What’s happening today?
Some quick voting links: There are 123 in-person vote centers now open across LA county. By Saturday, Oct. 31, there will be 646 vote centers open. Vote center hours are from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. up until this Sunday, Nov. 2, but on election day, they will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can locate a nearby vote centers here. Ballots can also be dropped off at 429 drop boxes around the county, and you can locate a nearby one here. You can track your ballot here.
What’s squawking: 🏞️ Parks funding shortfalls: Agenda // 🏫 Parking at Parker Center: Agenda
A bit more on what’s on the Squawk Box:
Parks measure winds down, and some projects face budget shortfalls: Voters approved Proposition K in 1996 to create an assessment district to fund Los Angeles city parks projects, with the focus on facilities for youth (hence the K for Kids in the ballot name). But as the funding for the ballot measure winds down this year, the steering committee that watches over how the funding measures is implemented has been receiving updates on the shortfalls various projects are facing.
You can find a report here that says there are 29 Prop K-funded projects still ongoing, of which 19 have budget shortfalls totaling $87.8 million. The report asserts that the majority of the shortfalls are due to “inflationary pressures and material shortages,” and they also flag some projects that need funding identified before the approval of the upcoming year’s budget, for fiscal year 2027-2028, which begins on July 1, 2027.
The flagged projects include ones at Rosecrans Recreation Center, Hansen Dam, the Southeast Valley Roller & Skateboard Rink, Serrania Park, the Roger Jessup Recreation Center, the Manchester Jr. Arts Center and the Highland Park Jr. Arts Center.
The Prop K steering committee reviewed this list at its meeting this morning.
Parking for 2028 Olympics proposed for ex-Parker Center police headquarters: There’s a proposal to pave a weedy yard that was once home to the “Parker Center” police headquarters – and put up a parking lot. There had been more ambitious plans to redevelop that lot, when it had been razed nearly a decade ago, but those plans apparently proved unfeasible, financially speaking. Now they’re thinking the lot could serve as additional parking space for the upcoming 2028 Olympics, and eventually for city employees to use. They think they can possibly fit between 330 and 370 parking spots there, and even bring in around $1.7 million revenue, but some analysis is needed, which is what the Municipal Facilities Committee took it up at its 10 a.m. meeting.
Lease is almost up at San Pedro shelter: According to the Municipal Facilities agenda, the lease is almost up on the 100-bed temporary “a bridge home” shelter on Beacon Street in San Pedro. The City Council had earlier voted to move ahead with negotiations with Caltrans to continue leasing the shelter, which is run by Harbor Interfaith. The existing lease with Caltrans is actually a “no cost” deal, but this time around the state wants to charge rent. This report says the city secured some state grants (under a program called HHAP) that will tide things over until next summer, but after that, there might be more of a cost to city coffers unless they get more grants. The lease garnered the support of the Northwest San Pedro and the Central San Pedro neighborhood councils. Both of their support letters state that “without the continued lease, many of these PEH will be forced out of shelter and back to the streets without access to shelter, supportive services, and case management to assist them.”
A bigger berth needed for city’s water quality monitoring ship near Terminal Island water reclamation plant: And the 61-year-old Marine Surveyor that’s docked at the Cabrillo Way Marina and monitors water quality around LA city’s Terminal Island water reclamation plant is being replaced by a new ship, temporarily named the M/V EMD Vessel (EMD stands for Environmental Monitoring Division). But since the new vessel is bigger, the city is looking to negotiate a lease with the Southern California Marine Institute for a larger berth space at Fish Harbor. The city’s general services department is seeking authority to negotiate this agreement.
What just happened?
LA homelessness committee told to ‘knock it off’ with sweeps that expose people amid El Niño rains
A motion to provide better notification of sweeps in Skid Row advanced out of the Homelessness and Housing Committee on Wednesday. You can track the legislation here. But people who supported that motion also raised concerns about a sweep, conducted by LA Sanitation last Wednesday, that occurred on Central Avenue in Skid Row that destroyed people’s tents and other makeshift shelters just two days before a recent bout of rains began.
Sonja Verdugo, an organizer with Ground Game LA, told the committee that the sweep was “unnoticed” and it “destroyed tons of tents… they left people with nothing… without any cover when the rains began.”
She and others raised concerns that this demonstrated that the city didn’t have a plan for protecting unhoused people during extreme weather events brought on by the ongoing “super” El Niño conditions. Verdugo and others have been reaching out to city leaders to make several demands, including for there to be more emergency shelters and supplies such as tents and tarps for people stuck outside because they are unhoused.
