then to clubs and then a global phenomenon.

I'd like to share with you a video, a video featuring a bit of my time together with Lonzo and some of his work.

But I'm here in a studio that I was always dying to come see with Lonzo Williams, and we are in his backhouse studio where a lot of this, a lot of a lot of important things have happened.

This is No Town Studios.

Zotown studio.

I've been Motown.

Zotown.

You are also at the forefront, the the godfather of West Coast hip hop.

Yes, sir.

But why don't you tell us a little bit about not only that history but how it kind of connects to right here in this neighborhood?

We started in about 1978 at Alpine Village, right down the street, up to up to Tana Freeway.

And we later, um that's where everything started.

We were a little bit late on the on the hip hop tip.

So we we got a got aware of uh hip-hop was about 78, started at Alpine Village, 79.

Oh, my nightclub, Eve after dark, and we were we all had to become entrepreneurs.

There was nobody giving us record deals, so we all had to learn how to make records from the very beginning, right?

The songs went to the studio by the studio time.

Uh we had a pressing plant, McCola that pressed distributed our records for.

So our whole beginning was totally different.

Because nobody thought hip hop would last this long, but hip hop had a different root, had different roots.

It came from the streets, Compton, Gardena, LA, um, Carson, everybody came to Eve after dark.

That's right.

What would you say is the legacy of the UFD?

Eve of the dark gave not only my me and my group an opportunity to get our feet with an entertainment, but it provided entertainment for a lot of people.

Easy, that's why I first first met Easy.

So many people came there because there was no age limit.

Yeah, I put an A thumb on there.

I made it 18 and over, but I had the flexibility to allow them to come in at 14 and 15.

It was a teen nightclub.

I just chose to make it more like soul train as opposed to Rumper Wheel.

Yeah, so we we had that flexibility.

So, you know, you had a lot of people come through there that were uh influenced.

When it comes to the West, nobody's done more than me.

Lonzo, the godfather of West Coast hip hop.

Through only Eve at the dark and cool cut records, you'll see that my journey has been the key to the success of the West.

Taken under the wing of the world class record crew, Lonzo Williams.

Um, you know, who don't get enough credit, you know, grandmaster lines of the world class record crew.

Don't get enough credit for what he did to spark these two.

He the first one that gave Dre a DJ job.

He didn't want first one that did a record, Dr.

Dre.

Called surgery.

Wow.

At just 22.

Yeah, let's hear it.

At just 22 years old, Lonzo became the owner of the legendary Eve After Dark Nightclub in LA County.

More than a venue.

Eve after dark became a cultural institution and creative hub where artists, DJs, innovators, they gathered to shape this sound that would ultimately change music history in the America and around the world.

And it was unique too.

It was a place where teenagers from the surrounding local high schools, Narbonne, Banning, Gardena, uh, high schools in Watts and Compton and Carson could all go to experience new music.

They could dance in a supervised environment.

Alonzo founded his music group called World Class Wrecking Crew, and he recruited its members, local DJs, DJ Yella, and Dr.

Dre, giving them their first opportunity in the music industry.

The World Class Wrecking Crew performed at shows all across LA and even opened up for a new edition.

Through their success, Alonzo's influence continued to grow throughout the industry after seeing a teenage group called CIA, led by O'Shea and Ice Cube Jackson.

Alonzo helped the group get signed to a deal with CBS Records.

It only took a few more years before that group, NWA, was formed, and the West Coast hip hop scene took the world by storm.

What makes Alonzo's story so remarkable is that he never stopped building community.

The same talent for bringing people together that helped launch a musical movement continues to guide his work today.

Alonso is a proud resident of the 15.

He moved into Athens on the Hill in the Harbor Gateway after his friend and advisor Etta James called him to say that her neighbor, Johnny Otis, wanted to sell his home.

Not only does the world famous DJ serve as a member of the Harbor Gateway North Neighborhood Council, but Alonso has been very involved in the current push for an historic designation for Athens on the Hill.

And we'll hear more about that in the coming months.

His commitment to preserving this neighborhood history ensures that future generations understand the significance of the unique community of Athens on the Hill.

In fact, this Saturday we'll be celebrating Juneteenth at Athens on the Hill from 10 to 2.

And Alonzo will be our DJ for the event.

Isn't that great?

Yes.

Donating his time and his energy to the community.

Alonzo now devotes his time to helping uh to bring up artists and entertainers as president of the Compton Entertainment Chamber of Commerce.

He also is a passionate advocate for prostate cancer awareness since winning his own battle against it in 2011.

And he has filmed various prostate cancer awareness commercials and ad campaigns.

Overall, Alonzo is the very best of Los Angeles, a self-made man who saw potential in places others could only dream of, and when success followed him, he made sure to lift up others.

As he was coming up, other folks came up with him.

Thank you, Alonzo, for not only being a musical pioneer whose vision helped shape one of the most influential movements in modern music, but also for your work as a community leader, a mentor, a role model, I will say a friend, a dependable friend.

Your commitment to others has left a lasting impact beyond the one-five, but certainly in the one-five.

I'm proud that you call it home.

I'm proud to call you my friend.

And now it is my honor to give the floor to the one and only Alonzo Williams.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tim.

I appreciate it.

Um, you know, I was trying to think of something to say today.

First of all, say thank you.

This is a great birthday present.

Yesterday was my birthday.

Um as I look around the room, I see um my man Kurt Price over there.

How you doing, Doc?

Now, I was supposed to DJ today.

They didn't, they didn't have time to make that happen, but I'll be DJing for Saturday for the uh 1-5 district Juneteenth party, but I'll also be at the EECI event with Jeffrey Osborne and Sheila E on the 29th, 27th.

I'm sorry.

So my DJ career still goes on today.

I'm a prostate cancer survivor.

I do an event every year, prostate cancer awareness walk because prostate cancer kills more black and brown men than anything else, and I do believe that by more men being aware that we could save lives.

We've saved a lot of lives thus far.

Uh I'm sitting here, I'm doing commercials, I'm trying to stall time, having a good time.

This is a great time, the great event.

I appreciate Black History Month.

I think Black History Month might also be uh at it, maybe call it Black Entertainment Month.

Because uh Black Music Month is one thing, but I've been an entertainment bill for 50 to 50 years as well.

I've owned six nightclubs, I've been a DJ, and it's not all music, it's all entertainment.

I've made movies, documentaries, I'll do it all.

So thank you very much to McCosker.

Thank you very much to the Los Angeles.

Thank you everybody.

Appreciate y'all.

Have a great day.

Happy birthday to me again.

Peace.

All right.

We got a speaker on the queue, Mr.

Price.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Mr.

McCoster, again, thank you for bringing this real pioneer hero role model to us today.

You know, there's no no doubt that Lonzo is well known, well established throughout not just the one five, not just throughout South LA, that is California, not just the US, but around the world.

So we just we salute you, we take our hat off to you.

You really are an advocate and an artist, and a real renaissance man.

And you don't you don't hesitate giving back, and you don't you don't hesitate to pull up.

And so we just want to say thank you and congratulations.

Keep up with your work.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Price and thank you, Mr.

McCosker.

Uh oh, Councilmember Hutt.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

McCosker, for bringing in uh an icon.

Uh Lonzo has been known all over South LA for what he did for the music, what he did for local artists, what he did at the party club scene.

So, not like I ever went to any.

I remember you.

But thank you for honoring him.

It's really important.

And uh it's always good to see people that move in leadership in their own genres and to honor them in City Hall.

So thank you so much for everything you've contributed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, uh, Councilmember Hutt and Price and Kid.

Thank you, Councilmember uh McCosker.

Obviously, uh Alonzo, you know what a huge uh hero you are to this city and to the hip hop industry.

Um, you know, I sometimes think, you know, kind of like Ice Cube said in the video, everybody that gets fed off of hip hop in LA on the West Coast can trace it back to you.

But like without exception, nobody will dispute that.

Every single person that does that, because you were the person that brought the movement uh to Southern California and made investments when people didn't think it was worthy of investments.

Um and you know, I can remember that there was a time where you couldn't hear hip hop on the radio at all, even not even on K Day.

The only way you could hear it is to get a tape from one of the world-class wrecking crew parties that somebody you know somehow got a hold of.

Um, and uh that grew into what we now accept as a major part of the entertainment industry writ large, and so uh thank you for that, and thank you for the opportunity to recognize you for such a great contribution to our city and to the world.

Councilmember McCoster.

Thank you very much, everybody.

From the from the moment that I went to that fish fry on Athens Boulevard, and you are you were DJing in the backyard.

I was hoping you'd discover me.

My chance will come.

On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, the one-five, we want to honor you, Alonzo Williams, for uh being our honoree for Black Music Month.

Thank you.

Alright, uh, while they're transitioning, and before we go to our next speaker, I just want to thank Councilmember Hutt for distributing these great cards, explaining what Juneteenth is and giving us all a pen.

I just invite everybody to take a look at this.

It's very, very important history, especially for those of us here in Southern California.

Uh Friday is a day off, but it is also uh a recognition and a celebration of freedom.

So thank you, Councilmember Hutt, for that gift to all of us.

Uh, our next presentation will be brought to us by Councilmember Park.

And pardon me, Mr.

President.

If I may, there's also a request to hold item number seventy nine on the desk.

And if I could just make a general announcement to all members, if you have any amendments for the items on today's special agenda, please have them introduced during today's special meeting.

Presentation.

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

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 begin straight off topic, you will forfeit the rest of your speaking time, and we will move on to the next speaker.

I'm going to ask uh that everybody pay particular attention to the announcement today with regards to the items that are open for public comment because we do have a special meeting.

So the only items that are open at this time are items one and two, items six through sixty-six, and items seventy-eight through seventy-nine.

So again, the items that are open for public comment at this time are items one and two, six through sixty-six, and seventy-eight through seventy-nine.

And seventy-eight through seventy-nine.

We will hold public comment for items sixty-seven through seventy-seven during the special meeting that will take place later today.

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

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

We will tell you when your time is up.

If you require a Spanish language interpreter, please make sure to pause every few sentences so the interpreters can interpret.

La opportunidad de dar comentário publicas, pero si están aquí para la agenda special.

Gracias for the additional clarification.

Back to our uh regular schedule.

Public comment.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Yes, no, uh thank you.

Additionally, if you've made an accommodation request pursuant to the ADA, in order to make use of the wireless handheld microphone, or if you would like to do so, once you hear your name called aloud and it's your turn to speak, please raise your hand so the sergeants know to provide you with that wireless handheld microphone.

Finally, in order to help us accommodate as many people as possible, as you can see, there are a lot of people here in the room, and I believe waiting outside, 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 to speak.

The order in which the names are called is randomly generated.

Thank you.

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

Miguel Guzman, Cindy Johanna Valenzuela, Carelli Delacruz, Julia Hernandez, and Leonardo Gomez.

So again, if you've heard your name called aloud or the name that you signed up under, please feel free to line up in any order on your left hand side of the council chambers.

I believe the first speaker is here.

Good morning.

My name's Miguel Guzman.

I'm here on behalf of the Carpenters.

We support the measure ULA because we want to see more affordable housing built and more visas resources dedicated to addressing homelessness.

Study after study has shown that ULA is slowing housing production.

We want this measure to work, but we want the evidence is telling us that change is needed.

If sustained reforms require a ballot measure, then let's put those reforms before voters and give the Angelinos the chance to fix what isn't working.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

My name is Johanna Valenzuela, and I've been working at the Wiener Schnitzel in District 5 for about a year.

I'm here to ask you to approve the fast food fair work ordinance.

Some of us work there more than 15 hours without our breaks or lunch as required by lawed, instead to tell us to silence ourselves and to stop striking.

As I know my rights, they couldn't silence me, but lots of other workers aren't aware of their rights.

And so the abuses continue.

And that's why we need training, in-person training instead of the videos that they play for us.

We need to transform esta industria mediante, let's support creating a fair work environment through the fair work ordinance.

Fairfast.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

You said to which City Council?

Yes, which items would you like to speak to?

Oh, to current price.

Can you can you repeat that, please?

Oh, to uh current price.

You can speak for general public comment, you can address the entire body.

Oh, general comment.

Okay, you'll have one minute to give general public comment to the entire council.

Okay, so hello, good morning.

Uh my name's Leonardo Gomez.

I'm here speaking on funding for the park and how it's important because uh well I've been a youth advocate for 14 years, right?

I'm with the group called Equipa Verde, and we've seen how important it is uh for parks, and how it should be, you know, open, how the kids should, you know, be access to parks that are clean that uh have more resources, right?

Uh we don't have that much funding for parks, so we're asking for the maximum funds for the park so the kids get uh the best experience within an actual park.

So if you go to a park, sometimes you'll see that uh there's a lack in certain things.

So we could get maximum funding for parks.

Uh it will be very helpful for the kids to have the best and you know, just safer experience at parks and really see that you know they'll be safe at parks and we really will enjoy being at a park like it always has been, and always make sure that you know when they go to a park, it's always useful.

Speaker, time is that before the next speaker begins, I'd like to call up a few more names.

Leonardo Gomez, Jose Amador, Juan Luna, Fernanda Ramirez, Pamela Marquez, and Cheryl Coney.

Okay, you'll have one minute.

Just like a lot of people in the city, I feel very under pressure with the cost of living.

The rent keeps rising and it becomes more and more difficult for common people to stay in the communities they call home.

And I supported ULA because it was supposed to mitigate the lack of housing and help build more affordable housing.

However, what we see now is that the housing not enough housing is being built, and the resources, the help is not arriving to the people who need it fast enough.

When there are these complications, it's not only affecting the developers, but it's affecting people like me, the workers, and the neighbor neighborhoods in which they live.

And as rents are rising, I am here to help you to solve what is not working.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

I'm here to give public comment.

You'll have one minute.

And I'm here to ask you to approve the fat the fast food fare work ordinance.

I formed part of a strike after I found out that the boss at Wiener Schnitzel was uh taking uh was stealing the salary of some of the employees.

After that management, uh after that, management.

After that, uh management tried to intimidate us so that we'd stop striking and stop our union efforts.

But me and my co-workers, we know our rights, and we know that we have a right to strike for what's just.

That's why it's so important that we learn about our rights, so it's not so easy to lie to us.

These training sessions are valuable, but only when they're taken seriously and when they're done in person.

So that we can all come back to work, trusting that we all have the same knowledge and we understand it equally.

Thank you so much for your attention.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

78.

Hey, I'll have one minute.

Thank you.

Morning everyone, my name is Amodor.

I'm a proud union carpenter, and I'm proud to represent the Western States Carpenter's Union.

I support measure ULA.

And I still want to see it succeed.

But unfortunately, right now, it's working against us and uh the goals that we all share.

Work has been slow.

Projects have been not moving around moving.

Housing, there hasn't been any housing being built lately in the city of LA.

The solution isn't about walking away from ULA.

The solution is about the reform, remor reform it and it build housing and uh moving forward.

Affordable housing in LA it's needed.

And we should think about that for a second, because if not, we go back to square one.

And the strike for moving families couldn't be higher.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Item number 78.

You'll have one minute.

Yes, thank you.

My name is Juan Luna.

I represent the Carpenters.

Our union invested heavily in passing measure ULA, because we believed it would mean more housing, more jobs, and more affordability.

We still believe in those goals.

That's why we're here today.

The reality is that housing production has dropped significantly since ULA took effect.

