And that died in council.

It's hard not to notice when wealthy property owners need relief.

Um, we're willing to bend over backwards, jump through hoops, do flips, whatever it takes to meet their needs and desires.

But when working class people and tenants need protection, suddenly our hands are tied and the political will is not there.

I support relief for fire survivors.

I believe it is our responsibility, but I do not support creating another loophole for the ultra wealthy while reducing funding for affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and tenant protections.

So I'm voting no because the city facilitates everything and anything for the super rich while it buries the working people of Los Angeles in process and protocols, and I cannot in good conscience support that.

Thank you.

Councilmember Park.

Thank you, Council President, colleagues.

All the way back to last February.

I want to thank the Palisades community, many of whom I know are listening, for their advocacy and patience as we fought to make this promise of relief a reality.

I especially want to thank Councilwoman Yara Scott Slavsky for waiving this and council president for ensuring that we could hear this today before our recess.

And colleagues, I want to thank you all as well for your continued support of this devastated community.

For those of you who came to the Palisades in the aftermath of the fire to stand with me and to bear witness, after the worst disaster in our city's history, like me, you will never forget what you saw.

That wreckage still lingers, and as I've said many times before, this rebuild is not voluntary, not for anyone.

Palisades residents weren't able to plan ahead or save up for what happened on January 7th.

Thousands were dropped by their insurance companies prior to the fire, and those who were lucky enough to still have insurance, for many of them it wasn't enough.

Time options and money are running out.

For some victims, because of the lack of insurance or access to resources, or just because of timelines, bureaucracy, the regulatory hell that so many are still trapped in, or because of family status or age or any other multitude of reasons, they have no choice but to sell.

They're not selling because they want to, they are selling because they have already lost everything, and there's nothing left.

Putting this tax on these folks who are trying to recover and reckoning with the fact that some of them just aren't coming home.

It's just unspeakably cruel.

The exemption is already narrow.

It is the product of hundreds of community meetings, extensive legal advice, and extensive policy development.

This ordinance is already strategically narrowed and customized.

It's an exemption that applies in very narrow circumstances to original owners and first transactions for five years only for residential properties.

This is the least we can do as this community continues to recover.

I know it has been a long road, and I appreciate your continued support.

I ask for your eye votes today.

Thank you.

Thank you, seeing no other speakers.

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

All right.

Thank you for item 117.

The ordinance will be held over for a second reading to Tuesday, August 4.

All right.

Next, I understand there is a new motion for 118.

Hold on one second, everybody, we're gonna figure out what's happening here.

Thank you.

Item number 118 is before council.

All right, Councilmember Rosowski.

Thank you, Council President.

I'm gonna ask colleagues that we note and file this, but first I just want to speak um briefly to the ULA process and where we are.

So over the last few weeks, uh we came closer than many people want to admit to losing ULA outright and severely limiting our ability to levy new local transfer taxes in the future because of closed door negotiations in Sacramento.

People were willing to gamble on one of the most progressive revenue tools this city has, and all California cities have a transfer tax, and we only barely avoided what I think was a bad outcome.

The whole thing was reckless and entirely avoidable.

And one of the worst parts of the whole process was we weren't even at the negotiating table on behalf of Los Angeles.

We abdicated that responsibility to Sacramento and to special interests, as we too often do, and got entirely cut out of those negotiations.

I'm thankful that the statewide measure is off the ballot for now because I think it went too far.

It would have cut ULA from 5% down to 0.95%, and it would have capped our city's ability, our transfer taxes at one and a half percent forever.

But if we think the fight is over, we're kidding ourselves.

Because while the sticks in Sacramento went too far for a lot of us, it was attempting to address a very real problem.

The pressure behind ULA reform is not going to go away because the valid concerns from people who build housing are not going away.

And we will keep finding ourselves back here if we don't show courage, get ahead of it, and make a reform we and housing builders can live with.

The other option is to bury our heads in the sand, tinker around the edges, but ultimately pass the buck and wait for the next billionaire backed attempt to repeal ULA outright in 2028.

And make no mistake, colleagues, I very much believe that that's coming.

And if we choose that route, it will be entirely our fault.

In case I haven't been clear, I am incredibly supportive of the work ULA funds.

Affordable housing, homelessness prevention, tenant protections.

I want to protect as much of that funding as possible.

And I want to acknowledge the really good work of the ad hoc committee.

