Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The City Council held a regularly scheduled meeting on Friday, October 9, 2026, beginning at approximately 9:00 AM (local time). The agenda included approval of prior minutes, commendatory resolutions, several ceremonial recognitions, public comment on a single agenda item (Item 5), and a vote on that item. The meeting also featured extended presentations honoring Hangul Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, Russell Westbrook, Union de Vecinos, and the Panorama City Chamber of Commerce. Public comment included calls for heat protections, concerns about Skid Row events, and criticism of a professional services agreement.
It is a way of celebrating Mexican Independence Day, but in a way where we recognize, we emphasize that we are a neighbor. We are a community of Mexican Americans. Everyone is invited to our party. What it's about, the history, and again, being a woman and a family of men. It's showing us to be strong and stand up for what we believe. We are a city that has a majority Latino population, the largest concentration of Mexicans outside of Mexico City. The true meaning of El Grito, it was how ordinary people came together to fight for their independence and won. It's very important to just know and be proud of who we are as Latinos, as our parents who made such sacrifices to be in this country, who worked their butts off to be here and to let people know in higher power that we are not leaving anytime soon. And that we were here for it. We have been here and we are going nowhere. Make some ways if you plan to go anywhere. Oh viva Making Cole. Well the Japanese American National Museum has been uh an institution here in Little Tokyo for a long time, and so we always seek to partner with other organizations around the neighborhood. In this case, being able to host our Natsumatsuri festival, which we hold each summer here at the Budokan is an exciting opportunity for us to bring both audiences together and to invite the community to participate in some of the programs that Janum has brought here as well as collaborating with the Budokan to share this space here in Little Tokyo. It's an annual festival and we are here to celebrate the summer and Nisei week as a part of our activities that are happening throughout Little Tokyo. Most of our audience, you know, isn't Japanese American for these kinds of festivals, so it's a really new opportunity to learn about a new culture and new tradition. So yeah, that's why we just want other people to come in and celebrate with us. We're hosting a variety of activities today from Oban Dancing to our Janem Volunteer Band. A program that I work in, particularly the Democracy Center specializes in programming that engages audiences of all ages and civic dialogue, arts and culture, and the ways those two fields interact with one another. We particularly want to engage younger audiences and being more civically involved because it's so crucial that young people are involved in the infrastructure and the building of their future. So Janem, we're close to renovation right now, but we are still actively doing programming. And even when we were open, this is a really a good opportunity for us to get a lot of people in the door, especially new audiences, young families, new generations in the door to learn about Janum, learning about Japanese American history and culture. Japanese American history is very extensive and Janum is the largest collection of material objects of Japanese American story and history. And so for us, it's really a great opportunity, just like with Natsumatsu to connect with multiple generations of families to come that are not only Japanese American but of many other cultures to be a part of this festival together. In 1997, during the construction of the Metro Beeline Subway, the foundation of the original Adobe was unearthed beneath Lankershin Boulevard to ensure its legacy. A recreation of the foundation is available for viewing, while the footprint under the street and sidewalk is marked by decorative pavement. In South Los Angeles, another historic landmark is being preserved that celebrates arts and culture. The city of Los Angeles has completed a major investment in Lamert Park's historic vision theater, transforming the venue into a vibrant gathering place for the entire community. The city has made an investment right here in Lamert Park for the Vision Theater. We're so excited about what this means in South Los Angeles, what it means to artists, what it means to community. And we can't wait for the doors to be opened to see our first program. The community is at the heart of what the Department of Cultural Affairs does. We know that Lambert Park is a space where artists thrive, where we have visual and performing artists. This is like a jewel of this community, and it's so promising. All the attention given by the city of Los Angeles to this neighborhood. The first thing I noticed was the sound. Impeccable. The acoustics. It's really from this community. It celebrates this community, and it's a place where people can gather. Until such time as we have opened this beautiful grand vision theater, we've had to find ourselves going out of our community in order to enjoy the arts, music, dance, and now we can stay home. I think every detail was intentional, and uh I'm excited for the world to see it. We're here today in the lovely Winnect area here in the West San Fernando Valley on 818 Day. We're here at Cupid's Hot Dogs hosting their Love Letters to the Valley event. So we've been here for 80 years. My grandparents started Cupid, so we're third generation owners. And yeah, we've just been a part of the valley for generations now, and it's it's really been our mission to kind of keep our store the same. We haven't changed a lot.