Meeting Summary
What Happened
The council met on May 23, 2025, with 11-12 members present, during LA Fleet Week. The council held an extended set of presentations, including a Fleet Week ceremony with U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leadership and a visiting delegation from the Croatian National Olympic Committee scouting sites for a "Croatia House" ahead of the 2028 Olympics, hosted by Emergency Management Department General Manager Carol Parks; recognition of the Verdugo Hills High School academic decathlon team, which advanced to the national championship for the first time in school history; a 40th-anniversary recognition of a Watts-area community health clinic; and a celebration of the Hollywood High School boys soccer team's 2025 LA City Section Division 2 championship, won on penalty kicks as a 14th seed.
The council referred Items 6-12 to the Budget and Finance Committee on a motion from Council Members Heather Hutt and Marqueece Harris-Dawson. Public comment also addressed the council's move to rescind and prepare to readopt a stronger neighborhood oil-drilling phase-out ordinance; several Stand LA coalition and Physicians for Social Responsibility representatives urged the council to set a shorter phase-out timeline than previously proposed and asked the zoning administrator to reissue an interpretation regulating toxic acid well-maintenance operations near residential areas once the prior ordinance was rescinded.
Contested Votes
The council adopted, 8-3-4, second consideration of an ordinance implementing the Living Wage Ordinance and Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, raising wages and health benefits for hotel and airport workers citywide and establishing training and enforcement requirements (Item 14, CF 14-1371-S13). Council Members John Lee, Traci Park, and Monica Rodriguez voted no; no floor debate was recorded at this second-consideration stage, which followed extensive earlier committee and first-consideration review. Independent limited-service hotel owners, who said they had been advocating on the issue for 25 months, used public comment to renew their request that hotels with 60 to 150 guest rooms be added to a small-hotel exemption already granted to properties with 59 or fewer rooms, saying city budget and legislative analysts had confirmed such hotels have no other revenue streams to absorb the increased costs.
Public Comment
Beyond the hotel-wage and oil-ordinance testimony described above, public comment included a Wilmington resident's account of an oil operator working near her home on an expired permit, and general commentary on city governance matters including the Charter Reform Commission appointment process.
Contested Votes
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
Item 14 — CF 14-1371-S13 (Adopted): Second consideration of an ordinance implementing the Living Wage Ordinance and Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, raising wages and health benefits for hotel and airport workers.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (8) | Bob Blumenfield, Curren D. Price, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Tim Mcosker, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (3) | John Lee, Monica Rodriguez, Traci Park |
| Absent (4) | Adrin Nazarian, Imelda Padilla, Katy Yaroslavsky, Nithya Raman |