These are not easy questions to answer, and I know they all showed up and worked incredibly hard to try and find the right balance.

But if we want ULA to survive, colleagues, we have to be honest about what is not working in the program, the unintended negative consequences of it.

Los Angeles currently taxes a 100 million dollar mansion in Bel Air the same way as a hundred million dollar new housing project in Palms that creates hundreds of new housing units.

And that makes absolutely no sense.

And most people, many of whom thought they were voting for a mansion tax, understand the difference.

When we treat them the same, we're choosing to make housing production more expensive.

Sometimes that means new housing doesn't pencil out at all and it doesn't get built.

Sometimes it means the costs are passed on to tenants in the form of outrageous rent prices that only rich people can afford.

All in the middle of a housing crisis.

And as budget chair, I think this part is for me particularly important.

I think all of us should care about this.

We are choosing to kneecap other key city revenue streams by not acting.

Property tax growth has stalled because when properties aren't sold, they aren't reassessed.

Our city transfer tax, which is set at 0.55% and brings in hundreds of millions of dollars each year to our general fund, hasn't grown as quickly as it was growing pre-ULA, because people are avoiding buying and selling properties because of ULA.

Moreover, when new construction is down, so are park fees, affordable housing linkage fees, and school district funding.

And the thing is, we don't even have to guess what the fix is.

The people who build multifamily housing have told us again and again what they need to get housing production moving.

We don't have to give them everything, we don't have to trust them completely.

But if we can give them something meaningful and a meaningful amount of what they need, preserve most of ULA, and get housing built, then we should do it.

Because that is what it means to govern.

It means finding a compromise that protects this really important program before someone else comes along.

We know who it's gonna be and wipes it out entirely.

I don't think that what ultimately came out of committee gets us there.

I don't think it goes far enough, which is why I voted no, but I understand that without the threat of the Howard Jarvis measure on the ballot, the political will to send this to the ballot isn't there.

That's disappointing, of course, but I get it.

And I we have time now, colleagues, to try and figure out ourselves what we think will get us there before it's done for us again.

Because I think we're gonna be right back here in two years, unless we start to proactively act to address the valid challenges with ULA.

So colleagues, that's why I'm I'm I'm moving to note and file this item today, and hope that we can all work on this uh going forward in a really intentional way and with a lot of urgency because this is it's really quite important.

Thank you.

Seconded by Councilmember McCoskar, I have Council Member Jurado on the queue.

No?

Uh all right.

Uh thank you so much, uh, members.

This uh process has been uh among uh many of the issues that we had this term, uh one of the more difficulties, it has a lot of sides, it's very uh complicated, lots of very um adamant and well-sourced um interest groups on all sides of it.

I think uh I appreciate Councilmember Yarosowski's comments and and agree with um much of what she said and also want to call out Council Member Judato for stepping in and leading the committee in what was a tough moment in this council uh to figure out uh this issue.

Um, I agree that uh what we have is not the total package, it's not everything that's needed.

But I also want to note uh for our friends on all sides, for our friends in labor and our friends on the business side, the answer is it.

Let's just do nothing and pretend like the data in front of us isn't real.

And that's what some advocates asked us to do.

And then on the other side, people said, Well, we don't want to pay taxes and we don't want to pay workers.

We don't want to pay prevailing wage and we don't want to pay the tax.

And to that side, I say, I understand you need to save money, but why does it always have to come from the people?

You never come to us and say, why don't you cap insurance rates in the city of California or why don't you ban uh investors from requiring so much profit on the money they invest in housing?

And so I just encourage folks on all sides, we can all do a little bit better.

And if we all do a little bit better, uh we have a chance of coming up with a better solution that will actually work for our city and get our people housed, which I believe is completely uh within our reach and with our uh capacity.

And with that, uh seeing no other members on the queue, Madam Clerk, do we need to vote on this note and file, or can we uh accept it without objection?

If the council can please take a vote on motion here.

All right, let's open the roll on note and file, close the roll, tabulate the vote.

149.

All right, what's next?

Next is item number one twenty-one, called special by council member Hernandez for comments.

All right, let's open the roll.

Close the roll.

Oh, I'm sorry, for comments.

Councilmember Hernandez.

Bureau of Street Lighting.

Nothing.

Okay, all right.

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

149.

All right, what's next?

Next is a question whether to substitute item number 123.

All right, let's open the roll.

Close the roll, tabulate to vote.

149.

