make people who have been traumatized terrified who need everything from tattoo removal to addiction services to mental health services to traumacentered care and help these youngsters believe in a future and give them light and hope. And so Naelli, I just really want to commend you for all the wonderful work you've done. With that, I'd like to introduce our deputy chief, our wonderful deputy chief who I first met in 2023, Gerald Woodyard. very difficult to follow the district attorney and the city attorney, but I am excited. And if you look to my left and look to my right, this is a holistic approach to a serious problem, but I'm not the one that's leading it. This work started back in 2023 when I was uh the deputy chief down in Operation South Bureau and I had the opportunity to work with city attorney Feinstein Sodto. And why does it matter to me? It matters to me because I have a young daughter. I have a young son. And so when I see these young women and young men out there being exploited, it impacts me because that's someone's daughter, that's someone's son. So it's been a priority for me in West Bureau once I landed here. And I'm extremely excited about the leadership team I have here because they know the problems that have occurred on the Figuroa corridor. So the leadership team here on Olympic division is Rachel Rodriguez which she has the lion share of the issue as well as Manny Chavez. She's a cap. He's a captain. She's a captain um of of Hollywood. When we're talking about human trafficking, specifically human trafficking, sex trafficking, it's just not that. My concern is this. There is a gang nexus to this in South Bureau. There's a gang nexus. It's a lot of money that gang members are are acquiring because they're exploiting kids. So, it's a problem, but I'm excited because it's been something that we're focused on, not just from West Bureau, from the Office of Operations, which is um headed by Chief Tingerites and by the department. So, with that being said, rest assured that we're going to focus on this, but I'm excited about this collaboration. It's holistic. It's just not LAPD. The rest piece, we can do that all day. But it's when we get the grassroot organizations, when we get the city attorney, the district attorney on the same page, that's when we can have an impact. I've seen the impact down in South Bureau. I'm excited about the impact that we're going to have here in West Bureau. With that being said, I'd like to bring up Captain Rachel Rodriguez. >> Thank you everybody. Uh my name is Captain Rachel Rodriguez. I'm the commanding officer of uh Olympic Area. So, the Western Corridor has historically been known for human trafficking. Uh as a vice officer who worked Olympic Division 10 years ago uh and now as the commanding officer that oversees this area, I've seen firsthand the proliferation of human trafficking that is occurring in our local neighborhoods. Over the last year, we concentrated our efforts to address this growing concern. From a law enforce enforcement perspective, we have concentrated our efforts to apprehend those that are trafficking our young women along this corridor. And in 2025, along with our Olympic vice units, as well as Operations West Bureau Vice Units, we've made 372 arrests that included 18 arrests of pimps or panderers and 60 arrests that included lewd conduct. And in this effort, we've worked with our assistant United States attorney, our district attorney, and our city attorney um on the prosecutions of those that take advantage of these young women. But our partnerships are also with our nonprofit organizations that include Journey Out and Run to Rescue who come out on these task force with our vice units. And that's extremely important as they are the ones that firsthand get to talk to these women and provide them opportunities outside of this lifestyle and encourage them to reunite with their families, seek services that they don't currently have. And we understand that this is not something that we can enforce our way out of. We do have to change the environmental design of our neighborhood. and that is working with our city partners when it comes to uh the Los an Los Angeles sanitation and our bureau of street lighting to increase lighting in the neighborhood, take away the dark avenues, the dark streets that are currently occurring as well as making left turns very difficult for our John's that are out there. Um, and hopefully with this partnership, we can help make this neighborhood a little bit safer. I think most importantly, I'd like to recognize my uh Olympic senior lead officers who go out and make sure that there's safe passages for our young students that are around our schools. And this is important to prevent their view of the women that are being trafficked and the men that could potentially traffic them. And so I'd like to recognize those men and women that go out there daily to make sure our children are safe. I'd like to end with although we have limited resources within law enforcement currently, we continue to dedicate our time to this area and we want to ensure that not only the quality of life for these young women that are being trafficked, but the quality of life of everybody in this neighborhood to make sure you have a safe place to walk, to live, to work, to commute. Um, and that's our dedication to you. So, thank you, >> Rachel. Um, I think that concludes the formal part of this press conference. I was offered a closing, but I don't think I have much to say. Most things have been said for our neighborhoods, for our victims. Um, we're here for you. And for the pimps, the predators, the traffickers, the john's, uh, I don't know that I'm quite as eloquent as our district attorney, but I can echo him. Uh, we're coming after you. We've been coming after you and we are determined to stop this blight throughout our city. Happy to take questions and you can ask of just about anybody who's up here if you do have questions. >> Any idea how many people in LA, LA County we're talking about being trafficked? You guys have any idea? >> Um, I don't think we've broken it down that way to the best of my knowledge. Do you have an answer for that? No. Um what we have what we do have statistics on is what we've rescued. Okay. So like for example on the Figuroa quarter um the LAPD and our service providers have rescued something north of 250 minors uh in the first two years of operation of that program. Now you need to understand we don't force anyone into accepting services. So that is young people who've been offered a way out and have take taken the hand. I still remember the first 14year-old that we rescued off the Figuro quarter. That was a successful reunification with her biological family. Uh we reunited her with her grandmother and the service providers really provided the tattoo removal, the safe space, the kind of cocoon to heal for the first several months. And now my understanding is she is in high school under a different name than she was on the street and um doing quite well. So those aren't all the success stories. There is some recidivism. If we don't move a child successfully into a more permanent environment, they often wind up back. Um understand that when you take a young person away from a pimp, they often chase them. They come back after them. They try to intimidate, they bully, they do all kinds of things to get back what they view as their property, as their living. And so we have done some things in Sacramento already. Um the DNA and I have sponsored a bill that passed and became law this year which made the intimidation and the bullying a separate offense. So that when a pimp goes back after a victim, that's a separate crime for which that individual can be arrested. Um, I, uh, sponsored and wrote a bill. I took it up to Sacramento for the third time this year, and it finally passed to close what's called the Jeff, what I used to call the Jeffrey Epstein loophole in our sex offenders registry. Up until January 1st, 2026, you could have illegal sexual intercourse with a 14 to 17 year old, and you were not automatically registerable as a sex offender. Uh, Senator Susan Rubio carried bill number 680 and that loophole now has been closed. We will continue to take up bills to provide law enforcement with tools to do their job. I don't think it was my office. Was it yours on the loitering for John's? >> We we >> Do you want to talk about that one a little bit? >> Certainly. So, actually when I was running for office, I had a chance to visit Compton and speak with the mayor of Compton, Emma Sharief. She took me down to Long Beach Boulevard. And she what she showed me was literally scantily clad young girls and young women uh in the middle of the day uh very close to where the school was located. And I asked her, "How did this happen?" and she said, "Well, in the past, they had laws called loitering uh to commit prostitution." And those loitering laws allowed the police to go ahead and pick up or certainly uh confront these women who were loitering to commit prostitution before they actually engaged in the act of prostitution. And it helped get a lot of these young women and young girls into these community-based programs to get the treatment they need. and also helped again clear the streets uh make it clear to the the pimps that the police would would be active. And then those laws went away. The state legislature took those laws away for reasons that still remain unknown to me uh as to their common sense, I should say. I obviously know that they did it. I know the justification for they did it and couldn't disagree more. I would argue that many of those state legislators who took those laws away never spoke to Emma Sharief, the mayor of Compton, to see the impact it would have because once you took that tool away from law enforcement, now law enforcement literally had to wait until the act of prostitution was being committed before they could take any action. So that led a lot more young girls to be on the street pedalling their wares for the pimps uh knowing that law enforcement couldn't take action. So recently those laws have been brought back and I fully expect law enforcement to use those tools that they now have to go ahead and deal with this problem proactively before you have to have a young girl in the middle of a sexual act before law enforcement can act. We are working uh and using conspiracy laws, felony conspiracy laws between a sex worker and the sex buyer, the exploer to go ahead and bring these these charges particularly against the sex buyer. And these are felony charges that could land the sex buyer in prison. So again, we are using the new tool, the tools that we have and the tools that we've now been granted to really tackle both the supply and the demand sides of this equation. Heat. Heat. cannot be used for other purposes. And it finally makes an investment in dragging our public safety resources into a modern century. >> We're going to more fires, going to more medicals. Our our calls have gone from a 100,000 to 500,000 from 1960 to this year. We're going on more runs. We need more resources. >> We're short staff. We're short-handed. It's like the Dodgers playing baseball with eight people on the field instead of nine. You still play the game, but you're not as effective. >> In South Central Los Angeles, a long awaited green space is now open and it's already bringing the community together. Today we are at Richardson Family Park. We are reopening the park after the council office spearheaded the complete renovation and modernization of the park. We are very pleased that the improvements of the park incorporate health and wellness and also green space and a muchneeded South LA community. >> In communities like South Central LA, you don't see a lot of green space. And so when community members say we want to see this in our community, you see the the what comes of that and it's incredible the fact that young people can come and have a place where they feel safe. And even the families themselves be able to say we want this and we're going to fight for it. We're going to fight for what our community needs and deserves. That's what this is and those are the results and the outcome of that. So, we changed out the apparatus and we changed out the sandboxes and replaced them with some more familyfriendly materials. Put up this new fence for the basketball court. We're still going to resurface the court and put a mural in here. There are other things that still need to be done, but we've turned the place into a real community center. >> And it is a center not just for the kids to come and play, but also for the adults to come and learn and exercise. >> It's really exciting for the neighborhood to have a place like this where we can count that it's a safe space and that people can enjoy themselves without reservation. Still ahead, a snapshot of some of the stories making waves around the city. An international honor for a local star educator, a dedicated street life repair team, Brighton Council District 13, and a new carebased services division launching at Metro. These stories and more up next on City Beats. Dr. Edwin Crup, the director of Griffith Observatory, has been honored by the American Astronomical Society. The international organization recognized Crup with its 2026 Education Prize. It cited his outstanding contributions educating the public, students, and future astronomers. Crup has been the director of the landmark Griffith Observatory for over five decades and has shown the workings of the cosmos to millions of visitors. For more information, visit griffithobservatory.org. LA City Council has approved $1 million to establish a dedicated street light repair team for council district 13. The team will work in the council district to address long repair times that currently exceed 9 months. Hiring is underway for electricians and laborers with repairs expected to begin in the next 2 months. For more information, go to cd13.lacity.gov/news. Metro has launched a new careb- based services division under its Department of Public Safety, which includes transit ambassadors, outreach, and intervention teams. The new crisis response teams will address behavior related incidents. Metro's priority is the safety of riders and employees. Learn more at the source. Metro.net. California history came to life this week at the Campo de Kawena. A signing of the Treaty of Kena marked a turning point in the state's past. And through a live reenactment, that story is being preserved for younger generations. >> Everybody ready? Here we go. We're here in council district 2 in my district celebrating the 179th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of the compo. It doesn't get any more historical of a site than the compo. We here in Los Angeles have not the birthplace of California but the place that preceded by about 11 months the birthplace of California. This is where Ka de Koena is where the treaty of the compo was signed. This is an amazing part of history. Uh it's really wonderful to have all the folks who are going to be doing the reenactment keeping this history alive. >> General Andreas Pico and offer to join America at this time. We're just really here just really just to celebrate the museum and all of its history and the history of California. >> Hey, >> it's really important for us to remember the past, to learn from the past. Events like this are critical to teach younger generations so they understand how the history of California came about how California interacted with its indigenous peoples. So the Campo were situated at a crossroads where a mountain pass meets a river ford and humans as long as they've been in California from the indigenous to today pass through this pass. That's why the armies that had been fighting met here to end the fighting and transfer California. And that's worth remembering. >> The motivation is to teach California history. This is the most historic site west of the Mississippi River that no one knows about. >> Equal rights and privileges are vouched safe to every citizen of California as are enjoyed by the citizens of the United States of North America. >> Recreational parks. Just want to thank the Campo De Kuena Historical um Museum Association just really for their support year round. To learn more about our programs, please visit lap parks.org. From candy sculptures to a wall of wishes, Oagatsu, the New Year celebrations have Japanese Americans brought the community together in Little Tokyo. Today we're celebrating what we call Oshogatsu. In Japanese, it's the New Year and it's put on yearly by the Japanese American National Museum. So, this is our celebration of the new year. It's the Japanese New Year and the Japanese American New Year. So, we have lots of activities and performances really geared towards kids. Um, and it's everything from Tao demonstrations from Kodama Tao where they're also pounding mochi or rice cakes. We have Sean the Candyman. He's doing candy sculptures. We have lots of crafts that are all year of the horse themed. Um, and lots of other community partners and activities happening as well. Totally recommend coming out here. Uh enjoy the great food, great people. It happens every year. Come on down, have some fun. We have a variety of performances from local artists, performers, and community members. We also have a wide variety of stands that you can visit from our America's wish wall to discover NIK to um NIK progressives who have all come together here to share their resources, activities and different things for the community members to come do today. >> We're Japanese so it's always kind of nice to show the kids, you know, what our heritage is all about. We celebrate our heritage. It's a yearly thing. Uh there's a lot of custom to it and it brings good luck. As a museum, we want to keep upholding um our history and our culture of, you know, Japanese immigrants to the present day Japanese American culture. So, it's really important for us to keep celebrating together. My favorite part about these festivals is that you see families, um, different people, all walks of life that come through here to come celebrate the culture, to come celebrate community, and to be together. So, it's a wonderful way to ring in the new year, and we're really thankful for everyone who's been a part of this and making this happen to everyone who's come to celebrate with us. They make it look effortless, but staying ready to save lives takes grit, endurance, and constant training. LA city lifeguards invited us behind the scenes to see the demanding reertification process they must complete to stay on the job. Let's dive in. >> Today we're here at Celeste King. We are hosting the 2026 certifications. Behind me we have our life-saving staff in which we will be testing them today in their water skills. We will be testing them in the 500 meter swim. All right, take your mark. Go. 500 m, which is about 22 laps in this pool. It was a little bit tiring, but it's a good metric for people to swim in open water. >> We have to get in under 10 minutes. So, it's just to see that all lifeguards meet the requirements to keep lifeguarding for the city of Los Angeles. >> I think being a lifeguard is a great job because you learn a lot of water safety skills. For our dummy toe, it does take some skill and effort to be able to bring out the dummy toe from the bottom of the pool. It does take experience and practice for a lifeguard to be able to complete this event. Swimming is a really important life-saving skill. I myself have almost drowned when I was little, so it was definitely a big motivator for me to learn how to swim. And I think anyone that has struggled in the water knows that fear and it's definitely a good life-saving uh technique to have. I grew up swimming my entire life and eventually started helping others swim, teaching lessons, teaching programs. Finally, I started swimming in open water and that changed my entire perspective on lifeguarding, what we do, and how we prevent people from having a very unfortunate day. Anybody that's interested in a job opportunity to work with aquatics, they're more than welcome to visit any LA city pool. There they can find resources and information about any job opportunities that they have. Do you want to become lifeguards, locker tenants, or pool clerks? It is open to anybody. >> I came back this year to do another year as being a lifeguard for the city. I really think it's one of the best jobs out there. That's what brings me back every year. Now in its 45th year, the annual Black Doll Show at the William Grandstill Arts Center continues to inspire and educate. More than an exhibit, it's a celebration of identity, craftsmanship, and the power of representation. The Black Doll Show is something that goes on at William Grant Still Art Center every year. It's been going on for the past 45 years. There's a different theme every year. The history is that we wanted to showcase dolls that represent people of color. There have always been kind of a stigma and this show exhibits how gorgeous dolls in all colors are and so we wanted to exhibit that and also honor the artists who make them. We just have a wonderful time showing our black dolls. The dolls are so unique in their own way. The most unusual, very unusual doll show that you'll ever see. I've been working here in the cultural affairs department for almost a year now and now I have my own piece in the black doll show. A lot of people don't know how dolls are made and we also give classes after the show. So it gives them a chance to see how they're made and the variations of them whether they're clay or cloth. This highlights community, especially community of color, and so I like to be involved in something powerful, positive, and beautiful. I feel honored to have a piece of work in this art show, especially since it's been going on for 45 years, the annual black doll show, and this is the first black doll I've ever made, and I'm just very happy to be a part of this show. You're always welcome to come here to the center. Right now, we have the 45th annual Black Doll Show. However, throughout the year, we have different exhibits that you can come and see. They're free. So, don't just come for one art exhibit. Come throughout the year. If you're looking for something to do around LA, we've got you covered. Check out what's happening this week on things to do. Celebrate all things green at the central library. Support ocean conservation and sustainability at Altac. And have a whale of a good time at the Cababrio Marin Aquarium. All this up next on Things to Do. Spring is coming and the Los Angeles Public Library has some advice, workshops, and general help for your plants. They are devoting a day to celebrating plants at the central library where there will be keynote speakers, gardening tips, and resources from LA Sanitation. Learn how to repot your plants or paint the flower pots and experience the joy of connecting with nature. Visit the central library for plant day, a celebration of plants on Saturday, January 31st from 10:00 a.m. until 300 p.m. For more details on the events, visit lapl.org/ org/plant-jac at the Port of Los Angeles invites you to their first open house of 2026. On Saturday, January 31st, join the Altaca team from 10:00 a.m. to learn more about the Re-Up Our Ocean campaign, which is turning plastic pollution into surfboard fins and other upcycled sustainable products. The open house shares resources with the community through informative presentations, workshops, and exhibits that aim to inspire ideas and fuel the blue economy while preserving the well-being of the ocean. Head to the Port of LA for Altac's open house, Reup on Saturday, January 31st at 10:00 a.m. For more information, visit altac.org. What better way to celebrate the beginning of whale watching season in California than by having a whale fiesta. Join Cababrio Marine Aquarium on Sunday, February 1st for whale fiesta, which marks the start of the migration of the Pacific Grey whale. This family fun day is filled with activities and exhibits for all and will include games, arts and crafts, puppet shows, expert guest lecturers, and festive music. Experience the incredible life-sized inflatable whales and the famous duct tape whale contest. Visit Cababrio for Whale Fiesta on Sunday, February 1st from 10:00 a.m. until 300 p.m. Find out more at cababrioarineaquarium.org. And that's a look at some things to do. And that's all for this week. Thank you so much to the Watts Towers Arts Center campus for hosting us today. Check out their website if you're visiting ours and from all of us at LA City. Thank you so much for joining us. Remember, you can watch us anytime online at lac cityview.org and follow us at lac city on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube. We'll see you next time. Fire fire. be part of something big. >> But before a big project >> can become a reality, >> you need big ideas. Ideas that make a big impact, that deliver the good >> to serve the greater good. Do you have what it takes >> to make a lasting contribution? >> Can you >> rise to the occasion? >> Are you ready to be part of something >> that's bigger than you? >> Bigger than what you thought was possible. If so, >> come be a part of LWP. >> Be part of something big. Planning for emergencies is smart, but does the family emergency plan include pets? Heat. Heat. What? Nowhere. