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ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday week with the County Board of Supervisors who are off until July 9th. The City Council has nearly 160 items on its Tuesday meeting agenda this week which makes an ordinary Angeleno's eyes hurt.
The Council will review/rubber-stamp three applications for the sale of alcoholic beverages for off-site consumption. Target at 6635 Fallbrook Avenue (CD 12) was determined to serve the public convenience without causing law enforcement issues.
And a 7-11 Market at 4377 Vineland Avenue (CD 2), represented by Vinepark Mobil, LLC, and Karaoglanian Gas Station 76 at 12856 West Sherman Way (CD 2), represented by George Karaoglanian, also applied for similar determinations.
Smart Speaker: Gas stations selling alcohol is problematic if we are serious about drunk driving... right?
Items 4 - 18 are various items valued at $2,065,296
tem 21 - 28 are legal settlement payout instructions totaling settlement payouts amounting to $20,079,565.
Item 36 is $80,000 in the Council District 2 portion of the Neighborhood Services Enhancements to help with copper theft. And item 37 is $350,000 out the door... to
North Hollywood Division of LAPD ($250,000):
$25,000 for fireworks-related calls during holiday weekends.
$30,000 for continued operation of youth programs and cadet expansion.
$150,000 for extra patrols to parks in Council District 2 on weekends and varying weekdays, as needed.
$15,000 for a nuisance property task force with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety to cite and prosecute nuisance property owners.
$30,000 for High Visibility Community Improvement Foot Beats.
Foothill Division ($40,000) for fireworks-related radio calls during holiday weekends and to patrol the fire road in Glencrest Hills in Council District 2.
Van Nuys Division ($5,000) for fireworks-related radio calls during holiday weekends.
TRANSFER and APPROPRIATE $55,000 in the Council District 2 portion of the Neighborhood Services Enhancements line item in the General City Purposes Fund No. 100/56 to LAPD Fund for vehicle recycling and dismantling for vehicles that are eligible for salvage.
The City Council item 22-1157 involves transferring funds for Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Rounds 1 and 4 to various city departments to support homelessness initiatives through June 30, 2025. The transfers fund hygiene services, administrative costs, legal support, and interim housing projects. Key actions and fund transfers include:
$101,559.84 from HHAP-1 to the Capital Improvement Expense Program for hygiene trailer repair at Skid Row Community ReFresh Spot.
$2,368,188 from HHAP-1 to the Board of Public Works (BPW) for Skid Row and Citywide hygiene programs. $1,195 from HHAP-4 to Citywide Leasing Fund for A Bridge Home site leasing costs.
$4,254,414 from HHAP-4 to BPW for Skid Row hygiene services.
$6,000 from HHAP-4 to the Bureau of Sanitation for the Sharp Collection Box program.
$16,500 from HHAP-4 to the Bureau of Sanitation for Sharp Collection Box contractual services.
$2,500 from HHAP-4 to the Bureau of Sanitation for Sharp Collection Box operating supplies.
$4,444,090 from HHAP-4 to BPW for the Citywide Pit Stop Program.
$1,823,376 from HHAP-4 to BPW for Portable Hygiene services.
$1,629,925 from HHAP-4 to the City Administrative Officer (CAO) for outreach coordination salaries. $629,659 from HHAP-4 to the Bureau of Engineering (BOE) for interim housing project salaries.
$260,388 from HHAP-4 to BPW for administrative support of hygiene programs.
$335,083 from HHAP-4 to the City Attorney for Roadmap site lease legal support.
$285,094 from HHAP-4 to the Department of General Services for real estate officer salaries.
$1,333,792 from HHAP-4 to CAO for administrative salaries.
$752,723 from HHAP-4 to the Mayor's Office of City Homelessness Initiatives for salaries.
$891,148 from HHAP-4 to CAO for project coordination salaries.
$250,000 from HHAP-4 to the City Attorney for litigation related to the Alliance Settlement Agreement.
Item 54 is a report detailing the actions and financial arrangements for the Los Angeles Convention Center Expansion Project. Summary:
Approve exclusive negotiations with AEG Plenary Conventions Los Angeles, LLC (APCLA) for the LACC Expansion Project. Instruct the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and City Administrative Officer (CAO) to approve a term sheet and negotiate an Early Works Agreement (EWA) up to $36.9 million for pre-development work. Authorize up to $5.98 million in reimbursements to APCLA for previous work. City departments must report within 45 days on resources needed. Approve seven positions in the Bureau of Engineering (BOE) and authorize $2 million for staffing. Permit contracts up to $9.5 million for services. The project, costing $1.4 billion, will have no General Fund impact in 2023-24.
Item 60 is a 60 days report back with an assessment of bus driver safety concerns.
Controversial Pilot program checking Tap Cards at the exit.
Item 69 expands the duties of the Youth Development Department (YDD) and item 70 seeks to establish a platform or single-user interface system to connect all departments' youth-related services and programs.
