Public Works Committee · Upcoming

Los Angeles City Council Public Works Committee agenda, October 13, 2026

October 13, 2026, 2 p.m. · Updated October 10, 2026

On the agenda: The Los Angeles City Council's Public Works Committee meets Oct. 13, 2026 with eight items on its agenda, led by two transfers the City Administrative Officer recommends from the same budget account: $7,849,362 and 81 positions for six months of the citywide Clean Corridors street cleaning program and the remaining $3,133,526 to the Bureau of Street Lighting for hiring hall repair crews after the failed street lighting assessment ballot. The agenda also lists a revised vacation of air and subsurface space over Pico Boulevard and LA Live Way for the Los Angeles Convention Center expansion and Bureau of Street Lighting and Chief Legislative Analyst reports on streetlight repairs and other cities' practices. Motions ask for reports on converting turf medians to meet a state water law by Jan. 1, 2027 and planting 74,910 vacant tree wells, and for acceptance of a $2,500,000 federal grant for cool pavement and shade in the San Fernando Valley.

Agenda only. As of October 10, 2026, the October 13, 2026 meeting of the Public Works Committee of the Los Angeles City Council has not happened yet and nothing on its agenda has been decided. Agendas can change.

The agenda, posted Oct. 9, 2026, lists eight items for 2 p.m. in Room 401, City Hall, with public comment in person only. Three items are shared with other committees: item 1 is also referred to the Budget and Finance Committee (CF 26-0955), item 3 to the Budget and Finance and Personnel and Hiring committees (CF 26-1334) and item 5 to the Energy and Environment Committee (CF 26-1332). Committee members since Aug. 31, 2026, per the Council President’s assignment letter: Eunisses Hernandez (chair), Imelda Padilla (vice chair) and Heather Hutt. The agenda lists the same three members.

Routine item, from the agenda:

• 7: name the intersection of Hyperion Avenue and Udell Court in Silver Lake “Del Campo Square” and have LADOT put up permanent ceremonial signs. The motion by Nithya Raman, seconded by Hugo Soto-Martínez, honors Casita Del Campo, a family-owned restaurant opened there in 1962 by Rudy Del Campo (motion, CF 26-1276).

1. Bureau of Street Lighting funding after the failed assessment ballot: CAO recommends a $3,133,526 transfer for hiring hall repair crews

• What it does: The agenda lists the Bureau of Street Lighting’s Aug. 7, 2026 report and the City Administrative Officer’s Aug. 21, 2026 report on immediate steps to preserve street lighting service and long-term steps to stabilize the bureau (agenda). A CAO follow-up report dated Oct. 9, 2026 was added to the file the same day and is attached to the scheduling entry for this meeting (CF 26-0955).
• Who brought it: Eunisses Hernandez and Katy Yaroslavsky, seconded by Marqueece Harris-Dawson, in a June 26, 2026 motion the Council adopted July 1, 2026, 14-0, with Curren D. Price Jr. absent (CF 26-0955). The motion asked for options to find $6.6 million for the bureau after the street lighting assessment ballot failed, and said the bureau faced a 15 percent cut in field crews by the end of July 2026 (motion).
• What the bureau reported: The bureau put its immediate need at $6,315,691, mostly hiring hall salaries and benefits, to avoid losing 27 hiring hall positions, about 15 percent of field staff, and said its adopted overtime budget for 2026-27 is $171,000 after a $1 million cut. It recommended updating the Banner Program to sell advertising space on poles (it estimates $8.1 million to $12.1 million a year against $339,301 in 2024-25), an RFP for a managed service provider to lease conduit and other assets, starting with $180,000 in digital inclusion fees, an ordinance on fees for attachments, and smaller “minimum viable” assessment districts worked out with individual Council offices. Its analysis of the ballot found an assessment-weighted yes vote of 19.1 percent overall, 18.1 percent among single-family and condominium owners and 5.6 percent among apartment owners, with government-owned parcels the only property type above 50 percent (BSL report).
• What the CAO reported: On Aug. 21 the CAO found the eligible special funds fully programmed for 2026-27 and recommended a budget reduction exercise to find up to $6.47 million, Proposition 26 fee studies before any fee changes, a City Attorney review of the bureau’s legal authority for commercial ventures, and a report on restructuring street lighting services, possibly with LADWP. It said the Street Lighting Maintenance Assessment Fund is subsidized by about $23 million from the General Fund this year and that a $65 million MICLA borrowing approved for 7,500 solar streetlights is no longer viable without the assessment (CAO report, Aug. 21). The committee continued the item on Aug. 26 to a date to be determined (CF 26-0955). The Oct. 9 follow-up recommends that the Council, subject to the Mayor’s approval, move $3,133,526 from the Unappropriated Balance’s Clean Corridors Program account to the bureau: $1,740,848 for hiring hall salaries and $1,392,678 for hiring hall benefits. The CAO says the bureau expects this, with LADWP reimbursements for solar streetlight work under Executive Directive 18, to cover hiring hall costs through June 30, 2027, and that it found no savings in the assessment fund or other special funds (CAO report, Oct. 9).
• Money: The CAO says the $3,133,526 transfer has no added General Fund impact because it moves money already set aside in the 2026-27 budget (CAO report, Oct. 9). The same money is the balance the CAO proposes to leave after the Clean Corridors transfer in item 3 (CAO report, CF 26-1334).
• What’s next: The file is also referred to the Budget and Finance Committee (CF 26-0955).