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Yeah. Heat. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey All right. What's up? All right, good morning and welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of your Los Angeles City Council. Today is Tuesday, the 27th day of January in the year 2026. Public comment for this morning's meeting will be taken in this chamber on agenda items and general comments related to city council jurisdiction. Madam clerk, if we could begin our proceedings by calling the role. >> Yes, sir. Blumenthal, Harris, Dawson, Hernandez Hut Herado Lee McCusker Nazarian Padilla Park Price Ramen Rodriguez, Sto Martinez, Jerosovski, 14 members present in court, Mr. President. >> All right. First order business, >> approval of the minutes of January 23rd, 2026. >> Council member Hut moves. Council member McCusker seconds. What's next? >> Commandatory resolutions for approval. Council member Padia moves. Council member Stoodto Martinez seconds. What's next? >> Mr. President, today's Tuesday. It's time for a flag salute. >> We'll ask everyone in the chambers to rise, face the flag, and follow along with Council Member Blumenfill of the Third District. All right. If I could ask everyone to put your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, madame clerk, let's run through our agenda. >> Yes, sir. Item number one is an item for which public hearing has been held. Items two through 19 are items which public hearings have not been held. Uh for item number nine, an updated city attorney report and ordinance has been submitted and is available online under council file 25866. 10 votes are required for consideration. >> All right. Without objection, uh those items are before us. >> Uh Mr. President, there is currently a request to refer item 19 to the Housing and Homeless Committee. >> All right. Without objection, that'll be the order. All right. Council member Ramen. >> I, you know, I wanted to rise and um I did want to object to referring this motion to committee today. And I just wanted to share with you colleagues why I think this is important, why it's urgent to do it today and to explain why this came to us at the very last moment. And I hope that you'll indulge me. Measure ULA is one of the most consequential housing policies Los Angeles voters have ever approved. Nearly 60% of Angelinos said yes to attacks on real estate sales over $5 million that would go towards building affordable housing and to preventing evictions displacement and homelessness, creating for the first time a perpetual and to me essential resource for the city of Los Angeles. I want to be very clear about what I wanted to send to the June ballot. A one-time exemption on the tax for victims of the Palisades fires. To me, an inarguably good thing that this body must do. Technical fixes to help get these dollars out the door vetted by the housing department. and an exemption to the tax for the first 15 years after any multif family or commercial building comes online, which based on the data that we have about transactions so far would take away between 9 to 13% of the funds. I believe that we should move forward today with putting these changes on the June ballot. And here's why. I endorsed and supported me at Measure ULA. And since going into effect, it's raised more than a billion dollars and helped stabilize thousands of tenants while supporting the construction of 200 homes so far and hopefully many more this year as the bulk of the production money finally goes out the door. Those outcomes matter and they show us why this funding source is so important to preserve for our city. But there are real threats to ULA. From statewide ballot initiatives that threaten to take away transfer taxes entirely across California, from planned legislative action in Sacramento, and from local ballot initiatives, all of which are likely to make far deeper cuts to ULA's revenues. I strongly believe that acting locally and acting responsibly is how we protect this voter approved policies. We can head off donors and supporters and promoters of other efforts if we do it the right way and if we do it locally. But I want to be clear that my efforts today are not just a defensive measure. This is also an effort to address what I believe are unintended consequences of the design design of measure ULA which was sold to voters as a mansion tax. In reality, it put a transfer tax on all properties over 5 million including apartments. And we have to be honest about what has happened as a result. Multif family, mixeduse housing, commercial production has slowed in the city of LA. Lenders and investors are backing away from this city entirely. Multiple research studies and data points have shown us that the structure of this tax has slowed apartment construction in LA during a housing crisis. These studies have compared sales and permits in the city of LA with comparable jurisdictions in LA County and found steeper declines in LA city. The studies estimated that ULA is preventing the construction of at least 2,000 market rate units a year, as well as hundreds of affordable units, more units than ULA can produce. The LA Times recently reported that the San Diego region is building apartments at nearly twice the rate of LA with new construction up 10% in this economic climate, while LA's has plummeted by 33% over the last 3 years. These studies have also shown that it has cut into property turnover in our most expensive properties, which thanks to Prop 13 cuts into our local property tax base, which means that if we keep the tax in this way, we actually lose funding for basic services over time, including for public safety and street lights, everything. And I know there are claims of competing studies, but I have actually read every single one of these studies, and I'm not an economist, but I find the case that ULA is reducing multif family housing production to be very convincing. And that makes me worried as a policymaker who is legislating for all Angelinos. Our city's own data, and I'm almost done. I'm sorry. Our city's own data shows that permits have fallen significantly since the tax, a 27% drop. More alarmingly, that data has been shows that that drop has been concentrated in buildings with more than five units. Why is that alarming? Because larger buildings are where we have placed all of our hopes for meeting our local housing shortage. We did that through the CHIP program. But the structure of ULA now disincentivizes incentve investment in exactly the kind of buildings that we are saying are going to help us meet our housing shortage. We are sabotaging ourselves. A policy that unintentionally stalls housing production undermines the very goal that voters asked us to achieve. The parallel would be if we were trying to address hunger and you did it through a program that increased food shortages. You can't address the housing crisis with a policy that worsens our housing shortage. You just can't. Voters were sold a mansion tax and ignoring the very real impacts on apartment construction, apartments that people want and need and want to move into doesn't protect measure ULA. It weakens it. Fixing unintended consequences is how we keep this policy aligned with what voters expected and what the city needs. And I also finally want to address the process. I know that a lot of people want to send this back to committee because this conversation should have been something that you were all involved with a lot earlier or that you were blindsided by my motion on Friday. And I am genuinely sorry about surprising trusted partners in this way. But I have had months of conversations with key stakeholders including housing organizations and nonprofits who are leaders in the ULA coalition with our labor partners with our business partners. Many of you are in the audience today. You were part of these conversations and many of you were actually involved in more conversations than I was. But after many months, we weren't even able to agree on what data was important to monitor or that people cared about the implications for Angelenos on what the data was showing us about the slowdown in construction. And given the short timeline ahead of us for action, I made the decision to bring this conversation out of the back room and into the public sphere because I care. I care deeply about the implications of slowing housing production and I think Angelinos care. I care that rents in Los Angeles have gone up significantly since 2020 while rents in cities that have built more in that period have dropped. I care that another UCLA study last year found that LA is the most unaffordable rental market in the nation in the nation. I care that LA had one of the largest drops in the share of children among our o our overall population as families have been driven away from this city. Not brought into it, driven away by our policies. I care that renters living in older buildings with bad landlords have no choice but to suffer because there is no other housing available. Colleagues, I understand that many of you may feel differently, but this is why I think it is important to take action today and to send these reform proposals to the ballot in June. Thank you. >> All right. All right. Uh madame clerk, uh the chair has uh request that these items go to this item go to committee for consideration. There's an objection to that uh order. We need to call a vote at this time. >> Yes. So uh the request there the motion to refer this to the housing and homeless committee. Is there a second to that motion? to send it to committee. >> Yes. To send this to committee. >> Okay. So then at this time the motion to send item 19 to the housing and homeless committee is before council for a vote. Send it to housing and homeless committee or not. >> All right. Let's open. All right. We got people who want to speak on this. Uh clerk and city attorney. I want to just make sure we're in order here uh and that we can have a full discussion over this beyond the objection. Well then in this case then if the rest of the members would like to discuss this further this uh item 19 at this time uh then the uh vote to send this to housing and homeless committee uh should wait until the council votes on the rest of the items on this agenda >> before or after public comment. Uh this would happen after public comment because this motion has not has uh not been referred to committee and uh it was just introduced uh last recently. >> So what what we have on our agenda is a rule 16. A rule 16 gets placed on the agenda without the committee process of course and when the call was made for approving this agenda I pressed my button I would have made an objection to the rule 16 that is a motion that is an objection that is not debatable and the vote would would on my objection would be or anyone's objection would be immediate without debate And to consider the rule 16 requires 10 votes. To consider the rule 16 requires 10 votes. Not debatable. If there are not 10 votes to consider the rule 16, the matter is by rule referred to committee. By rule it's referred to committee. And so I want to be really really clear here. The the president of the council at the outset of the meeting said, I no longer have a rule 16 in front of you. I'm going to refer this to committee. The objection was the referral to committee. That is a simple majority objection. But if we don't send it to committee, the motion's dead. It's gone. It doesn't exist. It's not considered today without 10 votes. And if it's not sent to committee, it's not sent to committee. And it's dead. It's essentially tabled. And so, let's be really clear what we're talking about here. If you want to hear it today, and I don't because it needs a public debate in committee. It requires 10 votes. The chair can send it to committee without objection. If there's an objection, eight votes can approve what he's doing or eight votes can disapprove what he's doing. If we disapprove send it to committee, it's gone. So, let's be really clear what we're talking about here. We're not we're no longer talking about whether it's going to be heard today. will not be heard today because there is no rule 16 on the floor. The only question we have is does it go to committee or does it go into the ether? I say send it to committee. >> I say the same thing. Council member Ramen. >> I'm not sure how to interpret what you said in terms of the rules. Um if you I mean it sounds like people want to send this to committee. So, I'm happy to withdraw my objection to sending it to committee and allow it to be sent to committee if that's the only way to keep this alive today. Um, and I'm happy to do that. >> Thank you, >> Madame Clerk. >> Madam Clerk, just tell us where we are and then I'll call in council member R. >> The objection to sending item 19 to committee has been withdrawn. So, this item is now sent to the housing and homeless committee. >> Council member Rodriguez. >> Thank you. I just Thank you, Mr. McClosker, for clarifying procedurally because I hit my button too to object for the to call on whether or not we were going to hear this item. Um, but I also didn't appreciate the false narrative and monologue that was given on this item, particularly when it was conflicted in acknowledging that Miss Ramen, you supported and endorsed the false notion to to voters that this was going to be the panacea without study, without any of the verified proof. We knew that these were the implications for many of us when we were having these conversations around ULA and we've been calling it out for for well over a year but it was convenient to ignore it when the money was being doled out to different initiatives that people wanted to support and then these backroom like you know learn about the backroom conversations that were happening. the idea that you would all of a sudden jam this in and oh out of genuine concern when we've been calling this out for more than a year. I wish you had the same sense of urgency to schedule my motion that has been sitting in your committee for 280 days on the discussion of homeless spending and the centralization of the work and the removal of Lassa. It's been sitting 280 days a report in your committee that you won't hear. So, let's stop playing this false notion of the arsonists become showing up as the firefighters. I want to make sure that the public gets the actual conversations that they deserve. There's multiple stakeholders here that are being affected. Whether it's the lack of housing construction, whether it's the individuals that are at risk of losing support from from the resources that could be garnered from this or the obstruction of housing creation. There is a whole host of problems here. But the public deserves to have an open and transparent conversation around this. So, I'm not going to sign on to these false efforts. Uh, and and you know, we have a committee process. Let's have these conversations in committee, but let's stop playing these games, guys. How many how many times do people have to get dragged out of work or whatever they're doing to come participate in this fall show? Enough. So, I look forward to this going to committee and having a robust conversation about how we can and and I see all the folks in labor there, how we can measure twice and cut once because we do have to fix ULA and we have to do it right and make sure that we do it with all the stakeholders that are going to be impacted by it to be involved and engaged in the conversation and I look forward to these things happening with full transparency in the committee process. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, specials members. Council member McCusker. >> Yes. Thank you very much. I would like to call um item number 17 special. I will have uh amendments that will be circulated. >> Right on. Uh, Council Member Nazarian. >> Item number 11 for an amendment that's already been circulated. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Herado. >> Council President, I'd like to call item four and seven special for a separate vote. Four and seven. >> Seven. Okay. Okay. Uh, Council Member Yoski. >> Uh, thank you. For item seven, I'm introducing a substitute resolution to remove two of the locations and add one. Uh, it's being introduced now. Uh, and then on item 19, um, that we just heard. Can we also send that to budget and finance? >> Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh, council member Padia. Item 17 for questions on an amendment that's already circulating. >> All right. And council member Park. No park. Okay. Um it looks any other specialist members? Council member Rodriguez. >> Item eight sadly to note and file. Sorry, Rams. And item nine to recommend that we adopt the city attorney's corrected ordinance dated January 26th, 2026. And uh also for comments, we'll hold uh that's item nine. >> Item nine. Okay. Yeah. >> And then uh I have an amendment circulating for 17. >> Okay. Other specials members >> going once, going twice. Council member Bloomfield. >> Uh item nine for comments and um may have a may have something for 17. Either refer it back to comm a portion back to committee or make an amendment on it depending. >> All right. other specials members. All right. Uh madame clerk, uh given that calendar, what items are before us? >> Um just to clarify for item seven, Councilman Rodriguez, uh is there a second to uh adopting the corrected ordinance? >> A second on We got a second. All right. >> Oh. >> All right. What's next? Next, council may now vote on item one, sir. >> All right. Item one is before us. Let's open the role, close the roll, tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. What's next? >> Next, council may move on to public comment. Sir. >> All right. Uh, Mr. City Attorney, please read the rules for public comment into the record. Yes, Mr. President. To people providing public comment, when it's your turn to speak, please state which of the agenda items you'd like to speak to. You will have 1 minute per item, up to 3 minutes total for the items open for public comment. We will tell you when your time is up. When speaking on the agenda items, you must be on topic. Our goal is to get through as many speakers as we can. If you are not on topic or if we cannot tell whether you are on topic, you will get one brief warning from me or the council president. At that point, you need to get immediately and clearly on topic. If you do not do so or if you again stray off topic, you will forfeit the rest of your speaking time and we will move on to the next speaker. The items that are open for public comment on the agenda are items 2 through 18. So again, the items that are open for public comment on the agenda are items 2 through 18. Item number 19 has been continued or sorry has been referred to committee and so is not open for public comment. Members of the public may also speak for up to one minute for general public comment. During general public comment, members of the public may speak to any of the items or anything else in a city's subject matter jurisdiction. Have a couple more announcements. If I could have the interpreters make this first one aloud to the room, please. If you require a Spanish language interpreter, please make sure to pause every few sentences so the interpreters can interpret. Don't worry, we will pause your time while the interpreters are interpreting so you will get the same amount of time as everyone else. Thank you. Additionally, if you've made an accommodation request under the ADA with the clerk's office or if you would like to in order to use the wireless handheld microphone, please let the sergeants know when it's your turn to speak that you would like to use the wireless handheld microphone. Finally, in order to accommodate as many people as possible, we would ask that you please wait to line up until after you hear the name that you signed up under called aloud. The order in which the names are called is at random. That is to say, it is randomly generated. Thank you. And uh before we call names, uh members, we have a little over 50 people who are on the queue to speak. So, we're going to allow 1 hour for public comment today. So, we will take public comment until 11:45. Also, we will close the queue so that uh we won't have any new signups between now and then. So, we will take public comment from now until 11:45. Let's go ahead and call names. >> I will now begin to call the following names. Laura Raymond, Nico Gardner, Mora O'Neal, Amy Linda Naves, and Carlos Saberia. