A summary of significant Los Angeles City...

A summary of significant Los Angeles City Hall decisions affecting the Westside in the last week.

CITY COUNCIL

GUN CONTROL: Councilman Marvin Braude requested that the council lobby the state Legislature to give local government the authority to enact local gun control laws.

DOMESTIC PARTNERS: Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg introduced a proposal that would grant unmarried domestic partners of city employees the same health and dental benefits as spouses. The city already grants bereavement and sick leave to domestic partners.

HELP FOR HOLLYWOOD: Approved spending $600,000 to mitigate the impact on local businesses along Hollywood Boulevard and surrounding areas of Metro Rail subway construction on the boulevard.

SIDEWALK REPAIR: Approved spending $10,000 to repair the public sidewalk near private property in the 7300 block of Vista del Mar Lane in Playa del Rey. The sidewalks were undermined by last winter’s rains.

HOW THEY VOTED

How Westside representatives voted on selected issues.

LAWSUIT STUDY: Approved a proposal by Goldberg requiring that all judgments and settlements against the city in excess of $100,000 be examined by department managers to determine whether city policy or employee practices were at fault. The proposal also requires that corrective action or policy changes be made to avoid repeated exposure to liability. PASSED: 15-0.

VOTING YES: Braude, John Ferraro, Ruth Galanter, Goldberg, Nate Holden, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky.

LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT: Approved spending $796,000 to settle a police brutality lawsuit brought by former baseball star Joe Morgan after a March, 1988, incident at Los Angeles International Airport. A police officer was searching the airport for a suspected narcotics trafficker when he confronted Morgan. Morgan testified in 1991 that despite his attempts to identify himself, the officer grabbed him around the neck, threw him to the floor, handcuffed him before a crowd of onlookers and dragged him to a room for questioning. PASSED: 14-0.

VOTING YES: Braude, Ferraro, Galanter, Goldberg, Ridley-Thomas and Yaroslavsky.

ABSENT: Holden.

FIREMEN: Approved a proposal by Yaroslavsky lifting the hiring freeze that was imposed on the Los Angeles Fire Department and allowing the department to renew hiring firefighters and civilian employees. Recent brush fires, increasing calls for emergency medical and paramedic service and a growing fire inspection workload make this necessary, Yaroslavsky said. PASSED: 15-0.

VOTING YES: Braude, Ferraro, Galanter, Goldberg, Holden, Ridley-Thomas and Yaroslavsky.