2. Streetlight repair process and other cities’ streetlighting policies: Bureau of Street Lighting and Chief Legislative Analyst reports

• What it does: The agenda lists the Bureau of Street Lighting’s May 15, 2026 report on how it repairs damaged street and pedestrian lighting and where the process bogs down, and a Chief Legislative Analyst report dated Sept. 28, 2026 on streetlighting policies in other major cities; a City Administrative Officer report is still to come (agenda). The CLA report is a scanned document with no readable text layer in the posted PDF, so its findings are not summarized here (CLA report).
• Who brought it: Monica Rodriguez, seconded by Imelda Padilla, in a Feb. 5, 2025 motion the Council adopted March 4, 2025, 13-0, with Traci Park and Nithya Raman absent, as amended by the Government Efficiency, Innovation, and Audits Committee. The Clerk re-referred the file to this committee on Aug. 28, 2026 under the new committee structure (CF 25-0125).
• What the bureau reported: The bureau maintains more than 223,000 streetlights. It says vandalism incidents rose from an annual average of 915 (2003-04 through 2016-17) to more than 16,000 in 2025-26, and theft-related repairs were more than 40 percent of service calls and more than half of direct repair spending. Its Field Operations Division has about 185 employees, 24 percent below its 2023-24 peak of 244, working from a single yard. With a backlog it puts at roughly 31,000 to 33,000 service requests, it can take seven months or more before a crew is assigned, and the official repair time is one year; copper wire theft alone produced more than 15,000 repairs in 2024-25 at an average of 194 days each. Repairs run from about $500 a light for basic restoration to $2,500 a light for full “fortification” of a circuit. More than 82,000 first-generation LED fixtures are past their 10-year life, and the bureau has no LED or pole replacement program (BSL report).
• Neighborhood council positions: Studio City Neighborhood Council filed “For” on Sept. 5, 2026 after a 9-4-1 board vote on Aug. 26; it supports the bureau’s report and asks that the next report be held at least four weeks before committee and Council votes so neighborhood councils can comment (CIS). Five other councils filed statements in 2025: East Hollywood, Los Feliz, Reseda, NoHo and North Westwood. The agenda marks the item “Community Impact Statement: None submitted” (agenda).