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Item 17 and general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute for the item and one minute for general. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Good morning, council members. My name is Mora O'Neal. I'm a policy analyst for Better Neighbors LA. We're a coalition focused on regulating short-term rentals to preserve long-term housing in Los Angeles and Southern California. I'd like to urge the council to remove section five from the proposed reports in item 17. This item threatens to resurrect the vacation rental ordinance, which was voted down in 2023 because of the devastating impact it would have on LA's long-term residents. The vacation rental ordinance would undo the home sharing ordinances foundations and impede the city's enforcement of current short-term rental laws, a task the council has been working on for years. The enormous increase in short-term rentals under the vacation rental ordinance, roughly 31,000, would effectively reverse the primary residency requirement provision of the HSO and prioritize the profit of corporate short-term rental operators over tenants. Not only do short-term rentals decrease housing supply, but they have also been shown to increase rents. Passing the ordinance will affect not general public comment. >> Thank you. Passing the ordinance will affect not only housing affordability for residents, but also the scale of housing related social services that the city will need to provide. We urge the council to remove section five from the proposed reports in item 17 and focus on long-term housing solutions for LA's residents. Thank you for your time. Before the next speaker begins, I will be calling the next few names. B Currell, Jake Pierce, Adriana A, Mary Estoma, and Victor Morelo. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Uh, general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. >> Thank you. My name is Amy Linda Nevarez and I'm here with Sage. I'm here to ask the council to vote against any amendments to ULA. Um, from the beginning, the real estate lobby has been determined to sabotage ULA by identifying loopholes, filing lawsuits, and introducing bad faith legislation to repeal it. They spent millions fighting it at the ballot, failed, and launched a lawsuit that also failed. Why would you all believe anything that they say? Developers don't like paying the tax, and they're using every excuse in the book to get rid of it. Blaming ULA for a slowdown in housing production is ridiculous. What about high interest rates, inflation, insurance, and all other factors that contribute to the real estate market? The amendments that were proposed would reduce who pays into ULA and delay when revenue is collected. This will make it more difficult to solve our affordability housing crisis. It's imperative you stay the course and give a chance to let ULA work. And that means not losing our nerve every time LA's real estate industry invents a new story about how the sky is falling. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Good morning. I'm speaking general public comment and item 17. >> Okay. Okay. So, you have one minute for the item and one minute for general. Go ahead. >> All right. Thank you. Good morning, council. On behalf of United Teachers Los Angeles, uh we asked the council to reject any amendments to ULA. Billionaires and corporate developers are coming hard after this program precisely because it is working because it is showing that you could spend public dollars to build to build a city that working people can afford. UTLA has been proud to support Measure UA ULA from the start and stand in solidarity with the thousands of tenants, workers, housing justice organizations, and community groups who have championed this vital funding source for affordable housing and we have no plans on stopping. We are doubling down on our support for this program. The 38,000 38,000 members of UTLA joined thousands of others and asking you to protect ULA. The high cost of housing is driving our educators out of the profession. that is driving our students into homelessness or out of the city. We ask you to protect this vital program for affordable housing and homelessness prevention because are we a city for billionaires and and for luxury housing or are we going to build affordable housing for working people? We ask you to protect ULA. Um and on item 17, we just simply ask the city council to remove section five um from from item 17 and reject the vacation rental ordinance entirely. Thank you so much. Good morning. Which items? >> Um I'm Miss Loretta Lorraine. I'm doing item 14 and public comment. >> Okay. So you have one minute for the item and one minute for general. >> Hello. >> Item 14 and public comment. Okay. My issues is I I know Hernandez and Miss and Miss uh Heather Hunt and and uh Ugo Martini, they are with the program. They're doing things. The other council people and and it looks like you pick and choose. I don't believe in picking and choosing. I've always believed in what's people's right. There's a lot of issues in LA right now that a lot of manners in the transgender community. I'm not coming up in here with a mustache and a beard. I've been a transgender woman for 60 years and I'm going to stand what is right. I believe in human rights and what you supposed to do. We got enough issues out there. Stop picking that pick and choosing. Do what you supposed to do because all of you don't want to listen. Y'all have a lot of people have come in here and disrespect you. I come with respect and honesty and you didn't give me my two minutes cuz I I was going to item four 14. Is it 14? >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you very much. With the police matters. The police, they get their money. They got money from the government over here from from Nuen. They make too much money. They want to build jails and give them more guns. They just killed some young lady in in um uh her name was Linda. What a manners. They're they're killing our people. Y'all giving them more money to buy more guns. And they're the ones the situation what Donald Trump is doing with ISIS and all that. Y'all got too many issues going on right now that y'all had to make better for this people on the streets. We have a drug population. The world is the the city is getting dirty. Clean it up. Get it together, y'all. and make sure that y'all can make the right choices and stop picking and choosing. Make the right choices to help this situation in LA. Thank you very much, Miss Heather. And okay, >> next speaker. Before the next speaker begins, I will be calling the next few names. Eva Garcia, Jonathan Hail, Alejandro Mendes, and you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? Good morning. I'd like to speak to item 14 and then general public comment. >> Okay. So, you have one minute for the item and one minute for general public comment. Please begin with the item. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon, council members. My name is Jonathan Brazil and I live and work in district 10 and I'm here in strong support of the TGI Wellness and Equity Initiative, a $4 million investment organization serving transgender, gender expansive, and interex and Angelinos. For years, community members in the Trans Latino Coalition have urged the city to make real sustained investments in TGI lives, especially as federal funding for DEI related services continues to decline. TGI people have long faced discrimination, criminalization, and now increasing attacks on access to gendering care and basic freedoms. This makes local action more urgent than ever. Across all levels of government, TGI people experience disproportionate homelessness, violence, and barriers to essential services. Funding TGIE and TGI serving organizations is a concrete step towards equity and aligns with the city's commitment to a more inclusive Los Angeles. We uplift city leaders who understand that equity, racial justice, and TGI rights are interconnected. >> General public comment. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> I'm speaking on um items 17 and 19. >> Okay. So, item 19 is is been uh referred to committee, so it's not open for public comment, but you can speak to it during general. So, we have one minute for the item 17 and one minute for general. Go ahead. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Mary and Toma. I'm an organizer with Unite Here Local 11. Los Angeles has already acknowledged the damage caused by short-term rentals and approved new enforcement tools to crack down on illegal activity. Expanding short-term rentals to second homes will create new loopholes, reducing housing supply and undermine existing protections that prioritize homes for long-term residents. Please reject this harmful proposal and remove recommendation number five and for um general comment. >> Okay, you have one minute. >> Additionally, our union collected thousands of signatures to create Measure ULA, the significant housing source. We cannot pass exemptions that undermine this policy at the 11th hour. Any changes to Measure ULA without the community should not happen. Thank you. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? Eva Garcia. >> Hi, good morning. My name is Eva Garcia. I'm from Community Power Collective and I would like to give a general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. So, as I was saying, we come here each day and we're suffering and we are struggling and we're here to protest what is happening with measure ULA. And I would also specifically like to talk to the council members because we come here, your community is here and you're not even paying attention to us. And that's why I'm telling you, you have to support the community. Landlords are vulnerable right now, but they want to go ahead and attack the tenants and that's why we need something like ULA to protect us. And that's why we won ULA. We went out to fight for it and we went out into the streets to get people to vote for it. And again, so I'm asking you, stop disrespecting the community. Pay attention to us when we come here to give public comment. And for those people who have whispered sweet nothings to us, we know that it's hypocritical. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? Uh trans latina coalition tg. >> Uh good morning. I'm here in representation of the trans latino coalition and to talk about TGI. Um, my name is Adriana Aragona. I'm here to support trans women and I'm also here to talk about the TGI Wellness Initiative. And I'm here to talk about the the $4 million investment in community organizations that provide services to the trans community. The Trans Latino Coalition as well as other communities have requested that the city of Los Angeles truly invest in this community. And the only thing that I would like to remind you all is to not forget that the money that you receive is for the people and from the people. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Okay. Hi, good morning. My name is Alejandro Mendes. Uh, I am from CPC, Community Power Collective, and I am from Los Angeles. So I'm here um like many other people who are like me that have um as well as the many people who are outside right now I'm not working um and I am surviving at this time with my daughter who is working and uh my only hope is that you not repeal ULA when there's so many people who are in need as well as other tenants. >> Speaker, your time is expired. Next speaker. >> Speaker, we have to move on to the next speaker. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Item 14, item 17, and general public comment. Okay, so you have two minutes for the items and one minute for general. Please begin with the items. Go ahead. >> Item 14, public safety committee report relative to the supplemental police account second quarterly report 2025. When I took a screenshot of this item early this morning, the report was attached to the agenda item, but now somehow it's no longer attached. Item 17, transit occupancy tax for those staying in hotels, motel for 30 days or less, increased by 4% until 2028 with a permanent 2% tax thereafter. Parking occupancy tax with a current rate of 10% increased by 5%. Cannabis business tax parody rate increase not applicable. Duration permanent. These are a lot of tax increases for city residents when Mayor Bass is proposing tax exemption, not only for rebuilding properties due to the 2025 fires, but now also any purchases and restoration of buildings using Measure A funds that come directly from your constituents. General public comment. >> This past Friday, LAPD knocked on my door to do a wellness check on my roommate. They found her unresponsive in the room next to mine. We shared a wall. When they entered her room, they unholstered their weapons. Everywhere I go, I see the ways in which lack of care and support destroy black and brown TGI and queer people. In the streets, through my phone, at my place of employment, and now in my home, so much grief and unspoken pain. I don't want to see another black queer body being taken out of my home. I don't want to call their families or set up interviews with LA Times for the slaying by LAPD of Linda Basada. Also during a wellness check or even to discuss it here with nothing being done with urgency about it. I hate telling people how my day went and feeling like I might be trauma dumping, but no, it's just another Friday. >> Speaker, your time is expired. We have to move on to the next speaker. >> So for everyone here, if you speaker, we have I thank you for coming. We have to move on to the next speaker. So for everyone here, we have to give everybody the same amount of time to speak. Um, if for whatever reason you run out of time during your public comment period or if we run out of time and cannot take your comment today, you can always provide additional public comment at lacounsilcomment.com. Again, that's laouncilcomment.com. You can find that at the top of the URL at the top of every council agenda. You can also do a quick Google search and it should be one of the first things that comes up. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? I'd like to speak on two the two items like my two minutes that I'm allocated to speak on. Um one for public comment. >> You you have one you can have the one for general but you said two two items. Which two items? >> No, I'm I'm requesting my two minutes. One for the support for the ULA and for public comment. >> So the ULA item has been referred to committee so it's not open for public comment but you can speak to it during general. So you have one minute for general public comment. Go ahead. Good morning and thank you so much for the opportunity to be here before you. My name is Bambi Salceto and I I'm the president and CEO of the Transatin Coalition. I'm here on behalf of about 50 people that are still waiting to get in here and some of my friends and colleagues and family who are here to um request and to really ask this council to move forward the TGIE. We need two people, one to submit the petition and one to be a uh co-sponsor and obviously we need all of your votes to make sure that transgender expansive and interex people are able to receive support and services that we deserve. This is to support translate organizations that provide services to our community. As we know, right now is the time to stand in solidarity with our community and to really stand against the federal government who is attacking and trying to de disappear trans people. So I ask you to please be bold and and >> speaker your time has expired. >> We will now be calling the next few names. Joseph Cohen May I Nikia Cornish, Andrea Romero, and Mike Asphalt. Yeah. Who's the next speaker? >> I believe they're coming up. >> Hi. Item 17, please. >> Item 17. >> Yes, please. >> So, you have one minute for the item. Go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you. Hi, my name is Andrea Romero and I'm a member of Unite Here Local 11. I urge you to oppose the vacation rentals ordinance and remove recommendation five from your report on revenue options for the budget allowing second homes to be listed as short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb and Verbbo would allow for increased conversions of housing into hotels and directly contradict the council's recent actions to strengthen enforcement of the home sharing ordinance. The city should be cracking down on illegal short-term rentals, not expanding short-term rentals. This proposal will not solve budget challenges. Allowing vacation rentals will make um enforcement of our existing laws more difficult, and remove homes from our neighborhoods. That is exactly why the council previously abandoned this proposal and allowed the file to expire. Please focus on real solutions that protect residents and preserve housing. Do not move this proposal forward in any form. Thank you. >> Next speaker, >> we will now be calling the next few names. Greg Bonnet, Maria Selenz, Becky Demonson, Anna Kerion, Andrea Vocas, and Cheeky Charles. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> General public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. >> I'm Jerry Jones with the Greater LA Coalition on Homelessness. Uh speaking in opposition to any motion that would scale back ULA. uh we do not have enough funding already to deal with the housing crisis in front of us and uh so this is not the time to be um changing the motion. And if the if this ballot motion was or excuse me, this ballot measure was changed, it would need to be in coordination with the community and labor partners who gathered 98,000 signatures and spent the shoe leather and the uh bare knuckles on doors and the the tremendous effort to explain this proposal to the voters when it was passed overwhelmingly. And so if there are changes to be made, they they need to be coordinated with those allies who uh created ULA in the first place. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? Good or good afternoon. My name is Sophia Mendoza speaking public comment and item number 17. >> Okay, so you have one minute for the item 17 and one minute for general. Go ahead. We're here because we do not want funds to be removed from measure ULA. >> We have fought to get that law. As a renter, it has benefited not only me but many other people as well. I am a renter who has been u who has been harassed by her landlord two times. I have sued twice and I got adequate legal representation. And thank you to that measure, we have been able to to orient ourselves uh thanks to the the clinics. And I can say that when we do not have legal representation, we lose our cases and we are basically left out on the street. >> General public comment. We ask the council to remove section number five. And we ask them that they remove it from item 17 that will initiate a reform for the tourist ordinance and for the council to to reject it completely. And we ask to the person who is announcing the names to not wait until the the people are not there anymore standing to do it continuously as the people are lining up so that we do not lose time. >> Gracias. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? ision. >> Hello, my name is Anna Kerion. I represent district 8 of Mr. Harris Dawson. >> I'm here representing Sage today here to speak about general public comment and item number 17. Many of you have supported ULA which has allowed contributed to workers being able to uh access affordable housing. Now is the moment to let ULA move forward and let it work. And ULA is not only ULA's is uh not only uh move forward by the voters, it is also a model for the nation to be able to to access affordable housing uh with adequate funds. I am asking the council to remove section five from item number 17. have the ability to enforce the law on renters and uh shortterm for short-term rental agreements. >> And statistics show that uh renting at 60% of short-term rentals are actually illegal. And this would uh approving this ordinance would recompensate the operators who are breaking the law. This would create problems for more than 30 mill 30,000 with with the capacity to administrate them >> before the next speaker um begins. We'll be calling the next few names. Bambi S, Doulce Moreno, Vilmo Valquez, Jennifer Q, and Maya Daniels. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Uh, Buenos Diaz, I'm going to speak on general public comment as well as item number seven. Before I get started, I would just appreciate everyone's attention, uh, to your constituents. Thank you. >> So, uh, you have one minute for the item number seven and one minute for general. Please begin with the item. