Meeting Summary
What Happened
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson presided over a marathon 71-item agenda that included a welcome to Ireland's consul general, a formal roll on 20 public-hearing items, 30 items requiring 10 votes for consideration, and 21 closed-session litigation items (Items 51-71). Council Member Curren Price stepped out for portions of the early roll call, and Council Member Katy Yaroslavsky and Council Member Imelda Padilla, both Metro board appointees, recused themselves from Item 48 given their roles overseeing the agency whose project the item concerned. Council Member Heather Hutt also recused from Item 18. Most of the closed-session settlement items (51-68) and litigation-exposure items (69-71) passed without debate.
Council adopted a long list of items unanimously with limited discussion. It approved a Public Works Committee report (Item 2, CF 14-0163-S18) to reinstate an ordinance reconsidering the Sidewalk Repair Program, and a Planning and Land Use Management Committee interim control ordinance (Item 13, CF 25-0916) temporarily barring new or expanded tobacco/nicotine retailers near sensitive uses in Council District 15. It approved modifications to the Los Angeles Zoo Vision Plan and an associated settlement agreement (Item 19, CF 25-0783) and six resolutions removing individual rental properties from the Rent Escrow Account Program after landlords corrected code violations (Items 30-35). Council also approved several district-specific spending motions: emergency-assistance funding for FamilySource Centers in Council District 13 (Item 26, CF 25-1293) and Council District 14 (Item 29, CF 25-1300) and Council District 9 (Item 45, CF 25-1307); funding for an on-demand rideshare shuttle in Warner Center (Item 28, CF 25-1299); funding for Council District 14's Trans Day of Remembrance observance, including illuminating City Hall (Item 42, CF 25-1305); and continued funding for the Esri geographic information system software used across City departments (Item 50, CF 17-0193-S9).
Council also asserted jurisdiction over a City Planning Commission decision on Item 24 (CF 25-1292), a Jurado-McOsker motion instructing the City Clerk to sign a petition regarding City-owned parcels in the Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District, and it adopted a resolution on Item 49 (CF 25-1294) concerning loan agreements for the Manitou Vistas affordable housing developments in Council District 14 — both without recorded opposition.
Contested Votes
Item 21 (CF 24-0711-S2) — Wilmington RV park jurisdiction, adopted 14-1. On a motion by Council Member Tim McOsker and Council Member John Lee, the Council voted 14-1 to assert jurisdiction over an October 9, 2025 City Planning Commission action that had granted in part and denied in part an appeal concerning properties at 23416 and 23514 South President Avenue in the Wilmington-Harbor City Community Plan Area, reportedly related to a proposed RV park. Council Member Nithya Raman cast the lone No vote. The item was not extensively debated on the floor.
Item 43 (CF 25-1306) — Council District 3 police funding, adopted 13-2. Council Member Bob Blumenfield and Council Member John Lee's motion to fund additional Los Angeles Police Department services in Council District 3 passed 13-2, with Council Member Eunisses Hernandez and Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez opposed. A procedural substitute version of the motion was adopted unanimously beforehand; the underlying appropriation itself drew the two No votes without floor debate.
Item 47 (CF 23-1134) — RSO annual rent increase formula, adopted as amended 12-2 after seven sequential votes. This was the day's central and most contentious item: a Housing and Homelessness Committee report, based on a roughly year-long economic study, to rewrite the four-decade-old formula that sets the Rent Stabilization Ordinance's (RSO, covering roughly 650,000 rent-stabilized units) annual allowable rent increase. Committee chair Council Member Nithya Raman opened by framing the current formula — unchanged since the 1980s — as outdated, noting rents in RSO units had risen well above inflation in more than half the years the ordinance has been in effect. The Los Angeles Housing Department's Anna Ortega testified that under the department's recommended formula, switching to a "CPI-less-shelter" index, lowering the ceiling from 10% to 5%, and lowering the floor from 3% to 2% while eliminating separate utility pass-throughs, the FY2026-27 allowable increase would be 2%, versus 3% if nothing changed. Ortega also testified that a Housing Department economic study found small landlords are not in greater financial distress than the RSO inventory overall, that landlord operating expenses (including insurance and maintenance) consume about 35% of operating revenue, and that the average value of an RSO unit had roughly doubled over the past decade, from about $150,000 to $300,000.
