The Brief

The Los Angeles City Council moved closer Tuesday to placing on the November ballot a package of ethics reforms designed to fight corruption, but the panel dumped key proposals in the process.

Council members unanimously directed the city attorney to draft ballot language for the package, which involves a number of changes to the city charter. The reforms follow successive City Hall scandals that have shaken the public’s trust in elected city officials.

Among the biggest proposals: one that would triple the maximum fines imposed on elected officials and others who violate city ethics rules, including campaign finance laws.

“I think this sends a message that’s loud and clear that we expect accountability and top-level ethical behavior from all of our elected officials,” Councilmember Traci Park told LAist in an interview after the vote.

Some activists who spoke at the meeting called the changes long overdue.

“Such reforms could not be more salient given the slew of corruption-related charges and convictions that have plagued the City Council,” said Ariana Marmolejo of Common Cause, an organization that fights for more accountability in government.

Over the past three years, former council members Mitch Englander, Jose Huizar and Mark Ridley-Thomas have been sentenced to federal prison on corruption charges.

Councilmember Curren Price faces corruption charges in state court. And the city Ethics Commission has accused Councilmember John Lee of accepting illegal gifts from developers. He is not facing criminal charges.

It’s been more than a year and a half since City Hall was rocked by the release of audio recordings of some members making racist and derogatory remarks in a secret conversation about political redistricting — the event that prompted the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform that proposed the changes.

The charter changes are designed to make the Ethics Commission stronger and more independent. The proposals would:

• Triple the maximum fine per violation of ethics rules to $15,000.
• Allow the commission to hire independent legal counsel in certain circumstances.
• Require the City Council to consider Ethics Commission proposals within 180 days of submission.
• Establish a minimum annual budget for the commission of $6.5 million adjusted annually to reflect changes in the city’s actual revenues. 

The council nixed a proposal that would have allowed the Ethics Commission to place reform measures directly on the ballot, bypassing the City Council. The change would have given the panel leverage to force the council to act on ethics reforms that too often have languished in committees without hearings.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez argued only the City Council should have the power to place measures on the ballot.

“The folks making citywide policy decisions should be the ones directly accountable to the voters, to the people,” he said.

Some activists denounced the move.

“The really big thing we needed to do was address a system of inactivity where reform goes nowhere,” Rob Quan, an organizer with Unrig L.A., told LAist. He called the package of reforms “marginal improvements.”

Quan doubted fines alone would stop corruption.

“Fines do not change the culture of City Hall,” he said.

Activist Jaime York echoed the sentiment.

“What we are doing is nibbling at the edges of reform,” York told LAist. “It's not actually creating a change in the power dynamic.”

York said individual council members should have less influence over development projects in their districts. In the most high profile corruption case, Huizar accepted bribes from developers to help get their projects through the City Hall approval process.

“There’s too much ability for any individual council members to essentially kill, or approve a project in their district,” she said.

The council also rejected a proposal to expand the size of the Ethics Commission from five to seven. Under the proposal, the additional two members would have been appointed by the panel itself.

Supporters said it would have made the commission more independent. Right now, all of its members are appointed by elected officials.

The council also voted to create a 13-member commission to consider other changes to the city’s charter, including whether to expand the size of the City Council.

Activists had hoped the council would place a measure on the ballot that would increase the size of the panel from 15 to at least 21, but that seems increasingly unlikely. The council has to act by early July to get something on the ballot in November.

In a statement, City Council President Paul Krekorian, who supports expansion, said “such a dramatic and unprecedented change in the makeup of the Council” requires more debate.

“This ongoing discussion will require more public input and analysis than can be completed in time for the November ballot,” Krekorian said.

One measure already headed to the ballot in November would end council members’ ability to draw their own district boundaries, a fraught political process that was at the center of the secret City Hall tapes scandal.

Under the proposed charter amendment, that responsibility would be given to an independent redistricting commission.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.