Less construction means less work for our members and fewer homes for our Angelinos.

Our coalition is calling for reforms that will help spur affordable housing production, give the city more flexibility to address homelessness and affordability, and ensure ULA dollars are being spent effectively and transparently.

The decisions made over the next few weeks will determine whether voters get a chance to consider those reforms in November.

We urge you to seize that opportunity.

Thank you.

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

Raymond Mesa, Candido, Georgina Serrano, Pamela Marquez, Rose Quoke, and Sergeant Gunny.

Good morning.

My name is Pamela Marquez, co-founder of Concerned Neighbors of El Sereno and the El Sorino Arroyo Playground Vecinos.

Yes, which item would you like to speak to?

Item specifically.

Okay, you'll have one minute.

I'm here today to bring attention to a grave injustice in our city.

Los Angeles hasn't increased the wreck and parks budget since 1937.

To put that in perspective, Franklin Roosevelt was president.

World War II hadn't begun, and Amelia Earhart disappeared.

Seriously, Amelia Earhart.

That time in history was when aviation was in its infancy.

And the world has grown, the city has grown, everything's grown, but the parks are being ignored.

When you underfund parks, the impact isn't equal.

It hits the port communities the hardest.

Los Angeles spends less on parks per resident than any other major city in our peer group.

It's time we invest in our parks and ultimately our kids' families and communities.

So I urge you please provide the maximum funding available to the park system.

Thank you so much.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

General comment.

Hello, my name is one minute.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Fernanda Ramirez.

I'm here to talk about park funding.

As of right now, we have a 0.03% on park funding.

I think we should increase it at least to an increase a lot.

The goal would be double, but if not, a little bit can work.

We should stop the decades of missing disinvestment and start fixing it toward a clean, greener path and environment towards the funding of parks.

Thank you.

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

Sarah DeSolt, Eva Garcia, Ariel Moore, Lori Condanus, and Yvonne Wheeler.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Yeah, General Comment.

You'll have one minute.

Thank you.

So my name is Georgina Serrano, community organizer with Inquilinos Unidos.

As an organizer, um, I review the facts who are presenting by the adult committee, and they present evidence about that ULA is working.

Three aspects.

Tenants needed protection.

So please support ULA is already in facts, not in opinions.

We need your support to continue serving that community.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

General public comment.

You'll have one minute.

Good morning, City Council.

Before retiring last night, an Angelina light bulb struck my mind.

I began with an ecstatic mantra, and my LA City civic duty term was integrity.

Let us take on the task as makers and creators of integrity.

Sometimes we slip and fall in the pit of selfishness.

But let us not forget as leaders in City Hall and Los Angeles that we must be people of integrity.

I know we can blame the status quo, but never forget all those who gave us the freedom so we can hold hands and rest assured there is integrity in the halls of justice and the boardrooms of business deals.

So I plead to all of Los Angeles government officials that we may all stand side by side and live with integrity.

God bless and happy June 19th.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning, ma'am.

Uh public comment.

You'll have one minute.

Thank you.

Uh first of all, I'd like to uh wish Miss Bass and Ms.

Ramond the best.

Uh and as the speaker before me talked about integrity.

It's something that I've seen coming back into this council, so I expect more integrity in the future.

I could not vote for the third uh place person because he represents Donald Trump.

He represents Herman who comes in here and they took away uh a lot of our homeless programs.

I just hope that they don't find any corruption, and that this council and other officials have been cheating those who need the money.

Every week we see these hard working wage uh earners trying to get your attention to support them to make sure that they're being treated like human beings, that their jobs, these people work harder than anybody.

They mean more to the city than you and I.

You guys have cushy jobs, I have a cushy life.

These guys are hard workers, they make this city work.

Thank you.

Which items would you like to speak to?

And the General Public Comment.

You have one minute.

Um Community Power Collective.

And I'm here again to demand that you protect ULA.

It was one democratically.

And now they're building 40 new units in Boyle Heights at Tierra Linda Vista because of measure ULA.

And those are uh that's housing units that is truly for the community.

So measure ULA is actually working.

Don't let these rich people manipulate you.

And these are just losers who are not even paying taxes, and they're just coming out to target us.

And if you are true working class people, you will be supporting the community in ULA.

Because we won ULA democratically.

And this is what the community needs.

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

Marina Mohica, Ariel Moore, John Christensen, Elizabeth Hernandez, Jose Amador, and Lisa Palombi.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Yes, Yvonne Wheeler, and I'm here to speak on item 78 and general public comment.

Thank you.

On behalf of the 800 union members of Los Angeles County, I stand in support of item 78, which provides a five-year exemption for properties impacted by the devastating Pacific Policy's fire.

Recovery from a disaster of this magnitude requires flexibility, certainty, and compassion.

This exemption will help families, homeowners, and communities rebuild while preserving the voter approved goals of measure ULA.

I also stand in strong support of the Ed Hot Committee's recommendations, which includes technical amendments to measure ULA, including seven-year exemption for qualified multifamily developments, interim housing flexibility, and targeted implementation improvements.

These changes do not require a ballot measure.

They can be reached and acted on today and implemented immediately.

Both measures strike the right balance.

They support housing production, facilitate disaster recovery, and maintain critical funding for affordable housing.

And home that's the prevention and tenant protections.

One minute.

Yes.

The biggest threat to ULA is not in this chamber.

It's the taxpayers, taxpayer protection act moving through the state process right now.

If that measure reaches the ballot and passes ULA will be repealed.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

I'd like to speak to 27, 78 in general comment.

Is not available.

You can speak to 78 for a minute and then general public comment for one minute.

Please start with item 78.

Okay.

Good morning, council.

My name is Ariel Moore, and I'm the deputy policy director at the LA County Federation of Labor.

I want to be clear about what's before us today.

The voters approved Measure ULA because Los Angeles has an affordable housing crisis.

They approved it because working class people are being priced out, and homelessness is a crisis, and nothing doing nothing is no longer an option.

Despite what we've heard for months, ULA is working, it's building houses, it's preventing homelessness.

So the question isn't whether ULA needs to go back on the ballot.

The question is whose side are you on?

The side that wants to build more affordable housing or the side that wants to cut funding almost in half and send us into another political fight.

Because that's what these proposals do.

Meanwhile, the ad hoc committee did the work.

No ballot measure, no delays, no excuses.

Just build the housing.

Reject the motions that send ULA back to the ballot, protect those who have experienced the disaster through the fires.

Protect the revenue.

And let's get back to solving the crisis that voters sent us here to address.

In addition, the city coalition of LA City unions represents 24,000 civilian city workers.

We're asking you to vote no and set all four personnel recommendations aside for further study.

It's important that we respect the meet and confer process and that we bargain in good faith.

Labor is the backbone of this city, and all of the workers who work for you all in the city deserve to have contracts that have been negotiated around terms and conditions.

Right now, that's being hijacked, and that's simply unacceptable.

Thank you.

Speaker, which item would you like to speak to?

Hi, I'm Sarah Dusseau, and I'm speaking to 78 and general public comment.

Okay, you'll have one minute for each.

Please start with the item.

Thank you.

Um, hi, I'm Sarah Duseau.

I'm here on behalf of the Mended Don't End It uh coalition.

I think we're taking a really different position.

Um, we're not trying to take a side.

We're actually trying to see if we can put forward pragmatic solutions to actually fix what is broken.

Um, construction has been stalled.

We you asked for a peer reviewed study, we went and got one, a peer-reviewed study that says that housing production is down 30 per 30 percent.

We also know that this is affecting your revenue, both in the general fund as well as in um a variety of impact fees to the tune of about 500 million dollars.

So we see pragmatic solutions to make Los Angeles more affordable, to address the issue of wildfire relief for those who have lost absolutely everything, and to move forward on building more housing and providing tenant protections.

We actually think there's a way to have it all.

If you keep talking a minute, sorry, it's confusing.

Um, we think there's a way to have it all as you look at these different solutions that have been put forward.

Um, the issue about a rebate is quite complicated.

And one of the problems you've had with the 600 million that's in the bank that is not being expended is the difficulty in uh signing of contracts, not just for the tenant groups, but for all different projects, whether it's building new construction or not.

A rebate program would only add to that red tape.

We do not support a rebate program that would be onerous on the housing department and not provide the relief that we're talking about to build new housing quickly, to bring down rent prices, and to get people to work.

So we hope that you will consider some of these pragmatic solutions and uh in these motions, whether it's 78 or other items, and we are are here to answer any questions um on the data.

Before the next speaker begins, I'd like to call up a few more names Juan Luna, Sarah Wiltfong, Jesse Zwick, Jesse G, Val Marquez, Yvette Lopez Ledezma, and Maria Prionis.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

General comment.

You'll have one minute.

I'm John Christensen.

I teach and do research in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA.

My research focuses on environmental equity and access.

I've looked at the inequities in access to parks and beaches in Los Angeles from many different angles.

I worked on the park needs assessment to help ensure that it prioritizes addressing those inequities.

I'm proud to say it does in a way that is unprecedented in this country.

We should all be proud of that if we can find a way to actually fund that work.

Increasing the charter allocation is the only sure path available right now to do that.

And it is fully within the intent and history of the charter.

Parks and libraries were safeguarded from the usual budget horse trading because they were considered essential for the well-being, life and culture of a good city in the early 20th century.

Parks were seen as important places where diverse people could mingle, listen, learn, respect, and trust each other.

We need those spaces more than ever in Los Angeles.

This city, the city council needs those spaces more than ever.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak on?

Item 27 and public comment.

Okay.

Item 37 is not available for public comment.

Oh, I'm sorry, 78.

37.

I'm sorry, you'll have one minute for that and one minute for general public comment.

Thank you very much.

Uh good morning, everyone.

My name is Maria Briones, and I'm a member of base.

Uh one thing that I keep asking myself is why do we have to uh shut down or cut you know funds from uh ULA when we had fought so hard for it?

I woke for it.

Actually, I wrote the street because I'm in a wheelchair.

Because it interests me to have these funds to build affordable housing.

We don't have enough.

There's a lot of people on the street.

We don't want any more families on the street, and it's inhumane that we are forcing this project to start like a baby to start running before it starts scrolling.

You guys haven't done the study correctly as they're supposed to be.

So why are we doing this?

Why are we chunking off the the uh the project?

We have to keep fighting for it because there's a lot of people that need this program.

We have the the right to council right now.

There's a lot of people that need the council, and it's the first time in many, many years that people with low income has the ability to have a lawyer on their side.

So it's improper, it's inhumane, and it's cruel to cut the funds.

So we need to keep fighting for this, and I'm going to continue coming to do my public coming here, uh advocating for ULA.

ULA is here to stay.

Thank you.

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

Carolina Lopez, John Donlin, Danny, and Don Tio.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Yeah, public comment and item 78.

Okay, you'll have one minute for each.

Please start with item 78.

Uh, so first of all, please pay attention because we're here for a reason, and we don't need you guys to be chatting.

My name is Elizabeth Hernandez.

I'm an organizer with AIDS.

Um, also live in district nine.

Uh, so the housing production argument does not even hold construction starts our up, and permits in 2026 are nearly as high as all of 2025 combined.

The studies developers keep citing have been debunked.

Blaming ULA for a housing slowdown is a distraction, not a data-draven argument.

Why you guys try to keep you know chopping this ULA?

We walk the streets, we got the vote, we put it on the ballot already, and trust me, it is a lot of work.

It's a lot of work from our same people who keeps coming over and over to keep defending ULA.

It was meant for the people, for the people in our streets, for our low-income families.

It was meant for our communities, not for the big corporations.

So stop that nonsense.

It doesn't make any sense to keep doing that over and over and over.

It's really tiring, it's a waste of time.

Thank you, Speaker.

Your time has expired.

Next speaker.

It's two minutes.

It was just one minute.

You you have your general public comment.

Go ahead.

You have one minute.

So, with that, uh, also we want to make sure that these funds, you know, they stay.

We need to make sure that the contract is signed.

We have people who have been already dealing with this.

Uh, with that, they're not gonna have representation.

I mean, dealing with tenants who had a been struggling to be able to pay the rent.

We have tenants who are in the verge of becoming homeless because only thanks to ULA and the funds and State House LA, they're being able to have some type of representation, they're able to see the light and a hope for for themselves and for their families.

Also, please do keep the funding for our parks, especially C D 9 that we have in nearly any parks at C D 9.

You know, these parks are really important for our community for our kids and for the growth of everyone, every citizen in our community.

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

Carla DePas, Yvette Lopez Ledezma, Navajo Joe, Sarah Friedman, Natasha Villa, and Zachary Pitts.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment, please.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning, council members.

I'm Yvette Lopez Ledezma, founder of Diaz on Trails and resident of CD6.

I'm here today to ask for a doubling of the allocation to wreck and parks in the charter.

The time to increase funding for parks is now.

Councilmember Yaroslavsky, we know what we can do better than what's being proposed.

You have been fighting with us since your time in the county.

We can't keep punting this while our parks are further neglected.

All of LA's parks need investments.

On Monday.

We heard Council President Harris Dawson say his district wouldn't benefit from more funding for parks.

That's false.

Existing parks would benefit, and it's where funds are needed the most.

The data is out there in the city's needs assessment and also the counties, CD 8, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 1 all have very high need park areas.

Council Member Raman, your vision for progress in this moment should look like doubling the amount in the charter.

It looks like investment in green space to mitigate climate impacts like those created by the ports in CD 15.

Every dollar spent on parks is a dollar well spent.

Park equity now.

Hi, I'm speaking on 78 in general public comment.

Okay.

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

Go ahead.

Good morning.

My name is Carla De Paz with Community Power Collective and the United to House LA Coalition.

I urge this council to oppose any ULA amendments that require a ballot measure and instead join us in preparing for the fight against the taxpayer deception act.

A couple of years ago, I traveled to Vienna to study at social housing systems.

Some of you council members, staff, and city leaders were on that trip as well.

One thing that Vienna officials emphasized was that cities do not build housing security by giving away public land or public funding.

They invest in public infrastructure and protect it over time.

Yet here we are once again debating whether Los Angeles should give away hundreds of millions of dollars in public resources to the private market.

Measure ULA is one of the most significant public investments the city has made in housing in decades.

It has raised nearly two billion dollars to address a crisis the private market has failed to solve.

The proposals that we keep debating and discussing are not small fixes, they are major funding cuts for working-class communities.

Every dollar taken out of ULA is a dollar that no longer goes towards public solutions voters demanded and instead stays in the pockets of developers and real estate interest.

We've spent decades being told that if we just give the market one more incentive, one more subsidy, one more concession.

Affordability will follow.

It hasn't.

What follows is rising rents, displacement, homelessness, and deepening inequality.

And on top of that, the data still does not support the claim that ULA is hurting housing production.

I keep asking to see the real numbers.

I keep hearing it's just common sense, it's supply and demand, but working class communities know better than to accept trickle-down economics as housing policy.

My ask is simple.

Reject amendments that reduce ULA revenue, reject efforts to put those amendments on the ballot, and help us defeat the Howard Jarvis agenda instead of advancing it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Good morning, everybody.

My name is Carolina.

I'm a resident of LA.

I am here to speak on 25, 27, 78, 79.

And I am a student in the EDN tenant empowerment program.

I support the position of the right.

So before we begin, so I believe you said it was a little hard to hear you.