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Uh, my name is Chichi Navaro. I'm part of the Trans Latina Coalition as a policy intern. Los Angeles is in a state of crisis and our communities are running out of time. transgender, gender non-conforming, and interex immigrants, Angelinos are dying on our streets because we do not have the resources that we need to survive. We're lacking housing. We're lacking safety. We're lacking wellness supports and lacking the basic infrastructure that every human being deserves. And while our community struggles to meet this most basic needs, this city continues to invest billions in enforcement instead of care. With nearly a 14 billion budget, nearly a quarter goes to LAPD. While TGIE programs receive nothing. This is not a resource shortage. It is a resource allocation choice and is costing lives. We need this council to introduce the TGI Wellness and Equity Initiative immediately. TGIE is a life-saving proposal built by community experts who understand the crisis firsthand. Every day you delay, more lives are lost. We cannot wait. We need urgent investment today for item number seven. Um, item number seven will deepen a crisis that is already killing people across the city. Expanding 41.18 does not just harm TGI people. It harms black and brown unhoused residents, disabled Angelinos uh seniors youth immigrants, and anyone surviving without stable housing. These are the communities already dying at the highest rates, and this policy pushes them even further into danger. Every sweep destroys medication, mobility, aids, hormones, IDs, and the belongings people need to stay alive. Every force displacement isolates people from outreach workers from community and from the few resources they rely on. This is not public safety. It is state sanctioned harm. And for communities already facing disproportionate policing and violence, it is deadly. It if this city is serious about saving lives, expanding 41.18 is the wrong direction. reject item 17 and invest in real solutions housing services and community-led programs that actually keep the people alive. Listen to your constituents. Listen to the community. Your position in this city council is not guaranteed. And keep in mind, we are paying attention. History will remember you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Uh general public comment and item 17. >> Okay. So, you have one minute for item 17 and one minute for general. Please begin with the item. Go ahead. >> Uh, hi everyone. My name is Laura Raymond and I co-chared the Yes on ULA campaign back in 20 uh 22 uh together with my co-chair April Barrett from SEIU 2015. Um, and I also served on the ULA COC for two years where I helped draft the program guidelines for our 11 programs. Uh, ULA, as you all know, the implementation of it, it's going to be very tough long-term work. It's going to take all of us in this room working together to get this right. Um, and I'm very concerned with the proposal that's been brought forward uh in the way that I think it will damage the relationships that we need to to implement ULA. Well, um it's been a closed-d dooror process and it also offers no alternative ideas to replace critical revenue for our 11 ULA programs which will prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing. I also fear that this is going to erode trust in the city at a time when we need the city to be seen as a place residents can trust with our tax dollars. >> Your one minute for general public comment has expired. I believe you were speaking to ULA. Um so we have one minute for item 17 if you'd like. Go ahead. >> Yes. Um, and I guess the the last thing I just want to note is we're not going to get another chance like ULA. This is a once in a-lifetime opportunity uh to actually address our homeless and housing crisis. Um, it's like we were telling voters in the campaign, it's really a historic opportunity and we all need to work together to make it a success. So, thank you so much for the opportunity and I hope we can move forward from here. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Items general public comment and 17. >> Okay. So, you have one minute for item 17 and one minute for general. I'm going to ask the same thing we've been asking during the entire meeting. Please start with item 17 and then you can go to the general public comment. Go ahead. >> Okay. As a real estate transfer tax, I'm speaking on item 17 as well as uh a general public comment. My name is Alfonso direto with the ACT LA coalition uh based on 50 organizations advancing housing and transit in LA. 387 million to build hundreds of units of affordable housing will be awarded in the coming weeks. And due to ULA, this will happen once, if not twice, every year. ULA is working and things are just getting started. ULA is providing the solution that the city needs, not the problem that needs fixing. Apartments built by and owned by nonprofit affordable housing developers and owners are already exempt from ULA on purpose. Expanding that exemption to include every apartment owner and builder exacerbates the homelessness and housing crisis we have. ULA went into effect with a key with a host of um complex national economic conditions such as high interest rates and tariffs. to reduce the conditions down to ULA is counterproductive and unjust. >> ULA has been a part of Acta has been part of ULA since the beginning and our polling found then just as it's probably gone uh even worse is that the mistrust in government is deeper and in that condition community voices and tenants are the trusted messengers on housing not city council. So a city backed ballot measure to amend ULA is counterproductive and unnecessary and ineffective. I urge you to reject this ballot measure and fully implement ULA as voters overwhelmingly approved. Thank you. >> Before the next speaker commence, I will be calling the next few names. Joey Martinez, Yavon Wheeler, Miguel Monttero, Sadrick Farmer, Nella Mo M, and Josephina G. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Uh, general public comment, please. Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. >> Good morning. My name is Nick Casey and I'm a trans queer non-binary voting resident of District 10, a member of the Angels of Change Leadership Academy, and I'm here speaking in support of the TGI Wellness and Equity Initiative as a board member on behalf of LA Pride, Christopher Street West. LA Pride's work has always been about visibility paired with responsibility. And that responsibility includes standing in solidarity with initiatives that materially improve the lives of the TGI community. The TGIE initiative is a community-built investment in care over criminalization and investment over erasure. LA Pride calls on the council to please place the TJI initiative on an upcoming agenda and fully fund it, affirming that Los Angeles doesn't just celebrate inclusion, we invest in it. Thank you. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Item 17 and general comments. >> Okay. So, you have one minute for the item and one minute for general. Please begin with the item. Go ahead. >> Okay. Good morning. On behalf of the 800,000 union members across Los Angeles County, I rise today in opposition of any amendments to ULA. Let us remember why we here. ULA was not written in the back room. It was written out of lived experiences, by housing advocates, policy experts, and working people who see the human cost of this crisis every single day. And then it was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of this city. Construction workers voted for it. Home care workers voted for it. Teachers voted for it. Nurses, janitors, grocery workers, and the very people who keep Los Angeles working voted for it. ULA was bent built on one simple but powerful idea. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness. We cannot ignore it. We cannot turn a blind eye to it. But we must prevent people from falling into homelessness. And we must build housing that working people can actually afford. And that's what ULA does. >> It keeps families housed. >> Speaker, you've exhausted your one minute for general, but you have your one minute for item 17. I'm going to ask that you please stick to the item. Go ahead. >> Okay. It supports tenants at risk of eviction and it creates permanent affordable housing so that people who serve the city can also live in it. Let's be honest about the pressure you're under today. ULA has been under relentless attacks from the billionaire class. The same interest that have filed lawsuit after lawsuit to avoid paying their fair share. Weakening ULA now would send a message that when powerful developers push hard enough, voter mandates can be carved out. And here's the truth. ULA is working. >> So, can we hold our time? Speaker, you you've exhausted your one minute for general public comment where you could speak to ULA. Right now, you're on item 17. Okay. All right. So, go ahead. >> So, I vote and urge everyone to protect ULA. Stand with voters, stand with working families, and let's build Los Angeles where the people who build it, this city can afford to live in it. Thank you. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> 1719 and general public comment. >> Okay. So, item 19 is not open for public comment as it's been referred to committee, but you have one minute for item 17 and one minute for general. I'm going to ask that you please stick to item 17 first before moving on to general public comment. Go ahead. >> Noted. Good morning. Nella McCoscer with CCA here to um speak to the proposed TOT and parking increases. We urge you to take a balanced approach that looks at the city's fiscal needs, supports tourism, and prever preserves our economic competitiveness. Um LA runs on economic engines, and we're actively weakening them by moving forward with tax increases on the table today. Downtown is the clearest example. 30% of our toot parking and business tax revenue have come from this section of the city. When you tax this engine further, you don't just slow downtown, you reduce your own ability to pay for services everywhere else across the city. Visitors can go to Glendale and Burbank where toot is nearly half of what is being proposed here. I know that there are proposals on the table to decrease the overall amount as well as other solutions. That is in the right direction because streets are cleaner, safer, and better in these other cities. Common sense dictates as well that we need to look at what is already collected before we consider any rate increases. And so thinking about the parking tax, there are operators who are already complying with the current um tax increase while others are not fully giving what they owe. So thank you for your balance in the discussion that's to come considering all sides where not everyone gets what they want, but we're balancing the priorities of the city, the economic engines, and your own ability to balance the budget. Thank you. >> Before the next speaker begins, I will be calling the next few names. Um, Angelina J, JC Lacy, Desane Canalie, Alica V, and Jerry J. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Hi, good morning. I would like to make a general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. >> Hi, my name is Miguel Monttero and I'm a part of Sage Strategic Actions for Just Economy and I want to talk about ULA. So, ULA has been in effect for almost three years, and over time, more than $1 billion have been collected by the city. These billion dollars have prevented more than 10,000 people from falling into homelessness, funded nearly 800 affordable homes, and accelerated 10,000 union jobs. If we put into the effect these amendments that Nia Ramen has proposed, those in favor will create an uptick in homelessness. We will move backwards in building a equitable housing landscape and you will feed profit-driven real estate investors at the cost of putting thousands of Angelenos in a vulnerable stance or on the street. Do not move forward with these ULA amendments and consider the local impacts this can have on the broader community that you all represent. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Good morning. I wish to speak on uh item 17 please. >> Okay, so you have one minute for item 17. Go ahead. >> Good morning, board. Uh this is a moment uh for common sense. We can either risk more layoffs, cut city services, or find ways to fund them. Allowing responsible short-term rentals brings in tourism dollars and tax revenue without raising taxes on residents. This is what smart smart governance looks like. Creative solutions to real problems. Let's pass a balanced forwardinking ordinance. Thanks a lot. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to >> for a general comment? >> Okay, so you have one minute. >> All right. Well, good afternoon. My name is Jovon Wolf. I'm a trans veteran, organizer, artist, and community member. I'm representing Trans Latino Coalition as an angel of change, as well as the executive director of Invisible Men. I'm here to bring light and speak in support for the TGI Wellness and Equity Initiative. This initiative would help fund trans, twospirit, non-binary, interex, and gender diverse and serving community-based organizations doing the hard work every single day to keep our community supported and uplifted. We are their lifeline and we demand your support. Okay? These organizations provide critical services for our overlooked communities like housing, access to healthy food, healthcare, employment, among other vital resources. It's time for the city to LA to make good on its promises to be for everyone. Okay? Because you if you truly say you're for everyone that resides here in LA, but you and all of us know that we have been marginalized, pushed to the sidelines, and we continue to be an afterthought in your budgets and your agendas. >> Your time is expired. >> Next speaker. Good morning. Which speak which items would you like to speak to? >> Good morning. Any translations? Okay. Good morning to everyone particularly Miss Nitia Ramen. I would really like for you to pay attention to my comment, please. >> I'm really saddened by your behavior because sometimes you act like you're for the people and then sometimes you don't. And respectfully, I'm speaking to you because I was really disheartened by what I heard. We all work worked for ULA so that we could have affordable homes for the people. Like another commenter had said, she said, "The money is for the people and from the people. and for affordable housing. Much gracias. Thank you very much. >> Before the next speaker commences, I will be calling the next few names. Maria Sanchez, Aen K, Carla De Pass, and Aland Aleandra B. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> General P uh public comment and item number 17. Okay. So, you have one minute for item 17 and one minute for general. Please begin with the item. Go ahead. >> My name is Alika Baldez. Um I am um a member we have on stage. Um these amendments will weaken ULA's revenue stream. Los Angeles cannot solve its affordable housing crisis without building more affordable housing. ULA gives Los Angeles a huge dedicated permanent revenue stream to build in just two and a half years. It has raised more than $1 billion thus for housing. If we amend ULA, Los Angeles will have less money to build and it will be harder to solve our housing crisis. These amendments are undemocratic. Measure ULA was passed by 58% of voters in 2022. Tampering with ULA undermines the will of the majority. These amendments are being rushed through without input from stakeholders. Any amendments or changes to ULA should come from a thoughtful transparent process that includes renters, tenant advocates, community organizations. I am going to speak item 17. So the vacation rental ordinance would raise for LA residents and increase homelessness. The ordinance would create roughly 3,100 new STR permits. LA residents currently pay 810 a year extra in rent because of the 900 900 um 9,000 STRs we currently have. Imagine 3,100 new ones. Similarly, 5,000 people are currently made homeless because of STRs. We would expect that number to grow dramatically if the VRO is passed. We ask that the city council remove section 5 initiating a report back on the vacation rentals ordinance from item number 17 and reject the vacational rental ordinance entirely. I just hope that history will not will repeat because ULA will never be the same. >> Thank you. Hello. Good morning. I'd like to be speaking. General, >> which which items would you like to speak to? >> General comment. >> Go ahead. You have one minute. >> Thank you. Greetings, council members. My name is D. a Kentley, a tenant, a community member and an advocate for the work of ULA on the ballot whom and which has made great impacts and for Angelenos to get house, stay house and construction jobs so far. There is still work to do and we need time to complete the reality with ULA and an intention of care and with communities in mind. The people have already spoken, so let us continue to do the work with no further delays. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming in. And the item I'm going to speak on first is number 14. And then I have a uh comment for just general public. >> Okay. So you have one minute for item 14 and one minute for general. Go ahead. >> Very good. Thank you this morning for coming in and putting a smile on your faces. I think you all deserve a round of applause for that as many people do not tell you. So now let's get into number 14. Something about with the police and building the financial budget etc. I have nothing to say about that because I support our police 100%. Thank you for being out on the street. Thank you for doing what you do. The only thing that I'm going to say to you is this. There are people dying in the streets because police do not know how to basically handle transgender individuals. We need sensitivity training and we need it now. If we don't get it, there's going to be more out in the street. Now, next general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one. >> So, I am here because I want to tell you, please support the TGI uh funding. Okay? Not only will it get people off the streets, but it helps our youth. Are you out there prostituting? They're doing drugs. They have no one that they can turn to. You take this money away and you will put them in their graves. You take this money away and you will put everyone else who does not have a home or has something that they need to overcome in their graves. I am not here to tell you anything but sugar. I am here to tell you that exactly it is what it is. Every day that you wake up, you remember that this could be one of your family members. Let's support everyone. We make the money and you guys get it. Let's put it to use. Thank you very much. And this is from a former Miss Universe trans and also someone that has been in this community and is a taxpayer. Thank you. >> We will now be calling the next few names. Chenned Alvarez, Jessica P. Gloria Martinez, Maria B, and Loretta Lorraine. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Good morning. I'm here to give general public comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. Act la. Hi, good morning everyone. Uh, my name is Alejandra Belran. I am from Trust South LA and I am part of a uh leadership group called ACT LA and I'm here to ask you to vote no to modifying measure ULA. So as a person who has lived in so permanent social housing, I can personally attest to the improved mental health along with many other benefits that have resulted from having a stable place to live. for the president to pre please look carefully and to be very uh thoughtful when talking about any sort of modifications and amendments that need to be done to measure ULA. Thank you very much. Speaker, >> your time is expired. Next speaker. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> Uh, good morning. General public comment please. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. >> Good morning. My name is Azen Khan Malik and I'm the executive director of Abundant Housing LA. Uh, I'd like to take a moment to commend Council Member Ramen for doing a difficult thing, pushing forward an important but controversial conversation. Abundant Housing LA was and still is proud to have endorsed Measure ULA, but we also recognize that there's clearly a need for narrow targeted reform to reduce cost to multifamily housing development. Two things can be true at the same time. ULA raises critical funds for affordable housing and tenant programs and its application to multifamily housing is suppressing the production of muchneeded homes. I sincerely hope that with the additional time afforded by referral of this ULA motion to committee, all stakeholders can constructively work together uh to find a solution that facilitates housing production and potentially raises additional revenue to keep these critical funds whole. Thank you very much. Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> General comment. >> Okay, so you have one minute. Go ahead. >> My name is Jessica and I'm with Liberty Hill Foundation. I ask that you review the letters Liberty Hill, UHLA, and Right to Council Coalition have submitted to the council file and we ask to continue the following conversation with council member Ramen in good faith. once in good faith. Once again, flawed and premature data is being used to justify the gutting of measure ULA. Do you not see all the tenants and community- based organizations here who fought hard for ULA to pass? This measure was designed to tax the rich and to fund communitydriven solutions to prevent homelessness. And it's working. Federal cuts are happening. And instead of protecting the largest source of local revenue to prevent homelessness, you are actively working towards cutting the revenue for whose benefit? Use that energy to focus on implementing ULA, not watering it down. Use that energy to partner with us to continue to center the needs of the most at risk Angelinos. This ballot amendment effort is not about protecting ULA from repeal, but about giving into real estate pressure through carveouts, exemptions, and delays. So side with the people, not the billionaires. Thank you. >> Good morning. Which items would you like to speak to? >> General public comment support the ULA. >> My name is Alejandra Alejandra. I am a member of the fast food workers union. I work on Taco Bell in District 8. I work at Taco Bell and file a Colossia complaint after I was being chased by a by a man uh that was doing sexual sexual comments to my co-workers. Violence like this occurs constantly. Since we were never trained on how to protect ourselves, so in the matter, I grabbed the pizza cutter to defend myself. We should have been had a working panic button or a prevention plan. But instead, when I spoke up about what happened, the the management decided to move me and cut my hours. Well, we shouldn't have been silenced. They Well, I'm not going to stay silenced. Fast food workers need to know their rights and training so we could enforce the law and uh please take the immediate action to pass the fa fast food fair workers ordinance without any future delays. Thank you. >> All right, that concludes public comment for today's meeting. Madam clerk, uh what items are before us? >> Mr. President Council may now vote on items 2 3 5 6 8 10 12 through 16 as well as 18, sir. >> All right, let's open the roll on those items. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right, what's next? Next would be item four and that was called special by council member Herado for a separate vote. >> All right, let's open the roll on item number four. Call special by council member Hurado for a separate vote. Let's close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 11 eyes, three no. >> All right. What's next? >> Next would be item seven. that was called special for two things. There uh is a substitute resolution Yavoski Mikoscer and also council member Herado uh called it special for a separate vote for the uh question the first council should vote on whether to substitute or not for item seven sir. All right, let's open the role on substitution. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. And now we'll open the roll on the question. >> Uh, yes, sir. And now it's the res the new resolution. Yawovski Mccoscer. That's the one that should be voted on. >> All right. We're opening the roll on that item. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 11 eyes, three. >> All right. What's next? Council member Hernandez is requesting be documented as a no vote on item number seven. >> So for the record, item seven, the vote is now 10 eyes's and four nos. That resolution still passes. >> All right. What's next? Next would be item nine and that was called special for comments by Mr. Blumenfield as well as Miss Rodriguez. >> All right, Council Member Rodriguez. >> Thank you. Um colleagues, I'm I'm thankful that this item is now finally before us to uh disclose exparte communications on a charter reform process that was initially inspired by these uh you know calls for reform. Well, I'll wait. >> Mr. City Attorney, sorry, Mr. I'm trying to see. I can't see who yelled out, but for people who are exiting the room uh because public comment is now over, we would ask that you'd please do so quietly. If you don't and you continue to interrupt the council members as they are speaking, you'll be subject to rule 7 and rule 12 uh and warned and potentially subsequently removed. I'm sorry, council member. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez. >> Thank you. Uh so again, I'm I'm thankful that we now finally have this item before us and I want to thank the city attorney for helping to get the language in quickly so that we could get this uh transmitted and voted on. Uh but it is already about five months, six months late. Uh the whole objective around charter reform process was supposed to be born and birthed around the idea of greater transparency and reform in this city. And sadly, this charter reform process has been manipulated and and uh really controlled by conversations that are not being transmitted to the public. And so it's ironic that so much of this was originally proposed by events that people were so offended by that they wanted to lead greater conversations around transparency and reform. And yet this very process has been dinged and obstructed from having that transparency in the communications that are happening for the proposals that have been coming forward to the charter reform commission. And so sadly this is late. uh the Charter Reform Commission is going to be transmitting their recommendations eminently and so all the uh you know exparte communications that have transpired and we know they've transpired uh have been kept out of public view but I'm thankful that now here we are to make sure that any communications that elected officials or their staffs are having with the charter reform commissioners ERS is now going to be documented uh and disclosed. And so again, I'm uh disappointed that it's taken this long, but happy that we're finally here. And I ask for your I vote. >> Council member Padilla. >> Colleagues, transparency and government is essential to maintaining public trust, especially when we're considering changes as significant as charter reform. So, Council Member Rodriguez, um, thank you for leading on this. It's important that our constituents have a clear understanding of what ideas are being considered by this commission and how recommendations are coming together. The work of the Charter Reform Commission will shape how our city governs itself for years to come. And the public deserves to have confidence in how these decisions continue to be formed. Independence and transparency can and should go hand in hand. And let's not forget how controversial and how contentious and how much we all talked about how we wanted this commission to even look like and how they worked and yet we haven't gotten any updates. So when proposals have the potential to alter the structure and function of our local government, there must be confidence that they are being developed openly, not through informal informal or undisclosed conversations. So colleagues, I do respectfully ask for your support on this motion because we are weeks away on potentially saying whether we do or don't want to put this on the ballot and then you never know what'll happen at the ballot. So given the scandals of the past and our inability to do anything with what happened, I highly recommend that we do this. Thank you, >> Council Member Blumenfield. >> Thank you, colleagues. I have a slightly different take on this. Uh I'm not arguing or lobbying against it and I and it the intentions but of putting this forward are really good in terms of trying to get this forward. Um I don't have an issue with commission members disclosing whether they've spoken with an elected official, but I I really want to make sure we're not sending the wrong message here. Um this is different. Unlike the redistricting commission where most council members were personally affected by the decisions about the boundaries of their council district, the city's elected officials have a much more institutional interest in the city's governance structure. We want I want the members of the charter reform commission, most of whom have very little experience in city government to speak to everyone they can who has experience with the city and the city charter who have actually governed the city and thus have a deep understanding of governance problems that the commission is supposed to be focused on solving. That includes especially council members, the mayor, the city attorney, and the controller. Elected officials are not an improper part of the discussion about the about the charter. On the contrary, we are vital to it. Not only should we be vital to it in the discussions that they have and we should all be engaging with them now, but openly, uh, it's going to come to us and we're going to have to put something forward because it is our charge to protect this institution and we know what it takes to govern it and we need to be part of that discussion. So, I just wanted to I felt compelled to to speak on this because I I know it's going to pass and and and again, I'm you who could be against disclosure. Uh but I really want to send I don't want this message to be that it's somehow bad for for council members and mayor and elected officials to be engaging in this process. To the contrary, I think we need to double down our engagement. We need to speak to those uh commissioners. They need to learn a lot more about how this city really works for this thing to be effective. So, uh, you know, with that, I I will I don't know whether to urge an eye or a no vote, but, uh, I know it's going to pass so everyone can vote for I might vote I might vote no just to, uh, just to make that point. Uh, but it's not it's not >> Mr. Bfield. >> It's already six month. But again, I I just want the message to be clear. elected officials are not unlike the redistricting where we wanted to keep out of it and we should be out of it. This is something we should be right smack in the middle of. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez. >> Thank you, Mr. Blumenfield, uh for your comments, but I I would urge an I vote just because a no vote would further delay these uh this uh transmitt of these communications. And I don't disagree with you. If you look at the composition of the commission, they don't fully understand how this government works. And in fact, many of them have made false comments about how uh or not many of them, I I I've seen reports of a commissioner misrepresenting uh the the function of the ability of potholes, for example, getting filled based on this the size of the council. So that's clearly a miss. either it was intentionally misrepresented or this individual is completely ignorant to the budgetary process and how potholes get filled. But my point is I don't disagree with you. Uh they're not fully aware and familiar with the structure or the structural deficiencies that do need to be corrected. And so I would encourage my colleagues to get more involved. I know some have gone and and spoken and addressed the commission, myself included, in person. So, yes, we can't take our eye off the ball that they're in fact having these conversations that will have very real implications for the governance structure of this city. So, I don't disagree with you and I I you know, but then there shouldn't be a problem with disclosing exactly who's having the conversations and you know where some of these ideas originated from. And I think there is some real cause for concern because you saw some very far sweeping suggestions that came forward for the elimination of the controllers's role and and some very sweeping uh proposals. and it didn't just come out of thin air. So, I think the public deserves to know and so I appreciate you, but I still urge your I vote. >> Thank you uh council members and thank you council member Rodriguez for this uh motion. I obviously trans transparency is something that we all uh want and need in uh these uh processes particularly because as a member of the charter uh the ad hoc committee on charter reform I remember we set up this commission in a way where it would have people that in fact didn't have a lot of information about the city. We actually barred a lot of people uh from it uh that wouldn't know how the city works, wouldn't know the deficiencies and the the efficiencies. Um, so I I agree with both Mr. Blumenfeld and Council Member Rodriguez. I also want to thank the city attorney for including language that bars any uh county, state, or federal prosecutor for criminally prosecuting somebody for filling out these forms wrong. I just I felt strongly and still feel strongly that you ask a person to volunteer their time for a process that we set up. we don't give them any compensation and then we create a criminal hazard in the middle of that process. I just thought that that was uh way uh beyond the pale and not the intention of uh what council member Rodriguez was putting forward. So I'm very grateful to the city attorney for including that. So with that, let's open the role, close the role, tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes, one no. >> And for the record, the ordinance is held over one week to February 3rd, 2026. You sure you don't want to reconsider, Mr. Blumenfield? >> Mr. Blumenfield would like to reconsider. >> All right. >> Uh then uh just to make it uh clean, uh nine should be the vote. There should be a vote to reconsider it now. >> All right. Let's open the roll on reconsideration. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. And now again, the vote on number nine. >> All right, let's open the roll. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. 14 eyes. >> All right. What's next? >> Next would be item 11. And there is an amendment. Motion Narian Lee on this item. >> All right. Uh can we open the role on this item as amended? Close the role. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. What's next? >> Next would be item 17. And there are multiple amendments on 17. The council should vote on the first amendment and that is 17D and that is motion makoscer hut. >> All right. Uh before we go into these motions, we got a lot of folks on the queue. I want to ask uh our budget chair if she can open up our and set the context for this conversation that's been had uh over several months in uh the budget and finance committee and uh give us an idea of what's before us today and the changes that have been proposed. >> Uh sure. Thank you very much, Council President. So colleagues, um I'm going to actually move that we um take up items 1 A, 1 B, and 1 C separately from the rest of the BNF committee report. Uh and then vote on recommendations 2 through six. Um and so this is what I want to do. I want to provide a little bit of context. So, uh, as you may know, we discussed a number of funding initiatives in committee, uh, with the office of finance and with the CEO over the last several months. Uh, with affordability and our limited time frame in mind, we recommended moving forward for consideration by this body uh, for potential ballot measures. Um we declined to recommend moving forward a half cent sales tax just given affordability um and just the issues that we're facing as a city and we hear constantly how expensive everything is already. We know that there are going to be some half cent sales tax probably on the ballot in November. Uh so what we have before us today I just want to start by saying I by no means expect or even recommend placing all four of these on the ballot. um but would like for us to have a conversation about each of them in turn. Um to the extent there are questions, Mr. Zabbo or Miss So can come forward and answer some of those questions. Uh and then we can hopefully vote in turn on each of them. And I know that there are a bunch of amendments as well. So if it's all right with you, Council President, maybe I can start out by talking about taking them a little bit out of order. If we can start with cannabis. Um, uh, council member, is there a second to council member Yarosk's, uh, motion to bifurcate? >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Great. So, with your permission, council president. >> So, so, madam clerk, do we need to vote on bifurcation or can we can we proceed? >> I think we can discuss. All right. Council member Yaroski. >> Okay, great. So there were several um several measures that we voted to bring to the full body for consideration today. Uh the one I want to talk about first is um cannabis. So right now we have as we all know a proliferation across the city of unlicensed cannabis shops, right? And um amazingly they are also exempt from paying business taxes. So they they operate illegally. um we have a very slow process by which we shut them down and then they pop up someplace else. But in the meantime, they're not paying any taxes to operate. Uh compare and contrast that with every other illegal business that operates in the city of Los Angeles, and you'll be surprised to know that there are lots of illegal businesses that operate in the city of Los Angeles. And I'll give you one example. If you're a nail salon and your license to practice is expired with the state of California, you know that certificate when you walk in is expired, you're technically not a legal business, but you are still operating it as a business. And we still collect taxes from you. We do this all the time all over the place, but for some reason, we chose not to tax illegal unlicensed cannabis shops. So, in the universe of unlicensed businesses, cannabis shops are the only ones that we don't tax right now. So, the proposal is to close that loophole and start taxing them. And I think this is beneficial for a couple of reasons. One, assuming we do collect something, which might be hard because they're illegal and may not pay taxes, um, we can use some of that money and revenue that's generated to start to shut them down. So, over time, this pot of money is going to decline. If we're doing our jobs, there will be fewer and fewer illegal pot shops, which I think we can all agree is a good thing. Um the other thing that it will do is will give us an additional cause of action to go after these illegal shops because now they're not paying their taxes, right? And so it gives us extra leverage visav these illegal operators. So this seemed um I don't want to say like a no-brainer, but it seemed like a thing that had a lot of good policy outcomes for us. I understand that there's some concern that it sends the wrong message that perhaps we can't um we can't shut them down ourselves and so we can't shut them down so let's just tax them. But I think if we have a plan in place uh where we show a commitment to actually uh use some of this money that we generate to actually enforce and go after and shut them down, I think it will be a win for our general fund and it also be a win for those who are operating in good faith with with permits and operating legally. So um that's why colleagues we recommend that we close this loophole. Uh and it requires to be put on the ballot for June. It will generate some amount of money. Uh Mr. Zabbo estimated that it could generate in the first year or two up to $70 million. Of course, collection will be difficult and like I said, over time that amount will decrease over time. Even if we bring in half of that or a quarter of that, I think the message that it sends that if you're going to operate illegally, you don't get away with also not paying taxes is is a good one. Um, and so I I will stop there on that if we want to have a conversation about this one. Uh, and then we can if that works for you. Uh members, uh there are a lot of people that are on the queue. Um I do want us to hear from uh the CAO, but uh do here's what I would suggest. Uh I think we should get a explanation on all of these things and just discuss as opposed to trying to pick who wants to talk about cannabis, who wants to talk about parking or or all the rest. So uh uh madam budget chair, if you want to uh give just a summary of the rest of them, we'll ask Mr. is able to come forward and then we can have a council discussion. >> That's great. Also, I was just notified that Matt Crawford from the Office of Finance is also here and they've done a bunch of analysis on a lot of this and helped us come up with some rough estimates of what they thought each of these would generate. So, um if there are questions for Matt, he's also here. Um next, uh I'm going to I'm going to we're going to move on to if it's okay, the parking occupancy tax. Um it's my recommendation, colleagues, that we um note and file this. Uh I think there's um personally I have a lot of concern about um affordability for Angelinos and and this is something that Angelenos will pay and um just my sense is that uh now might not be the time for a parking occupancy tax. So that would be my recommendation. Um but so we can have a conversation about POT. Uh and then um the third main bucket is around transit occupancy tax which is hotel tax and short-term rental tax. Um, and I'm going to turn it over, if it's all right, council president, to Mr. McCoscer to give an overview of that and how where we landed. And I know he has an amendment. Um, so Mr. McCosker, >> thank you very much, uh, Madam Chair, Mr. President. Uh, on the transient occupancy tax in committee, uh, we looked at the reports, one from the CIO and one from the finance department. And in the the report that recommended that we consider a 4% increase now between now and the end of uh the Olympic season then going down to a 2% increase made it through committee and that's recommended to you today. I will have an amendment and I won't speak to the amendment but just to give everyone uh uh insight in what the discussion will be. I will have an amendment to add, not amend, but to add to the recommendation that we ask the city attorney to come back with a 2% increase and going down to a 1% increase after the Olympics. So, two things would come back to us if that be is the will of the body. And it would be uh an ordinance that has the 4% 2% and an ordinance competing with it. Only one would go, I imagine, not both would not go to the ballot. a 2% going down to 1%. In addition, in addition, we have a separate measure that has been pending for some time in front of us on a more discreet issue of the platforms like a travel velocity. And that's just an example. The platforms that sell hotel rooms to to our constituents or to folks who come and visit us. And those platforms don't necessarily charge the toot on the price that the hotel that the price that the individual buys the hotel at. So let's say you're going to hotel A and you get a price of $100 on the website, but the the platform paid $60 for that hotel room. the platforms can and sometimes do pay the toot on the $60 and not on the $100 that the individual bought they bought their room for. And so we would close that loophole and I would propose that we have a standalone provision on the ballot that closes that loophole to make sure that we are actually collecting the toot on the price that the consumer pays. Seems reasonable. Estimations have been that it might be about5 or six million dollar revenue generator for us because it's just closing a loophole. In addition though, I want to be really clear about this on the toot measure that proposes a tax increase. We should also include that loophole closure. We should include a loophole closure whether it's two and four or one and two. That that loophole should be closed in that provision. So we will we would have ideally two measures on the ballot. one that increases the tax and closes the loophole and one that closes the loophole. In that instance, I want to make sure that there is language. I think we should make sure there is language in the each provision, one or both of the provisions that says should they both pass, the tax increase with the closure of the loophole will prevail. We do not want to put ourselves in a position that anyone argues later and they would be arguing against our interests and in their own financial interest to say that those two things conflict. So I just want to be really clear when that language comes back. We need the city attorney not only to help us close the loophole for the voters to consider but that we make sure we don't create an internal conflict on the two votes on the two ballot measures. Thank you. >> Thank you so much uh Mr. McCusker. And uh now we'll hear from our um CEO uh on the overall picture. Uh Council Member Hernandez really quickly while while Matt's coming up. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh Chairman, I I would like to make the motion to actually continue POT if that's possible. Um and send it back to committee. >> Madam Chair. All right. Madam Chair accepts. Got it. Okay. Mr. CEO. >> Uh thank you very much, Mr. President. Uh because the uh uh as the budget chair um uh and Mr. McCusker have uh introduced some of the items, I'm not going to go through the the full presentation, but what I do want to do before we get started with the conversation is just set the framework for for this discussion. Um so as we proceed uh and discuss each of these items um I do want to just remind uh the members that uh we have two options for the for the items that uh would require a vote of the people. obviously the June election and the November election items that would be uh to be placed on the June election. Uh there does need to be an instruction given uh to the city attorney uh to draft the resolutions and ordinances by January 28th by tomorrow and then the final date uh to act on those resolutions would be February 11th. Um the deadlines for the November election are are are in June. So the the urgency of the discussion today is is very much about the items that would be put uh to be placed on the uh on the June election. Uh just very briefly um to to frame the discussion um as everyone in this body knows uh we've had some difficult uh financial challenges over the past two years. Uh and there have been two consecutive years of budget reductions. Uh we there was much discussion about the billion dollar gap um a little over a year or just uh almost a year ago today. Um the council and the mayor, you've made the decisions that you needed to make to close that gap. Um but for next year, we are looking uh at a $91 million gap. that is uh in our outlook uh based on continuing levels of service and the assumed revenue which was in the adopted budget. However, in the last uh in the last week, there were two uh major items that were approved or making their way uh to the full council uh that do increase next year's gap. uh the $30 million uh which would be the first year of the three-year plan on the Pacific Palisades uh rebuilding fee waiverss and then the action that was taken last week uh to authorize additional hiring for LAPD that will add $25 million uh in ongoing costs for next year. So again, u this uh although an improvement uh from where we were a year ago, uh is after two years of budget cuts, a reduction of 2500 positions and an assumption that uh we are continuing service levels where they are today at the diminished levels that they are today after the last two years of budget reductions. And and just as a reminder of the incredible uh and costly needs that the city faces uh today, um at least $1 billion in uh backlog requests, this is just backlog for sidewalk repair. There are currently 6,328 requests for uh for repairs of sidewalks. Those are just requests, not the overall need. That would that would take a billion dollars to uh to address all of those requests. We also have more than 30,000 access ramps that need to be addressed uh in the city uh at a cost of 1.5 billion. Um HLA uh which was approved, it is a mandate by the voters. We had a discussion about it uh prior to the election. And I know there was some uh disagreement about uh my office's cost estimates, but the fact of the matter is uh we do not have the money today to even afford the street improvements that would trigger the additional HLA uh improvements. So, we don't even know at this point because we can't afford to do the street restructuring or uh resurfacing that would trigger those investments. Um it is a mandate. The voters approved it. We need to do it. We don't have the money for it. Uh we also have over a billion dollars in bridge repair. Um there is a huge backlog in uh in bridges that are substandard and there are at least four major bridges that are Fgraded in the city that need to be completely replaced. And as everyone uh on this council knows, we are currently on a 17-year tree trimming cycle versus best practices of five to seven years. Um so there is clearly a need in addition to the uh expenditure discipline that this body has approved um over the last two years. We need to maintain discipline, but there is absolutely a need uh particularly on the infrastructure side for additional revenue. Um I'm I won't go uh through the the items, but as we get to each item uh and as we have a discussion on each item, we will we'll walk through and I'll have a slide up that can that can guide the conversation. Um but the the first set of items, these are the items which are ready to go. Essentially, the the city attorney is prepared to provide that resolution to you by the deadline should you wish to move forward uh for a June election for these items. Um, as a reminder, the uh each of these items would be a would have a threshold of 50% because it would be a general fund tax. So, it would be up to this body to determine in the budget process how those dollars would be used. These are not a special tax. uh that would be for a specific purpose. It would address the general needs. Um I will uh Mr. President uh stop there and uh am prepared to answer questions as they arise. >> All right. Uh we got a handful of members on the queue. Uh now uh I'll just kick back to the budget chair. You've got any way to cap this and then I'll call in members starting with council members Padilla Sto Martinez and Menfield. >> Uh thank thank you council president. Um, I would just ask if Matt Crawford from the office of Here we are. Look at that. Uh, Matt, I'm not going to ask you to do it now, but colleagues, if you're interested in hearing more about the uh details around which this cannabis exemption thing happened, I think it's kind of interesting and and there's sort of like um it's sort of a double hit in the way. We can't use the fi the fees that we connect from legal cannabis shops to go after the illegal ones. And that's in the code. And then we also explicitly don't include illegal cannabis shops in the list of illegal businesses that have to pay taxes. So I I found that compelling and so of course Mr. Crawford can speak to any number of things, but in case there's more interest in learning more about uh this loophole issue. >> All right, >> I'll leave it at that. I I guess just one more thing I'll say as long as I have the mic. Um, I know that it's always hard to put taxes on the ballot and um um you know, you could see that on the last slide what all our unfunded mandates are. We have a lot of work to do to clean our own house up and make what we do more efficient and cost less. And um the budget committee is going to be taking up some of that work around contracting and making our contracting more efficient. Um uh making sure that we're getting good value rather than paying a premium. looking at how we can put our real estate assets to work for our general fund. There's a lot of things that we can and should be doing to bring our own fiscal house into order and create efficiencies and and grow revenue without raising taxes. Um, but on the tot thing, I'll just say one thing. Um, which is that, you know, the last time uh we did this was I believe ahead of the 84 Olympics. Is that correct, Matt? >> Yes. >> The tot increase. Um, and with all of these events coming to LA over the coming years, um, if if there were a time to do it, it would be now. So, thank you, Council President. >> Thank you so much, uh, Council Member Yoski. Council member Padia. >> Yes. So, mine's related to cannabis. Um, you know, given that it's something that we see in government operations, it's important for me to know how, um, we support, it's always been a priority for me to support the legal ones and tackle the illegal market. So, I understand that it's important for us to move forward with this policy change so we can hold the illegal cannabis businesses liable to taxes. However, I'm very interested in understanding more of the process. Um, because I'm sure it's much more complicated than sending out a letter. Also, it must be different from Finance's previous tax discovery efforts where they reach out to illegally operating businesses and incentivize them to pay the taxes they owe with opportunity to come into compliance and continue operating legally. The pathway for an illegal cannabis business to come into compliance with the city is much more difficulty difficult, lengthy, and complicated. So, I'm curious, what are the incentives for these shops to to pay us if it's not necessarily attached to a legal permit? >> Uh, Matt Crawford, Office of Finance. >> I can barely hear you. >> Say it again. >> I can barely hear you. >> Okay. Matt Crawford, Office of Finance. uh the the policy proposal in front of you uh still would not uh address a lot of the compliance issues around uh DCR permitting. Uh the kind of uh the the factor and that really determines what we're talking about illegal versus legal. uh what we're what we would be doing is addressing just purely the tax side. Uh the incentive structure around uh paying would be around the financial leverage that the office of finance can bring uh through collections efforts and uh taking the businesses to court uh in order to pay the liability. So this would uh bring about uh assuming assuming non-payment uh and kind of the discovery process you talked about. This would ultimately end up with collections efforts uh likely civil court cases to try and collect the city's money. Uh and that's in our in our experience with the rest of the business community. Uh those efforts are pretty successful. Uh businesses don't like being in those situations. So, it's usually cost effective to resolve their tax liability. >> Now, that's my next question. Is that cost effective? >> Uh, outside of the cannabis world, yes. Uh, it's the uh the taking businesses to court when when the liability is high uh can be can be a very cost-effective uh method. Um, I will say uh the threat of court is is probably more cost effective than actually going to court. Uh, knowing that we can take you to court is a pretty strong hammer. Uh, if you owe us a little bit of money, it's usually more cost effective just to pay us. >> Okay. But these shops tend to bounce around once they realize that they're being followed. So what techniques um does finance or the related departments that usually tackle them plan to do? Um and I'm talking about, you know, LAPD at my committee the other uh recently told us that this is not easy. So what would be the difference? Because we know that they bounce around. >> It it's certainly uh I would not characterize it as easy at all. Uh I think these businesses will be um relatively easy to find at first and then uh quite difficult to tie down. Uh we know ownership, we've uh heard from LAPD in their efforts, uh ownership is often very hard to identify with these businesses. Uh so we will we'll have to be doing the the research on that. uh finance through our collections uh work has a fair amount of tools to identify ownership uh and kind of go through those processes. Uh I think we also have uh some leverage around property owners. Uh so to the extent that these businesses have leases, uh the owner of the property that they're leasing from has an obligation to report that uh to report that lease income to finance and we can use that that leverage um on the property owners to identify the actual business owners. Uh the the identifying and tracking them as they move around will be hard. Uh it'll be uh just as we're we're starting to think about how we would do outreach and enforcement. Uh this is going to be uh kind of unlike the the discovery efforts that we've been talking about uh using state databases and a lot of paperwork. Uh this discovery and enforcement effort would be very uh boots on the ground. Uh it'll require field forces uh for finance to actually be walking around uh with LAPD physical presence show up at their door asked to see their certificates get them signed up for tax compliance. >> Yeah. And my understanding is that what we have on the table is to fund studies that ex better explain this to us. Right. I I believe the what's on the table is the uh a potential ballot measure to simply require uh tax compliance, >> but we're asking for a report first. So, um, council member, to to be to be clear on the cannabis item, u really the only the only decision that's before you is to make what will likely be a one or two word change uh to the to the uh ordinance to the policy. Um, currently we are restricted to applying the gross receipts tax to licensed businesses. This would essentially strike that and allow the city to to tax licensed and unlicensed businesses. Everything else around that, the application, the enforcement, uh, that is a a policy matter that the appropriate departments including finance and my office would come back to you with a plan to determine moving forward. But in even in order to consider moving forward with that, we do need to make that that one to two word change uh in the voter approved ordinance. >> Okay. No further questions. But I do um recommend that we start to be more aggressive on putting the um the owner on the property owners that rent their facilities to these locations. No further questions. >> Thank you, Council Member Pia. Council member Sto Martinez. Uh thank you so much Mr. President. Um first of all I want to thank uh all the members of the budget and finance committee for working through many of these very complicated issues and for the sta for the staff for doing all the research and see you know what we could do to increase revenues. Um I want to talk about a couple of things. So I know council uh councilomani asked to bifrocate uh the different items here one one a one b one c and then separate it with two to six. Um, if possible, I would like for instruction number five to go to go back to committee. I know this there was a conversation about this at the budget implications of the short-term rentals. Uh, but I don't believe there was a conversation in committee uh in Plum or other respective committees about how this affects the city. So, that's that would be my first request. Um, and then I have some comments about uh the other items. >> All right. Uh >> um Miss uh excuse me, Mr. President, is there a second to u Mr. So Martinez's >> second council member Yasowski. >> Okay. >> All right. More comments. >> And that is to refer back to budget financer. >> Uh to I believe PL. Yes. >> To planning and land use management. >> Oh to planning and land use management committee. >> And if the if the chair can do that without objection, that'll be the order. >> Okay. And I I also want to talk a little bit about uh Toott. Um I understand that this is a a very complicated issue. Um and I want to just zoom out a little bit. Um you know, last year we passed uh the Olympic wage. Um and many of the com many of the concerns that we heard from the hotel industry was uh them facing headwinds uh and having difficulties um you know, everything going on. And as I want to be mindful of that. I want to be mindful of of of those comments that have come to me. So, there's a several several options that are being presented here. Uh, Council Member Costcer presented a four or two or two or one, and Councilwoman Rodriguez uh introduced one where it's, you know, excludes hotels, but it focuses a little bit on short-term rentals. Uh, I second that motion because I I want to have the conversation about what's the best way to move forward with Toot. Um, I want to understand a little bit more. I know I've been getting calls from uh the business community in my in my district. Uh as you all know, Hollywood is um you know, probably the second the second most uh hotel dense area in the city and they have a lot of concerns. Uh and so I want to be able to have that conversation. Uh I I I I don't know if we'll end somewhere today uh because I know we're asking for different options, but I look forward to having that uh with everyone here and see where we land uh and try to balance every all the different needs of the city. So, I just want to make that so so the public understands where where I'm at on these issues. >> Thank you, Mr. Sto Martinez. Uh, Council Member Blumenfield. >> Okay. Thank you. I wanted to comment on two aspects of of this and first and thank the chair for bringing this forward as we we do need to have revenues. This budget is going to be very uh difficult as as you mentioned. We're going to have to be a real balance of of trying to reduce spending, reduce what we do overall, and and hopefully have some revenue. Uh, first on the cannabis aspect of this, when I when I first read this, I was dead set against it because I I hate the idea of um giving a BTR, giving a license to for taxes to an a illegal shop. I want to I don't want to collect revenue from these illegal shops. I want to shut them down. Uh, so when I first thought about this, I was like, "No way I'm going to be against this." But then I I thought about sort of the Al Capone thing where, you know, they didn't get him for uh being a gangster. They got him for for tax evasion. >> And these guys can legally, these illegal shops at this point don't have to pay taxes. So if we add that requirement on that they like anyone else have to pay taxes, uh, I don't want to collect from them. I want to shut them down. But that gives us another tool to go after them. Uh, and it's frankly it's a stronger tool than just that they don't have a license. You cannot have a license and disappear and then not have a license again and and it's pretty much a slap on the wrist. But when you don't pay taxes, it's a it's a much stronger penalty. So that got me thinking, yeah, this makes sense. Let's let's make sure that they are required to pay taxes, but let's let's not spend a lot of time trying to get the money from them. as soon as we find out who they are, we need to shut them down because that's how we really get the taxes is by having the legal shops. So, that's why I'm supporting this uh because I want to I want to have another tool in the toolbox to go after the illegal cannabis shops so that we can be supportive and get the revenue from the legal shops. Um I had an emotion a motion on 17C which which dealt with the vacation rentals, but since that's been referred to committee, uh I'm assuming that the amendments will also be referred to committee. Is that fair to assume? Uh and and the reason I had that amendment and and what I think needs to be discussed in committee is that the vacation rental issue is not just about revenue. It is also very much about housing and what the impact is on housing and and uh what the implications are for the city and how much that costs us both in terms of enforcement but also if we have to make up for lost housing. So, I had an amendment which had some additional questions. Questions like making sure that the number of nights uh that a rent that a unit could be rented out before it would generate more revenue than a short-term rental would be looked at because that might be an important threshold. Uh looking at the impact of the overall housing stock as well as the affordable housing stock. So, these are questions that need to be asked, but I recognize that, you know, I just threw those questions together that all members of the committee may have other questions. So, if it goes back to committee, we can raise those questions and we can really have a a full list of questions in addition to the revenue questions because the revenue questions out of context uh is problematic. But if you put them in context with everything else, then we can make an more informed decision. And with that, uh I will support the motion moving forward. >> Thank you. Uh Council Member Rodriguez. >> Thank you. Um so I'm going to first dovetail on uh Mr. Mr. Blumenfield's conversation around uh short-term rentals. So, I of course uh uh have an amendment that I put forward for 17B that says given all the conversations that we've had and we know the impacts on the Olympic wage and uh just the overall lack of tourism right now. Uh I I was hardressed to really fully consider this idea that we would now increase the toot. And by the way, let's be honest, I've got to remind everybody, you know how much toot we're paying ourselves just through the use of inside safe? We're paying our own toot on that. So we're going to increase the charges on ourselves by extension of doing this. Just to be clear, um my proposal and to u support what you're saying, Mr. Blumenfield, uh we've had ample conversations about the lack of new housing construction that has occurred in the city of Los Angeles. The more housing that gets redacted for use with short-term rentals, the more pressed affordability becomes in the city of Los Angeles. We know the nature of what happens. We also know, as we've seen with party houses and and the like, the increased impact to LAPD response. So, as far as I was concerned, my amendment was about addressing the affordability crisis that we're in and the lack of housing that is being impacted by uh short-term rental activity. And so I felt that my amendment and or I believe my amendment is to uh if we're going to apply an increase in toot, then let's apply it exclusively to short-term rentals because it has very real and direct implications on affordability in this city. And so that uh that is uh what my amendment puts forward. Um, so and and and you know just overall and and I I appreciate Miss Yarosovski and and the uh committee looking at how are we going to generate revenue. That's great. But we have to really look at how we also tighten the belts. And we still haven't had a conversation about the cost of inside safe since the emergency order was lifted, the contracts that are still being awarded and honored. And now we found out that abundant blessings was part of the inside save contracting. So if we're not having a full conversation around where we're going to cut back, but we're going to talk to taxpayers about increasing more, it's a really big problem. That's a big conflict. That's an inherent conflict. And so for that, I'm I'm concerned about all of these issues, but want to do my part to offer some amendments that I think would make sense going forward. Um, Matt Crawford, you mentioned that uh how would you go about collecting on this proposal for illegal cannabis operators to recover this business tax? >> Uh, I think we would uh we would start with discovery uh and notification. So, uh there's a few a few different ways of kind of identifying uh the universe of of uh businesses out there that are not uh currently in compliance. We would have to since this currently they're not allowed to file for a BTRC. So, there's no we wouldn't be collecting on prior year liability. There is none. Uh we would need to let everybody know uh everyone we could find. um not notify them that starting whatever the effective date is uh you now owe you know you have to sign up for BTRC. >> So there would be mailings. We would also I think do uh do field work um put actually physically show up to businesses and and give them the information. Uh in the interest of of uh taking care of uh my own staff, uh we'll want to be with LAPD for all of that. So, we'll need that. >> Um, there probably other departments that we will need to involve uh along the way, >> right? And and >> and then once the sorry, once the notification uh happens, um then we'll it'll be a matter of of followup uh continuously kind of keeping track of who's registered, who hasn't. um as and as we identify businesses uh that we need to follow up, we'll start with the enforcement audit process and then eventually collections, right? >> Uh like we do for anyone else. >> So, Matt, I'm I'm just going to let you know kind of I'm going to try and give a little bit of a synopsis of the history with illegal cannabis operators and enforcement. Uh I uh I I introduced an uh an ordinance that actually goes and shuts off the utilities for illegal cannabis operators and it was proven to be very successful. In fact, we got to net we got net zero uh illegal operations in in my