All right, uh, just for the record, in as much as item M, magic magic has been uh noted and filed, that is not a part of our uh motion to provide lettering, if that makes sense to folks.

Council Member Rodriguez.

I wanted to offer an amendment for the substituted 123.

More time, the number an amendment for the substitute uh on 123.

I want.

Okay, I okay.

So I would like to amend on the sixth measure uh we're to change the charter amendment from RP to P R K.

Got it to park, okay.

That's seconded by Council Member Hernandez, and you got a letter thing too.

Yes, uh, I would like to change um the first one on that list from F E to T T.

I mean C E.

T E o F T E a second.

T is in train and E is an elephant.

Yes, got it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, any other letters?

Uh Councilmember McCosker.

As long as we're all being clever here, the uh seventh measure instead of PX, which sounds like prescription.

Can we make it PRT?

PRT and PRK?

All right.

She's cutting it close.

Airport, Port of LA.

All right.

Park Ranger train for that one.

Any other changes, folks?

All right, Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

Um, so just to confirm Mr.

McCosker's amendment, is there a second to that one?

Second.

Thank you.

So then the substitute motion before council, substitute motion, Harris Dawson McCosker as amended by motions Rodriguez Hernandez, Hernandez Rodriguez, and McCosker Harris Dawson is now before council.

Alright, let's open the roll.

Close the roll tabulate the vote.

14 ayes.

All right, what's next?

The council has motions for posting and referral.

One more time.

The council has motions for posting and referral.

All right, they're posted and referred.

Councilmember Park.

Sorry.

Council President on um item number one eighteen.

Can you register me as a no vote?

All right.

So that was for the note and file for the got it.

So we'll register uh councilmember park as a no vote.

Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

That will be 13 eyes and one nose, and the item still passes to note and file.

Alright, I got Councilmember Raman.

I had an announcement.

Okay.

Uh anybody got business?

Councilmember McCosker?

Just for clarity and for the record, on the 123, we remove the second measure tax uh MM.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

And we we stated that on the record.

All right.

Any other business folks?

Note and files, urgent forthwiths.

Happy dances.

All right.

Motions are posted and referred.

Uh announcements members.

We'll begin with Councilmember Rahman.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Today I just wanted to rise because the Council District 4 office is saying farewell to someone who's been a fixture in our office since we started.

Our deputy district director, Walker King.

Walker was a volunteer, yes.

Walker was a volunteer on my very first campaign during COVID and led phone banking for lots of volunteers who have told me over the years how much they learned about Walker's musical tastes because he would play that during the phone banks and actually learned to love it and learned a lot about music.

His tenacity and passion for making Los Angeles a place that we're really proud to call home made him a very easy early hire and has been an incredible addition to the Council District 4 office ever since.

He helped whip our office into shape when we first returned to City Hall post-lockdown, and he's been indispensable ever since.

During his time in office, he's kept our council district four operations and administration running smoothly, and his willingness to work with every department and sometimes hassle every department, from the Bureau of Street Services to the Office of the City Clerk, has made it easier for our uh field deputies to solve problems and keep projects moving.

Walker has demonstrated incredible care, compassion, and collaboration in his work, and he's been an incredible liaison to help Council District Four residents navigate the dynamics of city bureaucracy.

Among his many contributions, I did want to share he was instrumental in establishing an arts a grant program that we did in partnership with DCA, which gave $300,000 to artists and art organizations in Council District 4 during a time of great need, and it was really incredible, including supporting local theaters and people who had faced real challenges as a result of COVID and the wildfires.

Council District 4 is better for having had the opportunity to work with you, Walker, and I'm emotional at seeing you go, but so excited for your next journey as you head to NYU to earn a master's in public administration.

You're going to be dearly missed by our team, especially by our entire field team who is here today, our council district and our city as a whole.

So thank you, Walker, and on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, we wanted to present you with this certificate.

And thank you for everything you've done.

Thank you so much, and thank you for your service to our great city.

It's truly truly appreciated.

Thank you, Councilmember Raman.

Other announcements?

Councilmember McCosker.

Thank you very much.

This weekend we'll celebrate the 4th of July.

But as always, on the 5th of July, we will celebrate Bloody Thursday in the harbor area.

And Bloody Thursday harkens back to the 1934 West Coast strike.

And that bloody Thursday, July 5th, was saw the deaths of several workers in San Francisco.

And it's this is honored every year by the ILW and other locals up and down the coast.

