I'll be live tweeting high/lowlights and decisions from today's 10 a.m. meeting. In the meanwhile, a preview: City Council to Hear More Proposals for Tenant Protections Today la.streetsblog.org/2020/04/07/cit… via @StreetsblogLA
Such an eerie view. Public comment is beginning. If you'd like to call in, dial (669) 900-6833 and use Meeting ID number 459 499 150. Then press #, and press # again when prompted for ID. 
After 10 minutes of "hello, can you hear me" caller asks if he could be told what's on the agenda.
@CD6Nury Just announced they are having technical difficulties. It's going to be a long day, folks. Buckle up.
@CD6Nury Just announced they are having technical difficulties. It's going to be a long day, folks. Buckle up.
In a city that proudly participates in the Great Shakeout and other disaster preparedness events, how we did not plan to continue governance through emergency periods remains a mystery
They're in recess for 15 minutes. That public comment was so broken up by 'can you hear me nows' and people talking over each other was a real disservice to the few folks we could hear who were in distress and concerned about losing everything.
In the meanwhile, some of the motions councilmember Mike Bonin is introducing today. This asks for the reclassification of unpaid rent as consumer debt, which still would be collectable but not via eviction.
This motion is meant to address the loopholes created by the do-no-harm-to-landlords approach to eviction prevention:
The Judicial Council ruling yesterday (see article at top of thread; excerpt below) helps fill some of those same gaps that city council was unwilling to, but it still doesn't address the rent/mortgage debt that might push folks into the streets when the emergency passes.
So councilmembers propose leveraging the Responsible Banking Ordinance to offer renters and mortgage holders relief...
[a previous tweet was deleted because of a potential change to co-signers on the motion... it's all in flux, folks, sorry]
gonna try to insert this into the stream so the thread isn't disrupted
Prior to this emergency period, unscrupulous landlords had already relied on intimidation and other forms of pressure to push tenants out. This emergency has shown us some of those people remain terrible... latimes.com/homeless-housi…
...hence the need for real protections that center the realities of the most vulnerable folks who are the least likely to know their rights or have access to legal assistance.
Returning to the Responsible Banking Ordinance for a second...it was first passed in 2012 to address issues stemming from the 2008 crash. It required banks doing business w/ the city to disclose detailed data on loans & foreclosure activity by community. latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2…
But it was never implemented. It was amended in 2018, in the wake of the Wells Fargo fake accts scandal (where employees ordered credit cards for pre-approved customers w/out their consent and created fraudulent checking & savings accts, sometimes moving $ out of legit accts).
"Now, if a bank wants the city’s $17mil taxpayer-funded contracts, [the amended ordinance reqs banks]...be transparent abt sales goal tactics & employee compensation, & it can’t retaliate against whistleblowers who report suspected illegal bank activity." marketplace.org/2018/08/13/wak…
I'll be honest and say I don't know the extent to which an ordinance aimed at transparency and more community-oriented banking practices can be leveraged to seek rent/mortgage suspension, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
We now return to the mtg in progress...
We now return to the mtg in progress...
Which is discussing this:
we've returned to public comment and it turns out our resident gadflies have phones. they will outlive us all.
A resident of the Ellison apartments called in to corroborate the claim in Bonin's motion that the building continues to operate as a hotel and party site, endangering the older long-time residents there.
the motion was approved
Paul Koretz is introducing another initiative that Angelenos be required to wear masks - even homemade masks - if they leave the house. This would go beyond the strong recommendation mayor Garcetti made the other night and could entail enforcement latimes.com/california/sto…
Measures like this that might seem like a no-brainer also have some privilege baked into them. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to move about freely while wearing masks. cnn.com/2020/04/07/us/…
Trying to explain how we all can participate in this, Koretz offers, "Even homeless people have rags in their possessions." 🙄
Marqueece Harris-Dawson asks for clarification from the city attorney that there would be no penalty attached - essentially no potential for criminalization for the non-wearing of masks or the policing of mask-wearing.
Koretz is clear he is OK without enforcement attached to the requirement of mask-wearing... says it will be self-enforcing with neighbors telling each other to adhere to the mandate.
Asian folks will likely have something to say about just how well people self-policing and "protecting" each other from each other has worked out for their community... latimes.com/opinion/story/…
The motion was referred to committee. Bless @AlpertReyes
That's it for today. They've signed off. I expected more because I'm still a bit foggy on council procedure, despite how long I've been doing this. The motions posted earlier in the thread that Mike Bonin introduced will be heard at a later date.
If you were underwhelmed, so was I, reader. So was I. There was a flurry of activity yesterday, with the folks from #HealthyLA rallying Angelenos to speak to the urgency of their needs.
And given the urgency of the needs, the fact that there was so little opportunity for council to actually hear from Angelenos was kind of shocking
What I would have really appreciated was an opportunity to hear from each councilmember about how their districts were being impacted and what they're hearing from their constituents.
Instead, the most involved discussion about conditions on the ground had to do with residents being annoyed by loud construction noises. Which is not nothing, but when handwashing stations might be yanked from Skid Row, it's not the most pressing thing?
I don't know what else to say about what felt like a random meeting, so I will end it on an equally random note: jobless goats.
nbclosangeles.com/news/coronavir…
nbclosangeles.com/news/coronavir…
