Good morning, y'all!

It's 10am here in LA and that means we've got @christopherroth here to live-tweet today's @LACityCouncil meeting!

Agenda and video feed: https://lacity.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=130&event_id=14013

Or join the Twitch stream and chat with Chris!
http://twitch.tv/GroundGameLA 

To give public comment, at 10am:
1. Call (669) 254-5252.
2. Use Meeting ID 160-535-8466 and then press #.
3. Press # again when prompted for participant ID.
4. Once admitted into the meeting, press *9 to request to speak.
5. Press *6 to unmute when your phone number is called.

It tends to work best to call in right around 10am when the meeting is *supposed* to go live.

It never really does go live then, but this is what we get with Nury Martinez at the helm of the City Council (she's really very bad at her job).

If you can't get through, keep trying!

CM Krekorian interrupts the banter between CM Lee, O'Farrell and someone else to point out that Nury is trying to get the meeting rolling 6 minutes past the scheduled start time of 10am.

CM Cedillo is on a hot mic asking about a fresh pot of coffee. EVERYONE IS ON HOT MICS.

14 members of the council are present, so they've got a quorum.

Items called special this morning:
- Item 19 for CM Buscaino for questions and potentially amending motion.
- Item 13 amendment from CM Harris-Dawson.

Vote on items 10-12 & 14-18 happening now.
14 "aye" votes, they all pass.

We're hearing the instructions for public comment now, but again, if you've waited this long you're probably not going to make it through before Nury cuts the comment period off!
Here are the instructions: https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1356663951614857217

Deputy City Attorney Strefan Fauble just read the rules and it sounds like we're getting 40 minutes of public comment today!

This is quite a welcome change to see them following their own damn rules.

First caller is @ericpreven!
I missed whatever item it was that he was starting on, but he's talking about folks playing politics with fundraising. He's saying something about folks only talking to certain officials because that's where the money comes from.

Preven has named both O'Farrell and Krekorian in this comment, but (again) I'm not really sure where this falls into today's agenda. But apparently Fauble doesn't care, so here we go!

Still unclear what item(s) that discussion of corruption and the use of firefighters to "powerwash the homeless from the hillsides" was related to on the agenda, but his general comment alluded to a new article he's publishing that I'm looking forward to reading!

Next caller is @RobQuan_ from @UnrigLA!
Rob piggy-backs off of Preven's comment to highlight the corruption related to Counterintuity.
Now he's just *tearing* into CM Lee for failing to file any of his legally required campaign finance reports.

Rob concludes with a reminder that CM Lee is eligible for recall soon, which is exciting!

Next caller is bootlicking shit-bag Stuart Waldman of the Valley Industry Commerce Association. He hates poor people and doesn't want front-line workers to get the hazard pay that they're owed. He also says that hazard pay won't help anyone who gets sick which is...wild.

Next caller is ALSO from VICA. They're both payed to be here for this shit. Both this caller and Waldman have been saying that the grocery workers have already received all the benefits they need from their *benevolent* bosses.

VICA really, really, really doesn't want the hazard pay ordinance to go through.

Fun story: CM Martinez missed BOTH of the VICA callers, lol.

They kiss her ass more than anyone else, and she missed the (likely) two most friendly comments she could hear this morning because she had to get up and leave the room for some reason.

Next caller is Mr. Moses with all the hits!
He starts out with his routine demand of CM Martinez: apologize to Ms. Autry. I really, really, really want to know what the background is on this issue. I've never had a chance to ask him.

Mr. Moses is going through item by item to call out the corruption he sees and the misappropriation of funds across the entire agenda. He's a pro at hopping from item to item and shouting out a bunch of dollar figures. It's kinda fun.

Mr. Moses is using his general public comment to call out CM Joe Buscaino's grotesque grandstanding during the adjourning motions for the last few weeks.

Mr. Moses concludes with a demand that the council adjourn in memory of the thousands of unhoused individuals who have passed away as a result of the council's inaction.

Mr. Moses was on FIRE today.

Next caller was @WeirdAlex__ and she was ALSO ON FIRE!
She managed to run through a whole bunch of points before I even finished my tweets of Mr. Moses!

Alex calls out CM Ridley-Thomas for his interruption of @icookedfor during public comment last week, and for him cutting her comment period short during the Homelessness and Poverty Committee last week (he gave her 1:20 instead of 2:00 before demanding she move to gen. comment).

Alex also pointed out that interrupting comments is a violation of the Brown Act and that refusing to hold three meetings a week is in violation of the Charter. Mentions a lawsuit before hanging up. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!