3. 2026-27 Clean Corridors Program: $7,849,362 and 81 positions for sweeping, cleanup crews and dumping enforcement on 800 miles of commercial corridors

• What it does: A Sept. 16, 2026 joint report from the Bureau of Street Services, the Bureau of Sanitation and the General Services Department lays out how the Clean Corridors Program would expand citywide: weekly motor sweeping of all 800 miles of commercial corridors, dedicated Sanitation crews for illegal dumping and bulky items, 12 Street Services investigators for dumping enforcement, 500 metal slatted trash receptacles, and inspection data tracked in Sanitation’s CleanStat system. It asks for $10,982,888 from the Unappropriated Balance and 81 positions (52 in Street Services, 20 in Sanitation, nine in General Services) starting Jan. 1, 2027 (joint report). The agenda lists the joint report (agenda); a CAO report dated Oct. 9, 2026 was added to the file that day (CF 26-1334).
• Who brought it: The three departments, in response to the Council’s 2026-27 budget action. The CAO says the Council’s Budget and Finance Committee Report Item No. 91 deleted the program’s funding and positions from the department budgets, put $10,982,888 in the Unappropriated Balance and required a report before any transfer (CAO report).
• What the pilot did: Since August 2025, seven crews (three Street Services, one Sanitation, three community-based organizations) cleaned 70 target corridor segments totaling 173 miles, and the bureaus inspected all 800 miles of commercial corridors twice, on Jan. 13 and May 6, 2026. Fourteen community-based organization crews and three graffiti crews run by the Office of Community Beautification are paid from about $6.1 million in state and Caltrans grants (joint report).
• Money: The CAO recommends transferring $7,849,362 instead of the full amount: $3,461,480 to Street Services, $3,948,123 to Sanitation and $439,759 to General Services, with the 81 positions authorized from Jan. 1, 2027 but funded for five months because of hiring time, and expense accounts funded for six months. That leaves $3,133,526 in the account, which the CAO proposes to send to the Bureau of Street Lighting (item 1). The CAO puts related costs at $1,565,730 for health benefits in 2026-27 and up to $1,088,914 for retirement in 2027-28, says $1.5 million has already been spent this year to keep the pilot going, and says many of the positions’ civil service eligible lists have expired (CAO report). The agenda marks the item “Fiscal Impact Statement: No” (agenda).
• Who it affects: The 70 pilot segments run through most Council districts, including Vermont, Western, Crenshaw, Wilshire, Pico, Venice, Lankershim and Roscoe boulevards (CAO report, Attachment 1).
• What’s next: The file is also referred to the Budget and Finance and Personnel and Hiring committees (CF 26-1334).

4. Convention Center expansion: revised vacation of air and subsurface space over Pico Boulevard and LA Live Way, Council District 9

• What it does: The City Engineer’s Sept. 17, 2026 revised report asks the Council to institute vacation proceedings for air space 15 to 200 feet above Pico Boulevard for about 785 feet southeast of LA Live Way, with subsurface strips down to 100 feet, a smaller air space section of Pico near Figueroa Street, and air space 15 to 40 feet above LA Live Way on both sides of Pico; to withdraw Bond Street, part of Chick Hearn Court and a 64-by-97-foot area of Pico west of LA Live Way at the applicant’s request; to rely on the 2012 Convention and Event Center Project EIR, its December 2021 addendum and joint analysis; and to rescind the Council’s Nov. 19, 2024 action on the earlier version (City Engineer report).
• Who brought it: The petitioner is the City Department of Convention and Tourism Development, working with AEG Plenary Conventions Los Angeles LLC on the Los Angeles Convention Center Expansion Project; the air space over Pico would hold a New Hall connecting the South and West Halls, with a “Pico Passage” for traffic and pedestrians below (City Engineer report). The Council first approved the vacation 13-0 on Nov. 19, 2024 (CF 21-0458).
• Money: The Council reappropriated $79,430.72 in 2020 to pay for the Bureau of Engineering’s investigation, and the petitioner must pay any fee deficit. The City would stop maintaining the vacated easements. Conditions include a 60-foot right-of-way dedication on LA Live Way south of Pico, curb ramp and sidewalk repairs, relocation of hydrants and utilities, a covenant for structures in the air space and $2,000,000 in liability insurance; conditions not met within two years end the proceedings (City Engineer report).
• Who it affects: Council District 9. Caltrans objected to the Bond Street portion of the original request, which the petitioner has withdrawn; the City Engineer reports no objections to the revised request. The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council is on the notice list (City Engineer report, hearing notice).
• What’s next: The Committee Clerk’s notice says that if the committee acts, the full Council would consider the vacation on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026 (hearing notice).