I thought you said 25, 26, 27.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

So those are not open for public comment, but you can speak to them during general.

So you have one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Yes.

78.

78.

So you have one minute for 78, and then you have one minute for general.

Please begin with the item number 78.

Go ahead.

I support the position of the right to council uh coalition.

Do not waken ULA.

ULA, no ballot amendment.

EDN is facing a layoff of uh 76% of their staff unless this council passes a motion to advance the April State House LA allocation and pay it no longer than July 1st, 2026.

While that negotiation continua.

EDN and the coalition that need the support.

I'm helping thousands of uh tenants.

I have been helped if it wasn't now for that.

I I would have lost my home five years ago.

And all the tenants that need the support of these um firms are low income and lower income.

So I so speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Thank you.

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

Jesus Camargo, Val Marquez, Lisa Palombi, Miguel Santana, Audit LA, Azine Kanmalik, and Pamela Augustin.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General Public Party about uh parks funding.

So you have one minute for general public comment.

Go ahead.

Great.

My name is Sarah Friedman, and I'm here with the Trust for Public Land.

We are an organization that spends a lot of time studying parks, their impacts on health in the economy.

Um Los Angeles parks could be a humongous revenue driver.

They already are.

They drive tourism, they increase property values, and they create jobs.

However, we're not funding them to do so.

The rules committee proposal was a good step forward in increasing the annual allocation, but much more is to be done if we were going to address our parks needs, create equity, create address park equity, and create the infrastructure that's needed to actually have them as revenue drivers.

In addition, I wanted to draw attention to a rules committee proposed language suspension change.

What that would mean is that there could be 30% of Rack and Park's already very small allocation returned in a fiscal emergency.

That is the entirety of its protected funding could be returned, which does not apply to any other department.

Um we can do more.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh just general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Good morning.

My name is Lisa Palombe.

I'm the president of the Librarians Guild who represents the librarians all across the city.

I'm here today to talk about the personnel department's recommendations for charter reform.

We were looking forward to charter reform, hoping that it would create proposals that would help frontline workers.

But unfortunately, what you'll see today are proposals that will strip away protections from civil service jobs, that will reduce the number of civil service jobs across the city.

Basically, it's not a good deal for your workers.

We hope that you shut down the personnel department's proposals for charter reform and that you continue to look at the improvements that we have made between labor and the city with targeted local hire programs, uh bridges to jobs.

We have many ways of being efficient and modernized in hiring for the city that do not require charter reform, proposals as presented to you by the personnel department.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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

Ivana Mungia, Margarita Capato, Justy S.

Steve Coffroth, Megan Hardwood, William Flores Diaz, John Camera, John C, and Jason Greenwald.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh general comments and item 78.

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

Please begin with the item first.

Go ahead.

Okay, my name is Jesus Comargo.

Um, I represent thousands of carpenters that work right here on these housings and in the South Bay.

And uh I just want to say I support the ULA.

Um I know there's been a stall on these housings and stopping a lot of avenues and uh to help out a lot of the homeless that's needed that needs all this help out there in the streets, right?

Um, but we know that there was like 42,300 jobs that got approved.

We only got about six thousand that got boots on the ground.

We need more push on these jobs to get put to start getting pushed forward to start making the other 36,000 jobs to uh get built.

Uh if we start building these more homes, we know that it's gonna help a lot of people with good jobs.

Uh and when we got good jobs out there, it keeps people from the streets, it keeps people doing better, you know.

Um, a lot of the times these people that are talking right here, uh, they need this housing, and we need them built.

And the more that we get built out there, it'll help out the community, help out people get out the streets, and it'll help us all grow better right here in the city of LA.

That's what I got.

And general public comment.

Okay, next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Item number 78 and general comment.

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

Please begin.

Go ahead, thank you.

When I started this, my name is Miguel Santana.

I'm president and CEO of the California Community Foundation.

I'm also part of the Amended Don't End It Coalition.

We created this coalition to save ULA.

There are real threats right now that are trying to eliminate it altogether.

We believe it's an important part of producing affordable housing in Los Angeles as well as keeping people housed.

The best way to save it is by responding to the undetendent consequences to allow the building of affordable housing and all housing here in Los Angeles to ensure that transfers take place so your property tax keeps on growing, and to provide you the authority and the flexibility to use this important revenue stream to be responsive to all the issues the city is facing related to affordable housing and homelessness.

We are we are recommending that you move forward a ballot measure to allow for those changes and to save ULA.

Thank you so much.

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

Jerry Adams, Edgar Castaneda, Emmanuel M.

John Ralphling, Chris P, Cynthia Hodges, Jim G.

and Margaret Allercorn.

One minute.

Good morning.

Good morning, sir.

Oh, in the interest of time, I'm going to be very nice and just do public comment because I'm not.

I don't even know the agenda item, so I just you just be calling me off to you.

We appreciate it.

There's a lot of people here.

One minute for general.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Okay, so shout out to Smoke and Scan.

And um, I just want to say that yesterday at court, Scientology lawyer, he assaulted me with his briefcase twice on my foot, a disabled person.

And I believe that he feels that he could do that because A, I'm not streaming, and B, the city will not keep Scientology in check.

Mr.

Hugo, I see you run off, of course you did.

You're not keeping him in check.

Smoke and scan agrees.

And um and Ms.

Roman, you're you want to be mayor.

You need to put uh Scientology in check.

Do you think it's okay that he feels that he could just assault a disabled person because I speak up against Scientology?

Because nothing ever gets done.

They have five lawsuits against the city.

You're doing nothing.

Put them in check.

I am not suicidal.

I'm gonna say it now.

Anything happens to me, you need to look at Kendrick Moxon and Kirsten Peterson.

Okay, that's how you need to look at.

He already assaulted me twice.

Physically assaulted me.

I had to go get checked medically.

I'm not joking.

Put them in check.

Okay, uh next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment, please.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Great, thank you.

My name's Justy Sexton.

I'm one of those nerds that was at every single charter reform meeting, and I'm here in the list of things in the CLIA's report to emphatically express my support for reform 54, which is ordinances of need to apply to the LAPD.

The people already believe this to be true.

I know this because in conversations with council staff yesterday, their own staff office made seem to think that this was true.

You know this because your constituents are constantly mad at you for not doing anything because they don't know you can't.

Political beliefs of the police aside, it's insane that our most expensive department has no true electoral oversight.

The cost of an action here is a perpetuation of harm.

Reform 56 isn't a compromise, it's a cop-out.

It still leaves the power of inaction with the board.

If they never take up an idea, like pretextual stops that you n you unanimously pass forward, there's nothing for you to veto.

There's still no representation that is accountable to the people.

So please pass PIP 54 to the ballot and don't cop out.

Thank you.

Good morning.

And what would you like to speak to?

Number 78, general public comments.

So you'll have one minute for each.

Please meet with the item.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Margarita Copado.

I am a member of Ace and I live in District 9.

I am here to ask you to decide based on facts, not on the arguments of the developers based on the evidence.

And the evidence shows that ULA is working.

And I am testament of that because if it wasn't for that, I would still be on the street.

I would be a year on the street.

Thanks to ULA, I now have a lawyer representing me during my my second lawsuit for for eviction.

So I'm asking you to please touch your heart today and to think about the people who are poor because the poor the poor people are becoming poor, the richer are richer.

I have a child with a disability, and he asked me, hey, are we gonna become homeless?

Muchas gracias.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, members of the council.

My name is I'm sorry, seventy-eight in general public comments.

Okay, you have one minute for the item and one minute for general.

Please begin with the item.

Go ahead.

My name is Elena Pop.

I am the executive director of the eviction defense network.

I was here yesterday, and today I want to start by really asking you guys to focus on the speakers.

There is a meeting happening.

People are taking time from their days to come and speak to you, and you are all doing everything but paying attention.

17 of them came to speak to you yesterday, and the one comment that they had in common, all of them, is that you guys are worse than the judge.

The judge doesn't pay attention to them.

We teach them to give certain information.

You all are not paying attention to them either, and their housing is at stake.

So I ask that you please focus, especially when the tenants are speaking.

You have no idea how hard it is to stand up here, and then the audience you came to address isn't paying attention.

I have stood here probably a hundred and one times in my career, and usually I bring you a lot of data.

This time I sent it to you.

I sent it to you, your district director, your chief of staff, your housing person, your communications person, and I got four responses, and two of them were auto responses.

The only people that responded to me were uh Isabel Jurado and Hugo Soto Martinez.

I'm gonna be here in City Hall all day, and I expect to talk to Council members and their staff about the fact that I am about to lay off 66% of my staff due to government inaction.

I also ask that you not be afraid of the Jarvis uh people.

We are here to back ULA at the ballot, porque si se puede quando lechamos ganas.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Bajan G, Jerry C, Donnie L, Jade Arriano, Jasmine P, Laura FM, and Ava Garcia.

So I said it was Jerry Adams.

What what items are open again?

So the items, the items that are open for public comment at this time are items one and two, items six through sixty-six, and items seventy-eight through seventy-nine.

All of them in general.

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

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Okay, so you said it was open, so I'm gonna go ahead and speak to item 27.

So, but so again, you got all the time.

I'm sorry, if you were list the items that are, can we hold as time?

The items that are open for public comment are one and two, six through sixty-six, and seventy-eight through seventy-nine.

27 is within the range of six through sixty-six.

Go ahead.

But I'll do it later.

But um, but the but again with ULA, the um, you know, you're now trying to gut ULA because rich people are getting taxed and we're building more housing.

So that doesn't necessarily mean that ULA is perfect by any means, but but we should make sure to protect the spirit of what ULA is doing.

We should make sure that we are building affordable housing, because housing is a human right, and there's six unhouse people dying on the streets of LA every day.

Way too many people are on house, and it's because of your policy failures, your violence, and they're out on the street, and this council is now trying to gut the construction of more affordable housing.

So let's go on to general public comment.

Okay, so you have one minute, go ahead.

That was a really interesting timing.

You want to make sure to get that statement in right before the meeting, Bob.

Right before public comment started.

Right after I was yelling at you before the meeting, the your statement about the dog getting shot in your district.

So again, that's so disgusting what happened.

You know, people are just trying to celebrate the game.

I don't necessarily agree with them on their position on teams, but you know, but again, they have the right to celebrate the game, and the LAP should not be coming and shooting and killing their dog because someone was, you know, excited or whatever.

And you know, these dogs, they don't know how to, they're that dog is probably scared because you've got, you know, all like 10 armed cops showing up, yeah, shouting at you know, the dog's parent and such.

I mean, how do you think the dog is gonna react?

So, Marquise, I heard that um hot mic on Monday.

You attacking your CAO in CLA.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good morning, speaker.

What would you like to speak to?

All right, general public comment 78 and 79.

Okay, so you have two minutes for the items at 78 and 79, and then you'll have an additional minute for general.

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

All right, thank you.

I'm John Rafling.

I organize with the Los Angeles Community Action Network and Skid Row.

We oppose all of the efforts to change measure ULA, including the one coming out of the ad hoc.

In Skid Row, thousands of people live on the streets and many are dying.

Thousands more live on the edge of losing their housing.

So this is a matter of life and death for our community.

The people of Los Angeles passed measure ULA to help prevent homelessness and to build permanent housing, not temporary, not interim, not shelter.

ULA is working, it's keeping people housed, it's building a fund to develop more affordable housing to reduce homelessness and save lives.

But ULA has been under attack since day one.

Developers, the corporates, the obscenely rich, and their lackeys in the political class, have tried one thing after another to undermine ULA.

We've got exemptions, reducing the tax, hijacking the money to move it into temporary housing.

All these attacks are unacceptable.

All these attacks will defeat the purpose of ULA and will hurt the people throughout Los Angeles, especially in Skid Row.

So council members, you now have a choice.

Are you with the people and with the common good?

Are you with cutting taxes for the already obscenely rich?

Now's your chance.

You can show us which side you are on.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh general public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Hi, I'm here again, uh, exposing the cult of Scientology and their abuses.

Uh their infiltration of the city.

You guys, if you can please, I've sent every single one of you council members, all about not only the council members, but multiple city officials this book.

This was this is a born and raised child in the inside organizations of Scientology.

Please take two hours, three hours, whatever you can to read that.

The expert witness is a book by Jesse Prince, who literally describes the executive structure of Scientology and their infiltration and their operation Snow White, how they got their tax exempt status in California, how they infiltrated the city, how they get their El Ron Hubbard Road name changed to L Ron Hubbard instead of North Verrendo Street to infiltrate the neighborhood to take over.

Hugo Martin, Hugo, Soto Martinez, literally allowed a three-day permit on El Ron Hubbard Way without it being approved by the city.

That is not okay.

That is infiltration of Scientology.

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

Carla DePas, Nasma Sultan, Andy, Joshua Reyes, Christina Boyar, and Johnny.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

Hi, uh, general public comment and items 78 and 79.

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

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Hey, my name is Jade Arriano, and I'm an organizer with LA Can in CD 14 and a resident of CD1.

Every week we have turned out for this committee, and you have heard we've turned out for council, we've turned off for the ad hoc, and you have heard from people who have been unhoused, people who have lived in interim housing and who live in affordable housing currently.

You've heard from tenants who, thanks to ULA dollars, have received rental relief, who have received eviction defense services that kept them from being wrongfully evicted by slumlords.

In short, you have heard from the people who fought for ULA and the people that would be most impacted by the devastating impact of gutting it in favor of corporations and developers.

Overwhelmingly, we have all urged you to reject placing amendments to ULA on the ballot and to commit to real community-driven analysis.

You heard from community-based organizations, interim housing providers, and people who've been deeply committed to housing justice, who've come with the receipts and affirm that permanent housing is the way forward.

We have produced real data about how ULA is working, and we have debunked the flawed studies of the mended don't end it people.

Developer claims that ULA is impacting housing construction are not supported by real data, and we see that housing is rebounding.

Construction stats are up.

Meanwhile, the mended don't end it coalition makes no mention of the thousands of people who would not receive eviction defense to stay housed if ULA funding is cut.

ULA will continue to keep people housed and make the city more affordable if you let it.

Corporations and developers are not what makes our city great, but people make our city great.

ULA is a long-term commitment to them, to the people who want to be able to stay here in this Los Angeles and deserve to live well.

Honor the will of your constituents who voted for ULA and now fight to defend it, save ULA.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public general comment and uh seventy-eight.

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

Please begin with the item.

Go ahead.

My name is Bijan Gaimi, and I'm an organizer with Community Power Collective.

I'm here in support of ULA, and that there be no amendments that end up on the ballot in November.

The argument that ULA harms housing construction doesn't hold water.

Construction starts have increased, and permits issued during the first quarter of 2026 were nearly as high as all permits issued in 2025.

The studies developers keep citing have been discredited.

Blaming the ULA for a slowdown in housing construction is a distraction, not a data-driven argument.

The tax caps and exceptions are funding cuts, not reforms.

Calling them targeted adjustments doesn't change what they are.

A 15 year exemption coupled with a tax cap would cut ULA revenue by more than half.

That money directly funds affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and tenant protections.

Weakening citizen oversight is an attack on the will of the voters.

I'm a tenant organizer.

I work with immigrants who work in the informal sector, vendors, construction workers, domestic workers.

They are still feeling the compounded ripple effects from close to a year of constant ice raids and inflation.

Some are still fearful to go out and work.

Do they deserve to be thrown out on the streets?