district working with LAPD, DWP and building and safety. DCR's only role is to confirm whether or not that operator is a legitimate operator or not. Subsequently, Mr. Harris Dawson introduced uh we talked about the padlock ordinance and requiring uh a simple matter of the city attorney just sending a letter to the property owner to say, "Hey, you're harboring an illegal business. seize operations and let's let's stop let's cut it out. Let's stop it. We couldn't even get the city attorney to do that in a consistent manner. So, I I say all of this to you and I I appreciate your efforts to try and figure this out, but when you're talking about, for example, well, of course, for the safety of your staff because we know the circumstances with enforcing on an illegal cannabis operation, it's why we have vice and everybody going out helping to shut down the illegal operators. If all we're going to do is now send your staff out staffed with LAPD officers because of the safety concerns, we still haven't really cured the symptom here and and the problem. We haven't gotten to the root of the problem. And the root of the problem is what's undercutting our ability to maximize the legitimate operators from fully honoring their tax is the fact that they're competing against the illegal operators that are allowed to flourish. And so I appreciate, listen, we're all everyone's trying to look between the couch cushions and figure out what we can do to increase revenue. I got it. We all often we also have to have the the conversation about how do we rein things in in the spending. That's actually first. And so we can't continue to ignore one part that's represents over $300 million of annual revenue with inside safe or LASA and all of that. Can't talk about that. And Matt Zable, it would be great if you helped to actually produce the report that shows the redundancies in outreach and the redundancies that are that we're paying for without the verified results associated with the work because we could cut probably about another 2030 million from expenditures associated with that. So I so I just colleagues I I warn everybody about this idea about the illegal cannabis. You're you're you're setting up a unintentionally a false expectation that you're going to be able to hold these guys accountable. Number one. Number two, you're still talking about using LAPD resources. And if we're going to do that, then let's just enforce with LAPD and do either the padlock or do the utility shut off. And then we can actually get the legitimate operators who by the way went through the laborious process of getting approved and getting their license and everything else to be able to operate without being undercut by the illegal market. That's actually a better way to go. And you don't have to now create this idea that an illegitimate business and an illegal operator is somehow now slightly more legitimized. You're gonna have to go through one hell of a process in order to try and get the guys that already thumb their nose at us. They flipped us the bird and said, "I'm not going to pay taxes, and by the way, I'm not even going to honor your process to go about being a legitimate operator in this city. Now, we're going to pretend that we're going to be able to get them to pay business license tax." I I just I I just want to be I want us to be in the realm of reality of how we're going to do this. But it just there are some very simple things that if we could just get the city attorney's office to do and send those letters out and start shutting those guys down, that would be great. And if we could just get uh you know, LAPD to work with all of these folks, we could go do the utility shut offs uh for the illegal operators. you're going to get more compliance I think and cooperation from the folks that went through the laborious task of actually getting their license. So, and I think that would garner uh greater revenue for us. So uh colleagues again I think you know just to sum it up uh with consideration to uh the toot my my uh feeling is that we shouldn't be uh rewarding or treating everybody the same uh with short-term rentals. And I really believe that before we can really have a a serious conversation and present to the taxpayers this idea that they should be paying more that we do better with the money that they've entrusted us with. And so until we have that conversation about how we're going to actually uh get some guard rails and and cut uh on homeless spending and or and a number of other areas. Not it's not just there. It's not just there. But until we actually have those hard conversations, especially in light of this abundant blessings debacle and all the other contracts associated with Inside Safe, let's actually rein it in, re in the spending before you have the audacity to go ask taxpayers to pay more. Thank you, >> Council Member Nazarian. >> Thank you, Council President. Quick question. When we're taxing businesses, what does that exactly include? Retail, manufacturing, all of the above. All of the above. >> Okay. Do we have a sense of how many different businesses there are on the retail, on the manufacturing, growing? >> We we do have that data. I don't I don't have it hand. >> That's fine. I just want to make sure that you do. >> Each When when businesses register with uh for their business tax registration certificate, they tell us what kind of business they are, what what their business activity is. And uh we record that that determines which uh which class they're in and what rate they pay. So uh if you're, you know, if you're selling clothing, you tell us I'm selling clothing, and we sign you up as a retail business. If you're a computer consultant, you tell us that and we sign sign you up under the classification for consulting services. Uh and then all of that data is held in our system. So yes, we can track uh how many businesses are registered, uh how many of you know those kind of businesses are registered, how much they're paying, uh etc. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Uh I think that concludes our speakers uh that are on the queue. do want to thank the um our uh folks who've come to give testimony on these uh complicated issues. I just want to add on the uh cannabis piece. Um it is looking at this $70 million number is a a little bit hard to imagine uh that being real given how as everybody else said how ineffective we are at closing a shop with a giant green fluorescent lit cannabis sign in a in the on the corner of a busy intersection. somehow the city of LA we can't and and I this is not a critique of our current city attorney or the other one the last city attorney couldn't figure it out and we still haven't been able to figure it out with a new city attorney. So I you know it it's difficult to imagine that somehow we can go and collect $70 million. So I I would just suggest there might be you might run some scenarios for what you might collect uh different scenarios uh that that may sort of pass the giggle test. Um because 70 million just I mean that that's just very difficult to uh believe given our our history. At the same time uh like Mr. Blumenfield, I believe if we can create another hazard for illegal operators, we should create that hazard. I will say I can give testimony in my district and I know in other parts of the city the state has actually done enforcement based on failure to pay state taxes um and actually close down illegal shops in my district using that and and we don't have that as a tool right now in the city of LA. And so um with that uh I want to uh ask the clerk to give us um a calendar for where we are and what votes are before us at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. President, at this time uh it is best for the council to vote on whether to bifurcate 1 A, B, or C. >> All right. Uh so the motion to bifrocate by that motion was by our committee chair. Yes. You have comments on it at this time? Yes. >> Uh no, I just I move that we we bifrocate A, B, and C uh and vote on them individually. Yeah. And there's also some amendments obviously that implicate some of these >> on each one of those there are amendments right. All right. So uh first of all uh it's best to do the bifurcation and then uh there is also a motion Hernandez Yarosski to uh send item B uh refer it to budget and finance committee and then after that there are a whole lot of amendments and the last part will be whatever amendments that have uh passed And that would also include the vote on the rest of the items uh after this initial vote to bifurcate. >> Okay, that was all right. So out of everything you said, this is what I think we can do now. There is a motion to send uh send an item to committee by council member Hernandez. Uh if there is no objection, uh that'll be the order of the chair. So we'll take care of that. Uh it sounds like the second thing you said we should vote on is separation of this issue because there's it's not a bifurcation because there's more than two. All right. So let's open the role on separating these items. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. What's next? >> Okay. And just to recap, so what was sent to committee is uh recommendation five. that soda Martinez Yosovski to Plum. Uh and also uh Council Member Blumenfield uh requested that 17C like cat refer to Plum. Is that correct, Council Member? Okay. And then uh uh motion Hernandez Yawasovski to refer uh recommendation 1B and that is the parking occupancy tax to budget and finance committee and that was sent. So um and with that in mind uh council member Yosovski you made a motion to note and file 1B. So 1B is now uh referred to uh budget and finance. So we will uh council can get rid of that uh motion to note and file. >> Thank you. >> So the next item, Mr. President, that is before council is 17D and that is council uh motion makoscer uh hut. >> All right. Uh let's open the role on the Macoscer hut amendment. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. And next would be item uh re uh amendment 17B like boy and that is motion Rodriguez stood so Martinez >> I think we set 17B. Huh? >> No that's it. >> Okay. All right. Let's open the roll on 17B as Council Member Hernandez. >> Send it to committee. >> Vote on it. >> Vote on it. >> Okay. >> All right. Let's >> It's not registering. >> Oh, >> Mr. McCuster, >> I understand 17B. It would have the effect of taking 17D, whatever we're doing with D, and putting every one of those those two options of tax increases on home short-term, you know, home sharing only and would carve out hotels. So, I'm urging a no vote on B. All right, this item. >> All right, let's uh open the roll on this amendment. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> Three eyes, 11 nos. >> All right. >> 17 B fails. >> Okay. >> All right. What's next? >> Next would be 17 A like apple. And that is motion pad. >> All right. Let's open the roll on that item. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. 13 eyes, one no. Did >> this one already? >> We did. >> Okay. All right. What's next? >> And finally, it is 17 as amended. >> All right. Let's open the roll. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 12 eyes, two nos. >> All right. Council member Hurado. >> Point of order. Council President. Um I thought there was a motion to bifurcate um the to the individual taxes. I understand that the parking occupancy tax was um moved to committee but I think then we would have to vote on the parking uh the transit occupancy tax and then the other cannabis one separately not al together as amended. >> All right. Uh I think that's similar to my understanding. I think that's the understanding of the chair. Madame clerk, we just voted 17 in its entirety and I think the intention was for us to vote on the separate items one by one. >> So, um I'm I think maybe to move to re consider the vote. >> Well, then it's best to reconsider 17 >> and council member Lee seconds and then I think we might want to vote on 17. 1 A and then 171 C. >> All right, let's open the roll on reconsideration. Close the roll. Tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> All right. All right. So, let's vote. Madame clerk, put whatever letter or number you want on it. Let's vote on cannabis. >> That would be uh uh 171 C. >> All right. And that includes council member Padilla's amendment. >> It should. >> Yes. >> All right. So, it I know we voted on it, but now we have to vote on it as a full package. >> Yeah, we're running out of numbers and letters. All right. So, so this is cannabis as amended by council member Padilla. Let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes, one no. >> All right. And we sent parking back to committee. >> Yes. >> Is everybody agreement on that? >> So, yes. >> I'm sorry, Council Member Ramen. Before we vote on the toot item, I just wondered whether council member McCoscer, you might say what we're voting on with your amendment because there's we're basically asking for the city attorney to draft two different rate increases and then when it comes back to us, we'll have to pick which one is going to the ballot. Is that what's happening? I just >> That's correct. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It would be two different tax increase proposals >> and one is for 4% going down to 2% and yours is 2% going down to 1% after the Olympics. >> Yes. And then in addition a separate measure that closes the loophole on the platforms on the on the the travel velocities of the world. And so the next step, just so I understand, will be that these two different um options will come back to us sometime before February 11th, and we'll have to pick between them. >> Yes. >> Or not. It's not that everything will go to the ballot. All >> No, I suppose everything could go to the ballot, but that's not what I'm proposing. That we would pick one or the other on the increases. And I would urge that we regardless of what we do, we close the loophole. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for that uh council member Ramen and Council Member McCoscer. I think uh just to uh add a little bit to that discussion which I think was very helpful is what we are doing today is asking for proposals that we have to consider by February 11th if they're going to go on the June ballot. So nothing we decide today is on the ballot. We have to come back and say we like it, we don't like it, you know, and then take another vote on February 11 to go to the to the ballot. Council member Nazarian >> doing two votes now or one vote. Are we voting for four and two separately? Two and one separately >> and then >> we've already voted on McCusker. So that's fine. >> Yeah. So we already one is done. >> Yeah. >> So right now it's just four and two. >> No, I think we're voting on asking the city attorney to bring all of them back to us. all of the TOT measures back to us. So, they'll bring back both four and two and two in one. Okay. >> And and theoretically, we pick one of them or neither of them, right? >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, Council Member Yaroski, >> sorry, I just Thank you, Council President. I just have a question. I want to make sure um Mr. Mr. Zel, you said at the outset that we needed to make sure that whatever language we're adopting today that requires the city attorney to come back with drafted um ordinances that we need to instruct the city attorney to draft resolutions and ordinances by January 28th, which is tomorrow, and the final date to act upon those resolutions will be February 11th. Do we need to say anything in what we're doing right now to effectuate that or is that >> already taken care of? >> I believe that's that's included in the budget finance committee report. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Yosski. All right. Uh, Madame Clerk, can we reset what's before us? >> Uh, just wanted to uh just verify the remaining votes is right now the uh vote is on 171A and that is the transient occupancy tax. And then the final final vote is on the remainder of 17. So this one is 1 A. One B was already Oh, I'm sorry. 1 C was already uh voted on just now. >> All right, let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the votes. eyes, three nos. >> All right, what's next? >> Next is 17 as amended. >> All right, let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the vote. >> 13 eyes, one no. >> All right, what's next? >> Council has motions for posting and referral. >> Wow, they're posted and referred. >> Death is clear, sir. Council member, uh, the desk is not clear. We got council member Padilla on the queue. >> Yeah, I'd like to change 17, my vote on 17B. >> All right. Does that change the outcome? >> 17B to a no. Correct. Correct. >> Oh, okay. >> And uh, Council Member Rodriguez. >> Oh. Uh, wanted to send item nine, urgent width. >> All right. Without objection, that'll be the order. Council member nothing. Okay. Council member Yaraskki >> 17 forth with >> the S 17 urgent fourth width without delay. All right. >> It's best Mr. President for uh council to vote on the urgent fourth width for 9 and uh 17. >> All right. Can we do them together? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. Uh let's open the role on urgent fourth width on 9 and 17. >> Yes, sir. All right, let's open the roll, close the roll, tabulate the vote. >> 14 eyes. >> Right on. All right, motions are posted and referred. Announcements, members. Announcements. All right. Uh, Council Member Park. >> Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to take a moment and share with you all that we had a very very exciting morning in the Pacific Palisades as we welcomed students back to campus for the first time in over a year after the Pacific Palisades fire. This was just an extraordinary moment in our community's recovery and the entire story arc for these young people over the last year has been a journey. Um, within a matter of weeks, due to the extraordinary work of our friends at LA Unified and the city of Santa Monica, uh, we were able to find a location that we were able to get students back physically into classrooms together uh, at the Sears building in Santa Monica. I had the privilege of being on campus the day that students arrived at the steer Sears building. It was the first time that they had all been together since the fire and I will just attest that the volume in the room on that day was absolutely deafening. Um it has been a long year for them over there and we are so incredibly grateful that we had a space for them. But to see their return to campus this morning was absolutely an extraordinary moment. Um, uh, homecoming is actually going to be on campus on Saturday night and we, you know, we note that as the kids are coming back, it's an opportunity for our families to come back, too. And when we look around in the Palisades, we acknowledge all of the new construction starts and we are incredibly grateful for all of that progress. But I am also reminded that those are the people who can. And there continue to be thousands of families that remain displaced, mired in insurance disputes, paying mortgages on houses they can't live in on lots that they can't afford to build on. And if the feds are going to insert themselves into this process, I wish they would do it in a way that provides the funding that we need to close the gaps so that all of our victims have the opportunity to come home. And colleagues, we have got to take up the issue of ULA. It is getting in the way of our Palisades recovery and it is a crying shame that we weren't able to get a vote on it today so that those folks can get the relief that they need. So, I will be in committee and working with all of you to get this done so that we have a package that we can actually move to the voters this fall. But I can't stress the urgency of the need to drastically reform ULA. It is killing housing development and it is making affordability in our city worse. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Council Member Park. Any other announcements, members? All right. Uh, Council Member Blumenfield, >> just wanted to let folks know that that tonight, City Hall will be lit up in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. City Hall will be lit up tonight for that. >> Thank you so much for that reminder. Any other announcements, members? All right, I'll ask everyone in the chambers to rise for adjourning motions. Got an adjourning motion on my left. Any adjourning motions to my right? All right. Uh, Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Council President. I would like to adjourn today's meeting uh in memory of Alex Py. And I'd like to start by reading the statement that Alec Alex Py's parents wrote following his death. They say, "We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kind-hearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. and he has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman Ice just pushed down all while being pepper-sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you. Alex Py was a healer. Alex Py was a healer. He died trying to protect someone doing what he dedicated his life's work to. And any agency that kills nurses and mothers and uses 5-year-old children like Liam Ramos as bait cannot be redeemed and cannot be reformed. It must be abolished. I sit on budget and finance and I've often said budgets are a reflection of our values. So what does it say about our values when $170 billion of our tax dollars are funding terrorist squads instead of health care or housing or education? While people die of hunger and homelessness and preventable illness. The only thing that has ever changed this country is organized people refusing to accept state violence as normal. That means all of us, electeds and organizations and constituents alike, we must use every tool, mutual aid, policy, protest, harm reduction, education journalism storytelling art, collective care to keep our communities alive and to stop this fascist regime. Alex Py should be alive. that is justice. His family should not be burying him. So we adjourn today for Alex Py and for every life taken by systems of harm and violence that must be dismantled and replaced with care. May Alex rest in the warm embrace of his ancestors. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Council Member Hernandez. We have other adjourning motions. All right, seeing none, we are journ. Thank you so much, everybody. