Meeting Summary
What Happened
All 15 council members were present at roll call, though Hugo Soto-Martinez recused himself from Item 13 over an investment in the hydrogen sector, and Curren Price and Soto-Martinez were recorded absent for several of the day's other votes.
Council gave first-consideration approval to ordinances establishing or modifying six business improvement districts after ballot tabulations found no majority protest: Venice Beach (Item 1, CD 11), Century City (Item 2, CD 5), Westwood (Item 3, CD 5), West Adams (Item 4, CD 10), Old Granada Village (Item 5, CD 12), and a modification to the existing Larchmont Village BID (Item 6, CD 13). It adopted a Public Safety/Planning and Land Use Management Committees report (Item 30, CF 26-0386) authorizing the Fire Department to proactively demolish abandoned structures that pose a fire risk, amended by Council Members Padilla and Soto-Martinez to give the Office of Historic Resources 30 days' notice before any demolition of a structure listed or eligible for listing in HistoricPlacesLA. It approved funding to rapidly hire outside consultant capacity to help the City plan its response to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (Item 45, CF 26-0966), which Council President Harris-Dawson amended from the floor to describe the work as developing "a new homeless structure with implementation plan" rather than a "transition plan away from" LAHSA. Council also gave second-consideration approval to a ballot measure exempting from the Measure ULA real estate transfer tax any residential property destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire and sold within five years (Item 25, CF 26-1100-S9), and advanced dozens of routine committee reports, grant acceptances, and council-district funding motions without debate.
Item 13 — Scattergood Generating Station CEQA Appeal (CF 25-1360)
Council adopted the Energy and Environment Committee's report denying the CEQA appeal of the Final EIR for the Scattergood Generating Station Units 1 and 2 "Green Hydrogen-Ready" Modernization Project, 10-3-2. Council Members Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman, and Katy Yaroslavsky voted no; Curren Price and Soto-Martinez (who recused himself over a hydrogen-sector investment) were absent.
Committee Chair Adrin Nazarian, presenting the item, said DWP and the appellants — Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, Communities for a Better Environment, LA Waterkeeper, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Center for Biological Diversity — had held seven negotiating sessions over the prior month and a half but failed to reach a settlement. He said the project's roughly 340-megawatt dispatchable capacity is needed because no combination of battery storage or other alternatives evaluated could match its reliability within the required timeframe, and that Units 1 and 2 must come offline by 2029 regardless. Council Member Traci Park, while supporting the project, added a floor amendment directing DWP to continue settlement talks with the goal of a resolution within 45 days.
Council Member Yaroslavsky, explaining her no vote, said she was disappointed no settlement was reached before the vote and that unresolved questions about the appeal and proposed settlement terms deserved a closed-session discussion the Council did not have time for. She noted DWP had committed in May to 220 megawatts of local solar by 2025 but is "not close to meeting that goal," and said she was skeptical the project would ultimately function as advertised given it "will continue burning 100 percent methane" rather than green hydrogen. Public comment was dominated by the issue, with building-trades union members (Locals 12 and 18) and hydrogen-industry representatives urging approval to preserve reliability and jobs, while Food and Water Watch, Communities for a Better Environment, and Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles asked for a continuance to finish negotiating a settlement.
Item 44 — Charter Reform Commission Meet-and-Confer on Recommendation 54 (CF 26-0968)
Council adopted, 13-1-1, a motion instructing the City Administrative Officer to initiate meet-and-confer with labor on Charter Reform Commission Recommendation No. 54, as amended by Council Members Soto-Martinez and McOsker to replace "meet-and-confer" with "voluntary discussions." Council Member Hernandez cast the lone no vote; Curren Price was absent.
Hernandez said she could not support what she called "political theater" — instructing a meet-and-confer process on a single Charter Reform Commission recommendation after the Council had already declined to place broader police-accountability charter reforms on the ballot. She said the City Attorney's office had advised that a meet-and-confer was not legally necessary for this recommendation, and argued the move came at a moment when communities are demanding answers on LAPD accountability and pretextual stops.
