WHAT HAPPENED
The Los Angeles City Council's November 14, 2025 meeting was devoted almost entirely to confirming a new fire chief and to Veterans Day and traffic-safety tributes, with a light legislative agenda passed unanimously.
FIRE CHIEF CONFIRMATION
The council voted 12-0, by voice roll call, to confirm Mayor Karen Bass's nomination of Deputy Chief Jaime Moore as the next chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Moore, a 30-year LAFD veteran who grew up in Mar Vista and Venice, told the council he supports Mayor Bass's request for an independent investigation into a specific incident during the department's Palisades fire response, said 13 of 42 after-action recommendations from the broader Palisades fire review remain outstanding, and pledged to review each of them personally. Several council members, including Traci Park and Curren Price, pressed Moore on rebuilding public trust following LA Times reporting on internal department concerns about the January 2025 wildfire response and on a subpoena of rank-and-file text messages tied to the ongoing investigation; Moore said he would support the review and hold the department accountable for its findings.
VETERANS DAY AND TRAFFIC SAFETY
Council Member John Lee led a Veterans Day tribute recognizing the newly formed Los Angeles Fire and Police Veterans Association, and several council members individually honored veterans from their districts. Council Member Monica Rodriguez announced a motion to add $250,000, on top of $250,000 already approved in this year's budget, to support legal assistance for immigrant veterans facing deportation despite having served the country, saying her own father earned his citizenship through Marine Corps service in Vietnam.
Council Members Katy Yaroslavsky and Heather Hutt marked the World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims, citing a Los Angeles Department of Transportation finding that traffic deaths rose 20% and serious pedestrian-involved crashes rose 53% between 2017 and 2021, and that the city recorded 302 traffic deaths in 2024, a decade after adopting a "Vision Zero" pledge to eliminate them entirely. Streets Are For Everyone Executive Director Damian Kevitt said Los Angeles County recorded 711 traffic deaths in 2024 and called on the council to adopt a new comprehensive Vision Zero plan addressing shortcomings identified in a recent city audit. Yaroslavsky said Measure HLA, approved by 65% of voters, lacked a dedicated funding source matching the scale of the problem.
UNANIMOUS ITEMS
The council also adopted, without recorded dissent, a Personnel and Hiring Committee report on accommodating city employees experiencing menopause, sponsored by Council Member Katy Yaroslavsky; a joint Public Works and Transportation Committees report streamlining public right-of-way permitting for major international events hosted in the city; a Public Works Committee report on embedding sensors in street lighting infrastructure to enable active monitoring; and an amended agreement with Destination Crenshaw and LA Metro for the continued implementation of the Destination Crenshaw Outdoor Museum project in Council District 8, with Council Member Curren Price recused.