Next caller is Ricci Sergienko of @SunriseMvmtLA and @PplsCityCouncil!
Ricci starts off with pointing out the links between CM Martinez and Counterintuity (item 33).

Ricci was in the middle of telling CM Lee that the FBI is coming for him when Fauble interrupted to push him back on topic. He concludes with demands that CM Ridley-Thomas stop posting quote tweets of himself and seize "the goddamn hotels" to help the unhoused.

We had a bunch of callers who didn't respond when their numbers were called.

Next caller is Armando Herman with some weird adopted falsetto. He's mildly less offensive than normal during his first few minutes of comment, but he's right back to his racist epithets. So glad to finally have his comment end.

Next caller is another member of the business community whose name has escaped me. She's echoing the same points as the VICA callers -- a bunch of bullshit about the $5 increase in hazard pay for front-line workers will, in their words, force more grocery stores to close down.

These pro-business callers claim that this hazard pay will drive up labor costs by 30% (which means that the vast majority of these front line workers are receiving the literal minimum wage allowed in this city).
Telling on themselves.

Next caller is @publicownedbus who points out that it's been 6 days since the last meeting of the LA City Council. Kevin points out that the city really deserves better than this. Kevin asks CM Martinez to just apologize to Ms. Autry already and give Mr. Moses some peace.

Next caller is from the San Fernando Valley and is apparently very confused about how the city limits and jurisdiction work. This caller is all about tone-policing and is telling the council that he's disappointed in the amount of profanity that he's hearing here (1st Amendment).

Caller also says lots of folks are trying to call in and can't make it through, but misses the point that the Council can USE THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK and just extend comment to allow for more folks to speak!

Next caller is GREAT! Points out that the council is dealing with some very piecemeal agendas and not taking the big issues head-on. Caller also points out that VICA is full of shit and that Stuart Waldman is a horrible person who hates poor people.

I'm running behind on the tweets -- sorry y'all!

Next two callers are from PUSH LA ( https://pushla.org ) demanding that the motion that came from CM Harris-Dawson and Bonin to shift traffic enforcement away from the LAPD and into the jurisdiction of the department of Transportation be agendized.

This motion has sat idle since the end of the summer when it was introduced. It passed through the Police ad hoc Committee, but Nury doesn't want to put it on the agenda for the full council to consider. Here's more info: https://laist.com/latest/post/20200924/la-traffic-safety-rethinking-police-roles

Next caller is from UFCW demanding the council move forward with the hazard pay motion. I'm sorry I'm falling behind y'all. Had some issues with the last couple of tweets that took longer to handle than expected.

Next caller is from @CoCoSouthLA and she is echoing the same demands as the callers from PUSH LA -- move forward and agendize the motion from CM Harris-Dawson and CM Bonin to shift traffic enforcement away from the LAPD and into the hands of unarmed Dept. of Transportation folks.

Next caller is from ...the LA Chamber of Commerce? Unclear.
She's calling for the same kind economic impact study of the hazard pay motion that the VICA assholes are demanding. These industry shills are spouting so much bullshit this morning, it's disgusting.

And that concludes public comment. Ugh.

City Clerk: public comment for items 1-9 is now closed, votes will be tabulated. Announcement of the tabulation will take place on Feb 23.

The council just voted unanimously to pass the bulk of the items on the agenda.

Item 13 is now up for a vote.
15 "aye" votes, as expected.
https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=20-1637

Next up is item 19.
CM Buscaino is lauding the workers at his local Vons. It almost sounded like he was going to ignore the bullshit from VICA, but now he's making some weird verbal gymnastics that are making me wonder where he is going...

...AND THERE WE GO! He's asking if that economic study has been conducted, and wants to see a report back exactly in line with the VICA demands. Motion is seconded by CM O'Farrell. They're both showing their whole asses here.

It's absolutely wild to see CM O'Farrell jump onboard with Buscaino's request for a report back on the economic impact of increasing wages for front-line workers and then turn around and point out the record profits that Kroger has had over the last year.

The VICA logic just does not withstand any critical thought when it comes to the example the ALL cited about Kroger in Long Beach. Kroger has made an incredible amount of profit during the pandemic and is closing these stores out of spite over risk to their profits.

Now CM Cedillo is speaking out of both sides of his mouth and doesn't seem to have read the motion before the meeting got started. He's asking for distinctions and subtlety in the motion that...are already there!

He also waxed poetic about mom & pop grocers that were pushed out by the large chains like Kroger when folks moved out into the suburbs.

It's like Cedillo just realized that it's 2021 and shit's been broken for a while now.

CM Price points out that the economic impact study that justifies this hazard pay has already been done. It was great to hear!

Fuck off, VICA.

