The Brief

Labor union leaders and their members told a Los Angeles City Council budget committee on Monday that Mayor Karen Bass’ proposed budget cuts cause a reduction in services to residents that will likely result in dirtier streets and more accidents on sidewalks, among other problems.

Bass has proposed 1,647 layoffs across departments to deal with a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall. That’s about 5% of the city’s workforce.

The layoffs include 403 civilian support staff at the Police Department, more than 260 Transportation Department workers and 130 people at the Bureau of Street Services, which oversees street repairs.

The concerns

Union leaders told the council’s Budget and Finance Committee that the mayor’s plan to lay off workers will have a wide-ranging impact on the city.

“There will be an increase in hazardous waste buildup on the public streets and in homeless encampments,” said Marleen Fonseca, executive director of the Engineers and Architects Association. “There will be an increase in illegal dumping and industrial waste abuse.”

The association represents a range of workers, including street clean-up crews in the Sanitation Department.

Some labor union leaders warned the city’s already skyrocketing liability costs will go even higher because of the layoffs.

“You will have more workplace accidents because we’re short staffed,” said Lisa Palombi, president of the Librarians Guild. “You will have more accidents on sidewalks because services are being reduced across the city.”

Neighborhood leaders weigh in

Neighborhood Council leaders also denounced the budget cuts, which include reducing the budget for each neighborhood council from $32,000 to $25,000. “A budget cut would be devastating to NC’s who have little more than enough funds to cover their basic expenses,” said Kay Hartman, budget advocate for Region 11.

Jack Humphreville of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council called for deeper reforms to the city’s budgeting processes. “The city should establish an office of transparency and accountability that would provide independent real time information and advice on the city’s budget and finances.”

What’s next and how to attend

The City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee will hear presentations from city departments over the next two weeks. The first one is Tuesday, April 29, at 1 p.m. inside City Council chambers.

Below is the schedule of budget hearings:

Location: John Ferraro Council Chamber Room 340, City Hall 200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles
Time: 1 p.m.
Remote viewing: The hearing will be broadcast live on Cable Television Channel 35 and on the internet at https://clerk.lacity.org/calendar
Note: In-person only public comment.

Tuesday, April 29: Agenda

Presentation of the Proposed Budget by the Mayor's Office
Overview of the Proposed Budget by the City Administrative Officer Revenue:

• City administrative officer (CAO)
• General city purposes
• Reserve fund
• Unappropriated balance
• Capital finance administration (MICLA)
• Capital and Technology Improvement Expenditure Program
• Tax and revenue anticipation notes Exhibit H
• Personnel (presentation on layoff process)
• City attorney
• City controller
• Office of Finance/Treasurer General Services

Wednesday, April 30: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor’s 2025-26 proposed budget, including:

• Memo review
• Port of Los Angeles
• Police
• Fire
• Emergency management
• Personnel (includes human resources benefits)
• Information Technology Agency
• City Ethics Commission

Thursday, May 1: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor’s 2025-26 proposed budget, including:

• Memo Review CAO — homeless budget
• Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (including Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles)
• Housing
• Economic and workforce development
• Youth development
• Aging
• Community investment for families
• Transportation
• Board of Public Works
• Public Works — Sanitation
• Public Works — Bureau of Engineering
• Public Works — Bureau of Street Services

Friday, May 2: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor’s 2025-26 proposed budget, including:

• Memo review
• Public Works — Bureau of Street Lighting
• Public Works — Bureau of Contract Administration
• Recreation and Parks
• Water and Power
• Office of Public Accountability
• Building and Safety
• Planning
• Cannabis regulation
• Disability

Monday, May 5: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor’s 2025-26 proposed budget, including:

• Memo review
• Airports
• City clerk
• Animal services
• Zoo
• Cultural affairs
• El Pueblo Library
• City tourism
• Neighborhood empowerment
• Civil + human rights and equity
• Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System
• Los Angeles fire and police pensions
• Any other city departments

Thursday, May 8: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor's 2025-26 Proposed Budget, including:

• Review memos
• General managers to answer questions on the following budgets, CAO comments follow.
• Any other city departments
• As needed budget discussions and instructions to staff

Friday, May 16: Agenda

Consideration of the mayor's 2025-26 Proposed Budget, including:

• Chief legislative analyst to report on proposed changes to the mayor's 2025-26 proposed budget, and related actions

How to watchdog local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.

