How To LA: LA City Council Members Speak Out One Year After Secret Tapes (And Other Headlines)

It’s been a whole year since leaked recordings rocked Los Angeles. What’s changed for the L.A. City Council?

That’s what host Antonia Cereijido explores in the final episode of Imperfect Paradise: Nury & the Secret Tapes, a podcast by LAist Studios. The four-part series includes an exclusive interview with former L.A. City Council president Nury Martinez, who resigned in disgrace after she was heard making racist and derogatory remarks.

Current city council members address fallout

In this latest episode, Cereijido talks with council members like Nithya Raman, who says the tapes have made her more wary.

“I think I have a recognition of what it means to have private conversations go back to other people and saw the pain that wrought on the city,” Raman says.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez says she strongly disagrees ideologically with Martinez but notes that the former city council president is also the only one featured in the secretly recorded audio who has taken responsibility for the scandal.

"It feels like another moment of like, a woman, Latina, having to step up and clean up a mess," she says.

Listen to episode 4 – and catch up on the rest of the series – wherever you get your podcasts. Or, listen here, and don’t forget to subscribe to Imperfect Paradise. Plus, read Cereijido’s essay on her motivation for covering Nury & The Secret Tapes here.

Stay curious, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading.

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• A majority of the Santa Ana City Council asked staff to draft a ballot measure that would ask voters to amend the city charter to allow noncitizen voting. One in four Santa Ana residents are noncitizens, according to the executive director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Injustice. 
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Wait... one more thing

It’s International ShakeOut Day

The National Guard in front of the Northridge Meadows apartments, on January 24, 1994, where 16 people died during the earthquake on January 17. Residents were allowed to enter the condemned building for 15 minutes at a time to collect personal effects.

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HAL GARB/AFP/Getty Images

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AFP

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If you grew up in California like me, you’ll remember the “Great ShakeOut.” Once a year, us middle schoolers would ditch math class for the soccer field to practice earthquake safety.

Today is International ShakeOut Day. Millions of people worldwide participate in drills at work, school or home at 10:19 a.m. local time. Get it? At 10:19 on 10/19. You get it.

Earthquakes will happen, by you can put yourself, your family and friends in a much better position by doing just a few things.

For instance: assemble an emergency go bag with essential supplies, and consider strapping down appliances in your home. It’s not unusual for large items to rip away from the wall, bounce across rooms and spill everything when the earth shakes violently.

My colleague Jacob Margolis has a helpful guide (of guides) for how to prepare. Check it out here.