Meeting Summary
What Happened
Eleven to fourteen members were present through the January 28, 2026 meeting. Council Member Adrin Nazarian led a floor statement, joined by Council Members Katy Yaroslavsky and Nithya Raman, on the killing of protesters amid an economic and political crackdown in Iran, noting Los Angeles is home to one of the world's largest Iranian diaspora communities; the council observed a moment of silence.
Council adopted, unanimously, a motion from Council Member Bob Blumenfield establishing a grant program to support "vertical content" and micro-drama video production — an emerging mobile-video industry Blumenfield said is worth an estimated $15 billion by 2028 but is leaving Los Angeles because most productions fall under the budget threshold required for state tax credits. Council also adopted, unanimously, a Blumenfield motion directing the Planning Department and City Attorney to analyze whether the city retains any legal discretion to review a roughly 400-unit development proposed for the Woodland Hills Country Club, which Blumenfield said is being fast-tracked under state density-bonus laws (AB 2011 and related follow-on bills) despite sitting in a very high fire severity zone with narrow hillside streets; he called the project "the canary in the coal mine" for how those state laws could preempt local review citywide. A large slate of closed-session litigation settlements, ranging from a $61,152.91 tax waiver to a $3,237,268.72 settlement plus interest, passed together 14-0.
A Budget and Finance/Transportation Committees report accepting roughly $3 million in Metro Open and Slow Streets Program grant funding, matched with nearly $2 million in city funds for nine events (Item 20), passed 12-2, with Blumenfield and Council Member Monica Rodriguez voting no. Blumenfield said only one of the nine funded events was in the San Fernando Valley — home to 40% of the city's population — and that event received less than half the funding the city had requested; he called it a "protest vote" against a pattern he said also excluded the Valley entirely from the prior funding cycle.
Two City Attorney requests to increase outside-counsel funding drew extensive public comment and were referred to closed session before their votes; no floor debate occurred once the council reconvened. Item 22 (CF 24-0971), increasing funding for the law firm Nossaman LLP in ongoing litigation over the Venice Dell ("Venice Del") affordable housing project, passed 9-3, with Council Members Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado, and Hugo Soto-Martinez voting no; Council Member John Lee recused himself, citing an abundance of caution. Housing advocates including Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation urged the council in public comment to reject the funding increase, arguing the city had already approved the 120-unit low-income project twice and risked losing its "pro-housing" state designation by continuing to fund outside legal opposition to it. Item 23 (CF 20-0263-S5), a further increase in outside-counsel funding for the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in a separate ongoing case, passed 9-4, with Lee, Council Members Tim McOsker, Imelda Padilla, and Rodriguez voting no.
Public comment also included fast-food workers describing retaliation after filing workplace-safety complaints and urging passage of the fast food fair work ordinance, a Chamber of Commerce representative opposing a proposed cashless-retail ban framework (Item 9), and a Loyola Law School anti-trafficking advocate urging FIFA and LA28 to publicly release required human-rights prevention plans ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Contested Votes
Tallies and member votes are the official record (LA City Clerk CVVS). Descriptions are drawn from the meeting transcript.
Item 20 — CF 25-1457 (Adopted): A Budget and Finance and Transportation Committees report accepting Metro Open and Slow Streets Program grant funding, matched with city funds, for nine events.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (12) | Adrin Nazarian, 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 (2) | Bob Blumenfield, Monica Rodriguez |
| Absent (1) | Curren D. Price |
Item 22 — CF 24-0971 (Adopted): A City Attorney request to increase outside-counsel funding for the law firm Nossaman LLP in ongoing litigation over the Venice Dell affordable housing project. LA Left Tracker Key Vote
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (9) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hutt, Imelda Padilla, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker, Traci Park |
| No (3) | Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Ysabel Jurado |
| Absent (3) | Curren D. Price, John Lee, Nithya Raman |
Item 23 — CF 20-0263-S5 (Adopted): A City Attorney request to further increase outside-counsel funding for the law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher in a separate ongoing case.
| Vote | Members |
|---|---|
| Yes (9) | Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Traci Park, Ysabel Jurado |
| No (4) | Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Monica Rodriguez, Tim Mcosker |
| Absent (2) | Curren D. Price, Nithya Raman |