L.A. City Council cancels meeting
Lack of quorum
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—For the third time this year the Los Angeles City Council today was forced to cancel its meeting because not enough members showed up.
Another meeting was canceled less than a month ago on Sept. 29.
Council President Pro Tem Jan Perry apologized to the public for not having enough members to legally hold a council meeting and said the items on today’s agenda would be added to Tuesday’s agenda.
Council President Eric Garcetti was scheduled to arrive to the meeting at about 11:15 a.m. but did not make it in time.
“There was a miscommunication between us and the City Clerk,” Garcetti spokeswoman Julie Wong said. “We thought he had been excused, but he was not.”
Garcetti was speaking at a meeting of the Urban Land Institute.
Councilman Ed Reyes was in Washington, D.C. for a meeting Thursday with President Barack Obama. He is scheduled to return to Los Angeles today.
Reyes’ spokeswoman Monica Valencia said Reyes had requested that he be excused from council today and “did make President Garcetti aware of the councilman’s important meeting with Obama.”
Councilmen Bernard Parks, Bill Rosendahl, and Paul Krekorian were officially excused from the meeting.
At least 10 members are necessary to constitute a quorum, and only nine were present today: Jose Huizar, Richard Alarcon, Paul Koretz, Tom LaBonge, Jan Perry, Mitchell Englander, Tony Cardenas, Herb Wesson and Dennis Zine.
“It’s the public and people having to come all the way to downtown that makes things unfortunate,” Councilman Mitchell Englander said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles City Council moved today to support a group of demonstrators camped on the lawn of City Hall as part of a nationwide series of demonstrations aimed at calling attention to the gap between rich and poor.
Seven of the 15 council members signed a resolution to support “peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by ‘Occupy Los Angeles.”’
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles City Council voted today to continue to paying a contractor to collect fines from about 50,000 drivers who have not paid traffic tickets for being caught on camera running red lights before July 31.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The City Council today instructed the Department of Animal Services to draft a law banning the commercial breeding of dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens in Los Angeles and the sale of factory-bred animals in pet stores.
The motion, which was introduced by City Councilman Paul Koretz and was approved unanimously, also asks the department to arrange frequent adoption drives for shelter animals at licensed pet stores.
Koretz called the measure a win-win for the city.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—One year after scuffles broke out in City Council chambers, about 80 housing advocates protested around City Hall today, urging the council to block rent hikes for rent-stabilized housing.
Members of the Los Angeles Right to Housing Collective want changes to the city law that governs how much landlords can raise rents each July.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Los Angeles City Council today unanimously approved $18 million to house the chronically homeless, after a vote on the issue last Friday was cut short when a councilman walked out of the meeting.
The construction of 136 units of “permanent supportive housing” that include counseling, health and financial planning services would satisfy the Jones Settlement, a deal struck in 2007 after six homeless people sued the city, challenging a law that made it illegal for them to sit or lie on sidewalks.