John Raphling, with LACAN, said he was there to see the Central Avenue sweep unfold: “I witnessed that… and I know many of the people who live on that street… we knew the rain was coming and we knew the rain was coming for days and days. And we knew the potential harm.
“I saw as police officers stood by laughing and giggling about the whole thing,” Raphling said. “LA Sanitation workers were tearing down the tents and the shelters that people had built to protect themselves from the weather.”
Raphling said that “the city does not appear to have a plan, when we know — it’s been predicted with something like 90% certainty — that we’re going to have one of the worst El Niños in recorded history.”
Among the steps the city could have taken so far was to have cancelled the recent sweep on Wednesday, Raphling said.
“This would seem like the easiest thing on earth, is to call off LA San (LA Sanitation) when we know the rains are coming, to knock it off,” Raphling said. “Don’t tear down people’s tents. Don’t expose them. I saw people standing out there covering themselves with their shirts because their tents had been destroyed.”
The committee also heard a presentation from the Downtown Women’s Action Coalition on their 2026 Skid Row Women’s Needs Assessment.
The Los Angeles City Council approved $52.5 million in legal payouts at its meeting on Wednesday. The payouts, which were sent to the mayor’s desk for approval, were from 16 cases.
The largest of the legal payouts was a $17.5 million amount for a traffic collision case in which the city of Los Angeles was accused of allowing dangerous and hazardous conditions around Rinaldi Street and Amestoy Avenue in Granada Hills.
The council also approved a $10 million payout in a case in which plaintiffs accused an LAPD officer (along with four Sheriffs’ deputies) of framing them for murder.
Also approved was a $550,000 payout in a lawsuit filed by someone who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a so-called “less-lethal” munition during a No Kings protest against ICE that took place in downtown LA.
And a $7.863 million settlement was approved for cases in which two Black-led development companies sued the city after their contract to build the Angels Landing project, which would have been built next to the Angels Flight funicular, was terminated. Their contract was terminated after the developers had made a change in their internal partnerships, according to the Real Deal. Incidentally, the developers, Peebles and MacFarlane in 2022 had called for the resignation of the former City Council member for the area, Kevin de Leon, after the infamous leaked tapes scandal.
The 12 other cases, which amount to $8.225 million in payouts, involve sidewalk trip-and-fall and traffic collision incidents.
A few more things…
The Los Angeles City Council just restored a ban on oil production – after an earlier ban was struck down in court in 2024. The ordinance made oil production activities a “nonconforming use” throughout the city. You can track the legislation, which is headed to the mayor to be signed, here.
The Los Angeles City Council also approved the first $5 million of what is anticipated to be a $10.5 million recovery fund for households and businesses affected by the Lineage Fire recovery fund. A breakdown of what the initial set of assistance, which will go to people within certain zip codes, is outlined toward the end of this news release. And you can track the legislation here.
After monitors set up by the city of Paramount detected high levels of hexavalent chromium, a metal toxin, in the air last month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District says they are resuming air quality monitoring of the area and investigating the emissions. You can follow the air quality management district’s activities on the emissions here.
Los Angeles City Hall was lit up in red and white to honor Dolores Huerta, to recognize the National Farm Workers Association that she co-founded, on Wednesday evening and again tonight. LA city and county flags were also lowered to half-mast. Mayor Karen Bass and others held a vigil at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Three Metro D Line Stations – Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega – that were closed and scheduled to reopen on Monday Nov. 2 will actually re-open a bit earlier now. Metro announced that they will now be reopening early Halloween morning, on Oct. 31 at 4 a.m. Until then, the route that’s supposed to be served by those train stops are being replaced with bus line 855. Metro says the stations were closed to do electrical maintenance work.
Ballots of people flagged by the Trump Administration for review won’t be set aside due to “unverified claims of voter ineligibility,” after a ruling by federal judge, David O. Carter in a lawsuit filed the U.S. DOJ against California, says LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office. The office also highlighted this line from Carter’s ruling: “This Court will not deprive Californians who have met the requirements for voter registration of their fundamental right because of Plaintiff’s unfounded allegations.” The County Clerk’s news release also pointed to “significant legal concerns” in Carter’s ruling over the likelihood that the U.S. DOJ proposed actions would violate the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement that celebrated the ruling, stating that “for more than a year, California’s sovereignty has been under siege, and this lawsuit is his latest attack on the rule of law, the California Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution.” According to CalMatters, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press briefing that the attempt to exclude some people from voting amounted to “amateur hour” by the federal government, which has built its case against California upon conspiracy theories.