On February 24, Councilmember Paul Krekorian joined City Attorney Mike Feuer in announcing a lawsuit against the owner of a notorious North Hollywood apartment complex that has been a source of countless problems for residents and the surrounding neighborhood for years. Violent street gangs have essentially taken the complex over and it has become a magnet for violence and crime. The LAPD has recorded nine gang-related shootings at the property over the past 15 months — five since December.   Continue reading

(Artist’s rendering of NoHo 5050, permanent supportive housing project.Artist’s rendering of NoHo 5050, permanent supportive housing project.) Councilmember Krekorian has made it a top priority to build the housing necessary to allow people experiencing homelessness in his district to get off the streets and have access to services. To that end, in the last two years alone, he has built five interim housing facilities offering safety, hygiene, social services and meals to the unhoused.   Continue reading

January 2022 marks the 175th anniversary of the Treaty of Cahuenga, which ended hostilities between Mexico and the United States in California and peacefully transferred the territory to control of the United States. Continue reading

Watch LA This Week: StreetsLA Showcases Plug-In Sweepers Continue reading

On January 26, the City Council took a historic step toward protecting our neighborhoods and public health by ending all oil and gas production throughout the city. By unanimous vote, the City Council adopted the policy intiated by Councilmember Paul Krekorian to prohibit any new oil or gas drilling within the city limits, and to make existing extraction a “nonconforming use” that will be regulated and eventually phased out entirely. Continue reading

On Sunday, January 30, Councilmember Krekorian joined U.S. Representative Judy Chu, California Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian and other local elected officials and leaders of the Asian-American community for a Justice Rally at the Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood.   Continue reading

Last month, a long-vacant property at the old Valley Plaza shopping center was engulfed in fire, requiring the response of more than 100 Los Angeles firefighters to extinguish the blaze — at risk to their lives and at great expense to the City.  At similar locations throughout the city, vacant and neglected buildings are a blight on their neighborhoods, becoming a magnet for squatters and criminal activity as well as a fire hazard for neighboring buildings. See LAFD video of Valley Plaza Fire, December 13, 2021  Continue reading

As you know, the city recently completed an extremely contentious process of redrawing the boundaries of its Council districts.  Throughout the city, dramatic changes were required because of changes in neighborhoods’ population.  We are happy to report that, after an intense fight, Councilmember Krekorian was able to ensure that 85 percent of the Second District’s residents stayed in our newly-drawn district.  (You can see the new district map here.) Continue reading

Last year, Councilmember Krekorian opened the city’s first homeless services navigation center and also built three Tiny Home communities that provide interim housing and services to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness so they can recover from life on the street and begin rebuilding their lives.  Partnering with LA:RISE, Councilmember Krekorian also created an innovative program to prepare them to return to gainful employment.  And for those facing significant long-term challenges, Councilmember Krekorian has secured funding for buying and building permanent supportive housing. Continue reading

In 2022, Councilmember Krekorian’s landmark motion to make oil and gas production a “nonconforming” land use throughout the city, and to ban all new oil and gas drilling, is expected to be taken up by the full Council.  Continue reading

Especially with the rapid increase of delivered meals during the pandemic, Angelenos have been increasingly frustrated with the massive waste of single-use plastic utensils that are included in orders but never used.  Increasingly, the world is awash in such wasted plastic items whose production contributes significantly to climate change, and which end up littering our planet for centuries. (Councilmember Krekorian announces first stage of “Skip the Stuff” plastics ordinance in November 2021.) Continue reading

In 2022, construction is expected to begin on the first light rail line in the Valley since the demise of the Red Cars in the 1950s. The East San Fernando Valley Corridor project promises to transform life for hundreds of thousands of Valley residents, linking the Van Nuys Metro station to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station and providing swift efficient service to some of the busiest commercial and residential areas of the Valley.  (Artist’s rendering of transfer point of the Van Nuys Sylmar line and  the G (Orange) line.) Continue reading

Responding to an increase in gun violence, the Los Angeles City Council enacted an ordinance prohibiting the weapon of choice of criminals — unmarked and untraceable “ghost guns” and the parts used to assemble them.   Continue reading

Unhoused people who enter interim shelter receive the help they need to begin their lives again.  Every day, Angelenos who have struggled on the streets for years are finding their way from homelessness to employment and permanent housing through the services they receive in interim housing.  Continue reading