Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Mandatory resolutions for approval. >> All right. Would Councilman Bernson uh please uide chair recognizes uh Councilman Wax for presentation. So, we're going to all just stand around around here. Where's Where's Ziggy? >> Okay, Councilman Fur, I'd like Councilman Fur to join me, please. >> Where's Ziggy? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Members of the city council, we have, as you know, uh over the years had the the honor of of of of having with us many championship teams which have uh represented our city uh at all levels, professionally, intercolgiately, um high school. probably none have excited their fans and brought honor to their school and to their city um as much as the UCLA men's soccer team that is uh joining me here today at the podium. Uh this is a team which through remarkable personal achievement and even um uh a more extraordinary uh coming together uh as a team uh won the hearts of of of fans and and and and uh people throughout this country when they won the 1997 uh national championship against fivetime champion uh Virginia at Richmond uh before a record crowd. Uh it was a great victory for a team, but I think it is a it is a team that will be as remembered for its behavior and its human character off the field as well as a team which played like real champions on the field. I think there are very few Americans who heard about how this team embraced a young man named Will Daniel in a way that won the hearts of not only the young man but the hearts and minds of people throughout this country. Will was a young boy with uh Down syndrome who came to the airport with his mother who was the official host uh for Richmond to meet the team and he was excited as any young man would be. He was a great sports enthusiast. He came to the team to the airport with his mom. He met the team. He was full of joy and excitement. The team greeted him. went on the bus and in most cases that would have been in itself a wonderful thing and probably the end of it. It was only the beginning. This team embraced him. They brought him onto the bus with him. He sat next to the coach. He went to the hotel. He met everybody. The next day he was out on the practice field with him. He practiced with him. He rooted with them. They took him in as one of the gang. They took him in as one of their own. They treated him with a kind of respect and love that probably meant everything to him. But in return, as this is usually the case, he gave them perhaps the inspiration to be the kind of victors on the field that they were showing off the field. Uh they the night before adopted the theme of love and kindness uh to push them through that game. He was there on the field in the stands. When the game was over, they had Will up on the podium with him. He received a watch from one of the players. He received the same recognition that the players themselves had. I have the players and the coaches here today to give them an award. I also have an award for Will which we will sending to him. It's a certificate of recognition to him as well as the team because as much as this team gave to him, I think that the team will tell you that he gave to them the inspiration and the sense of values that they'd exhibited which were critical to them winning this stunning upset uh in Virginia. So I I'm I'm just honored as of as as you know as a former UCLA student body president and as one who has brought many UCLA teams here who have brought great honor and distinction to our city to this council chamber. Uh this one is a team that although I don't know the players individually uh mean the world to me. When I read, for example, that one of the players took the watch that he had received uh as an award in his achievement for winning and gave it to Will saying that he'll remember the game the rest of his life. Will have this to remember. Uh I started reading these articles and I was I was moved beyond tears. Um, I want to give, we don't have it today, that young man uh who gave his watch a city watch, which at least will uh stand in its place as an recognition of the kindness uh that he exemplified. These are real champions, members of council. These are people who exemplify the finest qualities in characters as individuals as well as players off the field as well as on. They are what inspire us. They are the people that set the example, the moral tone as well as the the example for skill and achievement that we want with our young people in this country and certainly in this city. So they have made us very very proud. We have awards for each of them. Today I'm going to present the award to Ziggy Schmidt who has been their coach for 18 years. He is their coach, he is their mentor, he is their friend, he is their inspiration. Um he is a person who has uh made our university and our city very very proud. And so um Ziggy and to all of the people on the team uh I want at this time on behalf of the mayor and all of my colleagues for this city council to commend each of you for being champions on and off the field. And so in declaring today, February 20th, 1998, to be UCLA men's soccer team day in the city of Los Angeles, by winning the 1997 NCA Championship, and embodying the spirit, values, virtues, and enduring lessons and rewards of friendship and love, this UCLA team has made this city and this world a better place in which to live. It is a thrill for me to present this to you, Ziggy, at this time. And before I ask you to say a few words, I would like my colleague, Councilman Furer, who now has the honor of representing the UCLA campus, um, to also join us at this time and say a few words. So, Bzig, before I present this, let me present my colleague, Councilman Mike Fur. >> Thanks, Joel. >> I want to say, Joel, that when you noted that you had been a UCLA student body president, I was looking at the expressions on some of the team here, and they're wondering if there were cars back then. So to say the uh >> cars big then was getting a part. >> As I was reading about the exploits of all of you, I was thinking about my four-year-old daughter Danielle who is in soccer class. In fact, today is her soccer practice day. And my six-year-old son Aaron, who has just gone through his first AYso soccer season. And you know, as all parents, I hope that they are tenacious and display real guts on the field. Uh have a lot of skill, but also care a lot about their teammates and all those qualities as they play ball. But I think that at the end of the day, all of us want for our soccer playing kids and our kids just generally most of all what you have displayed with such grace and such elegance across the country in Richmond, Virginia. And that is the that special character uh that emotion uh and that real caring for somebody else who you allowed into your lives and embraced when you didn't have to do that. Uh there were a lot of hugs. I read all the articles. Um uh it says something so special about what burns most deeply inside you. It's not just a competitive spirit. It's a spirit that says we're in this together. All of us are in this together in this world. And I am very moved by this. I noted that Will's mother keeps that watch in a special place. So it should always be a family treasure. And that shows you what an impact you've had. You have an impact on a lot of lives. But the impact on Will's life, I think, will be truly enduring. So thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to recognize an achievement that few of us can ever hope to match. Congratulations and good luck. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President, this is this is Will's certificate which we will be sending to him and this is the commendation which I have the honor to presenting to you Ziggy and to all the members of the team and the coaching staff and the entire UCLA family which has continued a very very proud tradition and has honored uh our school uh and our city uh and inspires all of us. It's a thrilled to have you here. I'm I'm glad you could be here. I'm glad all of the students could take a few moments off. I know you got to go back to class, some of you. But let me present uh let me present this to you with heartfelt gratitude and appreciation, not only from all of my colleagues here, but from all of the people of this city, even Trojans. >> Thank you very much. >> Um first off, you know, this is this is tremendous. This is overwhelming. Uh winning the championship was something that thrilled our team immensely. uh have any involvement with Will Daniel that we did. Uh and as his mom said when she came to our banquet, remembering that there's other kids like Will Daniel right here in our own in our own neighborhood that we need to help and and also take into our hearts. But on behalf on behalf of UCLA and the UCLA soccer team, I would like to thank the city of Los Angeles, the city council, Councilman Wax, Councilman Fur, and we have a little gift to present you uh afterwards as well. uh without the support of UCLA and their broad-based uh broad-based athletic program, the support that they give us uh you know on the field with our teams, but also the support they give all all the young men behind me in in terms of of the classroom because not only do our players go on and succeed in soccer, and we have more players playing in the pro leagues than any other school, but also we've got, you know, guys who are neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers and uh doctors and lawyers and uh you know uh city attorneys in Denver and things like that. So, so there's a number of our players that have taken their experiences from soccer and have put them to good use, not only on on the field of soccer, but also outside the field of soccer. So, uh you know, we're very thankful of that. I'm very proud of this team because they overcome they overcame a lot a lot of adversity this year. We talked a lot this year about about each day and each game you might have a different role to fill. And that's that's the thing that this team did very well. And in life, when we view everything we do in life, there's on certain days we have different roles, different jobs, and we have to do those roles and jobs to the best of our ability. And that's what this team did. What I would like to do is uh is present on behalf of the UCLA soccer team. And and I'd like to bring up my assistant coach, David Vanoli, and and my boss, my associate athletic director, Betsy Stevenson. We have a soccer ball for Councilman Wax for his office signed by the team. >> That is great. Thank you. Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. And for Councilman Fure, we have a UCLA jersey, >> which uh which we expect him to wear at tomorrow's meeting, but tomorrow is Saturday, so we'll let them off on that one. So, uh but uh you know, that's our our appreciation. >> Fabulous. This is something the proclamation we will display proudly and I know each of the players will take uh back their own in individual proclamations and they will hang them in a place of honor in their homes and it will be something that will serve them with a lifelong memory uh which is which is the thing that all this was about. So thank you very much on behalf of UCLA soccer myself and the UCLA athletic department. Thank you. >> Chair recognizes Councilman Holden. >> Mr. President, I want to commend Joel and of course Mike and the team, but it occurred to me that it was a clean sweep against USA. USC >> football, basketball, and soccer. Did you A clean sweep? That's >> not basketball yet. >> Yeah, they just beat him the other night. And so, so you have to watch what's going on in the sports section. >> Did beat us. >> It's a clean sweep. I don't know about the guys that go to USC, but >> next time I go back to school, I'm going to go to UCLA. That's why John's not here today. >> Thank you, Mr. Holden. I just want to add there's more to being a champion than just playing like one. Acting like one is perhaps just as important or more important. And congratulations for that. >> Thank you. >> You're going to go in the back and take a group picture. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> We just follow you. >> All right, Mr. uh Bernson for a presentation. Can I have Mr. Deppy and Mr. Adelman and Richard? You want to come up here also? Thank you, >> Mr. President, members of the council. Uh we're here today to uh to honor and say goodbye to Carl Deppy who is retiring after 34 years of service to our city of Los Angeles in the building and safety department. Uh I normally don't read all the whereases but I think that in this particular case uh it is important that everybody understands the contributions that Carl has made to the safety of our city. Carl Deppy has completed more than 34 years of dedicated service. He began his career in June of 1963 as a civil engineer assistant with the department of building and safety where he promoted quickly up through the engineering ranks to senior structural engineer. 1988 he moved into the upper management and after years of conscientious service at this level now retires from his position of assistant deputy superintendent of building two. Carl has displayed professionalism and devotion to duty throughout his career and is especially commended for his dedicated proactive work, guidance, and leadership at the city, state, and national levels in redeveloping our building seismic codes for the safety and benefit of our citizens. Carl has always been a friendly, concerned, and interested in the well-being of fellow employees. been a compassionate, approachable supervisor and manager who's genuine interested in helping with problems and questions for his fellow workers. Uh I'm not going to go through all the other things here. I think the thing that was really important except for this one part right here. Whereas Carl Deppy has made significant contributions to the development of our codes and has therefore helped to make the city of Los Angeles a safer place for citizens to live. And I can tell you that in my work and in the work of this city in ordinances such as the URM uh reinforcement ordinance uh some of the codes changes that followed the Northridge earthquake uh some of which are currently voluntary but need to be made mandatory and we'll talk to some of you a little further on that later. uh along with Richard Hulquin, the two of them have really been a real force that this city has enjoyed in making sure that our buildings are a safe place for the people of Los Angeles. And maybe it isn't as romantic as uh as some of the other occupations such as a fireman or a policeman, but believe me, their decisions and their work have ensured safety for thousands, literally millions of people in the city of Los Angeles, and it should not go unnoticed. Uh Carl, we hate to lose you. Uh but I know you're going to be around. Hopefully, we'll we'll be seeing you and you're going to continue your work in this area. So, uh, takes great pleasure in presenting this to you. I'm going to call upon your upon your, uh, department head, and I think Richard may want to say a few words before you, uh, make your comments. Okay, Mr. Adelman. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Mr. Depe not only has contributed a great deal to the seismic safety of city of Los Angeles but also the entire state and nation because the criteria and the standards that he has developed particularly in the area of unreinforced masonry buildings has been used in many other cities and regions. The word around the department of building and safety is that Carl Depp is retiring after 35 years but he really has worked 45 years because he has worked all those extra hours. I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Dep even before I come to LA and it has been a tremendous opportunity for all of us to work with Mr. Dep. Thank you for a job well done. >> Richard, I know you want to say. >> Yes. Uh what I would like to say is that uh um Mr. Deputy is going to leave a tremendous void in the uh department. Uh people don't understand what a tiger carl has been. As most of you well know uh getting retrofit ordinances passed is very difficult and uh Carl was one of the few individuals in the department who had the stick to itness, the determination, uh the willingness to spend countless hours and time to make it uh you know to get these ordinances passed. And it's going to be, like I said, a tremendous void to fill. >> Now, Carl, >> well, thank you very very much. Um, I but I want what I want to do is I want to thank you council members, you know, for your support, you know, the seismic standards that we developed, especially after the Northridge earthquake. Um, as I said in my scroll, that's going to make the city of Los Angeles a safer place in the next earthquake that we have. And sure as I'm standing here and you're sitting there, we're going to have a next earthquake. Um, I also want to mention that the the the venture that made the joint venture that we made in the study of the damage after the Northridge earthquake, uh, we have to give thanks to the the private practicing engineer. They contributed their time. They contributed their time and their expertise in buildings to the many standards that we developed that will not only benefit new construction but will benefit existing buildings. And many of the buildings, by the way, which are vulnerable, are located in and around the downtown area. But I want to give most thanks to one of your one of your fellow members of the council, and that's Councilman Hal Bernson. And I say this personally not only on behalf of the department and I think that if Earl Schwarz were here who was very much involved in the URM program in the 70s and all Sakur in the 80s they would say the same thing. This man has made an enormous contribution enormous contribution to the development of seismic standards and not only in his support but in his leadership and wherever I've gone in the past 10 to 12 years throughout the west. Everybody everyone is very envious of the city of city of Los Angeles having a councilman Bernson. So I want to give special thanks to you and I want to thank you again and I wish you all well. Thank you very much. And we agree with your remarks. We we agree with your remarks regarding the leadership of Councilman Bernson and on behalf of the entire city council, we thank you for your years of dedication and service to the citizens of Los Angeles. Chair recognizes Mr. Alator. >> Yeah. Hal Brunson. >> Mr. uh President and members, today I have the great privilege of recognizing an individual that in the 1960s was a reporter, a cover reporter here in city hall when he was working for KWKW. In that capacity, he won two golden mic awards. Uh one for the exclusive interview that he had with then President of the United States, Richard Nixon. But today I'm pleased to introduce him and to honor him for the 40 years that he has brought great pleasure to the Spanish-sp speakaking community, not only here in Los Angeles, but throughout the world by his playby-play announcing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. his consecutive years total uh with the Dodgers ranked second highest and longest by a play-by-play announcer with one club. In in several months, Haimehin will be recognized uh and given an award, the Ford Crick award for outstanding contributions to the sport. but more importantly, he will be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame uh at Coopertown in July. This man has uh been a legend and continues to be a legend. Uh he has provided an opportunity for the Spanish-sp speakaking community to even love baseball uh more than they loved it before uh through his playbyplay announcing has one of the greatest voices that you ever want to have. Great uh sports announcer but also a journalist in the highest tradition. Baseball to my friend Haime Harin. I ask you to please step forward along with Tommy Tommy Hawkins. if you'd like to represent the Dodgers. And we ask you to accept this award in honor of your 40 years of of work as a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the highest award that can be given obviously is induction in the Hall of Fame. There's only one other Spanish-sp speakaking person that has been inducted into the Hall of Fame uh like him, but it was done posumously. this is being done while he is alive and while he is well and why he continues to bring great pleasure uh of baseball to the Spanish speaking community to haharin I congratulate you for all the great work you've done >> let me uh let me acknowledge and have uh the head of public affairs great uh basketball player from Notre Dame and the Lakers, Tommy Hawkins. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. I've got only half of my voice today, so I will be brief, but we'd like to thank you for this recognition. The community of Los Angeles is number one in the hearts of the Dodgers and the Dodger organization and Haimey Harin has been so much to our growth and development. Thank you so much for this recognition. >> Thank you. >> Before I ask him to say a few words, let me introduce to you um his son who is following in his footsteps, not necessarily in baseball, but you hear him on the news. Uh he is uh the person that you hear on the helicopter every day. Uh his son Mr. Horge Harin Jorge I may just one moment members of the council wish to be heard. We begin with uh council member Richard Alakon. Well, it's a pleasure to join with our colleague Richard Altori in recognizing uh probably one of the most recognizable radio announcers uh in the Los Angeles region. Uh even though his program is in Spanish, uh he is well known in every uh Spanish-sp speakaking household. Uh, and as you uh visit homes where Spanish is the primary language, quite often you'll hear him's voice in the background because they're listening to the Dodger game. Uh, and he's actually contributed to the Spanish vocabulary uh by uh trying to translate uh baseball words into Spanish. he's actually created uh some vocabulary in Spanish because some of those words you just can't translate the same way. >> And so uh it is really a pleasure indeed for for us to recognize uh this tremendous addition to uh to uh advancing the cause of of uh bridging the two cultures together through some somewhat of a an unrecognized uh form and that is through baseball. uh he has actually bridged uh a gap between uh the American culture and the Latin culture uh by virtue of his announcing and of course we all recognize his son Captain Jorge. Uh if you if you didn't recognize it by the introduction from council member Alto, please know this is Captain Jorge. And again uh the father has passed the uh the tradition on to the son and uh we just we just so happy to have you here in council today for this recognition. Congratulations on 40 years. >> Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Hernandez, please. >> You know, I I just kind of also had to stand because uh not only is it some of the words he's had to come up with to explain what baseball is about, but you know, you could be driving down the Coachella Valley on the 99 freeway and stop at any town and ask many of the people there who Vince Cully is and they're going to look at you with wonderment. You ask who Harin is, they're going to tell you the announcer for the Dodgers. And the reality is Hardin is a name that people recognize in the Spanish speaking community who's been there for a long time and really brought baseball into neighborhood homes. It brought baseball into farm workers homes, brought baseball throughout the whole place. I just know when I grew up listening to baseball, it was listening to Haime Har. I just know that uh in many of the neighborhoods I walk and talk to people, they're listening to Hime and I want to recognize him because he is a community leader and he's someone that people listen to. >> Thank you, Mike. I may the floor is yours, sir. Mr. President, Mr. members of the city council, it is a great