Item 32 — CD 11 Homeless Enforcement Zone Under LAMC 41.18 (CF 26-4118-S7)
Council adopted, 10-4-1, a resolution by Council Members Park and Padilla designating a location in Council District 11 for enforcement against sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing property in the public right-of-way under Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 41.18. Council Members Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado, Raman, and Soto-Martinez voted no; Price was absent. The item, called for a separate vote by Council Member Jurado, drew no floor debate from members, but a public commenter disputed the factual findings CD 11 had submitted to support the designated zones, arguing the same boilerplate findings were used for each location and calling the underlying enforcement ordinance discriminatory toward unhoused Angelenos.
Item 24 — FY 2026-27 Annual Homelessness Funding Report Transfer of Funds (CF 23-1022-S33)
Council adopted, 13-1-1, a transfer of funds tied to the Fiscal Year 2026-27 Annual Homelessness Funding Report, as amended by Council Members Raman and Blumenfield to make technical corrections to previously adopted funding recommendations, including an interim fund transfer and authorization to appropriate Measure HHH (H3) funds for the Board of Public Works. Council Member Monica Rodriguez — who had called the item for a separate vote herself — cast the lone no vote; Price was absent. No floor explanation for the dissent was given.
Item 25 — Palisades Fire Measure ULA Tax Exemption, Second Consideration (CF 26-1100-S9)
Council gave second-consideration approval, 13-1-1, to the ballot ordinance exempting from the Measure ULA transfer tax residential properties destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire and sold within five years. Council Member Hernandez, who called the item for a separate vote, cast the lone no vote; Price was absent. No floor explanation was given.
Public Comment
The bulk of substantive public comment concerned Item 13, splitting between building-trades unions (IBEW Local 18, Operating Engineers Local 12) and hydrogen-industry representatives supporting the Scattergood modernization for its reliability and jobs benefits, and environmental groups — Food and Water Watch, Communities for a Better Environment, LA Waterkeeper, and Physicians for Social Responsibility LA — asking the Council to continue the item so ongoing settlement talks could finish, arguing the roughly $1 billion project amounts to a new methane gas plant that will not deliver on green-hydrogen promises. Several Boyle Heights residents, identifying with the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council and the group ACE, spoke in Spanish through an interpreter about ongoing smoke and odor from a nearby facility (referred to as "Lineage") following a recent fire, describing respiratory illness in the community and asking the Council to deny the company's permit.
Contested Votes
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
Item 13 — CF 25-1360 (Adopted): (CF 25-1360), Energy and Environment Committee report denying the CEQA Section 21151(c) appeal of the Final EIR for the Scattergood Generating Station Units 1 and 2 Green Hydrogen-Ready Modernization Project, as amended by Council Member Park to direct DWP to continue settlement negotiations with the appellants toward a resolution within 45 days.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (10) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (3) | Eunisses Hernandez, Katy Yaroslavsky, Nithya Raman |
| Absent (2) | Curren D. Price, Hugo Soto-Martinez |
Item 24 — CF 23-1022-S33 (Adopted): (CF 23-1022-S33), transfer of funds tied to the FY 2026-27 Annual Homelessness Funding Report, as amended by Council Members Raman and Blumenfield to make technical corrections to prior funding recommendations, including an interim fund transfer and authorization to appropriate Measure HHH (H3) funds for the Board of Public Works.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (13) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | Monica Rodriguez |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 25 — CF 26-1100-S9 (Adopted): (CF 26-1100-S9), second-consideration ordinance for a ballot measure exempting from the Measure ULA real estate transfer tax residential properties destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire and sold within five years of the fire.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (13) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | Eunisses Hernandez |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 32 — CF 26-4118-S7 (Adopted): (CF 26-4118-S7), resolution by Council Members Park and Padilla designating a location in Council District 11 for enforcement against sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing personal property in the public right-of-way under Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 41.18.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (10) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| No (4) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Nithya Raman, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 44 — CF 26-0968 (Adopted): (CF 26-0968), motion instructing the City Administrative Officer to initiate meet-and-confer obligations on Charter Reform Commission Recommendation No. 54, as amended by Council Members Soto-Martinez and McOsker to replace "meet-and-confer" with "voluntary discussions."
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (13) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (1) | Eunisses Hernandez |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |