Boyle Heights community meeting tonight on Lineage fire, former mayoral candidate Rae Huang seeks help with retiring campaign debt, and LAPD brass float pausing police hiring ahead of 2028 Olympics. LA Squawk Box for Thursday, July 9, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

Well, if they did hold that news conference, maybe it was to say the evac warning was being lifted... lafd.org/alert/evacua...

There's an evac warning on this, and it looks like there will be a news conference soon... lafd.org/alerts

LA leaders get cold feet on LAPD accountability, Measure ULA decisions up in council, and a Little Tokyo group withdraws opposition to a big residential project after community benefits promised. LA Squawk Box for Wednesday, July 1, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

This was the vote from June 17 on the LAPD accountability ballot measure, which gives City Council authority to set LAPD policy. Harris-Dawson, Lee, Nazarian, Park and Blumenfield were against this measure going to voters. bsky.app/profile/repo...

"The chokehold that [the LAPPL, the police officers union] on this body is wild to me," Councilman Eunisses Hernandez said, just before the vote. "We literally started going broke because of the promised raises. There are so many things that we just continue to give and give... "

The eight votes to send LAPD reform to committee: Blumenfield, Harris-Dawson, Hutt, Lee, McOsker, Nazarian, Park, Rodriguez The six votes AGAINST sending to committee: Hernandez, Jurado, Padilla, Raman, Soto-Martinez, Yaroslavsky. Here's video of the voice vote:

A closed session item just got added go an already massive LA City Council agenda tomorrow, and it's on a threat of litigation related to a June 18 letter LAPPL sent the city on a charter reform proposal to give City Council policy power over the LAPD.

A fight erupts over eviction defense contracts, ideas proposed for who makes big decisions on LA County's public transit, and Lineage fire community resources centers are open 10am to 5pm this week. LA Squawk Box for Monday, June 29, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

A Bridge Home and Tiny Home shelter contracts up in council today, more funds for CARE+ sweeps, people reliant on housing vouchers say communication is poor on pending July 1 move-out, and more. LA Squawk Box for Friday, June 26, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

LA county voter turnout at 37.8%, a call to suspend CARE+ sweeps during environmental emergencies, cleanup starts as Lineage cold storage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights knocked down, and more. LA Squawk Box for Thursday, June 25, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

LA CM Ysabel Jurado, with a second from CM Eunisses Hernandez, authored a motion today calling for CARE and CARE+ operations to be suspended during environmental emergencies that have been declared by the city and state. It references the Lineage fire, but also other emergencies.

CM John Lee just recused himself from on a vote to retain Hecker Fink LLP, which has an attorney experienced in ethics litigation, as the city's legal rep. Lee is fighting the Ethics Commission's order that he pay $138,124 for ethics violations.

There are actually nine Lineage Logistics listings, totaling $107.5K paid to lobbyists in past two-plus years. They all appear to include the warehouse's 1400 Los Palos St. address. Most were to lobby LADWP, although in Q3 of 2025, Lineage paid lobbyists to lobby the fire dept.

Lineage Logistics, the company that operates the Boyle Heights cold-storage warehouse that's on fire right now, has two very recent lobbying issues listed on the city ethics website. Both appear to be power generation related. Company has blamed fire on solar panel issues.

I gave a shout out to the latest L.A. hole in the ground that's all the rage in the latest Squawk. I even ran across one of my own little hole in the ground this week while out and about in L.A. See exhibit.

William Mead community in Chinatown pushes back on demolition plans, Raman says Mayor Bass screwed with charter reform, a new hole in the ground is all-the-rage, and more. LA Squawk Box for Friday, June 19, 2026: squawkbox.la/p/la-squawk-...

LA leaders deciding today if LAPD reform will be on November's ballot, county officials warn of financial challenges for social safety net, hygiene trailer dollars flagged for Hollywood shelter, and more. LA Squawk Box for Wednesday, June 17, 2026: open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

LA City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez just submitted this amendment to the police accountability proposal (CRC 54) to give LA City Council authority over LAPD policy. Raman seconded, but Yaroslavsky also had her hand raised to second.

Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger, who frequently serenades her public comment, wrote up a song for charter reform, singing that the council should "let the people" vote and as for the further study, they can "study my ass."

A young person just got up and spoke about the recreation and parks protected budget proposal.

There is also a big turnout by people who want the protected budget for recreation and parks to be doubled.

There are apparently 100s of written public input turned in over the last day or two. LA Forward reported more than 600 letters. I was told 400 are for council expansion, a 200+ for police reform. I saw at least a hundred already posted up by the clerk. cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...

McOsker did make some remarks about police reform, but he is mainly focused on other topics, including on port of LA items. He's got a giant binder with him.

Eunisses Hernandez is calling for more authority for the City Council to set LAPD policy.

There is a full house today with more than a 100 people signed up to speak at the charter reform hearing. CM Eunisses Hernandez, who is pressing for police reforms, and CM Tim McOsker are here to present comments to their colleagues.

Controller and progressive groups rally around police accountability and council expansion, CM Jurado speaks up for unhoused voters, and reactions to HUD pulling funds for homeless services, and more. LA Squawk Box for Friday, June 12, 2026 open.substack.com/pub/lasquawk...

LAHSA released a statement, responding to HUD (and Trump Admin) pulling funding, saying they're looking at "all available options to ensure that federal funds continue to support thousands of people who have been housed through LAHSA."

Here's tomorrow's Rules committee meeting where the charter reform proposals are getting taken up: lacity.primegov.com/Portal/Meeti... bsky.app/profile/repo...

It turns out Nithya Raman did win her own 4th City Council District... While one would assume an incumbent ought to be winning their own district, there is something to be said for how hard-earned even that might be for Raman in particular. squawkbox.la/p/la-squawk-...