ONE BIG THING: CITY COUNCIL APPROVES BUDGET
What Happened?
City Council voted to approve the city’s budget for the upcoming year, making several key changes and restorations throughout the process.
🚑 Unarmed Crisis Response Expansion – Council approved funding to expand the city’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response later this budget year. That means 15 of LA’s 21 police divisions will have trained unarmed responders available to divert non-violent 911 calls, with the potential to expand citywide next year.
🚙 Safe Parking Restored – Safe Parking programs give people living in their vehicles a secure place to park overnight while connecting them to services and housing support. Despite proposed cuts that threatened the entire program, City Council restored full funding.
⚖️ Deportation Defense Funding – Council added $500,000 for RepresentLA, the city and county’s joint emergency legal defense program for Angelenos facing deportation. Total funding for the program will now reach $1.5 million.
👷🏽 Day Laborer Support – As the Trump administration continues targeting day laborer sites and Home Depots, Council added $500,000 to support worker centers operated by community organizations like IDEPSCA and CARECEN, bringing total city funding to $1.83 million.
🏳️⚧️ TGI Wellness and Equity – For the first time ever, the city budget includes $500,000 in dedicated funding to support Trans, Gender Diverse, and Intersex Angelenos facing attacks from the federal government.
🐶 Animal Services Restorations – The approved budget increases funding for spay and neuter services, animal food and medical supplies, and restores a critical contract that gives shelter dogs time outdoors instead of staying in cages all day.
🌳Brush Clearance –Council added funding for brush clearance and emergency response work through the Department of Recreation and Parks.
🧼Graffiti Abatement & Tree Trimming – The budget also restores funding for basic city services like graffiti removal and tree trimming.
Why it Matters
At a time when the city is facing a major budget crisis, we still fought and won real investments for working people.
From unarmed crisis response to deportation defense, homelessness prevention, and basic neighborhood services, this budget shows that even in tough times, we can choose to protect people instead of abandoning them.
What’s Next?
City Council must take another vote on the budget next week before it goes to Mayor Bass for her to sign it into law or veto.
Three More Quick Hits
- Council Votes to Delay “Olympic Wage”
This week, a majority of the City Council voted to delay implementation of the Living Wage Ordinance we passed last year. Instead of workers reaching a $30/hour minimum wage by 2028, the phase-in will now stretch to 2030.
We voted no because this decision takes money out of the pockets of working people.
What happened was a clear example of corporate pressure politics. After the Living Wage Ordinance passed, major corporations like Delta and United Airlines poured funding into misleading campaigns aimed at overturning it.
When that failed, they bankrolled a separate effort to repeal the city’s “Gross Receipts Tax,” threatening the city with the loss of $800 million in annual revenue unless councilmembers agreed to weaken the wage law.
Even though the measure was deeply unpopular, the threat was enough to convince the majority of the City Council to reverse course and side with corporate interests over working people. Unfortunately, most councilmembers gave in to corporate pressure — and in doing so, sent a message that billion-dollar corporations can hold the city hostage to get what they want.
- City Launches Armenian American Historic Preservation Initiative
Los Angeles is launching a major new effort to recognize and preserve places tied to Armenian American history and culture — including in Little Armenia and neighborhoods across the city.
The project will document the stories, landmarks, businesses, institutions, and community spaces that reflect the generations of Armenian Americans who helped shape Los Angeles through contributions to civic life, the arts, education, and local business.
Championed by former Council President Paul Krekorian and developed in partnership with the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, residents can learn more by emailing planning.ohr@lacity.org.
- World Cup Watch Party Volunteer Opportunities
The World Cup is coming to Los Angeles next month! Our office is hosting FREE watch parties from June 11th through July 19th in Echo Park Lake⚽
Sign up to volunteer with our office at bit.ly/CD13WorldCup to be part of LA history!
