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Raman, who bested incumbent David Ryu in last month’s election, also introduced a motion that asks the city to identify funding and possible sites for a homeless services center in her district. Such centers provide restrooms, showers and storage centers, according to Raman’s motion.
Raman and Ridley-Thomas took the oath of office Tuesday during a virtual City Council meeting.
Addressing her colleagues, Raman said that “economic forces” are pushing out families and “in particular, working families, so many Black and brown families.”
Ridley-Thomas, who represents a Koreatown-to-Crenshaw district, called homelessness the “moral crisis of our time” during his remarks and said that Angelenos cannot continue to “perish in these streets.”
LAPD union seeks to raise $10 million to fight layoffs and help political allies in 2022 yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Faced with the threat of layoffs and calls from activists to defund law enforcement, the Los Angeles Police Department’s largest union is looking to raise at least $10 million to fight the cutbacks and support its favored candidates in 2022.
The Police Protective League, which represents about 9,800 officers, mailed its members ballots last week asking them to donate $22 per paycheck for the next 48 weeks to help the union support its allies, attack those it views as enemies and inform the public of the dangers associated with eliminating hundreds of positions at the LAPD.
If approved, a portion of the “Protecting Our Profession” assessment would be used in part for the 2022 election, when candidates will be running for Los Angeles mayor, city attorney and as many as eight City Council seats. The funds could also go toward supporting candidates in Sacramento and fighting state and federal legislation, said union spokesman Dustin DeRollo.
In the wake of the November elections, City Hall watchers have been keenly tracking Mayor Eric Garcetti, with both supporters and opponents wondering if President-elect Joe Biden will award him a job in Washington, D.C. That focus has largely masked another important shift in the building.
This week, two new council members will be sworn in, and on Tuesday they will attend their first meeting. The arrival of Nithya Raman and the return of Mark Ridley-Thomas who served on the council in the ’90s, before his time in state and county government combined with the October 15 inauguration of Kevin de León (who took the District 14 seat two months early following the political demise of Jose Huizar), marks the most impactful shake-up of the 15-member panel in more than a decade.