The only lines of defense that these folks have are rental assistance and right to council attorneys.

You want to help the housing crisis, safeguard ULA's funding for these resources instead of waiting for the date, the housing prices will fall based on some antiquated notion of supply and demand.

No amendments for ULA.

Thank you.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

General public comment and 78 and 79.

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

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Joe Donlin with the United to House LA Coalition.

The ad hoc committee on measure ULA established by the Council President conducted a process over two months to review major questions around measure ULA and issued a number of recommendations that include critical technical amendments, a targeted seven-year multifamily exemption, and other elements to enhance ULA's implementation.

These recommendations are appropriately surgical while also being eloquent in that they do not require a costly and uncertain ballot measure process.

We ask you to support the ad hoc committee's recommendations when they come before you next week.

As was reported in the city's own reports by the CAO and LAHD, but these proposed ballot motions would also dangerously play into the hands of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association by weakening negotiations and by drawing critical resources away from the campaign to defeat the taxpayer deception act at the ballot in November.

So let's follow the overwhelming data that counters the skies following narrative from big real estate.

Construction on multifamily housing in the city of LA has exploded in 2026.

Co-star data shows construction starts higher in the first quarter of this year than almost every quarter before ULA went into effect, all the way back to 2001.

These are units spurred by the passage of the chip just a year ago.

These are ED1 units.

These are projects of all types being built throughout the city.

And this confirms the BAE urban economics feasibility study that showed ULA was a minor factor in the overall cost developers face.

In summary, there is no need for a local ballot measure.

In fact, it could cause greater harm for the city.

Instead, pass the ad hoc committee recommendations that will come before you next week and do not move forward ballot measure motions that would get essential revenue for the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hi, my name is Jasmine.

I would like to comment on 78, 79 in general public comment.

Okay, so we have two minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Please begin with the items.

So momentum.

So I'm here to oppose any proposal for a change that will require a ballot measure.

This uh measure was passed in 2022, and if any changes are needed, it should be done through the council based off of the ad hoc committee's recommendations.

Adelante.

And I'm tired of seeing development uh housing developments in our community that claim to be affordable but really aren't affordable to the community.

Um, and through the State House delay, there are so many cases that need representation where there aren't repairs that are being done for people's homes, where the rent adjustments are required because they were in there were illegal rent increases for them, as well as harassment from the landlords themselves.

And I just want to say thank you so much for our city to our city controller for exposing many of the landlords um and their properties, and we demand that uh we make any changes necessary that does not require a ballot measure, and that we resolve all of these issues in house.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

I'm sorry, which items would you like to speak of?

Oh, 24 25, and 78 and 79.

Okay, um 78 and 79.

You'll have two minutes for the other items you can speak to in general public comment for which you'll have one meeting, one minute.

So please start with 78 and 79.

Okay.

Um good morning, my name is Margaret Alarcone.

I was born at the Women and Children's Hospital on Mission Road, and I am still here in the community.

I'm a long-term disabled tenant and student in EDN's tenant empowerment program for council district one.

EDN or the eviction defense network saved my housing.

Over the past year I faced two back to back eviction proceedings with EDN's individual legal support to accommodate my disabilities, helping to prepare exhibits, navigating court, and understanding my rights as a disabled tenant.

Both cases were dismissed.

Videos and classes alone are not enough.

Without individualized legal help, disabled tenants like me cannot defend ourselves.

I urge the council to place a motion on the agenda by June 23rd to advance the April 2020 allocation to EDN and release funds no later than July 1st.

Thank you.

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

Smoke and scan, Megan Hartwood, Andrew Grabner, Jim P, Baba Akeele, Natasha, and Amy Linda Neveraz.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

I'd like to speak to General Comments and 78 as well as 79.

Okay, you'll have two minutes for 78 and 79 and one minute for general public.

Please begin with 78 and 79.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Megan Harwood, and I am speaking on items 78 and 79.

I'm currently in eviction proceedings, and I'm a student at eviction defense network tenant empowerment program.

Thank you all for listening very hard right now.

I support the Rights of Council coalition.

Please do not weaken measure ULA.

Please reject any ballot amendments that would reduce funding, create loopholes, or weaken citizen oversight.

This council knows how serious the housing and homeless epidemic has become.

You see it every day outside this chamber.

ULA was created to help meet that crisis with real housing, homelessness prevention, and tenant protections.

Please do not turn this into another political fight, council members.

I am a fire survivor, and I am fighting right now to stay housed.

So when we talk about tenant protections and homeless prevention, this is not abstract, this is real life.

EDN helps us to understand the court process, organize evidence, and prepare documents.

Videos and classes help, but they are not enough.

Tenants need real support, discovery, exhibits, negotiations, hearings, and trial preparation.

Please, council members, protect measure ULA.

Please reject item 78 and 79, and please make sure that April Stay House LA funds are advanced and paid by July 1st so that EDN and other tenant services are not forced into layoffs.

Please ensure that oversight remains in intact.

Thank you.

And please help to prevent homelessness before it gets to a dire next step.

Thank you all for listening, as I know you all are.

Please listen harder to the people that come up here.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Speaking on items 78, 79.

I you'll have two minutes.

Linda Maxon.

And I'm gonna put a different spin on this.

Have anyone of you ever been addicted?

Do you know the effects that an addiction has on an individual?

It's devastating, it's traumatizing, it's mental breakdown, and it's help breakdown.

Entering and and experiencing this myself, I am a student of tenants empowerment.

And from day one, the pleasantry, the welcoming, the professionalism, the training, the education, has given me the strength, the courage, and the confidence to carry on throughout this, no matter what.

I'm gonna propose the question to you.

You know, we have to be mindful, and we have to support and assist persons who support and assist us.

EVN is moving for the good of society and its people.

EVN is there taking care of the need.

The funders must be there, the organization must continue so that we can continue to each one, each one.

We see what the homeless crisis does.

If you've never experienced it, you wouldn't have any idea that what it does to a person's life.

When we hear the word eviction, the first thing we think about is they didn't pay their rent.

It goes deeper than that.

I'm asking the council to take into consideration to put on ballot that these firms are allocated so that this great organization that's working for the good of the people can continue to service our society and humanity.

Thank you.

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

Hugo Garcia, Jeremy Payne, Rashad Douglas, Alena Pop, and Viviana Avila.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Item 78, please.

Okay, you'll have one minute.

Good morning.

My name is Joshua, and I'm here with the Affordable Housing Mendedon Bendic Coalition, and I'm here to talk about ULA about how many of us are willing or wanting uh affordable housing.

We want to live in a safer community, and we want more options to live.

But and ULA was that big promise, but right now there hasn't been any movement with that project.

And what I'm here asking today is that hopefully you guys can revisit make a revision on this project, as many of us here want uh more affordable housing and hopefully be able to live in a community where we all feel safe and have no worries about having to um live without any issue um financial issues as many might live paycheck by paycheck, worried about rent.

So hopefully you can revise it and thank you for your time.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

78 in general public comment, please.

Okay, you'll have one minute for each.

Please start with item 78.

Okay, thank you.

Hi, my name is Christina Boyer.

In my personal capacity, I just want to support Charter Reform 54.

But I am also here as an attorney for public counsel and part of the Keep LA House Coalition.

I'm gonna try to be brief because the most important voices here are the community members who have had their lives changed by the services funded by ULA.

I have taken time out of their day to share their experiences with you.

I implore you to really listen to them.

But there have been several studies on ULA.

I'd like to focus on what the city's own departments and offices found.

The CLA, the CAO, LHD, and the assessor could not say ULA is negatively impacting construction, transaction, or property taxes.

One quote it's still too early to see the full impact of ULA on housing production.

The data simply is not there to support many of the amendments being discussed.

The way to save ULA is not to rush through amendments in our local ballots.

The way to save ULA is to fight the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Deception Act and publicly support ACA 13.

Any local ballot measures distract from our real fight and divert valuable resources from fighting Howard Jarvis at the ballot.

I implore you to listen to the people, listen to the data.

You need to protect our people, their housing, and the local dedicated funding stream for affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

Serve your constituents, protect ULA.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Uh public comment.

Um, William Giovanni Flores Diaz, um, the South Central Native and current resident at CD1.

Did you know the kids that have an opportunity have a better chance to make it up in this society?

We need to make this happen each and every single day, feeding them the knowledge when they eat chill and play, make a pretty world and making people pretty, interact with the world by helping out the needy, kick cat, shoot throw, even spike a ball that can even climb a tower that is super duper tall, dance, cheer, then go compete, drill into the beat with their hands and their feet.

They could cook, they could bake as long as I get some, even get a stick to beat a steel drum, build no robot, or but they could build a band, better building up their confidence with nothing but their hands.

We're the best, and you can tell by the smile on their face when we ring the bell.

Please support parks, wrecks, the people and the you, the kids.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Yes, Baba Akeele, uh General Pop uh General Public Comment.

You'll have one minute.

Very quickly.

I'm the chair of the Liberty Community Land Trust.

The ULA is an expression of the people's interest.

They put it on the ballot at one, it's a useful tool.

Instead of gutting it and throwing it aside because it has been attacked even before it was put on the ballot.

There are ways, and you all are working on it to improve it, to make it work.

It's a useful tool.

You have the opportunity instead of putting it on the ballot and gutting it, you have the opportunity and the time to make it better, protect ULA, but more importantly, protect renters in this city.

Thank you.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Good morning.

This general public comment.

You'll have one minute.

My name is Hugo Garcia, a lifelong resident of El Sedano, Northeast Los Angeles, Director of Community Engagement for True Nonprofit Organizations, Save Elephant Hill and CD 14.

And uh Clock Shop and CD 13.

I also serve as LA County Fish and Wildlife Commissioner for SD1.

I'm here to voice support for Charter Commission's funding recommendation to double the funding allocation for LA Parks.

Save Elephant Hill and Clock Shop support the following full funding for RAP and remove the 30% suspension clause.

Anything short of that will perpetuate the cycle of unadequate parks and open space facilities throughout the city of Los Angeles.

Two, we call for funding commitments that are baked into the charter, not vague and ambiguous ordinance that allows for modifications, subjecting communities to funding vulnerability.

Three, funding should be phased in over a maximum of four to five years, given citywide budget constraints.

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

Irma Fabian, Alex Freeman, Athena Frost, Janet Ramirez, and Antonio Martinez.

Gary, which item would you like to speak to?

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Um, 78, 79 in general comment.

Okay, you'll have two items.

I mean, two minutes for 78 and 79, and then one minute for general public comment.

Thank you very much.

My name is Cynthia.

I am a resident of the city of Los Angeles.

I'm also a student in the EDN empowerment program.

With humble hearts, I ask you not to weaken ULA.

No ballot amendments.

EDN is facing layoffs of 66% of their staff unless this council passes a motion to advance the April State House LA allocation and pay it no later than July 1st, 2026, while the negotiations continue.

Tell them I'm sorry.

Navigate their complete program by guiding me, educating me, and empowering me by a video for each step of the transaction process.

Stay housed, LA, Basta, etc.

But none of them, in my opinion, surpass EDN.

Thank you speaker which items would you like to speak to us commentary public hello uh good afternoon public comment you'll have one minute my name is Viviana my name is Viviana Avilan I'm a member of ACE Los Angeles I live in Los Angeles and ULA has given me hope I'll perder my trabajo y I'll earse the person as I lost my job and the person who helped me pay half of my rental pony al Dia since then it's been difficult to catch up gracias a las clinicas legales y al movimento legal y stay hold things to the legal clinic the legal movement and stay housed LA Stoya mis derechos and representation si I fundos I'm learning my rights and I'm going to be able to have representation as long as there are funds but I fundos but what happens if there aren't funds of my thing possible to sustain my rent and the needs of my children el contratto ya mismo or familias como la mia y la mia terminaremos in la calle gracias I ask you to approve this now or families my family and families like mine will end up on the streets thank you.

Speaker which items would you like to speak to um are you taking public comment on sixty seven no that will be in this special meeting so you can speak to public general public comment in this meeting I will do that then thank you okay you'll have one minute all right thank you uh my name is Jeremy Payne I'm a representative of Catalyst California and a member of the RLA coalition that has been working for the last three years to engage community residents about realizing a more racially equitable Los Angeles in response to the audio leaks from City Council and City Hall I'm here to voice our unwavering support as a coalition behind uh CRC 54 and CRC58 ensuring that LAPD honors ordinances passed through normal city processes and allowing the chief of police to remove officers repeated histories of harm and gelinas particularly low-income uh system impacted communities of color deserve timely solutions to the ongoing harm they are experiencing due to the lack of accountability and oversight of our Los Angeles police department these are reforms that cannot wait to the november 2028 ballot these are reforms that need to happen now especially with the upcoming Olympics in 2028 we need timely solutions so in case there is another federal crisis or invasion that city council has the tools they need to respond effectively and efficiently to ensure that LA residents are safe and secure thank you before the next speaker begins I like to call up a few more names Jason Enright Linda McShawn Domingo Solorzano Jasmine Jombie Dessa Fasiska and Veronica which items would you like to speak to the article 7879 78 and 79 for the items for Los Articles.

Ayuda con la renta etcamos aquí para que por favor no necesitamos que la pongan en la boleta eso ya se aprovo in el 2022 necesitamos que appoy mas a ULA que no canal Oh sorry.

Hello, my name is Irma Lopez and I'm a member of Sage and I am here to ask you to protect ULA.

Please don't let it go to the vote.

I'm here to represent some of the poorest parts of the city of Los Angeles, and we have benefited from ULA, from legal counsel, from help with rent.

Please don't send it to the ballot.

Help it improve it.

It already went to the ballot in 2022.

I also am here as part of Equipo Verde to ask you to fund the parks so that families like mine can go out and have uh some time away from the stress of daily life due to the amount of harassment we have from landlords.

Adelante.

I must I'm asking you to please protect ULA and to give the parks more resources.

Without ULA, the big developers aren't aren't going to be uh aren't going to be accountable.

We need some sort of regulation.

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

Victoria Gomez, Anna Nieves, Jack Galdomez, Atheno Frost, Jack, Steve C and Fernando Perez.

Speaker, which islands would you like to speak to?

Good morning, yes.

My name is Dominga Solorsano.

Okay, and that's a commentary publiclo 78 general.

I'd like to make a comment on item 78 and general public comment.

Okay, you'll have one minute for each.

Please begin with item 78.

Hi, good morning.

I am a member of ACE.

My name is uh Dominguez Olorsano and I live in uh District 9.

Thanks to this great organization, Ace, I have learned a lot about my rights.

And uh I'm a person um who is low income or under resource, and uh I'm a mother of a family, and um we we have to support it.

We need support.

So I'm asking for you to please protect measure ULA.

El dinero is that on la mano.

Adiante.

No.

No asido un buen processo de Mocratico.

Los votantes no quieren ver esto.

Okay.

Uh so we have walked the streets to uh canvas for our ULA voters, and now that the money is actually there, you all want to interfere with the process, but it's already been a democratic process.

And so uh we're asking for these changes to not actually go on the ballot.

Um, thank you, and and please consider that.

Gracias.

So uh thank you all so much.

And as you know, you know, we're part of a vulnerable population, and so I just ask that you find it in your heart to protect ULA because ULA is supporting us, and we need that.

You're up next, go ahead.

Go ahead and have a seat now.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Hi, this is just general public comment.

You'll have one minute.

What are we doing here, y'all?

