LA Squawk Box for Thursday, July 2, 2026
A warning of more Measure ULA battles to come, a plan to expand ULA funds to temporary shelters was also shelved, LA leaders call for a plan to 'resolve' encampments near Olympic venues, and more.
What’s happening today?
Various community groups were expected to be rallying today to issue a demand that Lineage, the owner of the cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights that caught fire last month, get out of town. On top of closing the demand to close the warehouse, those groups also want an environmental review and thorough cleanup. The groups that were expected to be rallying were Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Centro CSO and Reclaim Our Schools LA. LAUSD Board member Dr. Rocio Rivas was also supposed to be joining them.
Even though the LA City Council’s recess officially starts July 7 and lasts through July 31, practically speaking, the Los Angeles City Council might as well already be on break. This is because the City Council can expect to pick up a few more days for their break from their meeting tomorrow, July 3, being canceled due to the July 4th Independence Day holiday.
What just happened?
LA Council member Yaroslavsky warns of ‘next billionaire-backed’ challenge to Measure ULA, as the tax survives the latest battle
As the Los Angeles City Council nixed a proposed ballot measure that would have called for exempting apartment buildings from the Measure ULA transfer tax, one of its members warned that this will not be the end debate on this matter.
Council member Katy Yaroslavsky, setting the political landscape as she saw it in remarks ahead of the council voting to “note and file” the ballot measure, said she expects to see another “billionaire-backed attempt to repeal ULA outright in 2028” if no compromise is made to “protect this really meaningful program.” Measure ULA revenue is used to fund affordable housing construction and programs to protect tenants, such as legal help with their eviction cases.
“The pressure behind ULA reform is not going to go away, because the valid concerns from people who build housing are not going away, and we will keep finding ourselves back here if we don’t show courage, get ahead of it, and make a reform,” Yaroslavsky said.
Yaroslavsky added that “people who build multifamily housing have told us again and again what they need to get housing production moving. We don’t have to give them everything, we don’t have to trust them completely. But if we can give them something meaningful, and a meaningful amount of what they need, preserve most of ULA and get housing built, then we should do it.”
Yaroslavsky also that she understood that “without the threat of the Howard Jarvis measure on the ballot, the political will to send this to the ballot isn’t there,” and expressed disappointment that attempts at a compromise have not come to fruition.
“We have time now, colleagues, to try and figure out ourselves what we think will get us there before it’s done for us again,” she said.
You can listen to Yaroslavsky full remarks from Wednesday’s meeting here.
Effort to use ULA dollars to shelter people temporarily has also been shelved… for now
Meanwhile, an under-the-radar proposed change that would have allowed Measure ULA revenue to be used for temporary shelters — such as the motel stays that are typical of Mayor Karen Bass’s Inside Safe homeless encampment clearing program — won’t be going to voters, getting shelved alongside the more talked about exemption for apartments owners.
Measure ULA is meant to be used to pay for more permanent forms of housing, and a restriction on it being used for temporary modes of putting a roof over people’s heads has been a meaningful distinction for many. There has long been debate about how scarce dollars should be spent, with some are concerned that allocating funds toward more temporary measures can create a bandaid solution and a revolving door that don’t end up getting people truly housed. There had long been rumors, before the motion for the ballot measure was introduced, that such a expansion would be included in an amendment proposal for Measure ULA.
The specific language added to the now nixed ballot measure can be found on page four of the draft language, in the places where the words “interim housing” appear. It was also in the proposed ballot question that stated that the measure would “allow tax revenues to be used for interim housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.”
According to the City Attorney’s cover letter for the measure’s draft ballot language, this change would allow funding to go toward “interim housing encompassing places that provide provisional sleeping or room accommodations… including crisis housing, bridge housing, recuperative care housing, hotels, motels, hostels, adult residential facilities, and other sites that are converted into interim housing.”
Voters may still decide on Measure ULA exemption for Pacific Palisades property transfers
And finally, voters actually might still end up voting on a Measure ULA item in November. There was a less controversial proposal to exempt residential properties in the Pacific Palisades that were affected by the January 2025 wildfires.
The process for fully adopting the resolution to place it on the ballot still requires some more steps, because the vote was not unanimous. When votes are split on such issues, they need to come back for a “second reading” vote at a future meeting, which can often be seen as a “rubber stamp” vote. Of course, it has the potential to be seen as another crack at rallying up support for a different result. But many of the opponents of the other efforts to amend Measure ULA at the ballot didn’t oppose this exemption for the Palisades properties. Nevertheless, the issue did receive a single dissenting vote from Council member Eunisses Hernandez, who said that the measure failed to contain a distinction that the exemption be only for “homeowners whose primary residence was destroyed and people who generally need help rebuilding — not LLCs, investors or people with a portfolio of properties.”
“We had the opportunity to write those protections into this ordinance, and we didn’t,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez also still had weighing on her mind an earlier, failed eviction moratorium measure that she championed in February of 2025, just a month after the wildfires, to support workers whose livelihoods were affected by the fires.
“I have to ask, where was this energy when tenants were facing displacement and rent-gouging after the fires?” Hernandez said Wednesday before voting against the Palisades exemption. “Where was this energy when tenants in my district lost their jobs as nannies and gardeners after the fires, and had no idea… how they were going to pay rent. I remember introducing an eviction moratorium for those people, and that died in council. It’s hard not to notice when wealthy property owners need relief, we’re willing to bend over backwards, jump through hoops, do flips — whatever it takes — to meet their needs and desires, but when working-class people and tenants need protection, suddenly, our hands are tied, and the political will is not there.”
Hernandez’s full remarks can be heard here.
LA city ballot measures just got their names, some with a bit of a ring to them
The LA City Council on Wednesday also just signed off on the names for the different Los Angeles city ballot measures going to voters in November. And a few got tweaked, seemingly so they would have a ring to them. For example, the charter amendment measure to double the Recreation and Parks Department’s protected budget was dubbed Charter Amendment PRK, thanks to a change suggested by Council member Monica Rodriguez. Another measure that affects the city’s proprietary departments, including the one that manages the Port of Los Angeles, ended up getting named Charter Amendment PRT. And the one-half cent sales tax measure to fund the Los Angeles Fire Department, already came in with the name, Initiative Ordinance FD. You can find the full list of monikers for the LA city ballot measures here.
A couple of the latest motions from LA City Council members… Council member Traci Park submitted a resolution Wednesday to set up some more LAMC 41.18 anti-camping zones in her district. The streets include Hampton Drive and Rose Avenue... And Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson made a motion calling for a report to come back in 90 days detailing a plan for clearing homeless encampments (as well as housing people) around Olympic venues and transit hubs. This motion calls for a “plan addressing homeless encampment resolution and unhoused outreach and housing placement during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (2028 Games).” And it asks for the City Administrative Officer and the Chief Legislative Officer to work with Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles Metro and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to prepare this report. You can read the motion here.