LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council selected Council member Paul Krekorian as its next leader Tuesday afternoon, with the 10 members present voting unanimously for him to take over the council presidency.
The meeting was held virtually, as ordered by then-acting President Mitch O’Farrell last week after Council member Mike Bonin tested positive for COVID-19.
The council also voted unanimously to move forward on two reform measures, one that would increase the number of seats on the City Council and another that would put an independent commission in charge of the city’s redistricting process. Tuesday’s vote is an initial step that instructs various city departments to report back. Eventually implementing either reform would be a lengthy process requiring a public vote on the city ballot.
Over the past week, Krekorian and Council member Curren Price had been vying behind the scenes for the presidency, an influential post that had been held by Nury Martinez until she resigned last week in the wake of the leak of an audio recording on which she is heard making racist comments.
By the time the meeting began, it was clear that support had coalesced around Krekorian, with Price failing to show up and Council member Monica Rodriguez, a Price supporter, trying without success to delay the vote.
Krekorian said his first task will be to “begin to restore the people’s trust” in City Hall. But he also said he would work to reduce the power of the council president and end the era of “unilateral decision making” on the council floor.
“Most of all, I just think we really need to resolve that through this work we make clear that no one ever again feels excluded or belittled or demeaned or disrespected or left behind by the people that they elected to represent them,” he said.
Embattled Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo — who were also part of the October 2021 conversation captured in the surreptitiously recorded audio that was reported on Oct. 9 by the Los Angeles Times — were not present on the Zoom meeting. Both are facing immense pressure to resign.
Price said in a statement that he made a “conscious decision” to skip the meeting because it was held on Zoom, not in person.
“As a city leader, I could not support a virtual hearing that silenced the public outcry and shut out Angelenos who continue to reel from this breach of trust.”
Rodriguez, who has been pushing for Price to become president, attempted to delay the presidency vote for one week, saying the vote on that issue should be conducted in person. But that proposal died on the floor when no one seconded the motion.
Rodriguez signed off from the meeting shortly afterward. Her spokesperson, Walter Garcia, later said via email that Rodriguez “had to abruptly leave because of a family emergency. Her mother is hospitalized.”
Wednesday’s meeting will also be held virtually following a COVID-19 exposure last week in council chambers. Bonin tested positive for the coronavirus several hours after last Tuesday’s meeting, but has now fully recovered. Krekorian also tested positive for the virus in recent days.
The morning began with protesters from the People’s City Council, an activist group, gathered in the driveway of O’Farrell’s home in Glassell Park. The group, among others, demanded that the council cancel Tuesday’s meeting, and all future meetings, unless Cedillo and de León resign.
O’Farrell left his home and went to City Hall.
After calling the council meeting to order, O’Farrell pledged to hear from anyone who wanted to speak, saying people needed space to express their anger and start to heal.
Public comment, which is typically capped at 30 minutes, proceeded for more than three hours.
Many speakers decried Cedillo and de León’s continued presence on the council. Others attacked the council members on Zoom for not signing off and breaking quorum, which would deprive the council of the ability to continue its meeting.
Several speakers called in from protests outside City Hall, with the sound of drums and chanting audible during at least one comment.
Jason Reedy, an organizer with the People’s City Council, called in to Tuesday’s meeting to voice frustration that the meeting took place.
“Best believe, we will make house visits to every single one of y’all for participating in this meeting,” he said, referencing the morning visit to O’Farrell’s home.
Jamie York, who serves on the Reseda Neighborhood Council, told council members that Tuesday’s meeting “shouldn’t even be happening — not until Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo resign.”
“I really think that members should break quorum, now,” said York, who told the council she was expressing those views in her personal capacity, not as a neighborhood council member. “There shouldn’t be any city business going until those two are gone.”
Another caller, who could not be identified, voiced anger that de León was continuing to earn a salary.
“If you don’t have the decency to do the right thing and resign Kevin, then at least do the f---ing job we are paying you to do,” the caller said — a reference to the fact that council members are paid more than $229,000 annually.
At one point about 45 minutes into the meeting, a group of protesters attempted to enter City Hall through the building’s public Main Street entrance, clashing with a heavy police presence just inside the door, according to a video tweeted by Spectrum News reporter Kate Cagle.
First elected to the City Council in 2009, Krekorian has spent more than a decade in charge of the powerful Budget and Finance Committee, working to help the city recover from two economic crises — one triggered by the Great Recession, the other sparked by the outbreak of COVID-19.
A veteran of local and state politics, the longtime elected official got his start on the Burbank school board, then won a seat in the state Assembly in 2006. He represents an east San Fernando Valley district that includes all or part of North Hollywood, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Studio City, Toluca Lake and Van Nuys.
He steps into leadership on the City Council in a moment of great turmoil, with unprecedented national attention focused on Los Angeles government. As many as five new council members could be seated in December, depending on the outcome of the Nov. 8 election.
Protest groups successfully disrupted last Wednesday’s meeting for about an hour before Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson left the meeting, meaning there were not enough members present for a quorum. The council adjourned shortly thereafter without conducting any official business.
The fact that Wednesday’s meeting will be conducted over Zoom makes it less likely that protesters will be able to shut them down, though the status of Friday’s meeting remains an open question.
O’Farrell canceled last Friday’s scheduled council meeting and announced Monday morning that he had removed de León and Cedillo from an array of council committee assignments — the latest in a series of attempts to pressure the two men to step down.
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(Times staff writer Benjamin Oreskes contributed to this report.)
