A separate tidbit from earlier in the meeting: Task force commissioners recently picked the brain of former Mayor Eric Garcetti's chief of staff Ana Guerrero about the LA city mayor's office, as part of research for the elected County CEO. And they may bring her on later as a consultant.
Sean McMorris of California Common Cause gave public comment a bit ago, saying he's "floored by the revelation about the charter prohibiting an independent commission, and hope that this will go back to the ballot in 2026 so that we can get this independent commission established."
Here's the point where a subcommittee was delivering the news to their fellow commissioners on the Governance Reform Task Force: "Addressing Charter Conflict concerns"
Measure G's been ... interesting.
Last year, it was discovered that a part of Measure G going into effect in 2028 wrote over a key part of Measure J that sets aside 10% of local county revenue for the community to address harms made by law enforcement. lapublicpress.org/2025/07/meas...
It also sounded as though the source of this "advisement" they got about this conflict with the existing county charter is from an anonymous source. So they don't quite trust it yet so want to get their own legal counsel to figure this out?
Wow, the county's "Measure G" task force was discussing creating an Independent Ethics Commission, and to get a "gold standard" Ethics Commission, they might need to go back to the voters.
The proposed draft Ethics Commission ordinance might conflict w/current county charter.
In their letter, the CD11 Coalition for Human Rights, writes to the City Council:
"Do not continue this thinly veiled attempt to prevent the construction of badly needed affordable housing on the westside. Build the badly needed housing, for God's sake."
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There's been a community push as well to get the housing project built, and some community members sent in letters to oppose the mobility hub.
Here's a letter from the Council District 11 Coalition for Human Rights opposing Park's "mobility hub" project:
cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...
LADOT prepared a report on the steps to build the mobility hub, writing that "it will require efficient streamlined processes, seamless coordination of all teams and stakeholders, and ample funding to successfully deliver the project on time": cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...
Relatedly, the delay of the affordable housing project in Venice has generated multiple lawsuits, and the City Attorney's Office has requested additional funding to pay for "outside counsel" to fight them.
Here's just one of the requests: bsky.app/profile/repo...
CM Traci Park, who has fought to kill the affordable housing project approved for the site in 2022, said she would "love to see" the timeline for the mobility hub to be "advanced."
Another committee member, Eunisses Hernandez, voted against the $175K study. bsky.app/profile/repo...
The feasibility study is supposed to take 10 to 12 months, and then it could take 12 months to obtain approvals from the Coastal Commission and LA city's Bureau of Engineering, which is a tight schedule for getting it ready for the Olympics, LADOT officials said.
LA city leaders advanced a $175K feasibility study for a "mobility hub" for the 2028 Olympics this morning. It's also the site of the Venice Dell affordable housing project. Here's the motion passed by the City Council's Transportation Committee: cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2...
The agenda for tomorrow's Charter Reform Commission meeting: drive.google.com/file/d/15zwq...
And the agenda materials, including motions, are posted here on the CRC website: reformlacharter.lacity.gov/commission-m...
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Here's what got approved yesterday: drive.google.com/file/d/1mkh_...
These are the first set of charter language being voted on by the commission, which is racing to get its proposal ready to be sent to the City Council, by the April 2 deadline set in ordinance for the commission.
After moving forward LA city charter language yesterday to batten down the budget of Public Works and doubling the already protected budget of Recreation and Parks, the Charter Reform Commission will be taking up some more charter language tomorrow: drive.google.com/file/d/1oPss...
Interestingly while most of the agencies involved seem to be county-based, they also involved the LA city department of transportation when preparing this report.
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And here is the recommendation on doing a detailed analysis of traffic injury deaths.
They want more info on roadway type, proximity to encampments and other landmarks, demographics.
They also say identifying agencies to find a way to improve the situation is the way to go.
This also points to housing options for people who want an abstinence-focused living environment.
Other recommendations include affordable housing and health insurance.
The figures also showed a climb in traffic injury deaths, so they recommend detailed analysis on 2024 traffic deaths, and working w/the state, county and cities on policy/infrastructure interventions.
Here is the latest LA Public Health dept. report on deaths among people who are unhoused showing a dip in their "mortality rate" for the first time since 2014: publichealth.lacounty.gov/chie/reports...
Among the recommendations, which include housing, they also call for harm reduction strategies.
Zev Yaroslavsky is at the mic. He's become very outspoken about the city's fiscal responsibility as we're responsible for cost overruns (as is the state).
"I don't know what the city knows about what the finances are. No one knows for sure. Somebody in the city has got to know where they stand"
Many of the mutual groups had been reaching out to Soto-Martinez's office for some time. Last September, they gathered to pass out flyers (it wasn't a protest) as he and his staffers were honored as champions on addressing housing/homelessness issues. thelareporter.la/p/la-city-co...
The mutual aid groups have been posting up some information about the boycott effort on their Instagram page here: www.instagram.com/p/DVfCBbniVj... bsky.app/profile/repo...
And at the moment, 2 days before the fundraiser, the url (bit.ly/hugo0308) in the flyer gets you to a page (secure.actblue.com/donate/hsm03...) that doesn't appear to be taking donations.
Some text on the page says, "At this time, the fundraiser is not accepting donations. This may be temporary."
This week mutual aid groups called for a boycott by participants in Soto-Martinez's comedy fundraiser on Sunday.
Lily Du, who was featured in this flyer, told me today that she is joining the boycott and and that Dropout Improv has pulled out of it.
Story from @lataco.bsky.social on recent rally by mutual aid groups to put heat on CD13 council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, as he runs for re-election ...
50 Mutual Aid Groups Demand Repeal of ‘Anti-Homeless’ Zones in Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez’s District lataco.com/soto-martine...
One of the commissioners Melinda Murray had said tonight that this proposal lacked teeth.
They went forward with a proposal to give the council a bit more power. They made it so that the Police Commission would have a time limit to act on any policy the council wants to set (with option to veto the council's policy), and that also let's Council override Police Commission decisions.
At its meeting today on LAPD accountability, the Charter Reform Commission ended up punting on a proposal to give the LA City Council direct authority over the LAPD, which some council members wanted so they could impose accountability measures onto LAPD.