honor for me to be here this morning. There is Estabñana. It was almost 43 years ago, June 1955 when I came to this country. I don't know why I decided to come to Los Angeles. I could have gone to Miami, New York, or closer to Ecuador, but I don't know. I decided to come to Los Angeles. When I came here, I knew nobody. I thought that I speak some English, but when I got here, I was lost. I couldn't speak the language. It was very tough. Los Angeles was really a beautiful, beautiful city. Still is. But in the 50s, Los Angeles was so peaceful, so nice. You didn't have to lock your doors. You left bicyclist, tricyclist in the front yard. No problem. Now it's very tough. And that hurts me a lot. Being here this morning brings me great memories because before I became known as a baseball announcer, I was a radio man, newsman, and I was assigned to cover the city hall. I remember Mr. John Gibson. I remember Don Eduardo Royal who was the only Spanish speaking councilman. I remember Gilbert Lindseay when he was a field deputy to Han. Those were great days in the early 60s. Then I was so lucky to find a job with the best sports organization in the world, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Next July 26, I will be going to Coopertown, I will be joining the Titans of my broadcasting field. I will be the 21st member of the Hall of Fame broadcasters win. and I am still in cloud nine since February the 2nd when I was informed that I have been selected to get the four freak award and go to the hall of fame. I have been so excited. It has been so hectic but really it's it's it's fantastic. And this morning being here in this chambers is something that I will never forget. When I came to this country, I never thought, I never dreamed that I will be speaking here to you. I came here as a very proud immigrant and I came here as very proud Ecuadorian. But eight eight years later, I became a citizen of this country because I realized then how beautiful this country is and I wanted to really go into the life of this country and try to do a better service, try to do better job in order to be something that the United States will be proud of me. So this morning I just wanted to tell you how proud I am and thank you. Thank you very much for this great day. Gracias. >> We thank you sir. >> Thank you Mr. Alator. We thank you for that special presentation. And now for another special presentation. We recognize the honorable Laura Chick. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, after those very awesome and inspiring words, we are moving on to recognize a very different kind of >> issue. And it's not involving actually a special human being as we just did, but it's involving our animal population. Spaying and neutering dogs and cats has been proven to dramatically reduce the number of unwanted animals. And it has been proven to be one of the most effective ways and one of the most effective solutions to our overpopulation of pets. And it improves the health of animals. Think about these facts. One unaltered cat and her unaltered offspring can produce 420,000 cats in 7 years. And one unaltered dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years, thereby significantly contributing to the problem of pet overpopulation. The tragic condition swells the number of animals in our city shelters, costs taxpayers millions of dollars every year, and results in more than 12 million dogs and cats being euthanized, put to death in shelters across our nation because there are too many animals and too few responsible pet owners. The city of Los Angeles, Department of Animal Services, as well as veterinarians and humane organizations around the country are raising the public's awareness about pet spaying and neutering by promoting Spay Day USA in the city of Los Angeles on February 24th, 1998, which is held in conjunction with the 4th annual National Spay Day USA. This is a national program sponsored by the Doris Day Animal League and we encourage all dog and cat owners who live in our city to observe this day by making sure that their pets are spayed or neutered. And I would like to now introduce the acting general manager of our animal services department, Sharon Morris. Uh Joe Welton Walton, who is the senior director uh from the Weston Regional ASPCA. Jenny Barrett, our very own director, Western Regional American Humane Association. And I believe I have one more person whose name I'm having trouble with. Is it Ryan Hero? Rich Hero, I'm sorry. And Rich, your organization, >> Animal Foundation. >> Rich is from the animal foundation. And these are all the organizations that try so hard to make us responsible pet owners and to reduce over pet population and they are here to join me at the p podium and so are some of our other furry friends examples of >> oh I want a puppy just as Mr. Fure come join me >> and Mr. wax. I understand you want to repeat the performance from last year. >> Get the towel draw. >> You want to >> Hello. Yes. >> And while we fall in love with our our new puppy friends, I'm going to turn the mic over to Sharon Morris and let her say a few words. But we're really hoping this message gets across. It's a serious problem and not only a costly one uh but a one one that uh promotes humane uh treatment of dogs and cats. Sharon, >> thank you. >> Thank you. And good morning. We're really pleased to be here and and appreciate this. We're pleas There we go. We're going to have to get you some platform shoes. We appreciate being here and the recognition of Spayday USA. Spaying and and neutering pets is really the keystone to an effective pet population program. And Councilwoman Chick has already talked about the need to decrease youth in Asia's in this city and we are just so pleased to work with the ASPCA. This is really an example of the kind of public private partnership we need in this city to really achieve humane treatment of animals. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And I don't know if any of our other um leaders wanted to join. >> Goldberg would like to say something. >> Great. >> Yes. For the people who are watching this at home and who want to get their animals spayed or neutered, what do they do now? How do they participate in this? Here we go. Miss Morris, I'm glad you asked. >> Yes. We have uh just recently with the animal foundation uh Mr. Hero's uh organization opened a lowcost spay and neuter clinic at our north uh north central facility on Lacy Street. >> How do they reach them? By phone >> and Rich, your phone number is >> 2260065 213 area. >> Okay. >> And how old does an animal have to be? >> Eight weeks. And does it have to have uh had a litter already? >> No, that does not. >> Thank you very much. >> And I would also donate. >> Very good. >> I I would also like to invite everyone to our spay day LA festivities uh which will be the grand opening of the clinic on March 15th. It's a Sunday at noon and the vouchers that we are receiving today will along with others will be distributed that day for free spay and neuter on a first come first- serve basis and we'll also be having free uh pet vaccinations. So we'd appreciate everyone coming out on that day. Thanks. Uh Sharon, on behalf of um Roger Carris, the president of the ASPCA in New York, who's just finished Westminster and couldn't be here with us, and Dr. John Hamill, the chairman of the Western Regional Advisory Council, uh the ASPCA, the United States Oldest Humane Society, 132 years old this month, is pleased to grant uh a subsidy grant for the first 100 subsidized spays or neuters at the new Los Angeles uh city facility. We admire this facility and think uh that it stands uh as testimony to the commitment of this community to serve all of its citizens uh animal and human. Sharon, >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> You don't get up here yet. Um I'm Jenny Barrett. On behalf of the board of commissioners of the Department of Animal Services, I would like very much to thank Joe Walton and the ASPCA and Roger Caris for that very generous donation and for demonstrating how we can all work together to help save animals. On behalf of the American Humane Association, I would like to recognize um the presence of the ASPCA here in our city and acknowledge um their our shared heritage. The ASPCA is the oldest humane organization in the United States, formed in 1866. About a decade later, the founders of the ASPCA and other SPCAs that have been created founded the American Humane Association to be the first national organization to link them all together. So our forefathers are a shared legacy and we have a long well over a hundred years history of collaboration and cooperation and we are very excited to have them here in Los Angeles. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Miss Goldberg. Can I say one? >> Oh, I'm Before we leave, I would also like to thank our staff from our North Central shelter for bringing these beautiful adoptable animals down today. Thank you. >> This one, too. This one's adoptable. >> Any council members want to adopt a puppy? >> We deliver to council members now or are they finished? >> We're done. >> Oh, I have to get my bag. >> Oh, Joel, >> you don't want to do that again. I hope this is not an indication that the council has gone to the dogs, but uh the chair will recognize Mrs. Walers. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President, uh, I'm here this morning to acknowledge the service of and commend, uh, Frank Signor for that service. Mr. Senor would come up, please. Here he is. >> Uh, council members, Mr. Signor, is that the correct pronunciation? >> Signore. >> Signore. Mr. Signore began his career with the city of Los Angeles on December 29, 1969 as an auto parts storekeeper in the department of transportation and later was promoted to senior auto parts storekeeper in March 73. Frank transferred to the department of general services in 1979 and received several promotions during the next eight years from senior storekeeper 2 to principal storekeeper 2. Throughout his career, Frank's dedication to the city of Los Angeles has been defined by the improvement shown in his area of responsibility. During the past seven years and five months, Frank has been directly responsible for increasing the income generated by the city by the salvage sales process from less than 600,000 per year to 6 million in the year ending July 1997. I think we can all say that's a significant accomplishment. That is terrific. Just terrific. Also, Frank has been directly responsible for the development of several exceptional and productive employees. And so, it is with great pleasure that I congratulate and council members, I'm sure you do, too, Mr. Frank Signor on his 28 years of dedicated service to the city of Los Angeles and extend my best wishes for wonderful retirement. >> Thank you for >> Yes, you're more than welcome. Okay. I've had a a wonderful career with the city of Los Angeles and I want to thank you very much for this. We might say that he's a very modest man and there um many people here from the department and his family if you'd stand up and be recognized as well. Okay, good. We're going to really miss you, especially at budget time. >> Miss Galanter for a presentation. >> Mr. President and members of the council, um, one of the nice things about Fridays is we get to talk about some of the good things going on in our city. and I'm very pleased to introduce you to some of the good things going on in our city. This is a group of residents of the Oakwood area of Venice. You have all heard about the Oakwood area. It's in the papers all the time. Usually not about the good things that are going on there, but we have many reasons to celebrate in the Oakwood area. We we have the what used to be the library building with seven local community-based organizations actually working together to resolve a whole series of problems. And outside of the building in the Oakwood neighborhood on the streets, we have this wonderful band of volunteers who have been