The Votes Are In!
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Politics Oct 28, 2022
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The Los Angeles City Council signed off on a new committee Friday, voting 10-1 to convene an Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform in response to the City Hall racism scandal.
The committee was proposed by Councilwoman Nithya Raman and will be charged with “implementing reforms to increase transparency, limit corruption, and make city leadership more representative of our communities,” according to Raman’s office.
Raman said that council members’ attempts to manipulate the redistricting process that were revealed in the leaked 2021 recording has underscored a “lack of faith and lack of trust” for Angelenos in their elected officials.
“I think having a separate committee that is explicitly focused on governance reform, that is explicitly charged with making the kinds of changes that can restore trust and faith in this government, is something that can go a long way towards healing in this moment,” Raman said.
Council President Paul Krekorian called the new committee a “focused, concerted effort” to bring together numerous reforms that have been suggested since the release of the recordings. Council members have also sought to introduce ethics and redistricting reforms.
“I think this Ad Hoc Committee will provide us with both that opportunity to coordinate those efforts, and also the opportunity to engage more members of the public in doing that as well,” Krekorian said.
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez was the lone dissenter, stating concerns over the council essentially overseeing itself.
“What has brought us to this point has been far too much control from this very council directing exactly what that looks like,” Rodriguez said. “We’re policing ourselves. We’re scrutinizing our own outcomes and processes.”
Rodriguez said she respected what the proposal calls for, but didn’t think it would help achieve greater transparency.
“Too often, we are amending and moving in very small incremental steps,” Rodriguez said. “I think we need to talk about a comprehensive reflection of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how we do it.”
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