Can we please end this humiliation ritual farce where you guys don't pay one lick of attention to anything that anybody is saying here?

Do you not have time to dick around on your own time?

This is the people's time.

This is our time.

How dare you not listen to us?

How dare you guys show up on our time and dig around having side conversations, stapling loudly.

No one can hear some of these people.

I certainly can't.

So when we're here on our time, which we get very minimal of, by the way, and we have things to say, listen.

And when we vote on something, and it passes, have enough respect to stop not take it off the fucking ballot.

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

Anna Hernandez, Angelo Birdsong, Cynthia Gonzalez, and Godfrey Plata.

Speaker, which items would you like to speak to?

Uh hello.

Uh I'm speaking on item 7879 and general public comment.

Okay, you'll have two minutes for the items and one minute for general public comment.

Please start with uh 78 and 79.

Um, my name is Jasmine, and I am a student in the tenant empowerment program of EDN.

I support the position of the right to counsel coalition.

Do not weaken ULA.

No ballot amendments.

EDN is facing layoffs of 66% of their staff unless this council passes a motion to advance this April Stay House LA allocation and pay it no later than July 1st, 2026.

Well, the negotiations continue.

Eviction Defense Network has helped my severely disabled mother who is 67 years old and immobile, stay in her home through two eviction crises.

They have caused two cases to be dismissed while she was still in the hospital and recovering.

The reason that my mother is still in her home right now is because of the work of the hard-working staff at eviction defense network.

Once again, please advance the April funding and pay it no later than July 1st, 2026, or else my mother will not get the help she needs to stay in her home.

She is elderly and severely disabled.

She is relying on eviction defense network to stay in her home.

Please, please, please advance the July the April friending for July 1st.

Thank you.

Okay, you'll have two minutes for the items, and one minute for general public comment.

Please start with the items.

Hi, my name is Jason Enright with LA Forward.

Um, you know, uh a few years ago I canvassed for Measure ULA.

Um, I knocked hundreds of doors.

I've also knocked hundreds of doors for a lot of you here to help get you elected.

Um, when I was knocking doors for measure ULA, the most popular part of it was the Citizens Oversight Commission.

Um I don't know if you know this, I don't know how many of you actually got knocked doors.

You're all not very popular.

They don't think you're doing a good job.

They think you're corrupt.

They wanted the Citizens Oversight Commission so that you wouldn't do what you're trying to do today.

They didn't want you to strip what we voted for out of our hands.

Alright, that's how we got this passed.

And I want to remind you all, Measure ULA passed with more votes than all 15 of you combined.

All right.

It passed with more votes than the mayor got.

And we walked, I walked until my feet bled for that motion.

Alright, so don't strip it.

All right.

We don't need any of your ballot measures.

We're gonna save it at the ballot in November, and we're gonna, if in, you know, if you guys put your ballot measures, we'll defeat those two.

It may take more resources, but we're gonna do it.

All right.

Those are resources that could be used to help get some of you elected to positions you're looking for in November.

That instead we're gonna have to use beating these ballot measures.

Um moving on to general public comment.

There's a police reform accountability CRC 54 in front of you today.

Um, a few a while back, I heard all of you talk very passionately about stopping pretextual ban, uh, you know, a ban on pretextual stops.

That's just a recommendation right now because you don't actually have the power to make recommendations to the police, you know, to make policy for the police.

You need to pass CRC 54 so that those powerful words that council president Harris Dawson and Councilmember Hutt and Councilmember Blumenfield said about pretextual bans actually matter.

All right.

If you're the counsel, you need to be the people in charge.

Because you're the people we elected.

All right.

Let's not have this finger-pointing game where no one knows who's in charge of the police anymore.

It should be you all.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

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

Jillian Burgos, Josué Ramirez, Laurie Condinas, and Lydia Gallopu.

Good morning.

What would you like to speak to?

My name is Jack.

I'm going to speak to 7879, and I guess a comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute for uh sorry, two minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Go ahead.

So I am here as a student of the EDN representing right here, and I got an attention notice of what was going on, that they are on the verge of the 66% staff being on lane.

Lane off because y'all are not funding for them to assist to help people with their evictions.

And it's come to my attention that about last year of 20 billion dollars that this thing could have been helping as well to the lot of people of assistance that is living in the streets of homeless and all that.

I'm kind of curious what's been going on with that money, and this year with 500 million that could also be assisting to many of the corporations and organizations that are assisting with all these losing house assistance with health and everything with all these costs going up and then the rent and everything.

I got two jobs, and trying to look for a third one to even pay for my eviction of notice that I am also fighting.

So, right here, I'd say that I want y'all to not actually not even try to remove funding for any of these organizations.

There's a possibility you've been in our spots, you've been in our positions before where you are sitting out now, or you have family relatives that are living in the streets and also in the moment where we are.

So that is my statement that I want to put that I hope that y'all are not going to be removing any of the funding for this organization that is funding and helping the eviction people that cannot help or support themselves.

And that's what the money of you people are supposed to be assisting to this damn city.

Instead, y'all are failing and want more people in the streets, and now illegal to even be homeless.

Because all I'm saying and waiting is that we're gonna be cattle for y'all shits.

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

Steve Cothroth and Marlene Fonseca.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

What items would you like to speak to?

Lantrust.

Hi, my name is Anna Nieves, and I am from Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and I live in Pico Union.

So Madre de Familia, the duplicate.

And also for you to vote yes to include this on the uh the ballot in November.

Because we need more green space and parks for us to have family gatherings.

So based off of the needs assessment for parts, uh, there has been over 100,000 Los An Los Angelinos who have given feedback saying they need to be more than two billion given in maintenance.

Speaker, you your time has expired.

Uh, we have to move on to the next speaker.

I'm gonna just finish the last part and then we'll move on.

Uh so there is a gap of four um 14 uh million seven hundred thousand dollars for parks.

Thank you.

Gracias.

Before the next speaker begins, I'd like to call up Ariel Moore.

Good afternoon.

What would you like to speak to?

Uh public comment.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Godfrey Plata.

Uh, we at LA Forward Institute are incredibly grateful for the time you've spent with us in advocacy meetings and the space you've given us in your email boxes.

Our charter reform process was created in part to strengthen trust with Angelinos and their local government.

And part of that trust we place in you all as elected leaders is that you will help keep help us keep safe from harm.

CRC 54, which enables council to legislate policy regarding LAPD would give you the lever to react with the power of law in public safety matters and maintain that trust that voters have placed in you.

We've heard confusion between CRC 54 and 56, where 56 would extend two forty-five e-powers to a board of public of police commissioners' decision.

56 is a helpful check on bad things that come out of commission, but it's not gonna create good proactive public safety policy vetted through this body.

As we head toward 2028, you will want to keep us safe again as federal security forces root themselves here for the Olympics.

We need CRC 54 in place by then, which means getting it on the ballot now in November, not later.

Skip ULA for now, head to CRC 54.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

What would you like to speak to?

Um public comment.

Okay.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Um it saddens me.

By the way, my name's Jillian Burgos.

Um, no ho neighborhood council speaking on my own behalf.

It saddens me that our council did not have the political courage to support council expansion or rank choice voting.

Instead, we rather stay stuck in the 1900s, keeping our communities apathetic and underrepresented, while having to choose between the lesser of two evils while we pay for numerous studies instead of listening to the people.

And we wonder why there is a severe distrust of government.

The people have been asking for police reform and accountability for years.

Countless lives have been lost from our black and brown communities, and we disproportionately pay the price.

Taxpayers pay the price.

The ones who don't pay the price are the officers who have committed the harm.

Currently, there are 200 officers that the chief of police doesn't feel are capable of interacting with the public.

They face no real repercussions.

They get to work a desk job, and we again pay the price.

Every other department head has in the city has the power, except the chief of police, to fire officers with repeated histories of harm.

The police of chief, the police chief should have this power.

Thank you, Speaker.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

Sorry, good afternoon.

What would you like to speak to?

Hello, my name is Lydia Gallipoo, and I want to speak on 87 or excuse me, 78, 79 in the general.

Okay, we have two minutes for the items and one minute for general.

Please begin with the items.

Go ahead.

Hi, everyone.

Listen, I'm here to speak on multiple different organizations that are affected by this.

I've had the pleasure, nay, the privilege to work with Esperanza, we are LA, Central Deorta, and I am here as a representative of the EDN Defense Network.

I am also a tenant that is being helped, and that has learned how much that I didn't know in regards to my rights, and that I have the ability to stand up for what is right and to stay home.

What all these different organizations do are give us the power to be able to fight for our basic human rights.

The fact that LA is trying to upprice and push out the citizens that have lived in our homes and our communities for as long as they have for trying to just jack prices is appalling.

Without these organizations, so many disabled, so many different people of all different race, religions, and creeds would not have the tools that we need to know what we actually have the right to be able to defend ourselves and our homes.

Downsizing is happening if you don't move forward for this.

And there's so many programs and families and people of our communities that will be so gravely affected by this.

There are so much problems with our homeless situation and all these funds that are disappearing without actually any repercussions or showing cause or actual any benefits of any of it going anywhere.

Without these programs, the housing or it's the homeless communities, and all of that is going to get a hell of a lot worse.

Give the people the right and the power and the tools to stand up to fight to keep our homes.

Please, for the April allocations, keep it.

Keep it to them.

Well, Well, it's not a sort of tea, but it's not so good, but it's not so good.

So we can resume our meeting.

We are at uh five minutes after one.

So hopefully, folks have gotten the time to take a breath and get something to eat.

Hear us either in the hallway in the back or in your squawk box.

We're gonna start in the next ninety seconds.

I'll ask the clerk to call the meeting back to order and call the roll in uh sixty seconds from now.

Thank you, Bloemenfield, Harris Dawson, Hernandez, Hat, Harado, Lee, McCosker, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Raman, Rodriguez, so to Martinez Yaroslavski.

Fourteen members present in a quorum, Mr.

President.

All right.

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

The council may take up item twenty-two as amended by motion Yaroslavski Blumenfield.

All right, let's open the roll on that item as amended.

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

Fourteen eyes.

All right, what's next?

The council may take up items one through two, six through twenty-one, and twenty-three through twenty seven.

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

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

For the record, that would be one through two, six through twenty-one, and twenty-three through twenty-six.

All right.

Yes, President.

Yes, sir.

Items one and two.

Can we continue to June twenty-third, please?

All right.

Do we need to do a reconsideration, Madame Clerk?

Uh it looks like we didn't actually call a roll on that.

Correct.

They haven't yet been voted on.

So the vote now will be items six through twenty-one and twenty-three through twenty-six.

With items one and two being continued to Tuesday, June 23.

Alright, let's open the roll on those items.

Close the roll.

Tab we'd like to vote.

15.

All right, what's next?

Mr.

President.

Yes.

Can I be registered as a no one fourteen?

A no on one four.

I believe that should be discretionary, not general.

Okay.

City attorney, can we that doesn't change the outcome?

14.

Correct.

So the vote on that block was 15i, so it does not change the outcome.

So uh I believe that can be just made uh clerically now.

All right, so councilmember Padillo be recorded as a no vote on item number 14.

All right, what's next?

The council may take up items 29 through 66.

All right.

Uh these were uh closed session settlement items.

Uh Councilmember Yaroslowski, any counsel or guidance on these from budget committee?

Thank you, Council President.

We reviewed and considered these on June 4th.

I recommend approval of them.

All right, Madam Clerk.

If you can read the settlements into the record and we can call the roll.

Thank you.

For item number 29 in the case entitled Marcus Buford versus Anthony Handy et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $125,000 in settlement.

For item 30 in the case entitled Maria Teresa de la Cruz et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $142,000 in settlement.

For item 31 in the case entitled Andrew Magana et al.

versus Armando Perez Inclán et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $165,000 in settlement.

For item 32 in the case entitled Catherine Hansen versus City of Los Angeles, there is a recommendation to expend up to $500,000 in settlement.

For item 33 in the case entitled Diane Morte Hansen versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 130,000 in settlement.

For item 34 in the case entitled Henry Mehoray versus County of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 150,000 in settlement.

For item 35 in the case entitled Michaela Tuleva versus City of Los Angeles, there is a recommendation to expend up to 220,000 in settlement.

For item 36 in the case entitled Kiyameu Grissan versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 125,000 in settlement.

For item 37 in the case entitled Donna Mata versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 150,000 in settlement.

For item 38 in the case entitled Barbara George versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 165,000 in settlement.

For item 39 in the case entitled Naundra McDonald versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 175,000 dollars in settlement for item 40 in the case entitled Beatricha Gabrielbian versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 200,000 in settlement for item 41 in the case entitled Karen Rivas versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 200,000 in settlement for item 42 in the case entitled Cerol Radwin versus City of Los Angeles.

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

For item 43, in the case entitled No Ho Diagnostic Center Inc.

et al versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 175,000 dollars in settlement for item 44 in the case entitled Damien Carmona versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 300,000 dollars in settlement for item 45 in the case entitled Theodore Dolos et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 400,000 dollars in settlement.

For item 46 in the case entitled Theodore Dolos et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 200,000 dollars in settlement.

For item 47 in the case entitled Eugenie M.

Norman versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $3250,000 in settlement.

For item 48 in the case entitled Eugenie M.

Norman versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $800,000 in settlement.

For item 50 in the case entitled Jeremy Aiello versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $115,000 in settlement.

For item 51 in the case entitled Arthur Stevens Jr.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $325,000 in settlement.

For item 52 in the case entitled Paulette Wilkerson et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $399,500 in settlement.

For Item 53, in the case entitled Janine Jones et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $6,500,000 in settlement.

For item 54 in the case entitled High Point Neighbors Association versus City of Los Angeles and Andrea Grano versus City of Los Angeles.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $268,312.11 plus applicable interest and $49,521.84 cents plus applicable interest in fees and court cost.

For item 55 in the case entitled the Rossmore Owners Association et alm versus City of Los Angeles, there is a recommendation to expend up to $1,270,000 in settlement.

For item 56 in the case entitled FJ Robins versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to 160,000 in settlement.

For item 57 in the case entitled Ada Aquino versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $250,000 in settlement.

For item 58 in the case entitled Elizabeth Lisblay versus City of Los Angeles.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $400,000 in settlement.

For item 59 in the case entitled Tina Berg versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $130,000 in settlement.

For item 60 in the case entitled Mario Delgado et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $499,000.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $750,000 in settlement.

For item 62 in the case entitled Estate of Oscar Leon Sanchez et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $741,534.67 plus accrued interest in judgment.

For item 63 in the case entitled Alexander Racy Smith et al.

versus City of Los Angeles et al.

There is a recommendation to expend up to $5,800,000 in settlement.

For item 64 in the case entitled AREP U.S.

Inc., there is a recommendation to refund an overpayment of business taxes up to $103,861.50 plus interest.

For item 65 in the case entitled YouTube LLC, there is a recommendation to approve the proposed settlement.

For item 66 in the case entitled Crow LLP, there is a recommendation to waive penalties totaling up to $59,936.91.

The council may now vote on these items.

Tabulate the vote.

Alright, what's next?

The council may move on to item 28, called special by council member Yaroslavski.

Councilmember Yarosovsky.

Thank you.

The budget committee uh considered this and I recommend approval.

All right.

Is there a second to the motion to move the budget and finance committee report?

Second by Mr.