Michael Gates, a former deputy assistant attorney general, produced a letter Friday that he said confirmed he was not fired for cause, but rather resigned from the Civil Rights Division of the federal Department of Justice.

The Orange County Register last week reported that Gates had been fired for cause, citing an anonymous DOJ source who said Gates repeatedly referred to women colleagues by derogatory and demeaning names and had complained about the department employing a pregnant woman. The Register also published a government employment form, which was undated, that they said showed that Gates was fired for cause.

Gates told LAist the allegations were “100% fabrication.” Then on Friday, he shared a screenshot of a Nov. 21 letter from John Buchko, director of operational management at the DOJ, stating that the department “has accepted your voluntary resignation” and “will remove from your personnel record any previous reference to your termination.”

LAist reached out to Natalie Baldassarre, a DOJ spokesperson, to confirm the letter, sharing that screenshot. She responded by email: “No comment on personnel matters.”

Michael Gates provided this letter. A spokesperson for the department said they would not comment on personnel matters.

(

Courtesy Michael Gates

)

Back to Huntington Beach

Gates told LAist earlier this month that he was resigning from his job with the federal government because he missed Huntington Beach and his family. On Friday, the Huntington Beach City Council confirmed Gates has been hired back as chief assistant city attorney. He starts Monday.

Gates is both loved and loathed in politically contentious Huntington Beach. He has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump and his policies and a continuous thorn in the side of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is one of the most prominent critics of the president.

Gates was first elected city attorney in 2014 and has won re-election twice since then, with wide margins. Huntington Beach is among a minority of cities in California that elects rather than appoints a city attorney.

Gates' track record

As city attorney, Gates sued the state over housing mandates and the right to implement voter ID. He also marshalled the city into the center of culture war battles. While he was city attorney, his office sued California over the state’s sanctuary law, as well as a law prohibiting schools from requiring teachers to inform parents of a child’s request to change pronouns or otherwise “out” them as LGBTQ.

Many Huntington Beach residents support his work. But Gates has also faced heavy criticism and legal penalties, for some of his actions. In 2021, the city paid out $2.5 million total in a settlement with one former and one current employee who alleged age discrimination while working at the city under Gates. The city did not concede to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

And last year, Gates helped broker a controversial settlement over the pandemic-era cancelation of the city’s annual airshow, which will cost Huntington Beach taxpayers millions over the coming years.

What’s next?

Gates told LAist he’s looking forward to, once again, heading up the city’s litigation, including a scheduled trial against an effort to force Huntington Beach to adopt by-district elections. He said he plans to run again for city attorney in next year’s election.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who rose to prominence as one of President Donald Trump's biggest defenders and recently became one of his biggest critics, is leaving Congress.

Greene's announcement late Friday that she would resign effective Jan. 5, 2026, is the latest escalation of months of clashes with the president over his second term agenda — including the release of the Epstein files.

"Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for," Greene wrote in a lengthy statement shared online.

The third-term Congresswoman also said it would not be fair to her northwest Georgia district, one of the most conservative in the country, to have them "endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for," while noting that "Republicans will likely lose the midterms."

Greene is one of a record 40 House members and 10 senators who have indicated they do not plan to return to their seats after the 2026 election, joining a number of lawmakers who are retiring or running for a different office.
Copyright 2025 NPR

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed a motion Friday in Superior Court to dismiss manslaughter charges against two Torrance police officers who fatally shot a Black man in possession of an air rifle in 2018.

Hochman argued in court documents that prosecutors can’t meet the legal standard of proof needed for the officers to be convicted of a crime.

The court has not yet ruled on the matter.

The details

Officers Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez were indicted in 2023 in connection with the killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, 23, who was suspected of stealing a car.

