City Council Meeting

What Happened

Twelve members were present for the September 8, 2026 meeting, with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson presiding; Bob Blumenfield, Curren D. Price Jr. and Monica Rodriguez were absent for every recorded vote. The meeting's business was dominated by one item: extending the Fair Work Week Ordinance to fast food workers.

Items 2 through 8 passed 12-0 in the opening roll without discussion, including the reappointment of Jenny Chavez to the Board of Public Works (Item 2, CF 24-1200-S61); the Jurado–Blumenfield motion directing evaluation of the stalled Oceanwide Plaza project and possible economic development incentives to finish its hotel component (Item 3, CF 26-1105); a vesting zone change at 12910 West Culver Boulevard (Item 4, CF 26-0898); an ordinance distinguishing low-rise residential from other construction in setting how long Building and Safety permits stay valid (Item 5, CF 25-0173); the addition of the Bilderrain Residence at 124 East Avenue 33 to the Historic-Cultural Monuments list (Item 6, CF 26-1068); an Interim Control Ordinance barring demolition permits for occupied residential units subject to any form of rent or price control within the past five years in a portion of Valley Glen (Item 7, CF 25-0970); and four Bureau of Sanitation landscaping and site services agreements (Item 8, CF 26-0999), later moved forthwith at Council Member Adrin Nazarian's request. A second roll of 12-0 carried the district motions in Items 9 through 11, 13 through 14, 16 and 19 through 20 — among them funding for community clean-up implemented by the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) in Council District 1 (Item 11, CF 26-1222), funding to supplement medical care and social services for patients experiencing homelessness in Council District 13 (Item 14, CF 26-1225), monitoring of the Hollywood Restroom Project (Item 16, CF 26-1227), and a no-cost extension of a federal Office on Violence Against Women grant for trauma-informed, victim-centered police training on domestic and sexual violence (Item 20, CF 24-1280).

Item 15 (CF 26-1226) passed 12-0, asserting jurisdiction over the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission's August 5, 2026 denial of an appeal by Defend Ballona Wetlands concerning property at 5000 South Beethoven Street. Council Member Traci Park described the two-and-a-half-acre site — a peninsula known as Bird Island, a roosting, feeding and stopover area along Ballona Creek — and said that three decades after a manufacturing warehouse was approved there, "it is still not clear what the project is actually going to be even though the developer is building bridges and roads to access Bird Island." Sending it back, she said, would require the applicant to explain the totality of the project.

Item 18 (CF 26-0309) passed 12-0, designating West Adams Boulevard and 10th Avenue as "Mary Clay School Square." Council Member Heather Hutt recounted that Mary Clay founded the school during World War II when systematic racism kept Black families from receiving funding for childcare, and that it expanded in 1971 under her daughter's leadership into a hub for teacher training and early childhood education research. Hutt credited historian Dr. Allison Rose Jefferson with bringing the history forward, adding: "At a moment when history is watered down, it's imperative for the city to formally honor the individuals and landmarks that have shaped Los Angeles' cultural legacy."

Item 21 (CF 26-1150) passed 12-0, seeking enforcement tools and physical improvements to deter recurring street takeovers in Harbor Gateway. Council Member Tim McOsker called it special and brought LAPD to the table. Chief Mark Raina reported 867 takeovers in 2024, 233 in 2025, and 266 already in 2026, with associated robberies, shootings, assaults with deadly weapons, looting and removal of fire hydrants, and crowds sometimes reaching 700 people while individual geographic teams have fewer than ten officers. A weekend operation in South Bureau using roughly 175 officers produced 66 arrests for participating or aiding and abetting, four additional arrests, 570 citations (442 of them for spectating), and 200 vehicles impounded — all on 30-day holds, which cost about $2,500 to recover, with unrecovered vehicles going to police-garage auction. McOsker said he had also introduced a motion asking for a report back on a 2022 council file identifying the 50 most-impacted intersections. Council Member Eunisses Hernandez asked where auction revenue goes and what the operation cost — LAPD could answer neither and was asked to report back — and noted: "This past budget cycle I advocated for us to invest in infrastructure in our intersections to prevent these takeovers. And I lost that fight and now we're here... Sometimes we have to spend money to save money."

