The Los Angeles City Council held a regularly scheduled meeting on August 11, 2026, with 14 members present. The meeting covered a range of agenda items including approval of minutes, commendatory resolutions, public comments, discussion on wildfire recovery, sidewalk repair, committee restructuring, and a presentation honoring Pizzeria Say. Multiple items were voted on, and the council entered closed session for item 43.
Pretty nice to see here in Los Angeles. I'm ready to get uh another rain. Job in 2024 done. Job in 2025 done. Job in 2026 starts now. Nestled within the vibrant San Fernando Valley, this six and a half acre oasis offers a serene escape, defined by the harmonious balance of natural elements. The Japanese garden uses reclaimed water to replenish its tranquil features, standing as a testament to the city's commitment to sustainability and resourcefulness. Step into the unique landscape, which invites visitors to disconnect from the dynamic pace of urban life and rediscover a sense of peace. So whether you're visiting from across town or from across the world, welcome to LAUCHOONICHOONES. The visionary concept of establishing a Japanese garden adjacent to the reclamation facility was pioneered by Donald C. Tillman. Every element of the grounds has been meticulously crafted to harmonize with the modern architecture and the natural environment of the San Fernando Valley. Visitors can enjoy an expansive wet strolling landscape where flowing waterfalls symbolizing heaven, humanity, and the earth merge with vibrant greenery and crafted stone lanterns imported from Japanese artisans. Whether it's the wildfires here that taught us an awful lot of lessons in January 2025 or any other kind of life safety emergency, our mission now as an 18-year-old nonprofit organization working with the LA City Fire Department and other city partners and departments is to bridge that gap. It's critical for everyone in the city. Whether you have a business, whether you own a home, rent that you know what to do in case of emergency. Be a wildfire, be it an earthquake or heavy rain. Emergency preparedness is critical, and I'm glad the city uh put on this event. Los Angeles is actually very unique in that it has so many possible natural disasters. It has earthquakes, it has literally tsunamis, it has flooding. In fact, the major cause of weather death is heat, and as we know with environmental concerns, we also wind up having more heat. So there is something here for everybody. So while some people might think, well, I don't live in a home in the hills. And everybody is potentially affected by an emergency. Second time that we're here at the Autry, which is a great venue. We're surrounded by wild land, right? So it's a great frame for what we're trying to teach. But you know, in any case, we just take we try to use every conduit, every medium, every form we can to get the word out, right? We go into neighborhoods and we do home hardening assessments for free for people that are in the brush, the canyons, the hillsides. We go into schools and teach kids how to be more fire safe. We go to build neighborhood council firewise or fire safe council groups to organize their own neighborhoods to be more prepared. We're here working with uh all the folks that are concerned about how we can be more efficient with preventing wildfire, right? How can we be more mindful of keeping our towns resilient? And so, tree people, our goal is to help make our wild spaces resilient, and that means that after our fire rolls through, we want to bring in native plants that are gonna do well and recover quickly and also withstand the shortened fire regime. Uh as well as we want to make communities aware of the benefits of native plants, right? A healthy ecosystem in the mountains is gonna bring a lot more resilience to our communities just down the way. Trees and native species are going to be better suited for when we have drought. They're gonna be better suited for when there is wildfire, they'll recover quickly and they're gonna keep our air cycling clean. We're gonna have a lot of different benefits from a healthy ecosystem. So the more we can preserve the wild space, the more our cities and our wildlife is gonna be happy that we've done so. We can do our part in stewarding the land. Wildfire safety includes a lot of things, but one of the most important things that it includes is preparation, awareness, and education. We want every community in CD4 and throughout Los Angeles to understand what they can do to be ready in case of emergency, as well as how they can participate in preventing an emergency. I would tell people to make sure that they understand where their exits are, other than their front door. If you live in an apartment building, please make yourself aware of where the fire extinguishers are in your building. Uh please make sure you keep your fire alarms functioning, which also monitor for gas. And you know, reach out to your landlords, ask them to engage in safety measures for the entire building, which also might lower their insurance costs if they engage safely on how to protect themselves. All these things are what we're here to teach today in a way that hopefully people can deal with in an affordable and viable way so that they don't feel overwhelmed like there's so much to do, I just won't do anything. We want them to do something, do one thing, do three things over time, and over time they're gonna get in a better position to withstand a wildfire, and we know they're coming, unfortunately. It means the largest municipal pool in the United States.