But what is little known, and what we remember in the Harbor area is that just months earlier there were two killings of workers, ILWU workers or longshore workers, in the in San Pedro.

And we consider that to be first blood.

And on every July 5th, the ILWU and other and families and supporters get together and visit the graveside of those two individuals, John Newton and Dickie Parker, who were killed in May of that same year.

And we honor their memory, and then we take a procession from the cemetery in the gateway, by the way, of the 15, down to the harbor area, and we consider that the first blood run.

And then in at the Memorial Hall, we together celebrate Bloody Thursday.

So that'll be on July 5th.

It's a very somber event, but what we also are recognizing is the importance of collective action and workers fighting for their wages, hours, or working conditions, and safety on the docks.

And so I just wanted to make sure that we all remember that on July 5th.

Folks would be welcome to come down to the Memorial Hall midday in Wilmington.

If you're there, we'll welcome you.

No hats allowed in the Memorial Hall.

If you're not there, just remember John and Dickie.

John Newton and Dickie Parker who gave their lives for the effort.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

McCosker.

Councilmember Hurado.

Thank you, Council President.

As we head into recess, I want to take a moment to reflect on the work that we've begun and the work that's still ahead in Boyle Heights in East LA.

Today marks two weeks since the fire began.

While the flames are out, recovery is far from over.

Families are still living with odors, disruption, uncertainty, and very real concerns about public health, cleanup, and accountability.

Residents want to know what's happening.

Who's responsible, what comes next, and how they'll know the cleanup is being done safely.

They want clear information they can understand, a recovery they can trust, and the confidence that every agency is working together to protect public health.

Those aren't unreasonable expectations.

They're exactly what government should deliver.

And that's why over the past week I've introduced a package of motions to strengthen our emergency response and recovery effort.

These motions were shaped by conversations with residents, community organizations, small businesses, environmental justice advocates, faith leaders, and our city and county partners who have been working alongside the community since day one.

Together, they respond to the three things asked for most.

One, relief.

We're expanding smoke remediation and public health resources, strengthening emergency communication, and helping ensure families, workers, and small businesses can access the support they need.

Two, we're answers.

We're strengthening environmental transparency and accountability, reviewing oversight systems, and demanding greater transparency throughout the cleanup and recovery process.

And third, we're focused on longer term protections, improving emergency preparedness, strengthening coordination across agencies, expanding multilingual emergency communications, and making sure we're better prepared the next time a community faces an environmental emergency.

And at the end of the day, this comes down to something very simple.

Boyle Heights and East LA residents deserve relief, answers, remediation, and accountability.

These are motions are an important first step toward delivering exactly that.

They won't end this recovery, but they can help make it stronger and more community centered.

Recovery will continue throughout the recess, and so will our on-the-ground work.

Today we're launching free mobile health clinics in Boyle Heights, East LA, and other impacted community.

These clinics are free, require no appointment, and are open to residents in both the city of LA and the County of LA.

Boyle Heights residents can also find latest recovery updates, public health information, air quality data, and available resources on the city's new Boyle Heights Recovery webpage.

Please visit emergency.lacity.gov slash Boyle Heights Recovery.

And finally, to the people of Boyle Heights, East LA and everyone who has been living through this.

Thank you for raising your voice.

Thank you for chipping in.

Thank you for holding all of us accountable.

We know that these uh hard times and your experiences have been really difficult.

And you'll continue to guide what's next in this process as we seek accountability, and that is my commitment to you and colleagues.

I hope that all the energy that we've harnessed for others that are fire survivors also extend and have the same energy for the folks on the east side.

So thank you for all of your support in the recovery process.

Each of your offices contributed staff time and support, and without exception and without fail, you all were there.

So I really do want to thank the city family and all of the council offices for the support.

Thank you, Councilmember Jurado.

And on behalf of this council, I just want to congratulate you for stepping up and representing your community well, but also this council well.

You know, unfortunately, you're now part of a sorority of uh women on this council who have dealt with huge fires.

I think councilwoman Rodriguez sort of led the way, and then Councilmember Park had to step up in a big way, and now you've had to step up in a big way.

And so uh thank you for that.

And uh we're all very proud of the work that you've done.

Uh Councilmember Bloomenfield.

Thank you.

Don't want to start a whole chain here, but I want to make the announcement on July 4th.

The best fireworks in the city of Los Angeles.

I know I'm gonna get a lot of buttons for that.

