After three weeks of budget meetings, input from 44 city departments and 173 public comments, my City Council colleagues and I just approved an $8.76 billion city budget for Fiscal Year 2016-2017. This is the city's fifth consecutive budget that I've had the pleasure to oversee as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.

Two years ago, I stood with my City Council colleagues and local business owners in the charred ashes of a massive fire that brought down the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission's warehouse and emergency homeless shelter in North Hollywood. We were saddened by the loss, but undaunted by the task ahead of us. That day, we asked everyone in the San Fernando Valley and beyond to join us in a campaign to rescue the Rescue Mission. 

LOS ANGELES - This week, Councilmember and Metro Board Member Paul Krekorian spoke with thousands of San Fernando Valley residents during an interactive telephone town hall meeting to discuss the Metro's plan to ease traffic.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Councilmember Krekorian joined the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Bureau of Engineering, and community members to break ground on the construction of new synthetic turf soccer fields at the Whitsett Sports Fields Park. 

STUDIO CITY - At the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Laurelgrove Avenue, the bold orange facade, fresh ingredients, and smell of coffee entices locals through the doors of Comoncy Cafe. 

STUDIO CITY - The San Fernando Valley's newest micro-roaster Coffee Source is bringing residents a unique coffee shop experience with its flagship shop in Studio City.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles saw an uptick in homelessness over the last year, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. 

LOS ANGELES - Councilmember Paul Krekorian - a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors - introduced a motion directing all Los Angeles City offices to cancel their subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers for printing full-page ads paid for by a group dedicated to denying the Armenian Genocide.

It was all smiles this week when a dozen young children from Hazeltine Elementary helped me welcome Greenwood Square Park to Van Nuys. Not only was I proud to dedicate the city's newest public park, it is the first park in more than a decade to be created through a little-used provision of the state's Quimby Act. 

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Inside the quiet grounds of Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery sits a 75-foot tall structure made of marble mosaic and adorned with sculpted figures. The shrine, known as the Portal of the Folded Wings, is the burial site of 15 aviation pioneers.