Dear Friends,
To say it has been a tough year for Los Angeles would be an understatement. Between January’s devastating fires that burned homes, took lives, and uprooted thousands of Angelenos, and the ongoing ICE raids tearing through our neighborhoods and tearing families apart – we have suffered immense loss and grief.
But amidst the difficulties, I took hope from Angelenos showing up for one another. Neighbors came together to provide refuge for people who lost their homes. They delivered hot meals to first responders, and groceries to families sheltering from abductions. They formed grassroots rapid response networks to protect our immigrant communities.
This year, over and over again, Angelenos showed courage in the face of fear, and compassion in the face of deep hardship. It is resilience like this that reminds me why I love this city so much. Its people are absolutely remarkable, and I am humbled and grateful to be serving them.
I hope that 2026 is a better year for all of us. I know there are real challenges ahead, but my commitment to working towards a better, more resilient future for us has never been stronger.
Happy holidays, Los Angeles.
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This week, Los Angeles is preparing for the strongest holiday rainstorm seen in years, forecast Tuesday through Saturday, with the heaviest rainfall expected Tuesday and Wednesday. A Flash Flood Watch will be in effect starting Tuesday at 4 PM through Wednesday at 10 PM for the entire City of Los Angeles, and Angelenos are advised to use caution on the roads. In anticipation of the storm, City departments are on high alert and repair crews are standing by, ready to respond if damage is done to roads and power lines.
Moderate risk of debris flows is expected in the recent burn scars. In Council District 4, portions of the west-facing slope above and east of Curson Avenue in the Hollywood Hills may be vulnerable to increased risks from flooding, erosion, and falling debris as a result of the Sunset Fire.
Residents in the area are advised to take preventative measures ahead of forecasted storms to reduce the risk of damage. These include erosion control efforts, drainage improvements, and other protective actions. To assist with these efforts, we are sharing the Homeowners Guide for Flood, Debris Flow, and Erosion Control prepared by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. This guide provides valuable information on safeguarding your property.
Additionally, the LA County Department of Public Works has a dedicated Mudflow Engineering Advice Hotline for residents to reach out with questions related to mudflow and storm readiness at 1-800-933-0930. For more information, please visit the LA County Public Works Fire Disaster Information webpage here and the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department Rain Readiness webpage here.
The Los Angeles Fire Department is also providing free ready-to-fill sandbags at all neighborhood fire stations, with select stations also offering free sand. Sandbags can effectively and inexpensively control mudflow, and can be filled with local soil. To find your closest fire station, click here. Please contact the station ahead of time to ensure they are still in stock.
Please remember, if you spot a dangerous storm impact such as intense flooding, debris flow, or downed power lines, call or text 911 to report an emergency.
Be sure you are staying informed by:
To report power outages or receive status updates on your outage, please call the LADWP emergency line at (800) 342-5397. To request any non-emergency City services and to report any storm-related damage, including blocked stormwater drains, please call 311. You can also download the myLA311 app to easily create a service ticket from your phone.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office for additional assistance at contactcd4@lacity.org, or by calling us at 213-473-7004.
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- Updates From City Hall — Taking A Fiscally Responsible Vote On Police Hiring, Opening An Interim Housing Site In Hollywood With Aviva
- In The District — Celebrating The Terner Center For Innovation’s Ten Year Anniversary, Welcoming Neighbors Home At A New Permanent Supportive Housing Site In Hollywood, Celebrating The Revamped Griffith Park Visitor Center, Recognizing Our Valley First Responders At The LAFD CERT Holiday Party
- Upcoming Events — New Year’s Hike With CD4 And Charles Fleming, A CD4 Conversation With Councilmember Raman: Homelessness And The Road Ahead, 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count
- Resources & Forums — Medi-Cal Deadline Approaching, Help Shape LA’s Transportation Future, LASAN S.A.F.E. Centers For Holiday Waste Now Open, City Trash Fees Now In Effect For Ratepaying Residents
- Other Helpful Links
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TAKING A FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE VOTE ON POLICE HIRING
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In its final session of the year, Council had a long and heated discussion about police hiring — one that exemplified everything that is wrong with the way that we make policy in this city, and that tells us a lot about why we are in this current budget crisis, and may continue to be.
Last year’s budget was bleak. The Mayor sent a budget to the Council that closed a billion dollar deficit with thousands of layoffs, which would have negatively impacted every single city service from trash pickup to streetlight repair. The Council changed that budget significantly, and managed to reduce layoffs almost entirely for at least this year, saving our services — for now.
One way in which the Council reduced those layoffs? By reducing the pace of police hiring, which is important as police officers are among our most expensive City staff. Police were given authority to hire up to 240 new officers this year but no more. That’s how we staved off layoffs. If they wanted to increase the number of police officers hired, City leadership committed to finding the money.