Item 71, relative to the proposed agreement between Marqueece Harris Dawson CD8 and Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program (PBJTP) and the non-exclusive use of tennis courts at Jackie Tatum Harvard Recreation Center and Saint Andrews Recreation Center, for the youth tennis program.
Item 76 is a subrecipient agreement with a third-party services provider to provide management services associated with the implementation of the Jobs and Economic Development Incentive (JEDI) Zone Facade Improvement Program across the City. Red Flag.
Item 77, is massive and ntended to be a report relative to the Asset Evaluation Framework AEF. The recommendations aim to improve the process of evaluating and utilizing properties for various city needs, particularly focusing on the feasibility and appropriate use of City-owned properties for housing and municipal purposes.
Item 81, The report from the Transportation and Budget, Finance, and Innovation Committees addresses the status and future of Proposition A (Prop A) funds for transit services. The budget forecast indicates a potential $51 million deficit in Prop A by the end of FY 2023-24, impacting the General Fund. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is instructed to pause the rollout of the Transit Service Analysis (TSA) and revise the TSA to align expenses with forecasted revenues, considering changes in travel patterns post-COVID-19, performance data, and upcoming major events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics. Additionally, they are to explore new funding sources, cost savings, and public-private partnerships.
Item 89 is a contract for Office of Finance with Data Analytics, LLC for portfolio analytics services
Item 91 is a LAWA contract with Agreement with Boingo, Wireless, Inc. to collect revenue estimated at $2,054,410 over the 18-month extension period. The revenue consists of a fixed base annual fee of $524,248 and a 50 percent share of gross revenues exceeding $1,400,000.
Item 92 is a contract with Loyola Marymount University for support and advisory services in inclusivity-related data analysis, interpretation and management practices, including revising the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Gap and Equity Study.
Item 93 is about converting a Ramada Inn in CD 11 into permanent housing.
Items 94 - 101 is REAP items.
Item 104 sole source contracts. One with the Jewish Federation in the amount of $400,000 to its Community Security Initiative, one with Magen Am in the amount of $350,000 for community patrols, and also a sole-source contract in the amount of $250,000 to the Jewish Community Foundation to fund grants to non-profit organizations to support community safety initiatives in the Jewish communities of Los Angeles. The total agreement compensation ias of June tenth was $80,951,180.
A nice extension for Council District Six, and the AWOKE dba THE GR818ERS, a private non-profit corporation into youth programming. Red Flag.
The Rapid Response Senior Meals Program item 118 (Program) requires very careful scrutiny. The Los Angeles Department of Aging (LADOA) will report on the status of the Program including the number of seniors receiving meals through the Program. Hutt and Raman are presiding and clueless about this type of possible corruption.
Mayor Bass is reappointing Carolyn Hernandez to the Climate Emergency Mobilization Commission and continuing her declaration of an emergency concerning local housing and homelessness.
Bob Blumenfield is putting up $25,000 as a reward for the Walk of Hearts plaques from and significant damage and arranging funding for the Reseda River Loop Greenway Project.
Paul Krekorian will APPROPRIATE $157,500 to be used for various beautification/maintenance efforts and services in Council District 2 coordinated by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps or any other agency or organization, Red Flag.
Traci Park is pressing the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) to report to the Council on current efforts to utilize vegetation management methods that do not rely on herbicides. Also, an agreement with Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles (JFS), for continued operation of senior nutrition, recreation, and social services programs at Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Senior Center.
Items 153 - 155 and 106 - 117 is approximately fourteen closed-session items ranging from harassment, discrimination and retaliation to bicycle liability and plenty of payouts related to the Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad accidentally detonating explosive materials in a neighborhood.
#fin
The Greatest Little Big City In The World:
The recent announcement that some events scheduled for Los Angeles have been outsourced to Oklahoma City has sparked disappointment among city council members, a sentiment echoed by many Angelenos. The decision is seen as a slap in the face to the city, which was gearing up to host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mayor James Butts of Inglewood and Janice Hahn of LA County SD4, are seeing Olympic rings and revenue.
The proposed Agreement aimed to build anticipation and excitement for the Games by utilizing internationally recognized logos, including the Olympic Rings and the Los Angeles City Seal, across various platforms such as websites, blogs, flyers, banners, billboards, benches, city vehicles, and for promoting the Department of Recreation and Parks' PlayLA programs.
In light of this, several motions were brought forward for consideration: Volunteer Program (15-0989-S31): A motion by Park, Krekorian, Yaroslavsky, and Price emphasized the development of a robust volunteer program to support the 2028 Games.
Transportation Plan (15-0989-S30): Another motion by Park, Krekorian, Yaroslavsky, and Hutt focused on creating a transportation plan, including traffic mitigation and control programs, in coordination with multi-jurisdictional partners to support the city during the Games.