McCosker.

All right, let's open the roll on this this item.

Close the roll.

Tabulate to vote.

Nice.

All right, what's next?

The council may now move on to item 78 called special by council member park.

Councilmember Park.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, when ULA was on the ballot, I opposed it because it was obvious to me that it was going to have drastic impacts on our housing production, development, and rent affordability in LA.

Selling ULA to the voters as a mansion tax was a lie from the start.

It was never just about mansions, it was a tax on rental housing, affordable housing, commercial properties, strip malls, sound stages, and literally every other property in LA.

Study after study now confirmed that because of ULA, housing production and sales transactions are down and rent is up, making LA even more unaffordable.

Tragically, we have also seen how the inflexibility of ULA's spending guidelines prevented us from responding to real emergencies.

In the aftermath of the Palisades fire, despite all of the promises of ULA to help and protect vulnerable renters, not even one penny of ULA money could be reprogrammed to help any of the thousands of renters who lost their homes, or the workers who lost their incomes.

Similarly, ULA has been an impediment to the Palisades recovery, leaving properties sitting empty and people mired in tax and regulatory hell.

At the very moment, we need flexibility to recover in the Palisades, ULA presents another obstacle.

For some disaster victims, because of lack of adequate insurance, resources, timelines, bureaucracy, familial status age, and a whole lot of other reasons, at this point, they really just have no choice but to sell.

They aren't selling because they want to, they aren't selling because they're trying to profit.

They are selling because sadly they have to.

Throwing an extra tax on top of everything else they've lost is just cruel at this point.

And as much as I have shared my concerns about ULA, we all know that it was never intended to cause further harm to those people.

Well, I understand that some of the much needed reforms may or may not move forward today.

At the very least, we need to move forward with this exemption.

We need to be removing barriers to recovery, not putting up obstacles, and this one-time exemption gets us where we need to be.

It relates to a very narrow exemption and limited circumstances, well outside the intended scope of ULA, and it's unrelated to the substantive but also very important reforms captured in other amendments.

So with that, because it's so essential that this go to the ballot and that it be its own standalone item, I respectfully ask your I votes today.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you, Councilmember Park, Councilmember Hernandez.

Thank you, Council President.

Uh, if we're talking about a narrowly tailored exception, uh, let's talk about a narrowly tailored exception.

Um, when we talk about the palate's exemption, for example, but let's not use individual circumstances as an excuse to reopen a broader effort to weaken the measure.

The fires in Palisades in Altadino were devastating, and their impacts will be felt for years to come.

In the case of homeowners who are unable to rebuild or repair their home due to lack of resources, or because insurance will not cover them, I do believe there's room for an exception.

That said, I can only support an ordinance that has language tailored to ensure this isn't a loophole for speculative real estate and should only apply to the first sale or transaction recorded after January 7, 2025.

Waivers should only be available to an owner of record on the title of the entire rebuilding or repair site on January 7, 2025, and ensure that any measure ULA exemption is directed to homeowners whose primary residence was impacted by the disaster and is limited to a single qualifying residential property.

These clarifications are aligned with the parameters of permit fee waivers of the permit fee waivers adopted by this body.

And I believe that when it comes to being on the ballot, this clarity will result in broader support across the city.

I will be voting yes on this motion today, but expect that when the ordinance comes before us, these issues are clear.

We're watching the Trump administration push for policies that favor billionaires and trillionaires at the expense of everyone else, and I have no interest in creating local versions of the same thing.

So I think it falls in line with that and the work that advocates have been pushing.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Park to close.

If you have any additional comments.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Park.

Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez.

Let's open the roll on this item.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

15 eyes.

All right.

Alright, and before we go to 79, I just want to make sure just uh table set uh or context set a little bit.

We will have uh the item that we just covered on the Palisades exemption.

We will have an extended, I believe, conversation about ULA, followed by a special meeting where we'll talk about the charter.

The votes that we take today are votes to ask the city attorney to prepare language for this council to vote on to put something on the ballot later.

So today, if we walk if we vote today, and nothing else happens, nothing appears on the ballot.

There's at least one more step to do, and then frankly, we have until August 7th as a deadline to take something off the ballot.

So we might make a decision by the end of the month to put something on the ballot.

We might come back from recess and take it off.

I just I say that to to not sway people in one direction or another.

I just want people to understand completely what's happening with the votes that this council will take today, because there's a lot of conjecture and and lots of information out there that is not correct.

Today, the council is instructing the city attorney to prepare language for a possible ballot initiative, which we would take up sometime uh sometime before the end of this month.

Uh, and so with that, uh, we'll move to item number 79, um, which is uh looks at uh ULA broadly.

Uh and we will start uh with testimony and comment from members.

Uh, with our committee chairwoman, council member Urado, who led our uh ad hoc ULA committee.

Thank you, Council President.

Um thank you, colleagues, and thank you to all the advocates that are showing up today for ULA, for parks, for housing, for everything that you care about and for waiting.

Um, I want to I want to thank you for coming out here.

Um I understand that some of my colleagues think and want to leave open going to the ballot.

And I ended our ULA committee, uh focused on ULA, saying that I just don't think that's the right thing for our city to do at this time.

And in that committee over the several months that we led it, uh, one of the most thorough reviews and public reviews of measure ULA, looking at it from all sides with council members uh Padilla and Lee.

I was interested in finding out what was actually working and what wasn't, and what the facts told us to do next.

And in committee, we heard from tenant advocates, service providers, labor leaders, affordable housing developers, economists, academic experts, city departments and residents who showed up week after week at 8 a.m.

They understood that this conversation has real consequences to their lives.

We reviewed the data, we followed the evidence, and after all of that conclusion, the evidence to me did not support putting measure ULA back on the ballot at this time.

Not now, and not after only a few years, not before we fully evaluated the long-term effects, and certainly not while Angelinos are relying on the resources to stay housed.

I mean, we passed a package to give 14 million dollars in renter assistance to people that are disabled and seniors, and all around this horseshoe, we talk about saving our seniors and keeping them housed.

This ULA is what's helping them get through the next couple years.

So the question before us is not whether measure ULA is perfect.

We know that it's not, and I was here on the committee to make sure to make revisions.

The question is whether the responsible solution, implementation challenges is to send the measure back to the ballot or to fix the delays, improve accountability and get housing resources to Angelinos faster.

Because if we're actually following the facts, then the conclusion shouldn't be about weakening measure ULA.

It should be about making it work better, fixing the delays, removing the barriers, improving accountability, and getting resources out the door faster.

And right now, I'm a little upset about the conversation about ULA and how it pits housing production against the tenants who are fighting to stay housed.

Those two shouldn't be put at odds against one another.

Those should be united because we need to make sure that the people that are housed stay housed.

And so when we focus just on housing production alone, we're missing the mark about what this measure was actually intended to do, which is to keep Angelino's house, prevent homelessness before it even starts, and it is the cheapest prophylactic solution to keep people housed in where they already are.

And when it comes to our contracts and the implementation, why it slowed down, it was the legal hurdles and the legal challenges, and we've passed all of the legal challenges to ULA.

And so when it comes to our own implementation, there's nothing standing in our own way except ourselves, and those are problems that I believe that we can solve ourselves.

Since voters approved measure ULA has generated billions of dollars, and those families, seniors, and people with disabilities staying housed, tenants getting legal representation as long as the contracts are approved and the people don't get laid off.

You know, we want to make sure that those eviction defense contracts continue.

And I feel really strongly about this.

In my district, nearly 70% of residents are renters.

Most of them rent burden in the city with the highest rate of evictions in some of the city's worst problem properties.

Here, housing instability isn't theoretical, it's not something I read in a book, it's not a study that I read somewhere else.

It's a lived experience that we all feel touch and live every single day when they're knocking on my door, yelling at us and telling us that LAHD isn't doing our job because we're co-housed with LAHD at Boyle Heights.

I've sat across families terrified of losing their homes.

So when some people talk about going to the ballot for measure ULA, I think we really need to be thoughtful and we need more time to really evaluate where it is and talk about the people that are gonna be most affected, not just the housing producers.

And I've got to say, whenever the conversation comes to this, I just want us to make sure that we have a balanced approach, we think carefully about consequences, and that the caution has to apply equally to the families facing eviction as much as it is to the people that are trying to produce the housing.

At the end of the day, this is a measure that was by the people for the people that are not the wealthy and well connected.

And the people with lobbyists and lawyers, I think they're gonna be fine.

The people I'm worried about are the ones choosing between paying their rent and paying for groceries, and those families aren't asking us to reopen measure ULA.

So I'm against going to the ballot.

I think going to the ballot leaves us with a lot of legal exposure that I'm not ready to put the city at because it's a citizen's measure.

And I don't know if it passes the legal muster that a council initiative is going to be able to change that.

And I don't even know if it's gonna pass with the citizens when it goes to the ballot, anyways.

And so putting all that effort into that might be a wasted effort that the people don't even want and may not even be legal.

So with that, I'm gonna say that I'm gonna oppose going to the ballot, and thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Madam uh chairwoman, I I thank you.

I thank you for your uh work, and I thank you for your leadership of the committee.

Uh, even though uh the outcome of my review is different than the outcome of your review.

Uh I appreciate the way you handled the committee, the way you brought all voices to the table and heard from the community and held public hearings.

Um, you know, what's an issue today, members and uh to folks in the gallery is the question of whether or not ULA needs changes is no one disagrees with that.

Councilmember Jurado and others have put forward measures to do that.

Uh there is a difference about whether or not the option of going to the ballot needs to remain open and to be continued to be pursued.

Again, to no matter what we do today, that doesn't mean anything goes on the ballot.

The real uh uh challenge that we have here is how we get to the changes that are needed.

Uh and the chairwoman has put forward that she believes she has a pathway uh to do that by ordinance.

Uh, I would suggest that uh we need to leave open the pathway of doing that uh by ballot measure.

First, further, I would say this.

A lot of times sitting in this one of our chairs, the debate is between people who already have a lot versus people who don't have a lot.

And the people who don't have a lot want a little bit more, and the people who have a lot want to keep everything they have, or they don't want the rules to change because the rules changing means they'll have to spend a little bit more that might benefit some people that have less than them.

That's not the debate today on any side of this issue.

The debate about the debate is about what's the best way to produce affordable housing in the city of Los Angeles.

Some people believe radical changes in ULA do that.

Others believe limited changes in uh uh ULA do that.

And so, or some people believe no changes uh will produce more housing in the city of LA.

Um, as the person who represents the district that in most years I've been on the council produces more affordable housing than any other district in the city, I can tell you with certainty, ULA has not helped.

Housing starts are as low in my district as they've been the entire time I've been in office since ULA was implemented.

So, do I know for a fact that that's because of ULA?

I don't.

Um, do I know what was happening before ULA?

I do, and it was more.

Do I know what's happening in neighboring cities like Inglewood, Gardena, Culver City that don't have ULA?

I do know what's happening there, and they have not seen the change that we've seen inside the city limits.

And so there is lots of room for uh passionate disagreement on this issue.

Uh, but I hope that we are unified in our discussion, that we all understand we have to produce more affordable housing inside the city of Los Angeles, and that in order to do that, we have to create the conditions where housing can be built and will be built with union labor, with prevailing wage, and all of the things that we hold to be important.

And so uh folks, uh, that is the context for the conversation today.

You'll you'll hear a wide variety of opinions on either side.

I think the council's uh at best divided on this question.

Uh, but as we go forward, I just want to keep in mind we're all focused on producing affordable housing.

We all understand ULA has to be reformed in some way in order to do that, and we are debating uh this afternoon what paths uh we need in order to do that.

And so with that, I'll go to Councilmember McCosker.

Thank you very much, uh, Mr.

President.

I appreciate the chair's uh comments very much and and her advocacy on this issue.

Um I think that you framed it very well, Mr.

President, that we're all really focused on making sure that we can provide for our constituents and meet the goals that the important goals that ULA has.

I'm going to propose a middle ground today.

It's going to be an amendment 79A.

And there are folks, and I know there are folks that say absolutely no change.

There are other folks who say we should enact some change effective through ordinance, and there are folks on the far end of the spectrum who I think are dead wrong that this should be repealed entirely and gone away.

There are folks closer to that position that have very dramatic proposals for change.

Um, I respect the purposes of the ULA.

The other thing I respect coming up in the law is the law, and I have concerns, and I think they're just genuine uh differences of whether or not we can affect the kind of change that we need by ordinance or whether we need to respect the fact that this was a vote of the people that implemented this program, and I think a vote of the people is the thing that needs to that would have to pass in order for us to make some changes, and so what I'm gonna propose today, and a few of us have signed on to this, is a middle ground, uh, but it will be met with opposition, probably on both sides, probably on all sides, and that middle ground would be an exemption for new construction, that we would amend the law or ask the people of the city of Los Angeles to amend the law to exempt new multifamily and new residential mixed use that are sold within 10 years, within 10 years, if built after the measures adopted.

That is a middle ground, and not as far as many I've heard advocate, and it's certainly way farther than what I've heard advocated by others.

This measure is going, which I'm sure we'll discuss, will have flexibility for the oversight committee eligibility to make sure that we can continually have folks in full measure on the committee so that we don't have quorum problems so we can make appointments so that committee can operate and function well, and in addition, this measure would expand eligible uses of the funds, and those that expansion as proposed would be to add interim housing and associated outreach and services as an eligible use.

Humbly, I will say what's being proposed is something that has the effect of making changes to ULA to put us in a position where one of the many impediments to building is reduced.

The wall just becomes a little bit lower for getting access to capital and building the facilities that need to be built, but also out of respect for the people, and I realize there's risk with going to going to a vote, but this is a democracy, and this was implemented lawfully with a vote of the people.

I think any changes should not be coming from 15 people with a signature by the mayor, it should be coming from the four million residents that we represent.

So thank you.

And there's no time in which we say we're gonna stop counting votes.

That sounds vaguely familiar to something else.

The people always, always have the power to implement new laws or to repeal bad laws, and so my faith is going to be in the people.

Thank you so much.

Uh Mr.

McCosker, Councilmember Yaroslavski.

Thank you, Council President.

So I want to start by thanking the ad hoc committee for excellent, thoughtful work.

This is a complicated issue.

The committee took it very seriously, and I very much respect the time and care that went into that process.

I wasn't a member of that committee, 12 of us weren't, by design.

And so we weren't part of those conversations.

And while I respect the process, I also think it's fair to say that some of us believe the proposal needs to go further.

And I wish we had more time that this wasn't coming last minute.

But that's the nature of where we are.

We've been talking about these issues for months.

This has been on our radar basically since ULA was adopted.

We each have different views about what might be the right reform and what that should look like.

And I don't expect all of us to agree on the perfect version of this measure.

And I'm not even suggesting that what uh Councilmember McCosker and I are offering today is.

As we know, today's the deadline to keep a November ballot option alive.

If the council doesn't act, LA loses the chance to put a local reform before voters this year with incomplete information out of Sacramento.

We also know that ULA funds really important work.

It supports tenant protections, rental assistance, affordable housing, homelessness prevention.

I want those programs to continue.

But we've seen evidence, and there's conflicting reports and so it's complicated, but there's evidence that it's created real concerns for housing production and project feasibility.

And I think we I think we need to be able to hold both truths at once.

We should protect what's working and fix what's not.

And the package of motions today doesn't eliminate ULA, it doesn't walk away from its core purpose.

