Meeting Summary
What Happened
Eleven council members were present for the initial roll call, rising to twelve later in the meeting. Council opened by recognizing participants in LA Foster Youth Shadow Day, a National Foster Youth Institute program pairing council offices with young people who have experienced foster care. Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez then presented testimony from two Council District 13 constituents affected by federal immigration enforcement: Maria Gaitan, whose husband was detained by ICE in August and who described struggling to pay rent and afford groceries for her three sons, and Griselda Samoaya, whose 23-year-old daughter was detained by ICE at a Home Depot near Hollywood and Western.
Council adopted a large bloc of items with limited discussion, including three Historic-Cultural Monument designations (Items 5-7); nuisance-abatement investigations for properties on South Robertson Boulevard and Virginia Road in Council District 10 (Items 8-9); an amendment to the Jefferson Park Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (Item 10, CF 09-2724-S1); the appointment of Jeffrey Skobin to the Board of Police Commissioners (Item 12, CF 25-1200-S52); four additional Rent Escrow Account Program property removals (Items 14-17); funding for shared housing and older-adult services in Council District 3 (Items 18-19, Blumenfield-Nazarian); a Housing and Homelessness Committee report on the cost of city-funded homeless housing interventions and potential funding reductions facing the city and its partners (Item 21, CF 25-1137); a motion evaluating expansion of the Pacific Avenue Corridor Jobs and Economic Development Incentive Zone in San Pedro (Item 25, CF 23-0957-S1); a HUD Section 108 loan application for the Reseda Theatre Rehabilitation Project (Item 24, CF 14-1174-S113, Blumenfield-Raman); and several Animal Services Department contract and bequest items (Items 26-32). Item 13, a proposed Metro lease for a Council District 6 property at 6340 North Balboa Boulevard and 16800 Victory Boulevard, was continued to October 28.
Item 20 (CF 20-1084-S4), a Second Amendment to the city's contract with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles for eviction-defense and homelessness-prevention services under the StayHoused LA program, was reconsidered twice after Council Member Nithya Raman identified an error in her own amending motion; the corrected version, extending the program while a new request-for-proposals process was completed, passed 12-0.
Contested Votes
Item 22 (CF 25-0006-S85) — Munger, Tolles & Olson wildfire-litigation legal services agreement. This item, a proposed legal services agreement with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP for work related to the January 2025 wildfire litigation and related federal investigations, went through two votes after a floor dispute over funding. A first version passed 11-1, with Council Member Adrin Nazarian opposed. Before final action, Council Member Nithya Raman noted that the item as reported to Council had identified the funding source as coming from the Department of Water and Power, but a late amendment from the City Attorney's office — introduced only in the final hour, including during a closed session — would instead have the City Administrative Officer identify $750,000 from the General Fund to cover the cost. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said on the record that he did not understand why this change in funding source was not disclosed earlier and called the situation "understandable consternation." After the amendment (22A, Harris-Dawson-Lee) was added, the amended item was put to a second vote and received only 7 Ayes to 5 Noes — with Council Member Eunisses Hernandez, Council Member Tim McOsker, Council Member Adrin Nazarian, Council Member Nithya Raman, and Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez opposed — short of the votes needed to pass; the Council Clerk stated on the record that "this motion fails," and the item was held over to October 24 under Council rules for further consideration. [Note: the city's official CVVS vote database lists this second vote's status as "Adopted," which conflicts with the clerk's real-time statement in the meeting audio that the motion failed and was held over; the item was in fact taken up again at subsequent meetings on October 24 and October 29 before final passage on October 28, consistent with the motion having failed at this meeting rather than passed.]
Public Comment
Public comment on Item 20 drew a large turnout of StayHoused LA program participants and eviction-defense advocates, including representatives of Eastside LEADS, who urged Council to extend $3.7 million in rental-assistance funding and $4.6 million in legal-services funding for five additional months while a paused request-for-proposals process was completed, citing elderly and undocumented tenants at risk of eviction across multiple council districts.
Contested Votes
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
Item 22 — CF 25-0006-S85 (vote 1 of 2) (Adopted): A proposed legal services agreement with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP for legal work related to the January 2025 wildfire litigation and related federal investigations, and a grant of informed written consent for the arrangement, as originally reported.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (11) | Bob Blumenfield, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | Adrin Nazarian |
| Absent (3) | Curren D. Price, Imelda Padilla, Monica Rodriguez |
Item 22 — CF 25-0006-S85 (vote 2 of 2) (Adopted): The same Munger, Tolles & Olson legal services agreement as amended (22A, Harris-Dawson-Lee) to add an instruction directing the City Administrative Officer to identify $750,000 in General Fund money, rather than Department of Water and Power funds, to cover the agreement's cost.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (7) | Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (5) | Adrin Nazarian, Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker |
| Absent (3) | Curren D. Price, Imelda Padilla, Monica Rodriguez |