Street and Sidewalk Improvement (15-0989-S29): Park, Krekorian, Yaroslavsky, and Lee proposed developing a comprehensive street and sidewalk improvement and maintenance plan to prepare the city for the Games.
Reimbursable Costs (15-0989-S28): A motion by Park, Krekorian, Yaroslavsky, and McOsker addressed the need for reimbursable costs related to enhanced city resources, services, and public safety during the Games.
Annual Report and Working Groups Updates: Joint communications from the City Administrative Officer and Chief Legislative Analyst included the 2024 Annual Report from the Los Angeles Organizing Committee and updates on implementing working groups as identified in the 2028 Games Agreement.
The above motions and reports underscore the city's efforts to prepare for the 2028 Games despite the recent outsourcing decision, aiming to ensure a successful and safe event for all participants and spectators.
City Spout:
Smart Speaker: Yeah it's Eric Preven and I'd like to speak on the available items and also a general public comment.
Tania Ysaguirre, Deputy City Attorney: You'll have three minutes for the items, we're taking general comment at the end of the meeting.
Smart Speaker: Right, but please make a note because yesterday you intentionally omitted me which is not nice. Okay, thank you. And nice to have you back Ysaguirre.
It's a shame that Groat had to be frogmarched out the other day. I wanted to say the million dollar donation from Banc of California with a "c" B-A-N- C. This gets the public nose twitching a little bit to be honest. We understand what contract plans and pilot programs are, hard to see what's going on here - this reminds me of the Taser guys coming up from Arizona under Englander's leadership with gifts, "Hey we have a great idea! You don't pay one cent for the first load of bodycams by Taser. And Sprint, our BFFs will comp you something fancy as well..." And then Mitch Englaner under uncle Harvey Englander's leadership, the top lobbyist with an assist from Fema-obsessed Bob Blumenfield... They stuffed a bodycam truck full of Tasers. Yes, the ones that cost millions in liability, and yes during a homeless crisis.
So, in short, we don't like these kinds of loss leader items, where if we ACT NOW... we can ... whatever develop lawsuits and other things that may not be in our interests. I would ask that this be sent back to the committee where Imelda Padilla can give it a close inspection. Nothing is free and we need to understand why they are so interested in gifting a million bucks to the city.
In terms of the preferential parking districts, I would emphasize that this has always been an interesting area, because if you are a resident of some community and you want to park your car on the street near your residence, but can't... it pisses people off. There should be a right to park your damn car without too much trouble.
So for those who are sufficiently miserable with the neighborhood parking, this program gives a chance, for a nominal fee, like a hundred bucks, that gets them a sticker that exempts them from being ticketed. The ticketing starts as soon as your $100 permit is issued. It's brutal. Everybody else who parks on the street once it's preferentialized... will get nailed with a $75 rising to $150.
Not nice but also there is no coherent strategy from Yaroslavsky because the effect of moving the parking over to another area is not helpful. The program is invaluable for rich people to protect the right to park several vehicles on the street while rank-and-file Angelenos pay fines to Blumenfield and Traci Park.
All of this, during a period when you plan to invite more and more visitors to Los Angeles to attend big stadium events, where you can easily get a giant beer (or four) and overpay Kroenke and Butts for tickets ... not only to the Olympics, the World cup too. What a revenue stream for Casey Wasserman and all the Harvard-Westlake Trustees and the people who drink deeply from the trough of professional sports and tourism in Los Angeles.
And Stuart Waldman should be afforded VIP parking at Sofi and all other venues, while the rest of us ride the metro bus and rail system clutching one another in fear.
Lindsey Horvath told the Metro board yesterday that there are only 400 cops patrolling the 1000s of stops on the system.
We blame Paul Krekorian and Katy Yaroslavsky, obviously, who sit on the Metro Board and have done a great job of wringing their hands as the system collapses.
In conclusion, spending nearly $400,000 to put up an affordable unit is less than $750,000 but I feel we have to find a way to somehow cut out the middle man. I'm not sure who the middleman is, on some of this stuff but it gets very expensive.
Yesterday at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Rick Jacobs, the (alleged) sexual harassment consultant, was testifying on behalf of the Carpenters' union.
Bob Blumenfield, Council President, CD3: General public comment.
Smart Speaker: Thank you Mr. Blumenfield, and we appreciate your trying to put a face on and sit up at the front of one of the most corrupt city councils in American History. It's an honor just to be here.
And we note the Grant's Pass decision by the Supreme Court today ... which is, of course, complicated because traditionally here in LA we don't want to enforce against the unhoused. But we do anyway. The homelessness assistance program has been described by an insider member of the public as a "poorly coordinated series of bungles."
One constructive idea would be, I think, to halve the number of committee meetings and open them to call-in testimony. We know that Katy Yaroslavsky and Eunisses Hernandez and others want to reduce public comment time substantially.
Smart Speaker: No thanks.
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