Our own housing department study says what we propose to exempt will be less than a two percent reduction in revenue.

10 years, because the 15 years was a 2% reduction, 10 years is is even less of a reduction.

It keeps revenue dedicated to housing and homelessness prevention while creating a framework to address the parts of the measure that are making it harder to build housing that LA needs.

It also keeps Los Angeles at the table with what's happening in Sacramento, which I think is important to show that we are also capable of of governing and don't need Sacramento to fix things for us.

There are conversations, like I said, happening in Sacramento and statewide that could reshape this issue without us, and I would rather give LA voters a serious local reform than lose the chance to act, as Angelina's.

So the language before us today doesn't have to be the final compromise.

It keeps the door open for negotiation, refinement, and a stronger measure.

But if we fail to act today, that door closes.

And so I'm asking colleagues to preserve the city's ability to move forward to continue the conversation for the next week or so, and then if we agree that it's appropriate based on what happens in Sacramento, give voters the chance to consider a thoughtful local reform in November.

And I just want to finish by saying I'd like for the city attorney to please report back on whether we can make this action if we adopt 79A, if we can make this action contingent on the Dart Jarvis measure coming off the ballot.

I think that that's important because there is a much more existential threat to ULA up in Sacramento, and we have leverage, and I think we should use it.

So thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Price.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um just uh as a part of our discussion, I've been advised by the city attorney that out of abundance of caution, uh, I should recuse myself from this discussion uh because it's sudden clear which organizations are impacted.

Okay, excuse myself.

So Mr.

Price is recused from this discussion for the record.

Uh Mr.

City Attorney and Madam Clerk.

Uh with that, we'll go to Councilmember Rodriguez.

Pardon me, Councilmember.

Just to confirm, Council Member Yaroslavsky, was that a motion that you made to request the city attorney?

Yeah, I would yes.

Is there a second to that motion?

Councilmember Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Colleagues, I I clearly understand the predicament that we're all in in looking at this issue.

But what frustrates me is that we're in the exact same position that we were before in this kind of attempt at putting before us something to consider right before we go on council recess.

And what's unfortunate about it is that we have this ad hoc committee established that we had conversations, and this suggestion that we don't have, each of us has the opportunity and the ability to continue to push our efforts to advance reforms and to advocate for it.

And that the idea that we would put something behind before the voters to consider without fully comprehending what the real implications are going to be, is no different than the conversation that we got we were at before we established an ad hoc committee.

So, you know, I just I'm frustrated that we continue to put ourselves in this situation, and this is sadly by design, but it's unfortunate because the voters and the taxpayers deserve better than this.

They deserve better than this from every single one of us around this horseshoe.

And so I, you know, with great understanding that we have to make a lot of fixes, this is not the way to do it.

And I just I'm frustrated because I how do we keep ending up here?

How does it how does this continue to be enabled?

And when are we gonna start actually being really thoughtful about what we put before the voters so that we can measure twice and cut once because we're not gonna have multiple bites at this apple, and I'm concerned because the other conversations around what we can address through uh, you know, on our own administratively, those conversations, you know, I don't understand how we're still trying to put this before the voters rather than actually exercise that effort.

And so um I'm uh I'm disappointed that we're just we're here in this situation again with uh with amendments that are being put before us uh immediately before going on council recess, and so I'm not supportive of of these amendments, Councilmember Bloomfield.

Thank you.

Uh I certainly share Councilwoman Rodriguez's frustration.

Um, but I also appreciate what what the previous two speakers were saying, Councilwoman Yaroslavski and uh Mr.

McCosker.

I mean at the end of the day, you know, we if there's it's obvious truth that if you increase the price by 5%, it will have some impact on the amount of housing that gets built.

That being said, the five percent money that we're getting is doing incredible things, as many of the advocates have talked about, which is furthering the goals of housing.

So you have a little bit of tension there.

You've got something that you know is pulling out uh some affordable housing, and you've got something that is is promoting housing and promoting values that we most of us here hold very dear in terms of eviction defense, in terms of uh creating affordable housing and all of the incentive programs that are there.

But as the council president mentioned, if we're gonna move forward on something, we have on the ballot.

If we don't put something forward now, we lose that option.

There may be ways to fix this outside of the ballot, but I'm prepared to advance this a little bit further so that we can see if we if we can't fix it via um ordinance, then we're gonna need to go to the ballot.

So I'm I'm prepared to support what you're putting forward.

Uh and I also wanted to speak to what is a very small blip on this, but is an important one for some communities, and that is 79B.

Which is uh if we are going to go to the ballot, then I'd like us to have the option potentially to fix a problem that came up for a couple of nonprofit groups that do incredible work uh in our community that, because of the timing of ULA, they ended up paying the ULA price, which came which comes at the expense of them being able to do some of the very things that we are trying to get to do with ULA money.

I'm talking about 79B, which exempts nonprofits, basically creates a refund for those who pay the ULA tax and will end who will use the refund to build housing with medical services for low-income seniors and people with disabilities and/or provide income support for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Basically, the purposes of ULA, we have a couple of nonprofits that had sold some of their land because they were building facilities for very low-income people.

One of those is the Jewish Home for the Agent.

They're actually, they're in my district, but they're in many of your districts.

They're a large nonprofit.

Who do they serve?

98% Medical, indigent people.

Most of whom, and they're building housing for those people.

But the housing is also has medical services because these folks are not only extremely poor and indigent, but they need critical medical services.

And so they are building those housing.

They were going to use the money from the sale of that land, and they are using the money from the sale of that land to create to do this building of the housing.

But because the when ULA passed, it passed, they had to pay the money.

That money is not able to go to that purpose.

I think it's pretty clear that that purpose is very much in line with what ULA is all about.

And it's the same thing with the motion picture and television fund.

They are having trouble with some of their very uh low-income services and housing for folks that they house on their property.

So they chopped off part of their property to sell that in order to do this very important purpose.

Now moving forward, you could argue folks are going to know about that and they can bake it into the price, and therefore the buyers will have to pay it.

We in in this in ULA, ULA was very wise in that they exempted nonprofits that were doing this kind of work.

But they didn't exempt the way ULA was written, it didn't exempt sellers.

And so sellers that were in the middle of the process, when the deal was basically done, the price was fixed, and now they are not, they do not have this money.

So it is a very small fix, but it is one that will help a very vulnerable population, and it is very much in line with the goals of ULA.

And kind of like what the council president was saying, is we're trying to see if there's a way to fix this administratively without going to the ballot, but we're working with the city attorney and told that no, we may actually have to go to the ballot.

So I put this forward so that we would have a ballot option that we could get the city attorney to start drafting, and if in the intervening weeks we find a way to fix this problem without the ballot, then great, we'll pull it off.

I just want to fix this problem for the very vulnerable populations that can be served if we were to allow this very small refund.

So that's why I ask for your support on 79 B.

And again, it's it's limited to the groups that have already paid it during that window.

It's minor, but it has a huge impact on the people that it impacts.

Thank you.

Councilmember Padilla.

You know, members, I um when they created this ad hoc, I know that I wanted to be on it because what I was noticing is that I was not, I didn't feel like my district was getting its fair share of the uh homeless prevention dollars.

And as I started to really dig into what was happening with the funds with ULA, you know, it was uh very refreshing.

It was refreshing to kind of really figure out what exactly was going on.

Because I do respect that measured ULA was approved by voters to create dedicated source of funding for affordable housing, homeless prevention, tenant protection, and housing stability.

Reducing this tax, we know will reduce all of that.

But by being on this committee, I was able to voice the need to make sure that the eviction dollars are distributed in a way that is equitable, because we know that that wasn't happening.

There was definitely some council offices that were getting a higher saturation to it.

But then, as a committee, um, unlike our housing committee, we finally took on releasing the dollars for the uh creation and preservation of units.

And that was where I realized that for those of us that are council members that are actually doing the work to build the housing, ULA was a very good tool because I had plenty of shovel-ready projects that just needed that additional funding in order for it to finally be built.

Something that other council members just quite for that want to amend this, haven't really done.

So to me, I don't think it's worth it for us to uh go to the ballot and cut this down.

So I very much believe that we can work with our existing structure, work with our existing uh COC to figure out if we can uh move some funds towards the interim, which I'm also very passionate about.

I do think we need to be able to have discussions about about it, but that can be done without going to the ballot.

In addition to that, um, when we finally had the presentation by our very own housing department, this argument that ULA is a re uh impacting the transfer tax turned out to be false.

The transfer tax is slowly but surely coming back.

So when you listen to the reports and when you dig deep into this, you realize that indeed ULA is working.

Do we have work to do?

Absolutely.

I'm still gonna fight hard to make sure that my district gets its fair share of the prevention dollars, but that doesn't mean that we have to go to bat to the ballot to potentially um cut down the amount of funds that come in in general.

So um, you know, I'm glad that it was um my motion related to figuring out who can and should be on the uh citizens' oversight committee eligibility uh that's keeping this conversation alive.

But I just have to say, colleagues, that I don't think these amendments are considered friendly amendments, it's a total change in the content of what I was trying to do by saying by adding this exemption.

Um, so without due respect, I don't think we need to go to the ballot.

I think we just need to work internally to improve it with what's already there.

And for those of you who are not creating shovel ready projects, that's why you're not building because you haven't done the work to get it going.

So without the respect, before ULA, um with or without ULA, I am building it, but with ULA, I'm just building it a lot faster.

So I say don't take it to the ballot.

All right.

Uh I see no remaining speakers on the queue.

Thank you to everybody who's shared with us on this.

Whether you spoke today or not, I think there's not a member of this council that has not been engaged in this uh conversation.

Uh and uh we as uh people from different perspectives come to a different uh different sets of conclusions.

And so with that, I'll ask uh Madam Clerk to walk us through the set of amendments uh that we have to vote on.

I believe there are two, and then the final item.

Thank you.

Yes, there were two motions circulated and posted.

However, there the last motion made is a verbal Yaroslavsky and McCosker.

So the first vote taken should be that motion.

And can you give us the basic content of that?

Yes, that was to ask the city attorney to report on whether um the council can make this action.

Should they adopt 79A contingent on the Jarvis measure coming off the state ballot?

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

11 ayes, three no's.

All right, what's next?

Now the council may take up amending motion 79b, Blumenfield, Yaroslavsky, Ms.

McCosker.

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

Is that a four?

It's B.

Six eyes, eight no's all right.

This amending motion fails.

All right, what's next?

Amending motion 79A, Yaroslavsky McCosker, Harris Dawson.

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

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

Nine ayes, five no's.

All right.

What's next?

Next is item 79 as amended by 79A, as well as the verbal motion by Yarislavski.

All right, let's open the roll.

Close the roll, tabulate the vote.

Nine ayes, five no's.

All right.

That disposes of uh item number seventy-nine.

Thank you to everybody who worked on that.

Uh we will be we will back again.

All right.

Um interesting the reaction to allowing people to vote.

All right.

Uh now uh Madam Clerk will recess the regular meeting and go into the special meeting.

Can you call the roll?

Thank you.

Bloomenfield, Harris Dawson, Hernandez, Hut, Herado, Lee, McCosker, Nazarian, Padilla, Park, Price, Rahmen, Rodriguez, so to Martinez, Yaroslavsky, 15 members present, and a quorum, Mr.

President.

All right, uh, what's before us?

Thank you.

Yes.

Items 67 through 77 are items for which public hearings have not been held.

Ten votes are required for consideration.

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

Uh before we move forward, uh housing and homelessness will be moved to 3 30 p.m.

We'll finish by 3 30 p.m.

Housing and homelessness by 3 30 p.m.

or all right, so um.

All right, uh Mr.

City Attorney, can you prepare us for a couple public comment for the special meeting?

Inasmuch as we took uh in excess of an hour, uh almost two hours of public comment in the regular meeting, and lots of folks commented on the charter reform issues.

We're gonna limit public comment uh for this period to 30 minutes.

Uh and I'll ask city attorney to read the instructions into the role and we begin to call names.

All right.

So uh change housing and homelessness will begin at 3 p.m.

Housing and homelessness will be in at 3 p.m.

Obviously, if we go beyond that, we'll have to amend that, but folks should prepare for three.

The public should prepare for a 3 p.m.

committee meeting.

Okay, and um for public comment, briefly, um you'll have up to three minutes to speak on the items, one minute per item.

It's a special meeting, so there is no general public comment.

When your name is called, please move to your left so that the sergeants can bring you into the podium and then exit to your right.

Um, if you have made an ADA request or make one now, please let us know so we can give you the handheld mic.

And if the interpreter would briefly interpret this, if you need Spanish translation, um please pause every couple of sentences so the interpreter can interpret.

We'll hold your time when the interpretation is occurring so that you will get the same amount of speaking time as everyone else.

Thank you, and we are ready to call some names, and as council president said we're taking third.

Charlie Mims, Robert Nickel, Natasha Vila, and Jason Enright.

Good afternoon.

What would you like to speak to?

Or which items?

Yeah, item uh 67.

Okay, so you have one minute for item 67.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, President and members of the council.

My name is Natasha Villa.

I'm here on behalf of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

We represent the maritime industry on the U.S.

West Coast.

I'm also here on behalf of 57 organization and stakeholder coalition that sent a letter to this council in opposition to the charter amendments impacting the port of Los Angeles, citing potential impacts on port governance, investment, and economic competitiveness.

We have serious concerns about embedding port operational mandates into the city charter.

These proposals have not gone through the level of public review and stakeholder engagement that changes of this magnitude require.

The rules committee concluded that additional analysis is needed, referring to these issues to the ad hoc committee on charter reform rather than advancing them as amendments.

We respectually urge the council to allow the ad hoc committee to complete this work and keep the port related provisions out of the 2026 charter reform package.

Thank you for your time today.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

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

Lori Condinus, Sarah Wiltfong, Steve Koffroth, and Jeremy Payne.

Good afternoon.

What would you like to speak to?

Thank you.

I would like to give comment regarding uh the charter amendments about ranked choice voting, council expansion, CRC 54 and CRC 58.

Ranked choice voting has been well documented all around the country in many cities, many states, many elections.

We know it works, we know it will be valuable here in the city of Los Angeles, and I encourage all members of city council to vote in opposition of the recommendation to hold and to move immediately to place ranked choice ballot ranked choice voting on the ballot for voters in November.

Furthermore, we know that a council's a single council seat size of over 250,000 people is just too much.

We need to double the size of the city council so that you guys can divide your own workload.

We need to make it easier for people, citizens to get in touch with their representatives and for representatives to holistically understand the needs of the people in their community.

Finally, empower yourselves, give yourself the ability to write laws that affect the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles is unique in its inability to do this, and it's time to close that loophole.

Thank you.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh good afternoon.

I'd like to speak to item 67.

My name is Charlie Mims, and uh one minute.

There are three uh item uh issues I want to speak to.

One is the uh do have to do with the personnel recommendations, one is the uh number of exemptions uh recommended for the department of airports, they're recommending 50 exemptions, and they're less than a third the size of the Department of Water and Power that has 40 exemptions.

We think that's just too many for the mid-sized department like the Department of Airports.

The other issue is uh the recommendation from personnel that the um promotional test and open test uh be allowed to be merged.

It's a very general statement.

If if they were to tighten that up, so it was entering level positions they're talking about.