5. StreetsLA and LADWP to report on converting non-functional turf medians to meet Assembly Bill 1572 by Jan. 1, 2027

• What it does: Instructs the Bureau of Street Services, with LADWP, to report in 30 days on the staffing needed to assess the City’s roughly 10 million square feet of landscaped medians, the resources for a phased citywide median conversion program, a pilot list with at least one median per Council district, a conversion program with LADWP incentives and up-front payments, and what happens to medians left unconverted. It also instructs the City Administrative Officer to report on front funding sources, including the Public Works Trust Fund and Measure M, and LADWP to confer with the Metropolitan Water District on raising the turf rebate (motion).
• Who brought it: Imelda Padilla, seconded by Bob Blumenfield, in a Sept. 16, 2026 motion (CF 26-1332).
• Money: The motion says AB 1572 bars potable water for non-functional turf on most local government property from Jan. 1, 2027, that about 3.6 million square feet of City medians are non-functional turf, that LADWP’s public agency rebate of up to $7 a square foot falls short of conversion costs averaging about $25 a square foot, and that noncompliance could bring penalties of more than $40,000 for repeated violations (motion).
• Neighborhood council positions: Sylmar Neighborhood Council filed “For” after an 11-0 vote on Sept. 24, 2026 (CIS).
• What’s next: The file is also referred to the Energy and Environment Committee (CF 26-1332).

6. StreetsLA to report on staffing and funding to plant and maintain trees in 74,910 vacant tree wells

• What it does: Instructs the Bureau of Street Services to report in 30 days with 3-, 5-, 10- and 25-year staffing and resource plans to plant every vacant tree well in its Tree Planting Prioritization Plan, resources to water and maintain the trees, a performance dashboard for community-based organizations’ plantings, staffing for tree well maintenance and an updated citywide tree inventory, and the cost of tree-related claims against the City (motion).
• Who brought it: Imelda Padilla, seconded by Bob Blumenfield, in a Sept. 16, 2026 motion (CF 26-1333). The motion says the bureau has mapped about 74,910 vacant tree wells, 16,746 of them in the top 20 percent by equity and environmental priority, and that tree guarantee fee revenue cannot fund planting all of them; it cites the Mayor’s goal of 25 percent tree canopy citywide by 2035 and at least 15 percent in every neighborhood (motion).
• Neighborhood council positions: Sylmar Neighborhood Council filed “For” after an 11-0 vote on Sept. 24, 2026 (CIS).

8. Accept a $2,500,000 Federal Highway Administration grant for the Cool Pavement and Shade Structures project in the San Fernando Valley

• What it does: Instructs the Bureau of Street Services to accept $2,500,000 in Federal Highway Administration funds for the Cool Pavement and Shade Structures project (federal project DEMOL-CYLA(019)), deposit reimbursements in the Subventions and Grants Fund, and report through the annual Transportation Grant Fund report on any added front funding needed (motion).
• Who brought it: Imelda Padilla, seconded by Ysabel Jurado, in a Sept. 11, 2026 motion presented by Eunisses Hernandez on Padilla’s behalf (CF 26-1314).
• Money: The motion says the money is a federal earmark secured by Rep. Luz Rivas for bus shelters, bus benches, cool pavement and street trees in Congressional District 29, covering 88.53 percent of the project budget with an 11.47 percent local match that Caltrans has said can be met with staff salaries (motion).

Previous meeting: September 22, 2026 · All meetings