We have come to the end of a year like no other in our city’s history.  As we begin a new year with renewed hope, it is important to reflect on the incredible challenges and also the important accomplishments of 2022.   In the last year the City Council has endured shocking controversies and toxic disruption.  But 2023 brings all of us an unprecedented opportunity to turn the page and make a fresh start, creating a new kind of leadership in City Hall that will regain the trust and confidence of the people of our city.   We have just celebrated the inauguration of our new mayor Karen Bass, and the Council welcomes five new Councilmembers.  Every citywide elected official, and fully a third of the entire City Council, is brand new.  I am humbled that the new City Council has selected me to be the new Council President, and I recognize both the challenge and the opportunity inherent in this new leadership position.    With new leadership, new energy, and new ideas, we have a unique opportunity for reform and renewal: reform of the way city government operates and renewal of our commitment to serve all the people of Los Angeles.  You can be very much a part of this process of positive change.  I look forward to working with you to make Los Angeles the city we all know it can be.   For now, I hope that you, your friends and family have enjoyed a warm and joyous holiday season, and I wish you a very happy new year.  It has been and continues to be my great honor to serve you.  

(Councilmember Paul Krekorian issued the following statement following his unanimous election as City Council President on October 18, 2022.) I am honored and humbled by the trust my fellow Councilmembers have placed in me at this time of crisis and challenge. The Council Presidency is a position of collaboration, not command.  I will see that the power of the Council Presidency is reduced, not enlarged.  The era of unilateral decision making and consolidating power ends today. Continue reading

On October 25, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously elected Curren Price (CD 9) to serve as the Council's President Pro Tempore. "I’m delighted that at this very difficult time, when the City so desperately needs to bring communities together, Curren Price was willing to step up and take on this leadership role," said Council President Paul Krekorian. "From having talked to the people of his district, I know that Curren Price has enjoyed years of respect and admiration for his ability to bring communities together.  He represents a district that is predominantly Latino, and he has been able to bring people together across racial divisions. I hope and I know that he'll bring that same kind of leadership to the entire City of Los Angeles," said Krekorian.

Our city’s healing from this injury caused by those who violated our trust can only begin when they take responsibility for their actions.   Nury Martinez has done the right thing and resigned from the City Council.  Councilmembers Cedillo and De León must now do the same.  Continue reading

On Tuesday October 11, along with Councilmembers Mike Bonin, Mitch O’Farrell, Curren Price and Nithya Raman, I introduced the following resolution to censure Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin De León, and to demand their immediate resignation. Continue reading

This week, Azerbaijan yet again attacked its Armenian neighbors, shelling civilians and infrastructure within Armenia’s borders. Over 100 more Armenians are dead in this latest round of Azeri aggression.  And yet again, the American government has had no meaningful response, leaving Azerbaijan’s pattern of unprovoked aggression and violent land grabs unchecked. Continue reading

As we approach the 4th of July we have every reason to celebrate. This holiday weekend may present us with a day off and an occasion for barbecues and professional fireworks displays, but it is also the 246th anniversary of a great experiment in self-government. Continue reading

Last month, the latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that unless the nations of the Earth drastically reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels, we will pass a point where worsening floods, drought, wildfires and ecosystem collapse are unavoidable.   Continue reading

One of my most important priorities has always been to foster the growth of small business.  An important step in doing so has been to use the City’s own purchasing power to create local economic benefit. Continue reading

Last month marked the 175th anniversary of the Treaty of Cahuenga, which was signed right here in Council District 2.  That historic pact ended the Mexican-American War in California and made Los Angeles an American city.  The treaty was a magnanimous one, made in a spirit of mutual respect, with the expectation that people of different cultures would live side by side in peace.  It “guaranteed protection of life and property” to the Californios, and further provided that “equal rights and privileges are vouchsafed to every citizen of California as are enjoyed by the citizens of the United States.” Continue reading