Fuck off, LA Chamber of Commerce.

Apparently CM Koretz also hasn't read the motion--he's pushing the same bullshit as Cedillo.

Hey look! The chat here on Twitch ( http://twitch.tv/GroundGameLA ) knows more about this motion than CM Koretz and CM Cedillo!

CM Ridley-Thomas just wasted a bunch of our time saying fuck-all. You're terrible, MRT.

Holy shit. CM Raman is pointing out the same thing that we've been talking about in the chat here on Twitch: this ordinance already accounts for the small businesses, so all of the hand-wringing from Buscaino, Cedillo, O'Farrell, and Koretz is...bullshit (my words, not hers).

IT IS SO FUCKING REFRESHING TO HEAR FROM SOMEONE WHO TAKES THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY AND ACTUALLY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES.

WE NEED MORE NITHYAS ON THE COUNCIL. GODDAMNIT!

Nithya points out that the small markets are already addressed in this motion. Urges the council to move forward with the motion in parallel to any report backs that Buscaino and O'Farrell are asking for.

Nithya also mentions the letters that her office has been receiving from the organizations that represent these front-line workers.

She's also breaking down this whole issue in a way that resonates deeply.

She's so, so, so much better at this job than the rest of these ghouls.

And next up we have CM Lee for a complete 180 in terms of competence and rhetoric.

John is very, very concerned about the "midsize" chains that have more than 300 employees. He points out that none of these exist in CD12, his district, but he's deeply concerned.

Next up we've got CM Bonin giving the rest of the council a bit of a history lesson about the living wage laws that have been in effect here in LA for the last couple decades.

I wonder if they're listening.

Bonin is citing the reporting last week that highlighted the massive transfer of wealth from the working class into the hands of the billionaires during the pandemic.

Mike gets it.

He and Nithya are the only two members of this council worth keeping at this point.

Next up is CM Krekorian, wringing his hands about how he and the council can't do anything to help the people of Los Angeles because we live in a broken system. He's claiming that the people of LA are suffering but not due to anything that the city of LA has done or failed to do.

CM Krekorian is utterly full of shit.

The City Council of Los Angeles has had the authority to aggressively pursue Project Roomkey, but they've let it die off.

They could move TODAY to use Project Roomkey to seize the goddamn hotel rooms and house every single unhoused person in Los Angeles and get 100% reimbursed by the Feds, but they refuse to do so.

I honestly can't listen to CM Krekorian spew his budget-hawk bullshit and take anything that he says seriously.

Next up is CM Harris-Dawson. He's making some damn good points -- the C-suite executives are getting RICH AS HELL off of the pandemic, and their pay seemingly isn't factored into the costs of operation in the same way that the front-line workers' wages are.

CM Harris-Dawson seems to be beginning to remember his activist days. It's refreshing to see! But it's not enough.
As was mentioned in the chat by @icookedfor: "Okay now actually schedule the second meeting with Crenshaw grandmas that you’ve been avoiding MHD"

Nury thanks a bunch of folks, gives us some empty rhetoric, and then calls for a vote.

15 "aye" votes -- the motion carries!

Now we're on to adjourning motions...

Some great points are being made in the twitch chat here!
@nowcowan: "Yes, honor these people’s life & their families by doing some work & stopping the pandemic spread & brining people inside."

Also from @BodiesRInfinite: "It is a waste of time. They should have three general meetings per week and be allowed to do this stuff at ONE of them for a max of 8 minutes. This is pure bullshit."

It's interesting to see that KDL has departed from the City Council norm (that virtually every normal person uses for Zoom, too) and now appears to be on the verge of getting himself a lectern for his Zoom setup.

What? CM Cedillo just referred to Councilman
Kevin de León as "Senator" -- that's his old job, bro. He's been your colleague on City Council for months now.
Seriously--what is going on?

More from the Twitch chat -- user SeussMD:

[12:00] At least one person has died of COVID in this city since they started this circle jerk.

[12:02] And that's two.

[12:03] Seems like the way they could actually honor her service is by, I dunno, doing something about that.

The LA City Council spent roughly 24 minutes on adjourning motions today. This is a big improvement from last week when things got pretty absurd.

Huh. This is weird. https://twitter.com/UnrigLA/status/1356697789460217857

Well, they concluded the meeting about 10 minutes ago but I've been wrapping up other stuff, sooooo sorry!
Thanks for tuning in, y'all!

I'll be back here next week with more live-tweeting!

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Stay safe out there!

Please get yourself over to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 N. Hill St. if you can to support the BLM-LA action happening RIGHT NOW! https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1355358700345520128

This is @christopherroth, signing off.