planting trees. Nobody is ever going to be able to say again that the Oakwood area is neglected or unbutified because here are the folks who get out there and do the work. and I've asked them to come in this morning so that we could recognize them publicly for their not only the work they've done but their initiative in getting the program together, working with my office and with everybody in the community to make sure that the the trees get planted, that people know how the trees got there, that they were brought by the community and local residents, and that everybody knows how to make sure the trees are taken care of. So this morning I want to present to uh I hope I've got the right number here. Yeah. Right. I always worry that we're going to wind up with the the it's like pancakes and syrup that the people in the certificates won't quite match. Uh these are in no particular order, but these are our volunteers extraordinaire. >> How does pancakes and syrup get in a mixed up? >> You weren't paying attention. They don't get they don't come out even sometimes. So this is for Natalie Lawless. >> Hang on. Hold that picture. Richard Caro. I always turn the wrong way here. Peter, not Mindy Meyers. Thank you. And Gloria Hennessy. These are the folks. You should all have people like this in your neighborhoods. They get a whole lot of work done and we are all very grateful. Does anybody want to say anything? >> I knew you would. Go ahead. >> Thank you so much. Um, we're really honored. We had no idea really. Um, I just want to say that it's so essential to keep supporting the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. Without them, we never would have been able to do this. It's a phenomenal program. Not only do you get the opportunity to beautify your neighborhood, but you get to bring the whole community together. So, please keep funding and supporting and and and supporting the Los Angeles Conservation Center and Clean and Green, which is a youth group through LACC. We had I have to share this moment with you. Um, we did the last planting we did, we planted 50 42 trees. So, now we have a total of 92 trees on Broadway in Venice. And there is a one of the buildings that's federally subsidized. There were two girls who happen to work in Clean and Green and they've been planting trees all over the city and being compensated financially for it, which is a great thing. And they got to plant trees in front of the apartment building where they live. So that was really special for them. So thank you guys for honoring us today and thank you in advance for your continued support for groups that make things like this happen. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Okay, coming back. Don't get fancy. >> Waiting for you. >> Uh the chair recognizes Mr. Alakon. Oh, >> let's see. Council members, it's my pleasure to recognize u an institution in the northeast San Frernando Valley that has is celebrating their 50th anniversary. And before I mention uh that organization, let me say that uh one of the beauties of the Northeast San Franando Valley is it has a very rich diverse history as I think most of you all know. Well, one thing that people don't recognize completely is that it has a tremendous history uh and a rich history of African-American uh uh churches. Uh we have about uh and and my count may be off at this point, but we have about 27 uh predominantly African-American uh Christian churches in the northeast San Frernando Valley with a rich history uh that has really uh uh added to the flavor of the northeast San Frernando Valley. Well, Parks Chapel, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Parks AM, uh was established 50 years ago. And I want to share another little bit of history with you. Um the reason that's significant at least from my perspective and I'm just guessing here uh but that 50 years ago was obviously uh 1948 and what what people uh what I have recognized is that after World War II uh a lot there were a lot of opportunities for veterans particularly in from minority communities but also uh veterans in general landed in the in the San Frernando Valley and in the northeast San Frernando Valley um where quite frankly we have to recognize there was a a history in the San Frernando Valley during that time that had to do with housing discrimination and and that was the the housing the fair housing uh council was was formed in the San Frernando Valley. Um but a lot of the African-American veterans from World War II uh landed in the San Frernando Valley. Now, my guess is that many of the founders of Parks Chapel uh were either uh veterans of World War II or spouses of veterans from World War II. I could be wrong, but uh I have found that uh that is quite often the case in the northeast San Frernando Valley. So, I am very pleased to present a resolution to Reverend Jordan Davis, the pastor of Parks Chapel, in recognition of their 50th anniversary. Uh and I want to present to you Mrs. Madell Steiner uh who is uh the last living founding member of the church. Uh in fact uh the first worship service was held in the Steiner living room and the first sanctuary was a tent erected in front of the Steiner home. Um well they've come a long way from a tent. Uh uh and um I should say also that Mrs. Steiner's husband, the late Curtis Steiner, purchased and erected the tent. So you actually owned the church. Uh um they also bought a piano and and made the wooden pews. Um so clearly we are especially pleased to have to be joined by one of the founding members of Parks Chapel. Uh I want to mention that after the second time the wind uh first of wait a minute I missed something here. Well, apparently the tent blew down in one service, but uh it happened that it it it blew down a second time and after the second time the wind blew their tent down, they knew it was time to find a more permanent location and a building was purchased and 3 days later they found a parcel of land to relocate the building. So that their first permanent site for Parks Chapel AM was located at Louver and Bradley in Pquima. Uh and most recently they moved to the city of San Fernando. Uh but still many of the congregants uh live in the city of Los Angeles. Um so it is very much a pleasure to present um whoops I have three. I'm supposed to have two. Let me give you uh the resolution uh recognizing uh Parks Chapel African-American uh Methodist African Methodist Episcopal Church. Excuse me. Uh and I'd like to present this to Pastor Jordan Davis. Congratulations. We have two and I'd like to present this certificate of tribute uh to Mel Steiner for her uh tremendous u uh participation in the church uh really as a founding member um uh part of the foundation of this church and she continues to be active and uh contributing uh to the the continued well-being of this church and we salute you. And by the way, I visited their new location in San Frernando on a on several occasions and I have to tell you that they have found a beautiful church, a beautiful home uh with with a history of its own and and I am very very uh even though you left Pqua and went to the city of San Fernando, uh I have to tell you uh that there are no boundaries uh if you know what I mean. That's right. Uh and we're very proud that you have made this move. So congratulations from a tent to a beautiful church in San Fernando. Congratulations. >> Thank you so much, >> Councilman Alakan. Mr. President, Council members, we are we are aed by God's marvelous work in the San Frernando Valley. We are the only African Methodist Episcopal Church in the San Frernando Valley. Well, we're probably the biggest one, too. Amen. But I we have just a few members of Parks Chapel here today that I like to have come and say just a few words. First, let me introduce uh Mr. Alonszo Wooden III. Good afternoon or good morning. I was thinking back and that was in 1951 when I was uh 9 years old and I was walking the streets of POA on one Sunday morning with my two sisters. I was nine, one was six, and the other was three. And we heard this music coming from this, this looked like to me a garage. And we decided to go in. And when we went in, we found out that this was Park's Chapel, African Methodist Episcopal Church. And I do want to tell you, we joined on that day. And we were welcomed by Miss Mel Steiner and her husband, Curtis Steiner. Thank you. and Miss Cherylyn Jones. >> Good morning. Just very quickly, how did Parks Chapel AM church come into being? In 1948, Reverend Owens, a San Frernando resident, realized the need for an AM church in Pquima and suggested to his good Christian friend, Reverend Ed SH Ford, that he explore the idea of beginning an AM mission in Pquima. Upon his arrival in Pquima, Reverend Sh Ford began making inquiries of local residents about possible AM Christians. Reverend Ford was then directed to a Mrs. Dorothy Mitchell Mitchell who took Reverend Ford to the residence of Curtis and Maidel Steiner. Do you have five Christian friends that will support you on one day's notice? Curtis and Mel Steiner did. It was with the aid of their five AM Christian friends that Curtis and Maidel Steiner established the first AM church of Pquima, presently Parks Chapel AM Church of San Fernando. Thus in February 1948, Parks Chapel AM Church had its beginning at 13166 Filillmore Street, Pomaa in the home of Curtis and Maidel Steiner. There were seven members present worshiping under the leadership of their first minister, Reverend SH Ford. Thank you. >> And Miss Bobby Berice. I'd like to give you a concise history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was born during a need for affirmative action, most particularly action in the places of religious worship. The AM Church, the Church of Liberation, was born as a protest against racism. It was first known as a free African society. This was the first serious attempt for black people to organize for liberating their minds, bodies, and soul from oppression. Richard Allen, our founder, refused to accept secondass status in any religious worship service. He separated himself and others in 1787 and started the AM church in a blacksmith shop. He put the Bible on an anvil and began proclaiming, "Thus says the Lord." The year 1816 he was elected and consecrated the first bishop of the AM church. The word African relating to the AM church means descendants from Africa. The AM church was organized by persons of African descent. The use of the word African does not mean the exclusion of other races. It simply identifies the race of people that started the AM church. The model of the AM church is inclusive. It says God our father, Christ our redeemer, and man our brother. The M stands for Methodist. The E stands for Episcopal, the form of government. The highest office in the AM church is that of the bishop. The African descendants then, as now do have tolerance for all races of people, evidenced by the multicultural congregations that do exist. The Amy Church is a connectional church, meaning that it is in union and is widespread. It has churches in a continuous 49 states and uh excluding Hawaii. The Amy church that started in a blacksmith shop in Philadelphia by God's grace has spread throughout the United States, Canada, West Indies, London, England, and two continents, Africa, and South America. the worldwide membership totals into the millions. Thank you. And we'd like to present our mother uh our founder and uh uh wisdom uh Miss Mrs. Maidel Steiner who we're so happy to have with us. We thank God that she's yet alive that we can show her our appreciation for all the love that she has given us. Would you have something to say today, mother? >> Just good morning and so happy to be here and to look into your faces and tell you how we appreciate you coming out and letting us know that you are here to respect your father. Thank you. Well, Councilman Alakard, as the 16th pastor of the Parks Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, let me say thank you and thank you to the council for your recognition and we