Item 1 — Fair Work Week Ordinance extended to fast food workers (CF 19-0229-S2), adopted 10-2-3. Council adopted the Economic Development and Jobs Committee report amending the Fair Work Week Ordinance to extend its protections to employees of fast food businesses and to require "Know Your Rights" training for covered employers. Council Member John Lee and Council Member Traci Park voted no.

The item carried three amendments, taken after a procedural tangle in which the clerk called them out of order and Amendment 1-C had to be reconsidered. Amendment 1-A (Soto-Martinez), adopted 12-0, refined the training requirement: building on a committee amendment by Park allowing a virtual option for employees who have already attended at least one in-person Know Your Rights session, 1-A added detail on workers' geographic locations and allowed virtual attendance "when it's necessary or requested by the employee." Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez said he still believes "there should be an in-person training for workers" at the outset. Harris-Dawson supported the flexibility, noting that fast food workers in his part of the city almost universally work multiple jobs at multiple locations and rely on public transit: "To not have the option of doing something online seems like we can take something that is meant to be a benefit and turn it into a burden." Amendment 1-C (Nazarian–Padilla), a technical fix adding Recommendation 3J rather than 3I, was adopted 12-0.

Amendment 1-B (Padilla–Rodriguez–Lee) failed 5-7-3. Soto-Martinez opposed it as "overly too broad," saying its substance would already be captured by 1-A's language on virtual training. No member spoke in its favor on the floor. Voting no: Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Eunisses Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Ysabel Jurado, Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Katy Yaroslavsky. Voting yes: Adrin Nazarian, Imelda Padilla, John Lee, Tim McOsker and Traci Park.

Soto-Martinez closed the item by framing it as "the first time the city has taken significant action to address one of the most challenging industries in our city," citing figures that 95 percent of fast food workers experience labor violations and that the average worker loses 16 percent of wages to wage theft, among the lowest-paid workers in the city. The ordinance extends to fast food the scheduling protections retail workers already have — predictable schedules, compensation for last-minute changes, and rest between closing and opening shifts — plus a report back establishing a framework for Know Your Rights training. "We can pass strong labor laws, but if the workers don't know what the laws mean, then we're not really doing our job as a city." Harris-Dawson credited Price with starting the effort years earlier.

Public Comment

Fast food workers and their supporters filled the chamber. Teresa, who has worked at a Carl's Jr. for over 20 years, said through an interpreter that her boss told her if she asked about her paycheck she would be fired and "banned from working in fast food." A YumYum Donuts worker in Council District 13 and several long-tenured workers asked members to support the ordinance "because longtime workers like myself deserve respect"; one speaker put the affected workforce at more than 50,000. Marcus, director of a South LA organization focused on Black and brown working families, framed it as a racial and economic justice issue: two-thirds of fast food workers are women and 85 percent are workers of color, and Council had deliberated the ordinance for more than two years. Victor Tobar, communications director for a group working directly with restaurant and fast food workers, argued for in-person training because "knowing that you have rights is not always enough." A UCLA labor-health program director and a UCLA professor working with a Starbucks organizing campaign both testified on training design — adult learning research favoring in-person, interactive sessions with room for questions. Denise, a three-year Starbucks barista at Santa Monica and Vine, described union-busting tactics, understaffing and safety concerns at a high-incident store with no employee restroom.

Franchise owners and independent restaurateurs opposed the measure. One owner of four Wendy's locations said his headcount had fallen from 400 to 177 and that "the more you pass regulations, the less you help the people you think you're helping," warning of accelerated automation. An independent restaurant owner cited the $20 fast food minimum wage alongside labor, food, insurance and utility costs, predicting higher prices, fewer employee hours and possible closures. One franchisee asked, "Why fast food? Why are we being singled out again?" — arguing franchisees are small business owners. A fast food worker responded directly from the podium: "The restaurants are not being targeted. It's the fast food workers that are fighting for their rights."

Park noted that many Del Rey residents called in on Item 15 but were not reached before public comment time expired.