MOTIONIn the last several months, the United States Department ofJustice has brought Federal criminalindictments against Councilmember Jose Huizar and former Councilmember Mitchell Englander.Several other former city employees also have pled guilty or appear to be under continuinginvestigation related to those indictments. Continue reading

MOTION (BUDGET & FINANCE)-- The City of Los Angeles is taking leadership during this crucial time of economic recovery by making it easier for businesses to be connected to contracting opportunities. In view of thispriority, this Council has requested the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) to leverage the currentdevelopment of the City's solicitation platform and expand its capabilities from a solely Cityfocused platform to a broader regional focused platform. This regional platform will function asa centralized portal that can house public and private procurement and contracting activities forboth the City and the region. In order to support the success of this platform, the CPO wasallocated $500,000 through the budgeting process for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 for operationalneeds and $250,000 for marketing outreach to businesses. While the funding was made availablefor the CPO, the budget did not include the position authorities. Continue reading

MOTION-- Arts and culture are foundational to the City of Los Angeles’s economy, identity, and recoveryfrom the Covid-19 pandemic. Independent live music venues, in particular, play an integral rolein our local creative economy and the cultural identity of our communities. Continue reading

MOTION-- The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) will have a salaries shortfall of $9.6 million after YearEnd Financial Status Report adjustments. The shortfall is the result of the Department operating atpeak service levels particularly with the recent Palisades fire which drew resources for approximatelytwo weeks in May 2021. The shortfall will be reduced with revenues, reimbursements and operationalsavings, including net revenue from the 19-20 Intergovernmental Transfer Program and recent grantreimbursements to Variable Staffing Overtime. However, additional General Funds of $4.5 million arerequired to close the gap. Continue reading

MOTION--The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) mission is to support United States citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain,and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards. In order to meet FEMA's mission, grant programs are offered to first responder agencies, such as the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER). Continue reading

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), an agency within the U.S. Department ofTransportation, provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses,subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys and ferries. FTA also oversees safety measures and helpsdevelop next-generation technology research. Continue reading

MOTION-- On May 26, Samuel James Cassidy, a maintenance worker who had worked with the Santa ClaraValley Transportation Authority for over a decade, walked onto the facility’s yard with three semiautomatichandguns and 32 high-capacity magazines, and killed ten people, including himself. Samuel Cassidy wasdescribed as someone who made others fearful, and Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose said that other employeeshad “expressed generalized concerns about his mental health.” The incident in San Jose joins a string of massshootings - defined by the Congressional Research Service as one with four or more people injured or killed,not including the perpetrator and requiring the attacks to be in public and excluding domestic shootings andthose “attributable to underlying criminal activity” - with at least 232 taking place as of May 26 of this year. Continue reading

MOTION-- The State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued a Notice ofFunding Availability dated February 26, 2021 (NOFA), for the Affordable Housing and SustainableCommunities (AHSC) Program Round 6. The AHSC applications are due June 8, 2021. Continue reading

MOTION-- I MOVE that, subject to the approval of the Mayor, $120 be appropriated from the HeritageGCP Account Fund No. 0832 to the General Services Fund 100-40 (Salaries-As Needed), forservices in connection with the Mayor's illumination of City Hall in observance of NationalGun Violence Awareness Day on June 4, 2021.

MOTION-- On August 21, 2020, the Department of Water and Power (DWP) was contacted by staff at JetPropulsion Laboratory (JPL) to inform DWP that data from recent airborne remote-sensing surveys of theLA basin conducted as part of its Greenhouse Gas monitoring program detected methane near theValley Generating Station. The methane was observed during JPL’s most recent overflights on July 16,2020, and August 7,2020, between the hours of 1 pm and 2 pm. Methane, a colorless, odorless gas thatis the main component of natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps the sun’s heat, warmingthe earth 86 times as much as the same mass of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Continue reading