praise God that we will be able to continue another hundred or more years service in San Frernando Valley. God bless you today. Um, I'd like to uh I'd just like to finish by saying uh I wasn't surprised at all to hear about the the history of the AM church. I just want to say that they continue to be activists in our community. uh and uh Pastor Jordan Davis and Parks Chapel have spearheaded uh our efforts to convene uh all uh congregations and all faiths uh in an effort to collaborate on how to do something to reduce gang violence in the northeast San Franando Valley. So, I personally want to extend my thanks for your efforts to reduce gang violence. Thank you very much, >> Mr. President. >> Mr. Redley Thomas, >> I simply wanted to uh commend Mr. Alakon for uh acknowledging uh the local history uh that many of us have come to know and appreciate and to uh uh recognize that it uh enriches the environment. um uh to talk about a story of a a church beginning with rather humble be beginnings um as was the case of of this uh uh congregation and the African Methodist uh Episcopal Church uh gives um depth to the experience the religious experience of uh various cultures in our community and certainly uh gives us reason to appreciate appreciate uh the breadth uh the diversity uh of the city that we know as Los Angeles and uh I simply wish to uh acknowledge um our local heroes, our local heroins and the uh effort to make uh this city more of what it can and ought to be. Thank you, Mr. Alicon. Thank you, Mr. Alakon. Um, the next item, >> special one, Mr. President, has been introduced this morning by council member Galanter. The necessary findings would have to be made. This is a friendly Prop Five, and the city attorney will go over those findings with you. >> Yes. On February 17th, 1998, the board of water and power commissioners approved payment of approximately 1,232,000 pursuant to a rid of mandate issued by the superior court in the case of the people of the state of California and the great basin unified air pollution district versus the city at all. Um, this motion is to prop it to take jurisdiction so that the payment could be made immediately. the uh council would need to make the findings that there is an immediate need to act and the need to act arose after the posting of the agenda. >> So move. >> Okay. Um prepare the role on the findings. Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes. >> That is approved. Now we have the matter before us. Is there any discussion? >> Uh the next vote, Mr. President would be to assert jurisdiction over the action of the board of water and power commissioners taken February 17th. >> Okay. Prepare the role. Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes. >> That is approved. Now we have the matter before us. Miss Kander asks ask for an I vote. Prepare the role. Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes. >> That is approved. Fourth whiff. >> Fourth whiff, please. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um members of the council, Commander Denzy is here uh on uh and he wants to give us a very brief report on uh the U emergency operations today meeting. What What is that called? Commander, >> the emergency operations board uh Mr. President uh which is part of the emergency operations organization of the city. Uh thank you very much. I uh been asked to come by Chief Parks to brief the council regarding uh a declaration of local emergency which was declared by the mayor on the 18th of February. Uh as you're all well aware that that places uh the uh response to any disaster in the hands of the emergency operations board. Uh the chief of police is uh going to call an emergency meeting of the board this afternoon at 2:00 uh and ensure that the business of the city uh in relation to its response to this disaster uh is functioning properly. And he wanted you uh to know about that and maybe I could respond to any questions. As of right now, the county of Los Angeles and the city of Los Angeles have declared local emergencies. uh it has been accepted by the the state and the state has also recognized that uh it is in the process of being recognized by the federal government and upon that recognition which we believe will occur shortly uh that will free up funds to reimburse the city and its citizens for those uh non-insurable damages that have resulted over these recent storms. Um, and if there's any questions concerning uh this process or where we're going with it, I'd be uh happy to answer them. >> Commander, who's on this board now? >> This is the emergency operations board. It's chaired by the chief of police and it consists of all of the major 13 city department heads who uh uh will respond to all of these emergencies as they are declared. >> Okay. Uh any questions? If not, uh Commander, thank you very much. All right. The next item, >> item number one, Mr. President, is a required public hearing planning and land use management committee report. >> And we have somebody that wants to be heard on that. Don my for the committee report. So >> for the record, >> maybe he'll say something that will change our minds. Uh, >> and you want to talk? >> No, sir. For the record, my name is Don my 233 Wilshshire, Santa Monica. I'm here representing the um >> Thank you. >> the appellant and we are in full support of the committee recommendation. I'm here to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, public hearing is closed. Is there any discussion on this item? If not, prepare the role on item number one. Tabulate the vote. >> 12 eyes. >> That is approved. Next item. >> Items 2 through 13 and 20 and 21 are items for which public hearings have been held. >> Mr. President, if we could just refer item four to my committee to arts committee as opposed to hearing it today, I appreciate it. Is there any objections referring four to uh the committee? Seeing none, that'll be the order. Thank you. >> Um members of the council, these are we've had public hearings on this, but we have people want to be heard on nine. We have people who want to be heard on uh on uh 20 and we have people people want to be that nine and 20. >> Mr. President, >> we've had public hearings. >> Yes. Yes. And on item nine, there's been a request to continue that to February 27th, next Friday. >> Is there any objections to uh continuing item nine until the 27th? Seeing none, that'll be the order. And those people who are here on that will that item will be continued until the 27th, a week from today. Miss Goldberg, >> I want to call five special. >> Five is called special. >> And do we need to call 20 to do the amendment? 20 >> and 20 for for the amendment that's been passed out. >> Okay. All right. Okay. Now, let's see. We'll go through. We We have items 2 through 13 with the exception of four and nine, five, nine. And we have 20 and 21 and with the exception of 20. >> And I need a motion on item two to change the bid date from the March uh 3rd to March 11th. >> Uh M Mrs. Wallers moves there's no objections on that. So prepare the role on those items. The only item >> anybody did anybody call item 10 special, Mr. President? >> No. >> I call that special then. >> All right. 10 is called special. All right. Prepare the role. Tabulate the vote. >> 12 eyes. >> Those those are approved and we have five 10 and 20 left. Is that correct miss? Uh you have five Goldberg, 10 Hernandez, 20 uh amendment to come in and the rest were adopted with the exceptions noted by council already. >> Okay. All right. The next item, >> items 14 through 18 are items for which public hearings have not been held. >> Uh we have somebody that wants to be heard on um 17. 17B >> 17B. So, we'll call 17B special. >> So, what do we have now? We have uh >> uh you have 17B special and item 14, there's been a request to continue the entire matter to February 27th in order to clarify the ordinances. >> All right. Is there any objection to continuence 14 to one week? Seeing none, that'll be the order. All right, we have >> 15 through 18 with the exception of special 17B. >> Okay, prepare the role on those. Tabulate the vote. >> 12 eyes. >> Those are approved. Next item. >> Item five, special Goldberg. Um, Miss Mrs. Chick has asked that we take item 20. Did you have public hearings in the committee? >> Not on the amendment, but we did on uh the other body of the item that's before us. And part of the amendment is uh going to be coming back and not be voted on as a final issue today. >> Okay. Well, I just want I believe I want to point out that there are people who want to be heard, but there has it's not a public hearing item. Mrs. Chick, you have the floor. >> Okay. And Mr. President, if possible, um I would like to allow the people here today to speak. Apparently, they did not know it was in housing committee and they have not had an opportunity uh to address us before. Perhaps if they could limit their comments to uh five or seven minutes. I don't know how many cards you have. Colleagues, this is revisiting the rent stabilization ordinance, a change that was made back in the late 80s before many of us were here and certainly before the Northridge earthquake struck. And we have learned some lessons from that disaster uh that cause a revisiting to the rent stabilization ordinance. And the recommended changes before you are as follows. Well, let me start by saying we absolutely want to assist property owners in having the ability to rehabilitate or rebuild their buildings and provide ongoing housing for their tenants. Uh but what we are suggesting is that the recuperation of those costs should be tied to the real cost. And part of what's before us today says that there's a time limit on recouping these costs tied to the full reimbursement. The way it had originally been done is the increase went on at infinitum. What's before you today changes that. In addition, uh we want a cap on the maximum amount of allowable pass through. Mr. Fer uh in our last discussion asked for this to be delayed and part of the amendment here today comes from his uh bringing up last week earlier this week that rather than having the cap at $75 maximum. It should be either $75 or 10% of the tenants rent whichever is less. In addition, before you on 20A is looking at the whole issue which we looked at in housing committee of encouraging property owners to responsibly have earthquake insurance. And what we are asking the city attorney to do is to come back and not only tell us can we require earthquake insurance of all property owners of multiple family properties but can we do it in this way which is an incentive saying the only way you can collect 100% of your rehabilitation costs is if you have earthquake insurance otherwise you can only get 50%. And finally, this is clarifying and making sure that if a property owner has a government or other loan that either defers payments uh or uh allows, as we all know, tax write-offs on interest that the only amount tenants are being asked to repay is the principal on the loan. and they are not being asked to make payments until the property owner him or herself starts to make payments on that loan. So, these are all common sense changes that I think strike a very appropriate balance between giving the property owner the ability to have the funds to make the rehabilitations and repairs when a natural disaster occurs. But puts into place protections for tenants so that they are not literally forced out of these repaired units because the rent has become too expensive. Uh so I look forward to your support on this. Some of the information will be coming back to us on the ability to only uh allow 50% if there is no earthquake coverage. The rest I would ask for your support to go forward today. We are also asking the city attorney to allow us to make some of this retroactive. The part about ending payments to be uh in conjunction with the real cost. