What Happened
Council Member Bob Blumenfield was absent for the entirety of the January 9, 2026 meeting, the first of the year. The meeting opened with testimonials from Council Members Monica Rodriguez and Eunisses Hernandez on the killings of Renee Good and Keith Porter, both by ICE (a federal Home Depot employee's family said Porter, killed on New Year's Eve, was shot by an off-duty ICE agent), and a commemoration led by Council Member Traci Park marking one year since the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed 12 people in the Palisades and 19 in Altadena.
Council adopted a series of committee reports and district motions without dissent (14-0, Blumenfield absent), including a feasibility study on non-resident fees for Recreation and Parks programs (Item 1, CF 25-1284), publishing agreements for three authors with the LA Public Library (Items 4-6), Animal Welfare Trust Fund money to rebuild a wall and cage at the West LA Animal Services Center (Item 7, CF 25-1303), and district funding motions covering tree trimming in CD3 and CD13, overtime for homeless outreach in CD15, supplemental homeless services funding in CD8, a protected bike lane on Jefferson Boulevard in CD11, and a dedicated streetlight repair crew for CD13. Council Member McOsker's amendment to Item 2 (CF 25-1253), on Department of Animal Services rules for elected officials and staff accessing shelter facilities, also passed unanimously; McOsker said the motion followed his discovery that council members faced advance-notice requirements to tour parts of an animal shelter and sought the legal basis for that restriction.
Council also adopted, unanimously, a motion from Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez (CF 25-0698, Item 29) directing LAPD to formalize advance coordination with protest organizers and to adopt a graded response model — under which heavily armored officers stage several blocks away and deploy only if a protest turns violent, as is done in New York and Boston — and a motion from Council Member Hernandez (CF 25-0756, Item 30) directing the City Attorney to identify amendments maximizing penalties for individuals impersonating law enforcement officers.
Two resolutions designating locations for enforcement of Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 41.18 — the ordinance barring sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing property in the public right-of-way — passed 10-4 over opposition. Item 23 (CF 25-4118-S16), sponsored by Council Member Padilla, designated a location in Council District 6. Item 24 (CF 25-4118-S17), sponsored by Council Member Park, designated a location in Council District 11. Council Members Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Nithya Raman, and Ysabel Jurado voted no on both; both items were called for separate votes by Jurado and Hernandez, but neither drew floor debate before the roll was taken.
Public comment was dominated by the killings of Renee Good and Keith Porter. Multiple speakers, including members of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Students Deserve, called on the council to demand the release of the identity of the ICE agent involved in Porter's killing and to divest from law enforcement funding; one speaker said LAPD shootings rose 70% the previous year with little accountability. Several commenters pressed the council to take concrete action beyond statements in response to federal immigration enforcement. Separately, two fast-food workers spoke in support of a fast-food fair-work ordinance, describing unpaid off-the-clock hours and missed breaks, and a Loyola Law School anti-trafficking policy associate urged the city to strengthen labor-law enforcement ahead of the 2028 Olympics and World Cup, citing a documented pattern of forced labor around past host cities.