Latest news with #KatyYaroslavsky
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
L.A. council panel votes to save 1,000 city jobs, reducing layoffs to 650
A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to cut the number of employees targeted for layoff by Mayor Karen Bass by more than half, bringing the total down to an estimated 650. The council's budget committee took steps to save more than 1,000 jobs by pursuing an array of cost-cutting measures, such as hiring fewer police officers and scaling back funding for Bass' Inside Safe program, which moves homeless people into temporary or permanent housing. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the committee, said those and many other moves would help the city protect core services, including tree trimming, street resurfacing, street light repair and sanitation teams that address illegal dumping. "We looked for ways to save positions — not for the sake of job counts only, but to make sure the departments can still do the work our constituents need them to do for their quality of life," said Yaroslavsky, who represents part of the Westside. The committee's recommendations for the proposed 2025-26 budget now head to the full council, which is scheduled to take them up on Thursday. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who sits on the committee, expressed some optimism after the vote. "We were in very rough waters, and a very different landscape, when we started this process," said Hernandez, who represents part of the Eastside. "And now there seems to be some light between the clouds." As part of Friday's deliberations, the budget committee voted to recommend a slowdown in sworn hiring at the LAPD, which would leave the agency with 8,400 officers by June 30, 2026. That represents a reduction of about 300 from the current fiscal year and 1,600 compared with 2020. The budget committee also agreed to eliminate 42 emergency incident technicians at the fire department, a move opposed by interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, while also canceling Bass' plan for a new homelessness unit within that agency. In addition, the five-member panel recommended a hike in parking meter fees, which is expected to generate $14 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Yaroslavsky said the changes endorsed by the budget committee on Friday would save about 150 civilian workers in the police department. Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who advises the council, said she believes that city officials will keep finding ways to reduce the number of layoffs, by transferring workers to vacant city positions or to agencies that are unaffected by the budget crisis, such as Los Angeles World Airports and the Port of Los Angeles. "I think we're going to be able to truly get that number down to less than 500," she told the committee. Bass, faced with a nearly $1-billion shortfall, released a proposed budget last month that called for the layoff of about 1,600 employees, a fourth of them civilian workers at the LAPD. Some of the largest reductions were planned at agencies that handle sanitation, street repairs and maintenance of city facilities. Friday's deliberations set the stage for many positions to remain intact, particularly at the Department of City Planning, which had been facing 115 layoffs. Kevin Keller, executive officer with that agency, said the committee found the funding to restore more than 100 of those positions. "I know there's a lot of city workers that are breathing a big sigh of relief tonight," said Roy Samaan, president of the Engineers and Architects Assn., whose union represents planning department employees. L.A.'s budget crisis has been attributed to a number of factors, including rapidly rising legal payouts, lower-than-expected tax revenue and a package of raises for the city workforce that is expected to add $250 million to the upcoming budget, which goes into effect on July 1. Bass and the council have been hoping to persuade city labor unions to provide financial concessions that would help avoid more cuts. So far, no deals have been struck. On Friday, before the committee began its deliberations, Bass said she is optimistic about avoiding layoffs entirely. At the same time, she spoke against a budget strategy that pits the hiring of police officers against the preservation of other jobs, calling it "a Sophie's Choice." If the LAPD slows down hiring, it will have fewer officers in the run-up to next year's hosting of the World Cup, she said. "I'm not going accept that as my choice," she said. During the final minutes of Friday's five-hour meeting, council members made some last-minute restorations, identifying additional funds for youth programs, tree trimming and fire department mechanics. Hernandez pushed for the committee to restore $1 million for Represent LA, which provides legal defense of immigrants facing deportation or other enforcement actions, and $500,000 for graffiti paint-out crews. Hernandez said the city needs to stand by immigrants amid a harsh federal crackdown. And she described graffiti removal as crucial for public safety in her district. "Getting graffiti down quickly prevents a lot more people from getting shot, prevents them from getting killed," she said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Motion to remove double staircase requirement in L.A. building code adopted
The Los Angeles City Council adopted a motion Wednesday that would remove a requirement for apartment buildings to have double stairwells. The motion, introduced by Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky, looks to create more space for more affordable family-sized units. 'These requirements, born out of early 20th century planning concerns – have since become a hindrance to creating larger units with greater natural light and ventilation and buildings with enhanced green space,' the councilmembers stated in a media release. California bill seeks to limit ICE presence on school campuses Wednesday's legislation begins the process of updating the city's building code to allow for multifamily residential buildings up to six stories to be built with a single stairwell instead of a double stairwell. This provides 'greater flexibility in housing construction across the city,' the councilmembers' release said. City lawmakers criticized L.A.'s current building code, calling it outdated and claiming it is a significant barrier to building larger units. The city's most recent Housing Element estimates that less than 15% of rental homes in Los Angeles have three or more bedrooms as compared to 70% of owner-occupied residences. 'As a majority renter city, the lack of available family-sized apartments has resulted in severe overcrowding, with most apartment units housing more people than there are rooms,' officials said. 'Studies have shown that increased safety features, like sprinklers and fire-resistant materials, have rendered the need for multiple staircases obsolete, and major cities across the country, such as New York and Seattle, now allow for the development of single-stairwell buildings over three stories.' Following Wednesday's vote, the L.A. Department of Building and Safety, Los Angeles Fire Department and Department of City Planning will have 90 days to present modifications to the city's building code in order to allow for single-exit, single-stairway multifamily unit residential buildings up to six stories. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