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh now is there any objections to allowing? They have we have cards for three people and we'll allow them. Uh okay. Trevor Grim and then uh K Fifer and then Steve Melnik. Um thank you. Good morning. My name is Trevor Grim, 621 Southwest Morland Avenue, Los Angeles. I'm an apartment owner and general counsel of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. Uh there's two parts to what we have in front of us. One came recently that we hadn't seen and that has to do well we have seen it but we haven't had the city attorney's report on retroactivity and it seems to me that it's fraught with problems but until we get the report that's probably not ripe for discussion. The second point is this constant uh changing of the rules I guess their perspective at the least what's in motion uh in item number uh 20 when we started this rent control uh let's call it business there was a carrot uh uh to owners that they could recapture certain monies rehabilitation capital improvements and so forth and that was for the reason of improving the city's housing stock, maintaining it, um, and for the benefit of tenants who are going to get the benefit of what was done to the apartments. But, uh, since the beginning, we've tightened the rules down. So, that that carrots down to, uh, maybe an ordurve. Now, um, I'm not sure that, uh, there's a factual basis for doing this. We have reports that there are bad uh areas in the city. Uh about 3% I think the truth is from the statistics we have from the federal government the same as it was 10 years ago. But the more you shrink it seems to me the wherewithal of owners to upgrade maintain as some of the uh members that were here in 1978 were cognizant of to make something from their investment. You're not going to have the city you want to live in. So, you can keep turning turning the screws and making it less and less uh profitable uh to run apartment buildings, the cheapest form of non-governmental housing available. And if it weren't the cheapest, nobody'd live there. So, uh if you if you do that, we submit to you uh that it's not an approach that we took at the start of this, nor one that we should carry on at the present. Thank you. >> Okay. Feifer Earn. >> My name is Kay Feifer and I live at 15370 Weddington in Sherman Oaks. Uh I work for a property management company and I kind of think of myself as the lady in the middle. I my job is to make sure that our residents are happy and well cared for and taken care of. But my job also is to see that our owner makes a reasonable profit. So I kind of think that I have a kind of a view from both sides. I think what the man just said is it applies to us. We feel like the Olympic diver that dives off the diving board and in the middle of the dive somebody says, "Excuse me, we've changed the rules." That's happened to us a lot in the last few years. We've tried, at least I can speak for myself, we've tried very hard to abide by these laws in the strictest manner that we possibly can. And it's it's hard. Most of our properties are getting substandard. We are not be able to charge market rent. We abide by the 3% 4% every year. It makes it very difficult for an owner to be motivated to buy properties when this happens. Uh we can't build a better city unless we have some even-handedness here. Um our investment from earthquake this time was in excess of $700,000. If you put a cap on us, it's going to take us a very there's no way we can recap that over the year. We've we've adhered ourselves to less than $25 and so we haven't even hit your $75 cap. But I I just feel very strongly that these rules that keep restricting the landlord does not it doesn't benefit our residents in the long run because what happens you get landlords who will come and cut their services or give cheap services. We try to give our tenants the best that we can possibly give them. So I ask that you consider the landlord's position in this and help us to preserve clean good places. >> Very good. Thank you very much Steve Melik. Uh, my name is Steven Melnik and I'm representing nobody but myself. And most of you don't know me and you're lucky. I used to come down here all the time and give John Ferrar a lot of trouble and some of you other guys and mostly Joel Wax and I think Hal Bernson. Uh, in a word. I just found out this morning. I went to the office and lo and behold, here's this call and said, "Oh, hell's going to break loose down here. There's some special thing coming up and it pertains to these passroughs and the seismic." Well, seismic was a big thing with me because I was involved in right up to my ears personally and as a property manager. I'm a CPM, a certified property manager, so I work with this full-time forever. Anyway, in a word, way back, and I must have been 78 or 79, the rack was sworn in. Bradley swore them in, and they weren't supposed to have anybody there other than just the official them, but for no good reason, Kathleen Khan will let me come in and uh in the midst of their pro proceedings and all, I guess I was getting agitated. She said, I can see he's on the verge of birthing, so let's let's find out what's bothering him. And in a word, it was this. I had just gotten a loan from the Bank of America and I don't know5$10,000 and the interest rate was 24%. This is right when you know what's his name was in you know I think the prime rate was 14 14 and a half and so in a word what what I wanted to say is that look if they put through this seismic program it hadn't been passed yet and it'll run in a range of 100 200 $300,000 per building and you can't pass anything through uh these people lose their properties. Well, anyway, the rack voted. I think it was something like 5 to two against any pass through. They broke for dinner about 600 6:30, went out and came back. And when they got back, Bill Solomon, who was one of the big shots with Western Center on Law and Poverty, said he'd been thinking about it. And what came to mind was this, that that they individually, the rack commissioners and the city of Los Angeles could be responsible for anybody who lost the property as a result of having to do seismic work and then not being able to carry the legal or the financial burden of it. So that this would be in violation of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution. So the rack then reversed itself within a matter of maybe an hour or so from a 52 no vote to a 70 vote. And so at this late date when I see that here's this talk about not passing it through or limiting this and doing that and so on. Uh this is preposterous one like way back expos you just don't do things retroactively. And number two, as an owner of unreinforced unreinforced masonry buildings that have been brought up to code, I can't get earthquake insurance. The insurance companies won't write them. They'll do it on a nice little one-story stuckco house, but they sure as hell won't do it on a three or four story brick building. All right, you're going to have to come to Oh, I I'll wind up. Uh so I would since I don't believe there any meetings been held on this why don't we get the underwriters pe people in why don't we have hearings and bring in experts and everybody else and rather than pass anything now explore completely and see what should be done thank you okay the last speaker is it uh is it I can't is it John >> John John Mar >> you got My name John Mara. I owe only eight units which are two of them empty for a whole year heart to rent and I even had to give it to my tenant discount on a rent. So, uh, right now I'm in a process to retrofit my buildings and account from the earthquake, which I didn't realize that earthquake damage was down. I noticed the little uh damage, but I didn't know. So I am applying for a heart as financial assistance and I call in July and I is February March and I'm still nowhere. I comply with everything that was required from me to do and I'm still nowhere. But uh the rent in Los Angeles as you know that is very difficult to rent any property especially in my area where is 75 75% poverty. So there are four buildings empty, two boarded up and one is refurbished which is uh brand new. Okay, I think we get the point for months still empty. So I just ask you please have a mercy on us. >> We are not greedy uh uh uh landlords. We are slaves to our tenants. Thank you. all the cards we have and we'll close a public hearing. Mr. Fur, there are a lot of people want to be heard. So, I'd ask the council members to be as brief as possible >> or a stirring as possible. Mr. President the um the issue before us is as between apartment owners and tenants who should bear the burden when for example because of an earthquake major rehabilitation rehabilitation work is necessary and what's before us and the reason I called this special the other day and sought to have it continued is an improvement of what we had before us on Wednesday on Wednesday what was before us would have said to a family at the margins, a working family whose apartment might, for example, rent for $500 a month, that you could see an enormous escalation in your rent, and as a consequence, maybe no longer able to afford your unit. What was before us and what is still before us today allows responsible landlords to recoup their costs. In fact, what's interesting is that if you embark on a capital improvements program under city law, you can only recoup half of your costs, 50%. This says, "Let's allow a responsible landlord to pass, if you have insurance, 100% of the costs along to tenants, but let's have the tenants only have to swallow this in bits and pieces to asssure that we don't render people who are doing their best to afford basic levels of housing. Let's assure that we allow those people to remain in their uni units because after all, no one here would believe that they should bear the entire burden of the disaster in a way that would render them even worse off than they were before the thing even happened. That's what's before us today. A reasonable limitation. $75 a month is a big escalation in rent for a lot of folks. Even 10% is a big escalation on a monthly basis for a lot of folks in this city. It's an enormous increase. But it's an attempt to balance the legitimate needs of apartment owners to get their money back as they uh spend money for rehabilitation and the opportunities that we need to sure we afford to our tenants. So I am a very strong supporter of the percent limitation as I suggested the other day that's only fair. As for the 50% limitation if you aren't responsible enough to procure disaster insurance that includes earthquake, we can further discuss that with our housing department, but I'm apprised that such a insurance is available. Now, if one wants to roll the dice that there isn't going to be such a disaster and therefore only receive half of what they spend in rehabilitation, that roll of the dice is allowed under what's before us and put such a such a landlord in precisely the same position they would be where they embarking on a capital improvements program. This is a fair approach. It is a measured approach. If anything, tenants at the margins are still going to be hit potentially hard by such a a mandate, but at least we'll assure that our housing stock improves in a timely way. Thank you, >> Mr. Holden. >> Mr. President, it sounds good and I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but I just have some concerns. One, a responsible landlord, let's define what a responsible landlord would do. a responsible landlord would go out and get earthquake insurance and uh they would have a deductible which that could be passed on once it triggers. Say for an example you have a deductible of uh $100,000 or $50,000 then you can pass on that deductible but the insurance will cover the difference. I think that's a responsible landlord. But for an example, if the landlord has bad credit and FEMA where they record of not paying their bills and FEMA would ordinarily give a a loan or arrange for a loan or arrange for a local entity to provide a loan, but they would not qualify because of their credit rating, then therefore they have to go out