Uh we may not have an exemption to that, that you're talking about mid-level management positions that instead of exempting them, they would be allowed to be on an open list and then merged with a promotional and uh and wind up um getting a free exemption.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

And which items would you like to speak to?

Item 27.

So item item 27 is identical to item 67.

Oh, 67.

No worries.

So you have one minute for the item.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, council, council president.

My name is Lori Candinas.

I'm with AFSME District Council 36.

I rise today to uh ask you to vote no on all the personnel changes that are coming before you.

The city has not met and conferred with us in good faith.

This process has been rushed, and the crux of civil service is on the line here.

And you need to stand for civil service.

And you need to stand with the workers in this city who make it happen.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Item 27.

Okay, so you have one minute, and that is for item 67, which is identical.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is Steve Koffroff.

I am the chair of the LA City Coalition of Unions.

We represent the vast majority of civilian workers, the people who will be impacted by the changes you were considering today.

We sent your offices a letter this morning.

So I want to save time here.

If you have not seen that letter, please have your staff come find me.

We're here to stay.

We have attempted to use the process as it's intended, but the city has rushed it and uh prematurely declared a last best and final offer.

This is not how bargaining in good faith works.

We want you to understand that our coalition has been at the table solving serious problems with the city, and this is not the way to take the approach on this.

These changes make serious, serious changes to the rights, privileges, and understandings of how the civil system works.

And our members care passionately about this.

You want to make sure that you're supporting your workforce.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Okay.

So before we begin, hold on.

So there are a lot of people here.

As the council president said, we did take multiple hours of public comment during the regular meeting.

We would like to fit in as many people as we can during this time.

You are welcome to applause.

You're welcome to boo, but we would appreciate that if you hold it to a minimum and in between the speakers, so we can maximize the amount of time we hear from members of the public.

Good afternoon.

Which items would you like to speak to?

67.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is Sarah Wiltsmonk, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Supply Chain Federation, which represents businesses and stakeholders throughout the goods movement and logistics industry.

I'm also here on behalf of Los Angeles County Business Federation, also BizFed, also known as Biz Fed.

Our members depend on a reliable, efficient, and competitive port of Los Angeles.

The port is a critical gateway for national and international commerce that supports jobs, businesses, and consumers throughout California and the United States.

We are concerned about efforts to add port specific operational mandates to the city charter.

These proposals could create additional uncertainty for businesses making long-term investment decisions and can slow the delivery of infrastructure and other projects needed to keep cargo moving efficiently through Los Angeles.

It is also important to recognize that the chief legislative analysts did not recommend these provisions for inclusion in the charter, and that the rules committee similarly concluded that additional review is warranted and referred the matter to the ad hoc committee on charter reform for further study.

We respectfully urge the council to allow the ad hoc committee to complete its review and not add these amendments to the charter.

Thank you.

I'd like to call up a few more names for public comment.

Shahirar Goodsafar, Alex Freeman, Samantha Glazer, Pamela Marquez, Athena Frost, and Lena Martinez.

So again, if you've heard your name called aloud, please proceed quickly to the left-hand side of the council chambers, and you can line up in any order.

Again, that is if you've heard the name that you signed up under called aloud.

As people are coming up, I'll call up a few more names.

Clifford Pinkerton, Val Marquez, and Lisa Palombi.

Good afternoon.

Which items would you like to speak to?

Uh item number 74.

Okay.

So you have one minute for item 74.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Oh, hi there.

On your way back from the grocery shopping, if you could sign here for ranked choice voting and expanding city council.

Uh thank you.

Oh, hey council, I just want to show you guys what it looks like if we have to delay the charter reform recommendations and put these on the ballot ourselves and do our job for you.

Oh, hey, thanks for coming back.

Okay, so city council did uh table putting range choice voting and expanding city council on the ballot when there was one and a half years of sub of uh discussions as well as two subcommittees for further studies.

And when it came time to uh let you vote, these council members decided not to.

Because remember, I have gotten 15,000 signatures and they ask why, and you guys have collected signatures too.

So by the way, every single person that comes to public comment, they represent thousands of voters out there.

And reality, reality is they represent you.

Um, but it doesn't have to be this way.

With ranked choice voting, you have the chance to vote yes and not listen to the recommendations, because this is what I want to see.

Um remember, we are lifelong Angelinos and we never forget.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Uh 74, please.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon, City Council members.

I'm Alex Freeman and a uh member of the great uh resident of the Greater LA area.

I wanted to talk about the financial parts of RCV because those are the parts that you are sending for further study.

Uh first off, RCV is primarily a one-time cost as far as a county is concerned.

It is a software package that they need to implement as soon as a city expresses interest in it, and as a city with the same namesake, you're the city with which can have the most influence.

But also, let's talk about the other financial impact on you.

Uh as a city, once RCV is implemented, you don't need to be in two elections anymore.

You can just be in one.

That saves you time for fundraising.

It saves the amount of money you need to do on fundraising.

Well, in the city council, in the city with your families, anywhere.

So consider that.

When you're looking at uh please move RCV uh onto the 2026 ballot so that the people can decide what they would like.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items seventy-four.

So you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Rank choice voting is a simple system.

Expanding city council is a simple idea.

With these two in combination, we could incentivize people to want to take part.

Local people to vote and engage in these institutions and the systems that will make a difference.

They can talk about policy that actually matters to them personally instead of catering to the partisans of the world.

Under proportional RCV, it's multi-winner.

Instead of single, 15 single districts, we can combine them.

And with increased members, we proportionally allocate our representation based on people's true preferences instead of single voting, which is a partisan in which it's partisan in nature, and it incentivizes people to vote based on who's popular instead of who they truly like, based on policy.

Thank you.

I like to call up a few more names for public comment.

Certainly, if you feel like you've spoken already, yeah, you're not required to speak just because your name is called.

Just FYI.

Good afternoon, which item?

Good afternoon.

At number 27.

Okay, so you'll have one minute for item 67.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, council members.

I stood before you earlier today.

My name is Ariel Moore.

I'm the deputy director of policy at that Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

And I want to ask you a simple but pertinent question.

Whose side are you on?

As been discussed right now, the mean confer process has not been fair.

It's been rushed.

It does not look like actual negotiations.

What happened was they were simply presented a best final and last after only four sessions.

As you know, that's unacceptable.

Labor is the backbone of the city, and our city workers deserve not only more respect, but they should be treated with the dignity in which they serve all of us.

I expect, as do they, that this process will be made right and fair.

They'll have an opportunity to discuss negotiations and reach terms and conditions of their employment that represent the type of work that they provided for us, some for many, many years.

It's up to you to show whose side you're on, labor or authoritarianism.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Item number 67.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Marlene Fonseca, EAA Union, on behalf of 6,000 city employees.

We ask that you vote no on all the personnel recommendations.

They've had two years to negotiate this with us.

If you look at council file 23, 10, 27, in 2024, you'll see almost the same exact proposals.

Yet they waited two years.

We've had two last best final offers within the last few days.

One was received yesterday with a deadline of 10 a.m.

today, the same time you're gonna be considering these proposals.

That's unacceptable.

This is not good faith bargaining.

We're not done.

We're not in impasse.

We too have ideas to vet.

I have 24 years of city experience, 11 in the city, and 13 representing city employees.

I know there's challenges in employment.

But we can't do it like this.

There's no labor organization here advocating for these changes, and that's not because we don't believe changes need to be made.

It's because it hasn't been collaborative.

Do it right, push these to 2028, and let us continue bargaining.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

67.

Okay.

So you have one minute, go ahead.

So, this is, I guess, the last chance.

So hopefully, you'll actually preserve some of the reforms that people fought for for over a year at the Charter Reform Commission.

And it was really difficult to actually get them to agree to anything in the first place.

So the fact that they put out a report giving suggesting all these great reforms, is such a really good that how much people want this kind of stuff.

But you don't want it, so you're trying to now gut it.

Which was basically the whole um obvious end point here was that you were clearly not actually in support of it, and you just wanted to basically go through a whole charter reform process and then gut everything.

People want ranked choice voting, they want, they want, you know, expansion of council, they want reform to at least make it possible to hold the LAPD more accountable, things like that.

And you want to gut it.

Let's hear from everyone today.

There's a lot of people waiting hours to speak.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Uh Rob Kwan, but for the record, I did sign up as Dwight Howard.

Uh I'd like to speak on 67 and 68.

Okay.

So you have two minutes for the items.

Go ahead.

One housekeeping thing, Grote on this personnel issue and how insulting it is that you've handled this.

There's a CAO report that was posted, and it's miscropped.

So a bunch of the language on three of the pages is cut off.

So please get that fixed.

Um this has all just been a big joke of a process down to the end where we get this the committee report, the CLA report dropped on us this morning.

You know, before the Fed tapes, there was one person on this council who supported expanding the bus this body, council member Raman.

Over the next two cycles, we worked to make sure y'all got on the record.

And we had nine people elected to this office, this body, who campaigned and said, I support this.

Where are you now?

Where are you now?

This is so insulting.

Lastly, I do want to just note there are a few poison pills in here that are really bad.

And you have a couple weeks to fix them, maybe amend them, but you're gonna face hell.

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

Jason Greenwald, Rob Kwan, Jack Galdamez, Ross, Rest Strofer, Allison Riley, and Johann E.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Good afternoon, council.

My name is uh Johone E.

Uh, coming from the San Fernando Valley.

Um, I'm uh here with Calars TV.

We're big supporters of ranked choice voting.

Um, I've expressed this at the rules committee, and I've expressed this at the Charter Reform Committee.

Um, but you know, I'm a little disappointed with how this whole process has happened.

I mean, speaking to you all, and no, it seems like no one's paying attention.

Uh so if you could please give me 30 seconds of our time.

We did wait like four hours uh to speak.

Um, you know, ranked choose voting, it helps save the city money.

Um there's a lot of misinformation out there.

Um, part of the agendas, I think in the last one it said that LA may have to run its own elections.

No one ever advocated for that.

That was never part of the recommendation from the charter reform.

So I'm not even sure why that's there.

It feels misleading uh to you all because I'm sure you ought to want to point out more money to spend on something else.

Um, so please have a constructive conversation about ranked choice voting.

It hasn't happened, and it's kind of sad to say that y'all are barely talking about this now.

Um, and you're not supposed to be representatives.

Uh, Councilmember Lee, thank you so much for your questions.

But I've only heard from them from Thank you.

Speaker, your time has expired.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Afternoon, speaking on items 67 and 74.

Okay, so you have one minute for each, so two minutes total.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Speaking on item 67.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm Ross Weisshoffer, member of the Fair FLA coalition, and at this final council meeting on charter reform before November, we don't need further study.

We need further courage from our electeds.

And council needs to recognize the cost of an action.

As someone who's spent hours over the past year creating over 35 custom ads for these charter reform meetings, begging people to engage in the process.

Ask yourselves why should Angelinos get engaged in yet another process after every government structure reform.

And almost all of the ethics reforms have been sent to study purgatory, including a ban on using campaign funds to pay for ethics fines being shelved at the last minute by a council member with tens of thousands of dollars in ethics fines.

Ask yourself who bears the cost.

And speaking now on item 74 on possible voting reforms to improve city elections.

LA's young people bear the cost, especially when they are denied the right to vote.

When our most disadvantaged LAUSD schools struggle to find civic opportunities for students, when they grapple with a widening budget deficit, when they are fighting against their students, losing hope in a better future.

The time to empower our young people with the right to vote is not someday.

It's now.

And at Monday's rules committee meeting, we heard some doubts, so we should expand voter eligibility by allowing council to implement that reform via ordinance.

I remind council members it is still possible to say in the charter that any ordinance once passed cannot be reversed for implementation.

And there's time to finesse that language and put lowering the voting age for LAUSD on the November ballot.

But there is no time for empty promises to our LAUSD students and Angelinos about a future that always comes tomorrow and always is scheduled for another committee.

Thank you, next speaker.

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

David Namtaj Tok, Julian Haynes, and Jerry Adams.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Hi, 67.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Alison Riley.

I'm a resident in Los Angeles, and I just want to say that we really need the city council to adopt the recommended reforms from the Charter Commission, particularly the independent budget for the controller's office.

Ranked choice voting is very important.

Police oversight and accountability is something that we've been fighting for for a long time and really need you to take seriously.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

72.

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Jason Greenwald, friends of Griffith Park.

I'm here on behalf of park advocates across the city.

We want to say thank you.

Thank you for recognizing how urgent it is to give our parks the funding they deserve and to put it in the city charter where it belongs to ensure that that funding will be there for future generations.

Thank you, thank you, and one small ask.

There is before you a provision to allow an escape clause of 30% in case of fiscal emergency.

30% is a big number, and it's an even bigger number in the first few years, which could actually leave rap worse off than they are today.

I know that none of you intend that, so if you can fix that technical issue with the escape clause, we will be even more grateful.

Thank you.

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

Baba Akeeley, Ariel Moore is E, and Ariel Moore.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

67.

My name is Jack.

Okay, so you have one minute.

I heard about the age of voting.

That uh age restriction should be lowered.

I should agree to that.

Since our boys, they go at war from the age of 18 already.

I think they should vote for the age at 18.

Another thing is that I just want to share anyway, is that y'all right now cannot be seen on live with your government site or anything on site that right now everybody could be seeing this whole life shit happening on clown soul because of this whole situation of y'all Los Angeles people is supposed to be helping the citizens here, and y'all failing it so fucking bad that we could see the life shit by another person under the name of clown soul instead of a council regular.

We got no respect right here for you at all because of all the fails that y'all have been sitting up there.

So literally hoping that there's something's gonna start changing before we start moving.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

74?

Okay, so you have one minute.

Go ahead.

Hi.

I support ranked choice voting because RCV is not a political issue, or it doesn't have to be.

I understand that none of you today were elected under RCV, but think about why you decided to run for office in the first place.

You wanted to move Los Angeles into the future to make it a world class city and to adopt the newest technology.

Ranked choice voting is simply a matter of using technology to improve the democratic process.

So it doesn't have to be a political issue.

And I encourage you to remember your mandate of making Los Angeles a world-class city.

Please support ranked choice voting.

Do I wait for the good afternoon?

Okay.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

Hello, uh, my name's David.

Uh, I'm I come from K-town.

I just uh wanted to talk about police reform.

Um, so like, you know, first of all, I just want to say the LAPD does a great job, very honorable job, but I do believe it's important that they be regulated, you know.

Giving the head of police the ability to remove police officers that are a problem, is important.

Uh you know, the LAPD gets 40% of the uh city budget, uh, and they cost us, I think about last year about like what, 150 mil in like lawsuits.

I mean, the first like 10 minutes of this entire meeting was just the city talking about payouts that they're gonna give out, like literally 10 minutes just L's.

And that's money the city's bleeding, and it's uh costing us a lot of money.

So I think it's important, uh, not just for like, you know, the safety of the everyday civilian, but also for the budget and for the money of the everyday taxpayer that we implement those things so that you know cops that are not meeting the standard and are not honoring the you know uh what it is to be an LPD officer should be removed.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon.

Which items?

All items.

Okay, so you'll have three minutes for the items.

Uh, go ahead.

My name's Baba Keely, and I'm with Black Lives Matters, LA.

Black Lives Matters.

We took a simple statement, Black Lives Matters, and we turned it into a movement.

A lot of that movement has centered around police transparency and accountability.

We focus on that.

The current process is convoluted, dark, complicated, and ineffective.

It contributes to the distrust in our own community.