Independent reform group recommends expanding L.A. City Council to 25 members
1 year, 6 months ago

Independent reform group recommends expanding L.A. City Council to 25 members

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Hall is currently home to 15 council members. The group started convening after a leaked audio recording upended City Hall last fall, exposing Los Angeles City Council members and a powerful labor leader scheming to consolidate power during the city’s decennial redistricting process. The City Council is widely expected to put a government reform proposal on the 2024 ballot that includes independent redistricting, though the details of what that will look like remain very much up for debate. Governance Reform Project’s interim recommendations include expanding the number of City Council seats to reduce district sizes, implementing an independent redistricting commission and beefing up the city’s ethics apparatus. Ahead of potentially putting reforms on the 2024 ballot, the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform has hopscotched around the city in recent months, holding hearings about independent redistricting and taking public testimony.

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History of this topic

Editorial: This election showed L.A. voters are fed up with City Hall corruption and scandal
1 month, 1 week ago

Editorial: This election showed L.A. voters are fed up with City Hall corruption and scandal

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León speaks to supporters as election results are seen on a screen behind him last week. Two years after the leaked audio scandal rocked Los Angeles City Hall, voters finally had their say in this election. Voters overwhelmingly backed charter changes designed to curb elected officials’ political power by creating an independent redistricting commission …

Expand the L.A. City Council? A citizens commission will explore that and other ideas
6 months ago

Expand the L.A. City Council? A citizens commission will explore that and other ideas

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian, pictured in 2022, originally wanted expansion of the council to go before voters this year. The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to create a new citizen’s commission to look at expanding the size of the council, reducing the number of council meetings and other potential changes to city operations. Krekorian said the …

Does the L.A. City Council have too many meetings? Some members want big changes
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Does the L.A. City Council have too many meetings? Some members want big changes

LA Times  

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. “And most of the time, not even everybody’s sitting here listening to the public comment.” The charter, which serves as the governing document for the city, requires that council meetings be held on at least three days each week. “I’ve been trying for 16 months to …

L.A. panel backs redistricting reform but delays action on council expansion
1 year, 2 months ago

L.A. panel backs redistricting reform but delays action on council expansion

LA Times  

The Los Angeles City Council’s committee on reform, headed by Council President Paul Krekorian, moved ahead with a ballot proposal for independent redistricting but delayed discussion on efforts to increase the council’s size. The push to reform Los Angeles City Hall took a leap forward Thursday, with a council committee endorsing a detailed plan to establish an independent redistricting commission …

If L.A. adds City Council seats, how would it work? These charts show the possibilities
1 year, 2 months ago

If L.A. adds City Council seats, how would it work? These charts show the possibilities

LA Times  

How many council members should represent Los Angeles? Beset by scandal — four criminal cases and the leak of an embarrassing secret audiotape in just four years — the Los Angeles City Council could take an important step toward transforming itself this week. “Not only for the city council but also for voters.” Nearly a century has passed since L.A. …

The L.A. City Council is looking to expand. Getting there could take nine years
1 year, 3 months ago

The L.A. City Council is looking to expand. Getting there could take nine years

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is pushing for an expansion of the council, is leaning in favor of carrying out that change in 2032. If, on the other hand, council expansion were delayed until 2032, 10 of the council’s current members would retain the ability to run for reelection in their existing districts two more times. Los Angeles …

Group recommends reforms for scandal-plagued Los Angeles city council
1 year, 6 months ago

Group recommends reforms for scandal-plagued Los Angeles city council

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles should add 10 more city council members, create two independent redistricting commissions and establish a more powerful ethics commission, a panel of academics exploring reforms for the scandal-plagued city government said Thursday. “There’s a lot at stake in redistricting in LA because the districts are so large, and the council positions are so significant, and …

Editorial: Los Angeles must take politics out of development decisions
2 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: Los Angeles must take politics out of development decisions

LA Times  

In the federal criminal complaint filed in 2020 against then-City Councilmember Jose Huizar for allegedly shaking down real estate developers for $1.5 million in cash, lavish gifts and campaign contributions, an FBI agent laid out how Los Angeles’ convoluted and highly political approval process enabled Huizar’s scheme. This means creating clear and modern land-use rules for every neighborhood in the …

Editorial: Why L.A. needs independent redistricting
2 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: Why L.A. needs independent redistricting

LA Times  

In the wake of recent scandals that have rocked Los Angeles City Hall, the simplest, least controversial reform should be the creation of an independent redistricting commission. We asked Los Angeles’ elected leaders and candidates if they would support asking voters to approve an independent redistricting commission. They were meeting with Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera …

Roots of L.A. City Council’s leaked audio scandal can be traced back decades
2 years, 2 months ago

Roots of L.A. City Council’s leaked audio scandal can be traced back decades

LA Times  

In simple terms, the scandal that has sent Los Angeles politics into a tailspin began with a surreptitiously recorded private meeting last year involving three City Council members during which crude, racist comments were made. “What I heard on that tape, it was just unbridled arrogance.” Now, as support grows for changes that would expand the number of council seats …

Editorial: Tired of City Hall scandals? This is the moment to reform Los Angeles city government
2 years, 2 months ago

Editorial: Tired of City Hall scandals? This is the moment to reform Los Angeles city government

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Hall has lurched from scandal to scandal in recent years. Opinion L.A. Times electoral endorsements for November 2022 The L.A. Times’ editorial board endorsements for statewide ballot measures, elected offices in Los Angeles city and county, L.A. Unified School District board, L.A. county superior court, statewide offices, the state Legislature and U.S. House and Senate seats. The …

How all 15 L.A. City Council members have responded to the racist leaked audio
2 years, 2 months ago

How all 15 L.A. City Council members have responded to the racist leaked audio

LA Times  

The Los Angeles City Council is in crisis. Secretly recorded audio revealed three council members — Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, along with a local labor leader who has now resigned — engaged in a racist conversation and the kind of slimy backroom politicking that we usually see only in the movies. To start at the beginning, …

LA Council faces uncertainty amid furor over racist remarks
2 years, 2 months ago

LA Council faces uncertainty amid furor over racist remarks

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — Where does the Los Angeles City Council go from here? Martinez said in the recorded conversation that white Councilmember Mike Bonin handled his young Black son as if he were an “accessory” and said of his son “Parece changuito,” or “he’s like a monkey,” the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. She also referred to Bonin as a …

Editorial: Yes, actually, Los Angeles needs more politicians
3 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: Yes, actually, Los Angeles needs more politicians

LA Times  

It’s time to enlarge the Los Angeles City Council, and maybe even double the number of elected council members. Compare that to New York City, which has 51 City Council districts of 173,000 residents each, and Chicago, which has 50 districts of 55,000 residents each. Diaz that recommended increasing the number of council districts to at least 22 to better …

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