and make some kind of conventional loan at higher interest rates, pay for the damages because the insurance companies, I mean the lending agency required that that be done. Then of course you pass on the entire amount. Well, that landlord obviously was not a responsible landlord and didn't pay his debts, his or her debts. I think what you're trying to do is reasonable and feasible certainly is fair. But at the same time, there are too many loopholes where the tenant will be the one that could be burned when you have a landlord who claims to be responsible but certainly is not. And most of them say, "I'm safe and protected because no matter what happens, I don't need insurance. I don't need this. I don't need to pay my bills cuz I'm authorized to pass it on anyway for those properties that'll be corrected. And at the same time, they'll still be permitted to raise their uh percent fee concurrent with what they're passing on, which makes it a double burden. Uh I think that uh as you if you want to go forward with this that you try and fix it between now the time that you bring the ordinance back because I think that we should and you and each individual case will be signed off by the rent stabilization board. Each house will come in and the question will be asked did you have insurance? Do you have a grant? Is it being delayed and for how long? And uh the question is not there were you a responsible landlord and took the the following precautionary action prior to this event taking place and if the answer to that is no it doesn't make any difference because what else we have in this ordinance would trigger. I think that the uh the fair we got to have a fairness doctrine associated with this ordinance and I think that something should go forward but she should take the time to fix it and close the loopholes which now exist. So, as Mr. Fer talked about, any amount is more than somebody can afford if they're on a fixed income, but at the same time, somebody's got to pay. And if it's not the landlord's fault, it's not the tenants's fault, only if the landlord didn't have those protections. Thank you. >> And so, I think that's something you want to look at, >> Mr. Hernandez. You know, members of the council, we have a housing crisis throughout this whole city and and uh I need to us to put in context what's really going on. Uh we know that housing depreciated in value during a certain period of Los Angeles right after housing boom. And what it meant is landlords bought housing at this price and now it was worth this price and prices are beginning to recuperate right now. But what it also means is a lot of those apartment buildings are leveraged out. Now I can honestly share with you that the passing away of my mom, what she thought was a a nest of money she was leaving for her children and her grandchildren was in real estate. And the reality is all that real estate was lost to foreclosure. And the reason it was lost to foreclosure is the notes on the real estate were higher than what the property was worth. Now, I'm explaining it to you because we as a city are no longer building new housing. We've seen what we had to do with the budget in terms of housing and we want to reenourage rehabilitation of housing. Now, I know that as a city, we're finding that impossible to do without us subsidizing $103 to $150,000 per unit. Now, the reason I'm bringing it up is because when I read this these ordinance changes, what I see happening is a cap of $75, for example, means that that property or that unit would generate an additional, I guess, $900 a year. The loan points for a $7,500 loan could cost you 900 bucks and then it would be 10 years to recoup. And I don't see where that becomes an incentive for a landlord to make a $7,500 investment to rehab. What would happen is he would stop maintaining the building. And we're seeing it dayto-day on reap. Now the reason I'm bringing it up because is this is not the position I want to be in. Most of my constituents are tenants. But I'm trying to figure out how to improve the quality of life of those tenants and create incentives for landlords to do the work. I'm not sure these changes are going to do that. And see how it is that we take what we call a pass through and make it a credit above and beyond and allow them to basically look at a deduction in other areas is part of what I'm trying to say. I want to give an example of a rehab building that we just honored and and cherished the tenants and that was Cambria and you need to understand that it was a blighted as they come 68 one-bedroom units. The tenants were fighting gang members inside of it and the landlord could care less because it was leveraged out. a $250,000 delinquent water and power bill on top of delinquent taxes that was converted to 38 units with three and fourbedroom units, but it took substantial subsidy from the city of Los Angeles. >> All right. Thank >> how we can create those incentives when I think we need to focus on the red stabilization ordinance. >> Thank you, Mr. Bernson. >> Well, I think a lot's already been said. I just want to point out something to those of you that are talking about earthquake insurance. Uh the type of earthquake insurance that offered by the CA or California earthquake authority today is really not much of a of the means of insurance. The deductible is extremely high. The benefits that are paid are very poor. Uh so for those of you that had earthquake coverage before the uh Northridge quake, do not expect that the CA type coverage that's available today is going to be adequate and neither is it affordable. It's about three times the price I'm paying. My cost would have been three times the cost that I had prior to the earthquake and uh my coverage is about maybe 25%. So uh even though it may be advisable in many cases to carry this insurance, there are many people who really believed in earthquake insurance before who simply felt that it was a bad investment today. I happen to be one of those. >> Miss Goldberg. >> Uh the issue though, first of all, let me just say that this is only a catastrophic cap. Other kinds of rehab are covered by different rules. They don't have a cap. No, no. I'm just saying it because that argument came up. And in the area of catastrophic, uh people may decide that they think that earthquake insurance is a good deal or not a good deal. That's their own business decision. But it is clear to me that the tenant shouldn't be insuring their own buildings. And if you give a 100% pass through, there is virtually no incentive to find any other method of protecting the building from catastrophic. So I I can't support that. I just can't support that. On the other hand, I think a key thing here is is to remember two parts of this. First of all, uh there is a write off for a lot of this in the tax code as well as the interest. And that means that not 100% of the cost of this is actually uh needs to be passed through because they don't pay 100% of the cost. Uh even with a small amount of damage in my house, uh I found that we were able to uh take just on one single unit uh a tax break because we uh we had insurance but were unable to collect on it like so many people did. Um in any case, that's another story. The other problem I think that that the other reason I think we need to support 2A is because that we're talking about uh if you had a 30-year uh uh loan uh we're talking about $27,000 a unit with the cap and if you had more damage than that uh you know the issue is is that probably the building is is gone. uh because uh these are larger buildings in on the whole and if you multiply that 27,000 by the number of units plus the uh uh tax write offs that people do get uh for the interest as well I think that we are not harming people and the cap only applies to catastrophic issues uh the earthquake or a major flood that wipes out you know the whole first floor carpeting or whatever I don't think you're going to find you're going to go above this $27,000 a unit. And I do think that this is a good measure that is evenhanded and says that you can collect this on the life of the loan, which is very important so that you don't have somebody trying to put all of the costs on immediately and then be able to advertise it out for themselves. And I think it's a very fair and even-handed thing and I think we should pass it as amended. 28. >> Mrs. Walers, Mrs. Chick, would you press your button again? >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, council members, I'm concerned. I was shocked when I learned it was $75 a month that they could charge people. Um, and I'm still concerned about 50% of the monthly rent. Although, uh, in >> 10% 10% of the monthly rent. um in a unit that rented for $600, that's $60 extra a month. And in the district that I represent, people are really living so close to the margin that $60 extra a month is not something that they would be able to afford to pay. So I I just uh am am very troubled about this. And in the uh mathematical calculation that Mr. Hernandez uh cited about the $900 uh annual collected from one apartment, but if it's just one apartment, one unit, it's not an apartment building. Um and if it's a multiple unit building, then you have to multiply that many times over. Um, I think that when landlords determine that they're going to be landlords, that they're going to be in that business and that they really have to take steps to see that they're insured or see that they qualify for these uh, FEMA loans. I have great difficulty saying people on fixed incomes as the people in uh Miss Chick's district are or people who are low income should be uh charged to finance these uh repairs, it just it it's troubling. Um, and when you find that people, many people in the district in which I live are living together, numerous families living together, sharing a space in order to be able to make the monthly rent payment. People are getting exorbitant rates for some very slum housing. Uh, downtown we have that where people are being charged horribly for slum space. And then to think that they would then have to add 10% of what they're already having difficulty paying is um a matter of real concern. I wish we could uh lower that 10% figure to something uh more reasonable um that would would not put people out on the street or force people to leave. We talk about incentivizing landlords. We're de deincentivizing uh tenants because they may not be able to pay this >> wax. The cap is per month but it can rem but you can keep the landlord can charge as for as many months as is necessary to recover the total cost. >> No, you can go more than five years. So assuming he's financing the improvements one way or another, eventually the the tenant will still pay the full cost of the rehabilitation. And you also have vacancy D control that if any time from here to the future one of those units becomes vacant, the rent can be raised to any level the market will bear. So, it's not like saying that the landlord will not be able to recover the that the landlord has to bear the burden of all these costs. It'll finance it out in a way, but the tenant is still basically paying for it. >> Mr. American. >> Um, I don't have a a problem uh conceptually or generally with uh with what we're trying to accomplish here. There's a a couple of and I I I'm not sure with regard to the uh the issue of the 50% pass through pass through and the the the uh instructions to the uh city attorney to report back. I understand. I I just don't don't understand why 50% versus I'd like to see some kind of analysis on why we landed on that figure. Uh even even if the city attorney comes back and says it's legal. Um I' I'd like it to go back to committee to be reviewed in terms of why that figure versus some other figure. Um but the other concern I have and it's it's it's very hard to follow this um the way that it's laid out here. Um, it has to do with um where we're requiring the owners um to I have no problem with requiring the owners to pay or to to get rents or or