Instead of doing that, Council considered multiple eleventh hour proposals to increase police hiring — proposals that simply did not identify where the money would come from over the long term for these new officers. Some Council members argued that we weren’t taking our City’s public safety seriously if we didn’t approve these funds right away. I disagree.
If we were taking public safety seriously, we wouldn’t approve more hiring until we knew that we had guaranteed multi-year funding that could ensure that hiring new police officers wouldn’t mean laying off civilians — including civilians doing essential work in the police department who would have to be replaced by more expensive, sworn officers if we laid them off!
If we were taking public safety seriously, we would be asking hard questions about how our existing police force is currently deployed and how they could be better deployed – what are our 8500 officers doing? How are we holding them accountable for their work? How can we reduce predictable and expensive overtime costs?
If we were taking public safety seriously, we would be investing in a citywide unarmed response system that could actually take a significant load off our existing police officers, and leave them to do what only armed police can do.
But instead of having these conversations, we are having a conversation that is driven by politics and shaped by optics. We want to look like we care about public safety, while making it harder to build out the system that will actually be responsive to people’s safety needs in this City. Council moved to pass an expanded hiring plan that makes next year’s already tough budget conversation so much tougher.
This vote was our final vote of the year, and I didn’t expect that this was the note we would end on. Addressing our budget crisis, which is going to be worse next year than it was this year, will require more honesty from me, and from my colleagues. I will continue to work to make sure that you have that.
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OPENING AN INTERIM HOUSING SITE IN HOLLYWOOD WITH AVIVA
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Several years ago, I identified a city-owned vacant lot in the heart of Hollywood that for decades sat gated with overgrown grass and billboards. A perfect site for much-needed interim housing in the district, my office approached Aviva Family & Children’s Services, a community-based organization with more than 110 years of experience supporting vulnerable families in Los Angeles County, who stepped in with a clear vision and plan.
That plan is now coming to life! Aviva was recently awarded $9.3 million in state funding to support behavioral health infrastructure in Council District 4, and Council has officially approved the lease.
These funds will support the construction and operation of a new 27-bed perinatal treatment facility that will provide 24/7 residential care and comprehensive support services for pregnant women, postpartum mothers, women with dependent children, and women with substance-exposed infants. Just blocks away from Aviva’s headquarters, this facility will help a subset of an already vulnerable population and is expected to serve 40–50 families each year, with average stays of 12 months and access to a multidisciplinary team focused on recovery and family stabilization. Families will receive on-site therapy, case management, parenting support, life skills training, and connections to permanent housing — all delivered through trauma-informed, culturally responsive care.
I’m excited to continue working with Aviva — a trusted partner in my district with a strong track record in behavioral health and housing services — and community members to help support those most in need get off the street and indoors into safe, secure, and comfortable housing.
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CELEBRATING THE TERNER CENTER FOR HOUSING INNOVATION’S 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
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I recently had the opportunity to celebrate the Terner Center for Housing Innovation’s 10 Year Anniversary in a room filled with fellow policymakers focused on addressing our housing crisis. The Terner Center’s mission is to formulate bold strategies to house families from all walks of life in vibrant, sustainable, and affordable homes and communities. Established in 2015, the Terner Center has quickly become a leading voice in identifying, developing, and advancing innovative public and private sector solutions to the nation’s most intractable housing challenges.
I spoke on a panel that included Tomiquia Moss, Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency for the State of California, and RuthAnne Visnauskas, Commissioner of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, about how local governments are critically, creatively, and innovatively responding to substantial housing policy changes and funding shortages for benefits programs from the federal level.
We discussed strategies to leverage and stretch local dollars to fill social safety net gaps thousands of households will experience in the next few months because of catalytic shifts at the national scale which will only compound housing affordability challenges. For example, in recent years, Angelenos yet again displayed generosity and a deep political will at the ballot box to tax themselves in order to fund expedient and permanent housing and homelessness solutions. With draconian and dehumanizing cuts at the federal level, the LA region will have more than one billion dollars in local funds annually through Measure ULA and Measure A to keep people housed and off the streets. These funds will provide local operating subsidies, rental vouchers, and funding for affordable housing, even more important in light of clawbacks from Washington.
Regional coalition building that promotes housing production and community stabilization, and centers the values of trust, transparency, and accountability is what it will take to reinvigorate the City of LA and other local places in transformative ways for years to come. I look forward to continued collaboration with institutions like the Terner Center!
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WELCOMING NEIGHBORS HOME AT A NEW PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING SITE IN HOLLYWOOD
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Our office is excited to welcome new neighbors home at the newly opened Highland Heights permanent supportive housing site in Hollywood!