L.A. City Controller Rings Alarm Bell on City Finances
L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia painted a bleak picture of the state of Los Angeles's city budget in a revenue forecast report sent last Friday to the mayor and City Council. His report predicts that the revenue this fiscal year will fall $140 million short of the adopted budget, along with facing an additional $73 million decrease in the next fiscal year. This is coupled with the second year in a row that the City Administrative Officer projects a budget deficit. Combined with the fact that the city is expected to overspend by $300 million, a revenue shortfall leaves the council with a substantial gap to make of the reasons given for the revenue forecast in the City Controller's report are the new federal administration's extreme approach to tariffs, a continued trend of automation in industries that have been reliable sources of city revenue, and the lasting effects of the fires in January. Council Budget Chair Katy Yaroslavsky says the city faces $100 million in LAFD overtime. The fires also laid bare the unsatisfactory state of the departments' facilities, which the city would urgently need to address by upgrading them. Other councilmembers believe a part of the budget problem can also be attributed to general waste, particularly after an audit released Thursday exposed that a significant amount of the money for homeless services could not be insists that the budget problem is a long-term one — Mejia agrees. 'Our short-term focus on year-to-year balance neglects the need for a multi-year transition to service models that allow the City to live within its means,' writes Kenneth Mejia. 'Any conceivable plan for a sustainable and equitable operating and capital budget must have broad-based support from community, labor, business and other vital stakeholders.' Never Miss a Beat! Subscribe to Los Angeles Magazine's The Daily Brief for daily updates delivered straight to your inbox. Join below or by clicking here.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Yahoo
A Bunch Of Teens On Bikes Are Riding Around Los Angeles And Attacking Drivers
Wild things happen in Los Angeles because of the city's car centric nature, from road-raging Tesla drivers to high-speed crashes and dangerous side shows. Unfortunately the city has seen more of its fair share of on-road violence, and it's not just people in cars that are committing it. Recently a group of bike-riding teens have been attacking motorists in Los Angeles, and the incidents have been caught on video. Read more: Here's Why You Always Board Planes On The Left The Los Angeles Times reports that a large group of 20 to 30 bicyclists have been going around LA attacking drivers, and authorities estimate the perpetrators range in age from 16 to 18 years old. According to The Times and an LAPD release, on February 22 the punk teens attacked a man in Beverly Hills in broad daylight. "The attack unfolded at the intersection of San Vicente Boulevard and Carrillo Drive in the Carthay neighborhood east of Beverly Hills on Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department announced in a news release. A fight broke out and the driver, outnumbered by the group, fell to the ground where he was punched and kicked, video of the attack showed. The group eventually rode away south on Carrillo Drive after witnesses approached them to try and stop the fight, according to police." The man was reportedly treated for his injuries and declined to go to a local hospital. Authorities say the incident happened after an argument erupted between the driver and the teens — apparently, the teens had hit and kicked the driver's car, so he confronted them. Once he got out of his car he was jumped by the group, and the teens only stopped when someone else intervened, who KTLA describes as an individual who was "ex-military." The Times says this is at least the third time in recent months that an incident involving a cycling group has happened. In August 2024, a driver and his car were attacked in downtown LA when he tried to pass them in traffic. After getting out of his car to confront them, he said he was surrounded by the teens and ran off. When he came back to check on his car, he said they had "ransacked and vandalized" it, and when he tried to stop them he was jumped. Another incident happened in January in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles. In a video that was captured on social media, one of the cyclists is recording as a white Mercedes sedan blasts through the group of cyclists, narrowly missing some of them. That instance doesn't look as if it ended with a confrontation between the cyclists and the driver, at least. These incidents have attracted the attention of local officials. Los Angeles Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky represents the district of the most recent attack, and in a statement she said she was "deeply disturbed" by what happened and is asking anyone with any more information about what happened to come forward. "I know that this incident has shaken many in our community, and I want to assure you that we take these concerns very seriously. Violence has no place in our city, and those responsible must be held accountable," Yaroslavsky said. Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Los Angeles considers package to create domestic violence task force
The Los Angeles City Council will vote Friday morning on a domestic violence services package that would include the creation of an enforcement task force. 'This is the largest investment in domestic violence services in Los Angeles history, expanding shelter and housing support for survivors who too often have nowhere to turn,' Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said. The proposal brought by Yaroslavsky would also create the Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO) Enforcement Task Force to remove firearms from abusers and strengthen restraining order enforcement, a news release from the councilmember's office stated. 'This package is about making sure survivors have both the resources to escape abuse and the enforcement to prevent further harm,' Yaroslavsky said. Her office provided the following statistics regarding domestic violence in Los Angeles: Last year, 15,851 survivors reached out to DV hotlines for shelter, yet only 10% were able to access a shelter bed. Over 40% of unhoused Angelenos have experienced domestic or intimate partner violence, making this a key driver of homelessness. The DVRO Enforcement Task Force will formalize coordination between LAPD, the City Attorney, and other law enforcement partners to ensure restraining orders are enforced and guns are removed from abusers. The City Council meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