Can be found.

You just lit up the whole board.

The West San Fernando Valley.

This is the annual and will be the last, unfortunately.

Bloomenfield Fireworks Extravaganza that we do every year.

We get like 50,000 people.

It's an incredible fireworks display.

It's the Warner Center, come one, come all.

Food trucks, music, uh, the music uh leading up to the fireworks is gonna be Dr.

Wu, which is the music of Steely Dan, they're uh uh tribute band, other emerging artists as well.

Uh it's gonna be a great time.

So I urge anyone and everyone to come to the park, Warner Center Park, uh July 4th.

And then if you you still want to go enjoy soccer, come the next day to uh Lanark Park where we've got the World Cup going.

So see you on the fourth.

Thank you so much.

Uh other announcements, members.

Alright, seeing none, I'll ask that we everyone in the chamber rise uh reverently for adjourning motions.

And I'll look to my right and look to my left.

Uh all right, members.

I um want to ask that we adjourn uh this meeting in the memory of uh the beloved mother, wife, grandmother, sister, sister, and dedicated neighbor, um, Miss Barbara Jordan.

Miss uh Barbara Jordan came to Los Angeles at the age of 14, attended George Washington High School, uh, went on from there to attain credentials and began a career at Kaiser Permanente as a health administrator.

She worked there for 28 years, um, serving in various uh roles.

Uh her service did not end with her retirement.

She uh had a devoted practice uh of caring for her children and her grandchildren, even into adulthood, recognizing the importance of family, uh neighborhood, and community.

She served as a member of the board for the Getty House uh foundation uh and volunteered with many organizations around early childhood literacy.

Uh, she received many awards and recognitions for her service.

Uh she passed away at the age of 81.

Uh this uh in the past couple of weeks.

Uh she'll be remembered for her capacity, generosity, strength, and unwavering commitment to those that she loves.

She is survived by her husband of 41 years, Mr.

Frank Jordan and her children, Chris, Erica, Denise, and her grandchildren, Chris, Aisha, and Ace, and a host of other um daughters and sons in love.

Uh, and on behalf of the city of LA, we want to extend our condolences to her family and her friends.

I had the privilege of knowing uh Miss Jordan for the last 30 years.

Um, and I can say she is among the best friends uh that our mayor has had over that time.

Uh every time there was a tough moment, uh Miss Jordan was there.

Her and the mayor raised their daughters together, and her daughter their daughters were around the same uh age.

And uh she was a neighbor, uh, but most importantly, a friend and a confidant.

And so uh we uh adjourn in her memory and ask that she rest in the peace and power that she deserves.

Councilmember Hutt.

Thank you so much, Mr.

President.

Please add my name.

Absolutely.

Alright, that with that folks, we're adjourned.

We'll see you after recession.

He's coming in a couple times.

Um that was really cool to have my employee call me and be like, um, we have Jimmy Page here, and he's uh has a question about this book.

You know, and I just I have to nonchalantly ask, you know, answer the question and make the sale.

So that's that was fun.

It's just I could list hundreds of people that have come through.

You know, yesterday my kids were asking me, like, who's the most famous person that's been in the store?

You know, we were like, I don't know, like Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, you know, Ben Affleck.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

All the A list people have been here.

So it's really fun.

It's a real melting pot.

You never know who's gonna be here any given day.

You know, musicians, artists, actors, you know, people from the street, you know, people from other countries.

You know, we've had presidents from other countries come in here.

It's amazing.

You know, it's just it's all walks of life, people from everywhere.

A lot of times I still feel like I'm just selling books out of my apartment, still in my mind.

But then, you know, I come into the store and people recognize me, they want me to sign something like I'm a celebrity or something, it's very strange, and I forget and I realize, oh, yeah, everyone around the world knows the store now and it's famous, and I don't know, it's a strange thing to build something and then for everyone to know it and to appreciate it and to love it.

That always really warms my heart and makes me feel like I've done something really meaningful.

You know, I changed the course of LA, I changed the history of LA just by following my vision, just like so many others have done, creative people who have been in the city and and they just have an idea and a dream and they and they make it, they make that movie, they make that album, they make that store and that affects thousands and millions of other people and it changes the course of people's lives, and it's just that's what I think makes Los Angeles amazing.

It's just there's so many people here with those visions who are trying to create things and some of them get to do that and it changes the world.

And so that's that's amazing to be a part of that and I'm really honored to be a part of that.