Led by A Community of Friends (ACOF), this Homekey project involved the rehabilitation and conversion of an existing 62-unit hotel into a 62-unit affordable housing development. This site will include 61 permanent supportive housing units for formerly homeless households and households at-risk of homelessness and offer a wide array of on-site case-management services.
ACOF firmly believes that the transition into a new home should be as smooth and comforting as possible. My staff spent a recent afternoon helping to put together “Welcome Home” kits for new tenants moving into each new ACOF apartment community. These kits include essential household items, from kitchenware and bedding to cleaning supplies and personal care products, all aimed at helping people settle in and feel truly at home from day one.
To everyone moving into their new space, welcome home!
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OPENING THE DOORS TO THE REVAMPED GRIFFITH PARK VISITOR CENTER
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It is truly one of my biggest honors to represent the crown jewel of our parks system here in Los Angeles, Griffith Park. This month, surrounded by friends, neighbors, hikers, park rangers, and Griffith Park enthusiasts, we celebrated the opening of the newly renovated Griffith Park Visitor Center.
The main operations center of Griffith Park, the Visitor Center was in need of a facelift to bring it into the modern era. With funding from the Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust as well as our Office, and shepherded by the inimitable Stefanie Smith and Tracy James from the Department of Recreation & Parks, the upgraded facility now features interactive displays, ethically sourced animal nature exhibits, improved restrooms, and expanded educational materials.
This update is part of a much larger investment in the entire Visitor Center compound, as we prepare to welcome visitors from around the world for the upcoming World Cup, Olympic, and Paralympic Games. Additional investments include the beautiful ‘Under the Oaks’ mural, commissioned by Friends of Griffith Park and completed by Studio Tutto, which adorns the wall of our auditorium and the recently commissioned permanent statue memorializing P-22 which will live in the grove next to the Visitor Center.
It was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces at last weekend’s ribbon cutting ceremony, and I was thrilled to see the Visitor Center immediately put to good use! Thank you to everyone who dedicated their time, energy, and funds to bringing this project to fruition!
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RECOGNIZING OUR VALLEY CERT HEROES AT THE ANNUAL CERT HOLIDAY PARTY
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It has been almost a year since the January fires, and this month I had the opportunity to thank and celebrate some of the emergency responders that helped us get through it! Our office joined the Los Angeles Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team (LAFD CERT) for their holiday potluck and raffle to mark the end of a challenging year, and give thanks as we head into 2026.
LAFD CERT is an all-risk, all-hazard training program for Angelenos that educates the everyday person on how to help their neighbors and neighborhood in an emergency situation and how to immediately respond during a potential disaster.
The program’s origins date back to 1985 when a group of Los Angeles fire officials traveled to Japan to learn how the Japanese responded to disastrous earthquakes. Since then, the program has transformed into a partnership between community members, Los Angeles emergency responders, and FEMA.
We joined the community leaders and volunteers who help keep us safe, enjoying some borekas from a nearby Jewish bakery provided by our office and other treats! Thank you to CERT Valley Bureau Battalion Coordinator Christy Adair, LAFD CERT Battalion 10 Coordinator Geraldine Hernandez-Abisror, Bill Comerford, and Murlen Champness for coordinating such a fun event!
To learn more about the CERT program and other free safety resources, visit cert-la.com.
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NEW YEAR’S HIKE WITH CD4 AND CHARLES FLEMING | JANUARY 10 | MORE INFO
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We’re starting 2026 off strong with our next round of community hikes! Join Council District 4 and very special guest Charles Fleming, author of the renowned book Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, for a hike through Griffith Park and some of the neighborhood’s iconic secret stairs on Saturday, January 10 at 10am. Let’s ring in the new year together with a celebration of our City’s incredible historic infrastructure, vibrant ecology, and stunning views!
DATE: Saturday, January 10
TIME: 10AM – 12PM
LOCATION: Roosevelt Golf Course, 2650 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Click HERE to RSVP!
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A CD4 CONVERSATION WITH COUNCILMEMBER RAMAN: HOMELESSNESS AND THE ROAD AHEAD | JANUARY 15 | MORE INFO
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The Office of Councilmember Nithya Raman invites you to participate in a CD4 Conversation on the state of homelessness in the City of Los Angeles and Council District 4, and the road ahead. This virtual event will cover the current state of affairs and how we got here, our Office’s successful approach to bringing people indoors, priorities for 2026, and future challenges. We hope you’ll join us!
DATE: Thursday, January 15
TIME: 6PM – 7PM
LOCATION: Zoom
Click HERE to RSVP! And be sure to submit a question in advance HERE!
