Tell City Council Charter Reform Cannot Wait - LA Demands Action Now!
On October 9, 2022, a recording of three Los Angeles City Council Members and a prominent union president revealed the racist and appalling truth of how our local government operates and views its most vulnerable communities. In the days following the scandal, demands were made by the public and City Hall for governance reform* to hold those accountable and fix our government, ensuring transparency and equity for the communities torn apart.
Eighteen months later, no meaningful reforms have been enacted by the Los Angeles City Council or placed on the November 2024 ballot to fix our government. Instead, we have provisional reform for an Independent Redistricting Commission for the City Council and Los Angeles Unified School District, but we know that independent redistricting commissions are no silver bullet for the harm done to our communities. In recent years, City Hall has demonstrated to residents that corruption and ethics violations run rampant beyond redistricting, as seen in charges of bribery, extortion, embezzlement, “pay-to-play” illegal developer donations, and perjury among Council Members and other high-ranking city officials.
Los Angeles deserves better. Los Angeles demands better.
Let’s call on the City Council to demonstrate leadership and take action on behalf of its residents by:
Confirming City and LAUSD Independent Redistricting Commissions as ballot measures on the November 2024 ballot;
Placing a comprehensive ethics reform package and council expansion on the November 2024 ballot or creating a Charter Reform Commission by June 30, 2024. A Charter Reform Commission would be empowered to identify viable governance reforms on ethics reform, council expansion, and other public concerns.
*Governance reforms change the rules of the game - the very structures, systems, and processes - within our city government that often bring about, perpetuate, and exacerbate racial and economic disparities, corruption, and underrepresentation of low-income and BIPOC communities.