As the officers approached the car, they saw what was later revealed to be an air rifle between Mitchell’s legs. When Mitchell appeared to reach for the rifle,the officers opened fire, according to police.

The backstory

Former District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file charges against the officers in 2019, saying they reasonably believed Mitchell had a gun. Her successor George Gascón, elected in 2020 on a platform of police accountability, assigned a special prosecutor to review the case. The special prosecutor sought the criminal indictment.

When Hochman took office in 2024, he appointed a new special prosecutor, who recommended the charges be dropped.

“We cannot move forward in good faith with prosecuting these two officers because we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt with admissible evidence that the officers unreasonably believed they were in imminent danger when they saw what looked like a sawed-off shotgun or rifle between Mr. Mitchell’s legs and his hands moved toward the weapon just before the officers shot,” the statement read.

The courts

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta did not immediately make a ruling Friday on the motion to dismiss the charges, saying the state Supreme Court is also considering the case.

The state Supreme Court is considering an appeal filed by one of the officer’s attorneys after Ohta rejected an earlier motion to dismiss by the defense.

As the Palisades Fire was still burning in January, residents saw an eye-grabbing headline: the Santa Ynez reservoir, perched directly above the Palisades, was offline for repairs and empty.

The reservoir’s closure frustrated residents and spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce a state investigation into whether the reservoir being full of water would have made a difference fighting the deadly fire.

After months of analysis, California agencies including the state’s EPA, Cal Fire and the Department of Water Resources issued a report confirming the explanations given by local officials and experts in the aftermath of the fire: the water supply was too slow, not too low — and even a functioning reservoir likely wouldn’t have done much in the face of an unprecedented natural disaster.

Why the hydrants stopped working

The report found that not even a full reservoir positioned uphill from the Palisades Fire could have maintained water pressure and stopped the devastation.

“The water system lost pressure, not due to a lack of water supply in the system, but because of an insufficient flow rate,” the report states.

A reservoir perched at a high elevation, such as the Santa Ynez, can serve an important role in maintaining water pressure for hydrants throughout the system. As water gets used downhill, water from the reservoir flows to towers that maintain water pressure. Because of gravity and physical limitations on flow rates, the pressure towers can't be refilled at the same pace as they are drained and eventually dry up.

In the case of the Palisades Fire, the report states, a full reservoir would have helped keep water pressure up for only a short time.

The report noted that some data points on the demand on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s system were missing.

However, investigators found that based on experiences with other fires, the high demand across the system meant it was “unlikely that [the reservoir] could have helped maintain pressure for very long.”

The system’s design

The report found that the closure of the Santa Ynez Reservoir was in line with the primary purpose of L.A.’s water infrastructure: maintaining a clean drinking water supply. The reservoir repairs were prompted by a damaged cover. The repairs, the report notes, were required by federal and state laws on drinking water safety.

More broadly, municipal water systems like L.A.’s weren’t built to fight wildfires, as LAist reported in January.

“This report confirms what we and others have been saying more broadly regarding water system expectations and capabilities, but does so completely independently and with new details specific to the L.A. fires,” Greg Pierce, the director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, said in an email to LAist.

What’s next

The report makes two major recommendations: continue to follow the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and make sure firefighters in the state are positioned for year-round fires.

The state stopped short of recommending any changes to L.A.’s municipal infrastructure. Water experts like Pierce say massive amounts of water and a very expensive redesign of L.A.’s water system would be needed to keep fire hydrants working during large urban conflagrations.

For their part, researchers and others have been looking into other solutions, including putting more utility lines underground and redistributing water across the system.

The report about the reservoir comes on the heels of a separate report from the Fire Safety Research Institute about the timeline leading up to and during the January firestorm. That report, which was commissioned by the California governor's office, contains a detailed account of the Palisades and Eaton fires' progressions and emergency services' responses on Jan. 7 and 8.

As for the Santa Ynez Reservoir, the repairs to fix its broken cover and make it usable again are slated to begin in June and finish by May 2027.