What Happened
Ten members were present at roll call; five members were absent. The council adopted Items 3 and 6 together 11-0 without debate, including a Cultural Heritage Commission report adding the Maycrest Bungalow Court in CD14 to the list of Historic-Cultural Monuments; Item 6, a Port of Los Angeles Tariff No. 4 parking-rate ordinance, was held over to April 22 for second consideration. The council also confirmed Malaika Billups as permanent General Manager of the Personnel Department (Item 2) and adopted a Harris-Dawson/Blumenfield resolution formally ratifying the Mayor's January 7 and January 13, 2025 Declarations of Local Emergency for the windstorm and wildfire event (Item 7), both 11-0.
Contested Votes
Item 4 (Bureau of Sanitation report proposing the city's first Solid Resources Program rate increase since 2008) was adopted 10-1, with Council Member Nazarian casting the lone no vote. LA Sanitation Director Barbara Romero and staff presented findings from a rate study showing the general-fund subsidy for trash, recycling, and organics collection has grown from $3.9 million in FY2020-21 to a projected $217 million this year — about 40% of program costs — driven by rising labor, fuel, and truck costs (city truck prices have risen 103%, from $246,000 to $500,000), and new state mandates under SB 1383 requiring three-container organics separation and composting. The proposal would raise the base solid-resources fee to $55.95 per month, phased in starting January 1, 2026 with annual adjustments through 2030, while expanding the low-income financial assistance program by eliminating its roughly 52,000-household cap and dropping the requirement that recipients be both low-income and either a senior or a person with a disability — a change the department estimated would cost the general fund about $10 million annually. Officials said less than 1% of affected ratepayers filed a Proposition 218 protest against the increase during the 45-day notice period.
Committee chair Council Member Hernandez argued the increase was necessary and overdue, noting single-family and small multifamily ratepayers have effectively been subsidized by all taxpayers, including tenants in larger buildings who already pay full-cost trash rates, and that the proposed $55.95 rate would remain lower than comparable rates already in place or planned in Santa Monica, Burbank, Glendale, and Long Beach. Council Member Nazarian said he did not dispute that a rate increase was needed but objected to the size and structure of the proposal, warning that residents of small triplex and fourplex units currently paying $24 per unit could see costs rise to the same flat $55.95 rate charged to single-family homes in the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. He said he had proposed a phased, staggered rate-review approach with improved data collection in committee that did not move forward, and voted no while saying he intended to keep pushing the issue.
Public Comment
Public comment was formally limited to Item 7 (the windstorm emergency declaration ratification), but multiple speakers used general public comment to address Item 4, the sanitation rate increase. Several SEIU Local 721 members and stewards — including sanitation coordinator Charles Leon, refuse-collection truck operator Ivan Duarte, and union steward Paul Morales — spoke in support of the rate increase, arguing it was long overdue given the city's last rate adjustment was in 2008, describing deteriorating collection vehicles, and noting that Bureau of Sanitation workers continued essential trash, mattress, and bulky-item collection throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and on holidays.