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. years ago, 30 years ago. Now you compare that to the population growth that's continuing to go on a you know increasing trajectory. Well, what happens when you do that? When you have population coming growing and you have number of housing declining, you're going to have an imbalance. You're not going to have enough supply of housing and it's going to skyrocket the prices of housing and that's what's been happening. >> Absolutely. So when you have that situation developing and you have billions of dollars waiting on the sideline to buy up single family properties, it's just creating a lot of pressure on the individual housing prices to go up, which then impacts middle class because now a lot of folks are left without the opportunity of buying homes. Mhm. >> Once families are not able to buy a home, they're not developing equity for their future generations. So, this then becomes a cycle that's going to continue on for decades to come. >> Can you restrict who purchases a property or not based on whether it's an individual or a corporation? >> This is an issue that I've taken on very seriously. It was the first measure that I introduced to figure out a way of curbing the ability of corporate takeover of single family properties. The goal was to make sure that we're keeping single family properties in the hands of individuals >> so that they can be able to build and develop equity for their families and for future generations. There's nothing more important than getting outside, breathing fresh air, and having a great time. I know that you've put in a lot of investature in upgrading parks here in Council District 2. What are some of the fun things people can look forward to in their neighborhoods? >> One of the things I wanted to do when I took office was to just create a very active and busy environment. >> Um, parks need to be busy. Parks need to be full of life. The whole idea of the Department of Recreation and Parks is to make sure that people are engaged in recreational activities. And the busier you make parks, the more people are getting out and getting to meet their neighbors, >> and the safer the places become because there's more eyes on our children, on our kids. So, I believe in making sure that it's multi-generational >> and it's also a busy environment. Mhm. >> We've already opened two different parks in the area to make sure that there's a lot of activity going on. >> We're turning small patches into pocket parks so that it's a place for folks to be able to congregate. >> And my goal is to make sure that we're making parks as utilized as possible. the tax incentives for the film industry are slowly starting to kick in and I know that you've been very much a part of that. How are things going? What are you hoping for? And what are you seeing at this moment? Is it is there a shift? Are we have we hit bottom and starting to move back up when it comes to uh work coming back to the entertainment capital of the world? I I'm optimistic in seeing at least the in the first wave of uh uh distributions that were made and all the feature films and especially a lot of the independent films that are going to be now shot in California and in Los Angeles. But we got to make sure that as the incentives are doing their work and their magic >> and I'm very grateful to the governor for pushing this the way he did. Uh but as that's happening, we got to make sure as a city, what are we doing to roll out the red carpet >> and to make sure that smaller productions aren't finding it difficult or ownorous to work with the city, to work with film LA, to work with the different departments and agencies. If there are inefficiencies because we have uh multiple duplicative uh requirements, well then maybe it's time for us to look at that and shorten that to make the appropriate changes and adjustments needed. >> You know, so we need to continuously figure out how we stay competitive and fight against these other factors that are constantly taking filming away from us and make it easier to continue filming here. Uh maybe in the past we needed to have multiple uh ownorous requirements uh for safety purposes, but maybe we can now modify those so that it's easier to film here. >> Sure. >> And uh not have that increasing cost of doing the business here. >> Yeah. Taking the hassle out will always make it much more appealing to people. And let's not forget Los Angeles is a place of a lot of folks coming into the area to pursue entertainment. >> This is how Los Angeles grew. If we're going to make it difficult for people to come in, we're going to forego on the opportunity of having the talent that came with these individuals. you know, not just the talent of performing, but also the talent of wanting to leave the comfort of their family in another state hundreds of miles away, maybe in another country >> to pursue the dream because even if they end up not being in the industry, >> those that that raw talent is what puts us ahead of everybody else because those are the attributes that character that strengthened the area that allowed us to have people with grit and perseverance. >> I hear a lot of hope and promise in everything that you've been saying. What do you love best about being a council member right now? >> Being able to make an impact. That's the goal of this. You want to make an impact. You want to you want to make things obviously you want to make things better off than when you took the role. So, if people want to know what you're doing or ask you questions or just keep informed, what's the best way for them to follow up on our conversation in a more intimate way? >> Uh, multiple ways. They can first of all call our office traditional way. Uh, they can follow us on one of our handles. Instagram handle is uh CD2 Los Angeles. Uh, or they can go to our website at uh LA City and be able to follow us as well. I also have to thank your office for being so gracious and so quiet while we've been chatting this morning. They've all been very kind and very courteous. We really appreciate it. >> Thank you for saying that. I have a wonderful team. They make me look good. >> Well, I'm sure they're attracted to that because you are such a good person. So, thank you so much. It's been wonderful to talk to you and I hope we get a chance to talk again. >> Looking forward. Thank you. >> And that's a wrap on this LA Current. Few people realize that the Hollywood Library predates the Hollywood sign and the movie industry in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Public Library was an independent library that was started by the Hollywood Women's Club in 1906. Its first location was in two rented rooms on Koena near Hollywood Boulevard. Shortly thereafter, Andrew Carnegie pledged $10,000 for a library building and Hollywood co-founder Dita Wilcox's Beverage donated the land. In 1907, the library opened its Carnegie funded English tutor building on the corner of Hollywood and Ivar. It was a handsome building and was featured on postcards advertising Hollywood. It was popular immediately and the number of card holders doubled in the first six months. A larger library took the Carnegie Library building's place on Hollywood at Ivar in 1923. This beautiful new library featured Spanish colonial architecture and it continued to thrive until it was outgrown too. That building was disassembled and moved through the streets down to 1623 Ivar where it was reassembled as an even larger library. Few people realized the role the Hollywood Library played in the community. It was beloved. Authors, actors, screenwriters, and m musicians used the library for research, and they also participated in library programs, including exhibits, art shows, lectures, open air readings, and civic gatherings. The library itself was a character in books and films, most famously Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. The Hollywood branch was the second largest library in the Los Angeles public library system behind Central. The library had amassed collections pertaining to the growth of Hollywood in the movie industry. These included working scripts from silent era films, autographed biographies of film stars. These were one of a kind collections. At 2:00 a.m. on the morning of April 13th, 1982, at least 14 fire companies arrived to find the Hollywood Library fully engulfed. It took them an hour and 15 minutes to put out the fire. The library building, 75% of its book collection, and all of its theater arts collection were destroyed. The cause was arson. Vandals broke windows to enter the library. graffitied the walls, tossed empty beer cans, and piled books up behind the circulation desk before lighting them on fire. After fire destroyed the Hollywood Library on April 13th, 1982, there was an immediate outpouring of support from the community, both from citizens, businesses, clubs, and organizations in Hollywood, and from the motion picture and television industry. Among the first to respond, Johnny Carson donated $10,000. The Screen Actors Guild sent notices to its members soliciting funds and memorabilia. A group of senior citizens volunteered to stamp and mail out appeals. Hollywood Heritage gave walking tours through Historic Hollywood. And Club Lingerie held Save the Library fundraisers. And Orson Wells voiced this dramatic public service announcement. >> Sometimes we take a gift for granted until we lose it. In the Hollywood Library Holocaust, 70,000 books were reduced to ashes. A window to our world was blackened. But more than fire is gutting Los Angeles city libraries. Smaller budgets mean shorter library hours, fewer books, and cuts in staff and service. He can't afford it. Neither can we. That's why the Los Angeles Library Association needs your membership and contribution now. By supporting the Los Angeles Library Association, you help support our libraries. You help give the gift of books. You help give the knowledge that preserves our heritage. Give the gift. Give the library. >> Perhaps the biggest loss from the Hollywood fire was the destruction of the performing arts collection. This special collection held rare and irreplaceable items such as notebooks of DW Griffith and Charlie Chaplan, Silent Era movie scripts and a vast collection of theater programs and play bills. Supporters of the library felt that there needed to be a collection that represented Hollywood's role in motion pictures and TV as well as represented the community's history. And they felt strongly that this should be in a public library. People responded in a big way. The widow of William Wiler donated his collection of 200 books about the motion pictures. Hitchcock's family donated a hundred years of the British humor magazine Punch. Award-winning television director Rod Warren donated his unpublished scripts and papers, as did countless other writers and directors. Highlights of the special collections include leatherbound scripts of Silent Era movie director Herbert Brennan with telegrams from studio heads inserted in between the pages. Sketches from famed costume designer Adrien. Movie posters, lobby cards. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce donated its Hollywood Christmas parade archive. In 1983, when the original model for the library was unveiled, Goldwin said that he and Gary were criticized for its design. People said that it didn't look like what a library was supposed to look like. He said, "Have four rather solid walls, be dark, and have Shakespeare and Plato on the walls." That's good, too, but this is different. I hope people will come and look at it and want to come in and read a book. The Frank Gary designed Hollywood Library opened on June 12th, 1986. More than four years after the fire, Kirk Douglas cut the ribbon while tearyeyed Hollywood staff members looked on. Staff members from Central Library were also on hand because just two months earlier, the Central Library had also burned. In fact, lessons learned in the aftermath of the Hollywood Library fire about salvaging books and handling donations would prove to be invaluable in shaping the response to the Central Library fire. The grants well of support demonstrated how much the Hollywood community loved and valued its library. This amazing collection is still accessible to the public by making an appointment at the Hollywood Library. Welcome to the Port of Los Angeles. Thank you for joining us on a virtual tour of one of the busiest harbors in the world. Our annual free harbor tours are traditionally held in May in honor of World Trade Week to highlight the importance of international trade. The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest container port in the nation and eighth in the world when combined with the Port of Long Beach. In 2019, the port moved 9.3 million containers. The port is not supported by taxes. Instead, its revenues come from tariffs for shipping services, property rentals, royalties, and other fees. At the top of the list of items most important to Los Angeles are furniture, vehicles and vehicle parts, clothing, electronic products, and footwear. The top exports are paper products, pet and animal feed, fabric and raw cotton, scrap metal, and soybeans. The port's top trading partners are China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan. On today's tour, you'll see container ships carrying cargo to and from ports from around the world. Inside the containers are items you take for granted every day such as food, clothing, electronic equipment, furniture, auto parts, and more. In fact, 95% of all international trade is done by ship. We're departing from Banning's Landing, site of one of the earliest shipping operations in the harbor. This site was established in 1857 by harbor pioneer Phineas Banning who is known as the father of the Los Angeles Harbor. Coming up on our left is Eusen Terminals LLC, also referred to as YTI. YTI handles container cargo from the Alliance container shipping lines. The alliance includes one Ocean Network Express, Yangming Lines, HMM, and Hap Lloyd. YTI has been a tenant with the Port of Los Angeles since 1991 and is the fifth largest container terminal by acreage at the Port of Los Angeles. On the right is Pacia Terminal. This 40 acre facility is known as a green omni terminal. It is the world's first marine terminal with the ability to generate all of its energy needs from renewable resources. Coming up on our right are terminals used primarily for receiving petroleum products. These handling facilities include tankers, barges, bulk carriers, and storage tanks with convenient rail access. Down the slip are also the facilities for Valero, Shell, BPAC, Kinder Morgan, Newart Energy, PBF Energy, Phillips and Rio Tinto Minerals, US Borax, Inc. Riotinto Minerals is one of the oldest established companies doing business here and is the only privately held terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. The turning basin is the entrance to the west basin, home to Treyac and Yang Ming. The Treyac terminal receives cargo from Mexico, Asia, and the Philippines. It is the first terminal in the world to implement driverless automated stra carriers that work in concert with automated stacking cranes. The Yangming terminal features on dock rail, so containers go from the waterfront right onto a train taking many big Rick trucks off the highways. The trains then head to downtown rail yards via the Alama corridor. The Alama corridor moves cargo faster and has reduced vehicle emissions by eliminating 200 rail street crossings. Ahead is the historic Wilmington clock Tower and former cruise ship terminal. Up until the 1960s, it was the hub of passenger ocean liner travel. Our next site is China Shipping Terminal. China Shipping is equipped to service ultra-large container vessels with a capacity of up to 14,000 TEUs. If all containers were 20 ft in length, that would be 14,000 units. The China shipping terminal at the Port of Los Angeles was the first in the world to offer container ships clean electrical power plug-in service while at dock instead of using diesel fuel. The China shipping terminal and neighboring Yangming terminal are effectively one terminal sharing the truck gate and ondock rail facility. The joint terminal is operated by West Basin Container Terminals, WBCT, at the Port of Los Angeles. This clean electrical power is called AMP, alternative maritime power. This program allows ships at birth to run lighting, heating, refrigeration, and other vital onboard systems on electricity. One benefit of this clean alternative, it has eliminated 95% of air pollutants from ships that plug in at birth. The port works continually to ensure all its future and current tenants adapt to cleaner technology. Zim is an independent line with five vessels offering expedient shipping services for high value merchandise. We are in the turning basin where really long ships, sometimes 1,000 ft in length, turn around so they can be tied up at birth facing toward the ocean. The ships dock facing toward open sea in case there's an emergency and they have to be towed or moved away in a hurry. We are now sailing under the Vincent Thomas Bridge. It was built in 1963 by the state of California to connect San Pedro and the end of the harbor freeway with Terminal Island and Long Beach. The bridge is just over 2 mi long and towers 35 stories above the water. At sunset, the bridge is lit by magnificent blue energy efficient lights installed in partnership by the port and the community. Beyond being energy friendly, they are also wildlife friendly and do not disturb the migratory birds who make the Ben Thomas Bridge their home. Located under the bridge is the Catalina Express Terminal. You can buy a ticket to board a boat or helicopter to take you to Catalina Island. Earlier we saw the former cruise terminal and here is her predecessor, the World Cruise Center. It is one of the busiest cruise centers on the West Coast. It is also outfitted with AMP technology. Cruise ships are able to plug into electrical power while at dock just as a container ships do. Solar power is also one of the many technologies being used at the Port of Los Angeles. The 71,500 ft 1 megawatt system installed at the cruise center is capable of generating approximately 1.2 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. We are coming up on fire station 112 which houses the world's most powerful fireboat, the Warner Lawrence. The port built a fleet of fireboats for the fire department with the most modern technology. In a major harbor such as the Port of Los Angeles, fire protection and firefighting services are extremely important. We are approaching the downtown harbor water cut designed to accommodate visiting vessels and watercraft. Booters can dock here for a few hours to enjoy the downtown restaurants and shops. The Los Angeles Maritime Museum has a fascinating history. Before the Vincent Thomas Bridge was built, ferryboats used to carry people and cars between San Pedro and Terminal Island to work in the caneries or on farms. When the Vincent Thomas Bridge opened, the ferry boats were no longer needed. The ferry building was then converted into the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, which tells the fascinating history of ships and the port. We are now passing the future site of West Harbor. This 30 acre property will be a vibrant familyfriendly destination with dining, retail, fresh markets, boutique style office space with recreational opportunities and additional ocean access for visitors. Opening date to be announced soon. As we turn around on our right is Terminal Island. In the 1800s, it was known as Rattlesnake Island. It is about 3 mi across and is home to several international container terminals. Containers are the fastest and safest ways to ship cargo. The cargo can be clothing or stereos or bicycles or fresh fruit or even frozen meat. About half of the cargo coming through the port of Los Angeles stays in the Southern California region and the other half is sent to the rest of the United States. The towering structures you see are container gantry cranes. These special machines were developed specifically for container terminals. Depending upon how and where they are built, they cost between 10 and $20 million each. These gantry cranes operate on electricity, and much of the heavy equipment you see moving around is being phased out for cleaner alternative fuel vehicles as part of the port's efforts to reduce vehicle admissions. SA Recycling is one of the nation's largest processor, recycler, and exporter of high-grade scrap steel metal. The company buys and recycles more than 60% of the total amount of scrap metal in the Los Angeles area. It's mostly old cars and old metal appliances that are bought in and cut up into small pieces. The metal is loaded aboard special ships called bulk carriers and shipped overseas where it is made into new cars, appliances, and electronics. Looking ahead are the Badger Avenue Bridge and the new Highway 47 replacement bridge, which mark the approximate dividing line between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These bridges form a vital transportation link for trucks, cars, and trains between Terminal Island and the rest of the Southland. The East Basin and nearby Cerrito's Channel are home to several of the port's marinas. More than 5,000 pleasure craft call the Port of Los Angeles home. Thousands of cars are imported annually through this receiving facility operated by WWL Vehicle Services America. This is where vehicles are processed, outfitted with special parts and customized before being trucked or carried by rail to auto dealers across the country. Specialty American vehicles are also exported from this facility to destinations around the world. Now we are passing Fire Station 49, sister station to Fire Station 112, which we viewed earlier in the tour. The Port of Los Angeles has nearly 3,000 acres of water to safely manage. Therefore, fire protection services are extremely important. Here's a fun fact. Housed here at fire station 49 is the historic Bethl F. Gford. She was commissioned in 1962. Up ahead is M. Letie, the Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center. It is the nation's first port-based maritime law enforcement training center. It is the only postcertified and federally recognized regional maritime law enforcement training center on the West Coast. At the core of port security is the dedicated Los Angeles Port Police, a specialized law enforcement agency that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the port safe for shipping and landside operations. The port works diligently with the US Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Department to enhance security programs, equipment, and personnel. Current measures in place include the Sea Marshall Program, port security task force, and Operation Safe Commerce. We are returning to Bannings Landing, site of the Bannings Landing Community Center, which opened in 2001. The award-winning design is in the form of a ship and reflects the community's maritime traditions. The Port of Los Angeles built the center as a window on the water for the community