Seven successive votes shaped the final outcome. First, a Blumenfield-Rodriguez substitute motion to replace the committee's majority report with a minority report built on the department's formula plus mutual "rent banking" — carrying any annual increase above the adopted cap, or below the adopted floor, forward into future years — failed 4-10. A standalone Blumenfield amendment to add rent banking to the majority report also failed, 6-8. A Soto-Martinez amendment to set the formula's CPI share at 75% (rather than the committee's recommended 60%) failed 6-8, with Soto-Martinez arguing it was the only proposal that would produce an immediate, rather than purely prospective, benefit for tenants. A Hernandez friendly amendment to redefine the CPI measure as "all items less shelter" alongside a competing 90% CPI proposal failed 5-9. The 90% CPI amendment itself (Item 47D, introduced by Harris-Dawson and Yaroslavsky as a compromise aimed at securing enough votes to pass a reform) then passed 10-4, with Hernandez, Hutt, Soto-Martinez, and Jurado opposed as insufficient. A further amendment setting the formula's floor at 1% and ceiling at 4% (Item 47B, from McOsker, Yaroslavsky, and Rodriguez, seconded by Park) passed 12-2, with Hernandez and Soto-Martinez opposed. A separate amendment directing the Department of City Planning and Housing Department to study the formula's impact on future housing construction passed without opposition. A John Lee proposal to let small property owners raise rents by an additional 1% was tabled for future consideration under Council Rule 16 rather than voted on. The Committee report, as amended by the 90% CPI change, the impact-study directive, and the 1%-4% floor/ceiling, then passed as a whole, 12-2, with Blumenfield and Lee opposed — Blumenfield explaining that without rent banking, which he called the single most important piece of the reform, he could not support the final package.
Floor debate was extensive and pointed. Council Member Monica Rodriguez argued the reform would discourage housing investment and accused colleagues of inconsistency for approving other cost increases (trash and sewer fees) while resisting landlords' ability to recover rising costs. Council Member John Lee cited the roughly 650,000 RSO units citywide, warned that 51% of small (2-10 unit) RSO properties sold between 2018 and 2023 went to organizational buyers, and urged a no vote pending further study of construction impacts. Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez pressed the Housing Department on landlord profitability data, arguing the study showed small landlords were not in greater distress than the broader market. Council Member Ysabel Jurado argued for prioritizing renters facing homelessness risk, citing a senior constituent on a fixed income facing a rent increase, and Council Member Eunisses Hernandez described a former eviction-defense client whose rent had risen from $995 to over $1,400 under the existing "just and reasonable" process.
Item 48 (CF 25-1295) — Metro gondola project opposition, adopted 12-1. On a resolution by Council Member Eunisses Hernandez, Council Member Ysabel Jurado, and Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez, the Council voted to oppose the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Supplemental Environmental Impact Report for the proposed "LA Aerial Rapid Transit" gondola connecting Union Station/Chinatown to Dodger Stadium. Council Member John Lee cast the lone No vote; Yaroslavsky and Padilla were absent as recused Metro board members. Hernandez argued the roughly half-billion-dollar project, a privately proposed venture associated with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, would reduce Dodger Stadium traffic by less than 1% according to a UCLA study while permanently removing two acres of open space at the LA State Historic Park, removing more than 160 trees, and passing directly above homes in Solano Canyon and Chinatown. She also criticized Metro for declining to hold an in-person public hearing on the supplemental review, offering only a single virtual session.
Public Comment
Public comment was dominated by two items. On the RSO rent-formula reform (Item 47), speakers from organized labor — including the LA County Federation of Labor's Yvonne Wheeler, IATSE Local 728, UAW 2478, LAUSD-affiliated Local 99, AFM Local 47, and UNITE HERE Local 11 — urged Council toward the lowest proposed cap paired with the lowest CPI share. They were countered by property owners and managers, including the California Apartment Association's Fred Sutton, who argued rising insurance and maintenance costs justified a higher allowable increase.
On the Metro gondola resolution (Item 48), opposition came from Olvera Street and Chinatown merchants and preservation advocates, including a fourth-generation Olvera Street merchant and organizers with Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, along with several advocates for the LA State Historic Park who raised concerns about ceding parkland to a privately backed development.
Contested Votes
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
Item 21 — CF 24-0711-S2 (Adopted): S2 (CD 15) motion (McOsker-Lee) asserting City Council jurisdiction over the City Planning Commission's October 9, 2025 decision granting in part and denying in part an appeal for properties at 23416 and 23514 South President Avenue in the Wilmington-Harbor City Community Plan Area.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (14) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Curren D. Price, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | Nithya Raman |
Item 43 — CF 25-1306 (Adopted): (CD 3) motion (Blumenfield-Lee) to fund additional Los Angeles Police Department services in Council District 3.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (13) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Curren D. Price, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (2) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 1 of 7) (Failed): A Blumenfield-Rodriguez substitute motion to replace the Housing and Homelessness Committee's majority RSO rent-formula report with a minority report built on the Housing Department's recommended formula plus mutual rent banking.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (4) | Bob Blumenfield, Imelda Padilla, Monica Rodriguez, Traci Park |
| No (10) | Adrin Nazarian, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 2 of 7) (Failed): A Blumenfield amending motion to add mutual rent banking — carrying any annual rent increase above the adopted cap, or below the adopted floor, into future years — to the RSO annual rent increase formula.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (6) | Bob Blumenfield, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Monica Rodriguez, Traci Park |
| No (8) | Adrin Nazarian, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 3 of 7) (Failed): A Soto-Martinez amending motion to set the RSO annual rent increase formula's CPI share at 75%, rather than the committee-recommended 60%.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (6) | Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (8) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Traci Park |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 4 of 7) (Failed): A Hernandez friendly amendment that would have redefined the CPI measure used in the RSO formula from "all items" to "all items less shelter," offered alongside a proposed 90% CPI share. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (5) | Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Nithya Raman, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (9) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 5 of 7) (Adopted): An amending motion (Harris-Dawson-Yaroslavsky) to set the RSO annual rent increase formula's CPI share at 90% of the all-items index, offered as a compromise intended to secure enough votes to pass an RSO reform. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (10) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| No (4) | Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 6 of 7) (Adopted): An amending motion (McOsker-Yaroslavsky-Rodriguez, seconded by Park) to set the RSO annual rent increase formula's floor at 1% and its ceiling at 4%. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (12) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (2) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 47 — CF 23-1134 (vote 7 of 7) (Adopted): The Housing and Homelessness Committee report revising the RSO annual rent increase formula, as amended by the 90% CPI change, a directive to study construction impacts, and the 1%-4% floor/ceiling amendment. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (12) | Adrin Nazarian, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (2) | Bob Blumenfield, John Lee |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 48 — CF 25-1295 (Adopted): A resolution (Hernandez, Jurado-Soto-Martinez) opposing Metro's Supplemental Environmental Impact Report for the proposed "LA Aerial Rapid Transit" gondola project connecting Union Station/Chinatown to Dodger Stadium. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (12) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Curren D. Price, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | John Lee |
| Absent (2) | Imelda Padilla, Katy Yaroslavsky |
Vote Changes & Transcript Discrepancies
- Council Member Heather Hutt (not recorded → Yes) on Item 48: amended during the meeting; reflected in the official tally. Hutt asked to be recorded as a Yes vote on the Metro gondola resolution after the initial roll tabulation, bringing the final tally to 12 ayes.