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2026 GREATER LOS ANGELES HOMELESS COUNT | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 22 | MORE INFO
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The Los Angeles homeless count is one of the greatest tools we have in assessing the progress we are making as a City toward solving this humanitarian crisis. Conducted over three nights every January, the homeless count provides critical data to help inform policy, secure resources, and deliver services where they are most needed.
Next year, Council District 4 will host the Studio City homeless count at the First Christian Church of North Hollywood on Tuesday, January 20. To count with CD4 staff, be sure to select “Studio City” in the location drop-down. To count closer to home, select the neighborhood that works best for you!
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I am so grateful to everyone volunteering their time over the course of these three nights to help us work toward a Los Angeles where no one is without a place to live.
DATE: Tuesday, January 20 – Thursday, January 22
TIME: 8PM
LOCATION: Click HERE to sign up for a specific location!
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MEDI-CAL DEADLINE APPROACHING | DEADLINE DECEMBER 31 | MORE INFO
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Protect Health and housing for our undocumented neighbors! We Are LA — a homelessness prevention program dedicated to keeping Angelenos stably housed recognizes the clear relationship between healthcare and housing — an unexpected medical bill can jeopardize a person’s ability to pay for housing, placing thousands of individuals and families across LA at risk of losing their home and falling into homelessness.
If you or someone you know is undocumented, people can still apply for full-scope Medi-Cal until December 31, 2025. Beginning January 1, only individuals who meet federal immigration requirements will be able to newly enroll. We Are LA caseworkers are available 7 days a week with free, confidential, and bilingual assistance to help you apply.
Call We Are LA NOW: 213-584-1808
We Are LA’s caseworkers help applicants overcome additional barriers such as technology access, and complex applications — ensuring everyone can access the benefits needed to stay healthy and stably housed.
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HELP SHAPE LA’S TRANSPORTATION FUTURE | MORE INFO
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The City of Los Angeles is developing its first Mobility Action Plan (MAP), which will guide how LA invests in streets, sidewalks, transit, biking, and walking for the next 5-20 years. Your feedback will guide how the City prioritizes transportation investments. By sharing your experiences and priorities, you’ll help us plan for a safer, more accessible, and connected transportation system for everyone.
Click HERE to take the survey!
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LASAN S.A.F.E. CENTERS FOR HOLIDAY WASTE NOW OPEN | MORE INFO
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The holidays bring joy, good food, and exciting gifts – but also the potential for waste. To keep it sustainable throughout the festive season, LASAN’s S.A.F.E Centers are open for LA City and LA County residents to drop off household hazardous waste (HHW) and electronics free of charge.
Holiday HHW/E-Waste includes (but is not limited to) the following items:
- Battery Operated Candles
- Pre-Lit Christmas Trees
- Holiday String Lights
- Musical Greeting Cards
- Drones and Electronic Toys
- Video Game Consoles
Visit lacitysan.org/safecenters for more information or call the LASAN 24/7 Customer Care Center at 1-800-773-2489.
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CITY TRASH FEES NOW IN EFFECT FOR RATEPAYING RESIDENTS | MORE INFO
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LASAN implemented new trash fees for ratepaying residents in November, affecting both the Solid Resources Fee and the Multi-Family Bulky Item fee. This increase will appear on LADWP bills.
Financial assistance may be available to offset these fees. Residents who are already enrolled in either the Low Income Financial Assistance program (EZ-SAVE) or Lifeline program will automatically have those discounts applied to the new rates. Residents who are not yet enrolled but want to explore assistance options can visit the DWP website at ladwp.com/financialassistance to see if they qualify.
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Our Office:
Services + Resources
- Food Pantry Locator — Get connected to food resources near you.
- StayHoused LA — Workshops and resources to help renters stay in their homes.
- MyLA311 — Submit a request for services including graffiti removal, pothole repair, and bulky-item pickup.
- LA-HOP Homeless Outreach Portal — Assist or self-input an outreach request from the LA Homeless Services Authority to unhoused residents.
- LA City Sanitation — Submit a service request for metal/household appliance disposal.
- MyChildCarePlan — Free resource website for childcare providers and families listing every licensed provider in California.
- Adopt or Foster a Shelter Pet — Find pets for adoption and a list of local shelters.
- Gas Assistance Fund – The Gas Assistance Fund (GAF) offers a one-time grant to help customers pay their natural gas bills.
- Ready Your LA Business Workbook — City of LA’s FREE workbook to help business owners prepare their business for any emergency. Available in English and Spanish.
Alerts
- NotifyLA — Sign up to receive urgent notifications about local emergencies by phone, email, and/or text message.
- LAFD Alerts — Sign up for alerts on fires and evacuations in your area.
- LADWP Outage Info — Sign up for outage alerts in your area.
- StreetsLA Street Sweeping — Register for notifications about sweeping in your neighborhoods.
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