allowing owners to get rents for the work that was done. Uh but then when the work when their the principal is paid off that they stop getting that. However, the problem I have is in four where it says this is retroactive. Pardon me, >> that's being held. We don't know if that's we can do that or not anyway. >> Right. So, is are we referring that the retroactivity uh back to the city attorney for to understand whether that's legal or not? >> Miss Chick, we're we're referring the retroactivity back. Yes. >> Okay. >> Then I have no problem. >> Mrs. Chick. >> Yes. I just want to both reassure my colleagues as well as our apartment managers and apartment owners. Uh the changes here are not making any changes in the property owner's ability to collect 100% of their costs. And Miss Walters in in terms of the concerns on on how large the increases can be, I very much share those concerns. And the problem is, as I think you realize also, we're trying to balance making sure that owners have the ability to recoup the costs and in a way that encourages them very early on to fully rehabilitate the building and to protect tenants from not being uh literally put out of the buildings because the rents go up so high. Uh colleagues, I am encouraged by your comments that we can move forward today with 20 and 2A amending it and the uh the really substantive change that is looking at incentivizing property owners to do earthquake insurance as well as the retroactivity issue will go back to committee and come back to the council. But I ask for an I vote on 20 and uh as amended with 28. >> Mr. Hernandez. >> How many of us own apartment buildings? How many of us manage apartment buildings? The 15 of us, none of us do. Oh, Mr. Holden does. I take it back. Now, the reason I'm asking the question is I'm really trying to get us to understand that daytoday we vote for hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars to subsidize nonprofits to get into the apartment management business. We do that every day because the private sector is not doing it. Cannot do it. We're right now passing a group of rules that we think will will help. And what I'm trying to explain right now is I'm not sure that's true. See, I want to increase the housing stock. I want the catastrophic improvements to be done. I want the rehab to happen. But I have a marketplace that's telling me it's almost impossible. See, I want you to understand that. And and I'm going to use I want to use the example of one of the houses my mom's because we as a family had to make difficult decisions. You have five units. Okay. Appraised value of the property is $250,000. Outstanding notes was $323,000 because she had taken out notes to make improvements. Currently pending 17 additional thousand worth of improvements. Now the family's being asked to take over the properties. Family does mathematics, says we can't. We won't qualify for the note to do the improvements because it's already overleveraged. So it goes into foreclosure, goes back to the 250,000. 250,000 needs to sell that property, but they also know that the 17,000 worth of improvements have to be made. So they got to discount it to 233. By the time that process happens, it has to be discounted to 225 or 200,000. Meanwhile, that housing stock's not being used. See, I'm just trying to explain it because limiting the rents, and I understand that a 30-year investment, people talk about a 30-year investment to recoup the money. That's not what investors invest in property for periods. So the question is how do you create the capital to make the improvements? And that's why I'm saying we got to figure out how to create those abilities to leverage these funds so that the private sector starts doing what we subsidize every day when we vote on subsidized housing. And we're doing it for multi-units and we're doing it in the areas where it needs to be done. But we as government subsidize it. And here we're trying to tell the private sector, you got rules that government doesn't have to abide by. >> Mr. Holden, >> just to clear the record, Mr. President, how I vote on this is no conflict because the property that I own is in Aera Heights and I own a great big building in Marina del Rey. >> Lera Heights, isn't that LA in Lera Heights in the city of LA? >> No, Lera Heights is in unincorporated area which is the county. >> Yeah. I thought you knew that, Mr. President. No, I No, I after driving you through the neighbor. >> I knew the marina was not >> They'll let you in, Mr. Smith. >> I knew the marina was uh >> It's called >> But how was the weather at the marina this morning? Was it beautiful, Nate? >> Well, I can tell you the water was wet county. >> Okay. Uh what do we have before us now? >> You have the amended motion by council member Chick 28. >> All right. Prepare the role on the amendment. >> Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes, one no. >> That is approved. Now we have 20 as amended. >> Prepare the role on 20 as amended. Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes, one no. >> That is approved. Next item. >> Five called special. Council member Goldberg. >> Miss Goldberg, you call five special. >> Miss Goldberg, you call five special. >> Right. I certainly did. I really just had one question. Are there people here from building and safety? >> Could I ask you to come forward please? Uh first I just want to commend uh uh the plum committee and uh the department and and particularly it chair Mr. Bernson. Uh I think that at some point in time long after we're all gone and there are no people left on the face of the earth, the city of Los Angeles buildings will still be standing and I think that'll be quite accomplishment. But on pages uh and you don't have to look at all of them because it's a generic question, but on pages 34, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 46, and 48, there are exceptions in each of those pages pages to various hillside and slope areas to some of these requirements. And I read them all very carefully, and I'm concerned because annually we buy Pacific Palisades housing. Uh, now I think we're going to be buying what was the area that you were referring to, Mr. West Hills Housing. And I just wanted to be reassured that those exceptions on those various pages for hillside and slopes are not going to com require future councils to continue buying hillside and slope houses after major rainstorms or other events like that. Um, I'm not an engineer. I did read them very carefully, but I was concerned as I saw the large number of exceptions in the hillside slope areas. I just wanted you to reassure me publicly that you are not going to lead us down a trail with these new rules that have enough exceptions to provide us with with extraordinary liability and a lot of new home ownership for the city of Los Angeles. Okay. >> Well, Councilman Goldberg, I'm happy to affirm to you that those exceptions are because they're minor and inconsequential amounts of work or involvement or scope and that Pacific Palisades with its many problems it's historically had always been one of our uh primary interests. We we carefully review certain areas of the city including that one. Uh, and there is nothing in these proposed ordinances that will lighten up our careful review of any approvals in those areas >> or any other hillside >> or any other hillside areas throughout the city. >> Okay. Well, that's all I wanted to ask. Thank you very much. >> Anyone else want to be heard on five? If not, prepare the role. >> Tabulate. >> Yeah. >> Tabulate the vote. 13 eyes. >> Fourth with >> that is approved. Fourth with on that. >> Thank you. >> Next item. >> 10 called special by council member Hernandez. >> Mr. Hernandez. >> I have no question on the item, Mr. President. >> Okay. Prepare the role in 10. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> That is approved. Next item. >> 17B called special. A card was submitted. >> Okay. Let's see. We have Jenny Barrett. Phyllis Dhy. Phyllis Dohy. I guess Jenny Barrett was able to speak earlier. Okay. We have 17B before us. Is there any discussion? A public hearing is closed. If not, prepare the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes. That is approved. Next item. >> This a time for comments from the public and non-aggenda items. >> Okay, we have Richard Robinson. Mr. President, members of council, the elected charter reform commission meets in council person Hernandez district Monday night in the Angelica Lutheran Church at 1345 South Burlington Avenue at 6. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anyone else want to be heard on public comment? Only card we have. So public comment period is closed. Next item. >> Motions for posting and referral. There's no objection. Unanimous vote. >> Councilman Hernandez has requested to be excused. Personal business for Tuesday and Wednesday, February 24th and 25th. Meets council policy. >> Uh unanimous vote. >> Close session item 19. >> Okay. We have an executive session. So, will everyone please leave the council chamber that's not involved with the executive session? is in session. >> Anything else before us, Sian? >> Oh, I guess not, Mr. President. >> We have a journey motions. Would everyone please stand? Uh members of the council, Hal Bernson asked that we adjourn in memory of Chris Scobby who was uh uh owned restaurants in the valley, King's Arms and Queen's Arms and Enino Scoby's Restaurant. And I'd like to second that. >> Also, um I'd also ask that we adjourn in memory of uh of Gabe Orland who passed away. He lose a wife and son, two sons, Allan and Gary. And I also ask that we adjourn in memory of former supervisor in Orange County, Thomas Riley, who passed away. >> What do we all just go on that? >> Yeah, all go on that. And members, it was appropriate today that we honored Haimey Kareem who hall of fame. But let's adjourn in memory of Harry who passed away, >> a great uh announcer. All members on that, >> Mr. Alicon, >> council members, um I'd like to request that we adjourn in the memory of Marylu Buster. Uh Marylu is the grandmother of one of my uh field deputies, Alex Tucker. Um and she passed away of a heart condition. Uh she was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church of South Boston, uh Virginia. She leaves her uh son, Alex Tucker, Senior, her grandson, Alex Tucker, and her son Sam Tucker. Mr. >> I would also I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. Um I'd also like to adjourn in the memory of Robert uh Bankhead. Uh he passed away at the age of 63 recently. Uh he was the owner of San Fernando Appliance Service Center and a resident of Lake View Terrace uh and Pakqua for over 40 years. Uh he was a member of the Valley uh Berin Christian Church uh and a very active uh community member. He leaves his wife Annie Pearl, two sons, six daughters, 12 grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. >> Mr. >> Yes. I'd like to adjourn in the memory of Roberto Delgado. It's a constituent of mine and lived in Elserino for many years and leaves a large family of people that were shocked at at his death and like to adjourn his memory. >> Mr. Goldberg. >> Yes. I'd like to ask that we uh adjourn in memory of Mary Schumacher who died at the age of 70 after a long illness. Uh she is survived by her son Thomas Shoemacher who some of you may know from Disney animation a friend of mine and by Kate and Peg >> Shoemarker. >> Also I'd like to ask that we adjourn in u memory of Sydney uh Lean who is a uh cousin of Jim Bickart and Assemblyman Via Rigosa's office. >> I'd like to join you. Uh Sydney uh was a uh UCLA graduate, an attorney, a prominent community activist, lived a good part of his life in the California Central Valley. He is survived by his wife, uh Laura Lee, his two daughters, Jennifer and Deborah, and his two stepsons, Michael and Brian. >> I'd like to be able to join that. >> M any others? If not, >> there aren't any others. Call the role. >> Hi. The council is adjourned. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.