Good morning and welcome to Records LA – City Hall newsletter. It is Julia Wick and David Zanizer, providing city and county government updates.

As virtually every Angeleno knows, mayor Karen Base I was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana when the fire exploded.

What’s vague is how the mayor interacted with someone assigned to lead in her absence – City Council Chairman Marqueece Harris-DawsonShe was acting mayor during her trip, including the day the fire broke out.

Continued Retracts back and forth Last month, the Times obtained Bass text messages from nearly 24 hours it spent on Jan. 7 and 8th, transporting from Ghana to Los Angeles.

After initially saying the mayor’s text was deleted, her staff revealed that they could recover them and provide about 125 messages.

cache of The message was revealed. However, one name was particularly missing: Harris-Dawson.

(The Times sued the city over the mayor’s text last month. Despite city officials ultimately providing some texts, the Times challenged the city’s argument that there is no need to release them under state law.)

I went back to March 10th and waited for Bass to see if she would provide her text, but submitted another public record request to Harris-Dawson’s office, asking for bases sent or received from January 6th to January 6th to January 16th (e.g. emails, text messages, and messaging apps).

Three weeks later, Harris-Dawson’s office said it “we conducted a search and found no responsive records for this request.”

It didn’t seem impossible for them to have no message between them. Did the Council’s Presidential Office say he and the mayor had no written communication during this period?

Even on January 6th, the National Weather Service I will issue a warning Did that sound really apocalyptic? Or is the bass in transit on January 7th and 8th at one of the worst catastrophes in city history?

We asked Harris Dawson’s vice-Chief of Staff, Dennis Jackson, April 1st if the city withheld records. She didn’t respond.

The next day I followed up with a similar question asking if the record had been deleted. And the next day. There’s nothing yet.

On April 4, Jackson responded, saying that if the records had been withheld, her office would have stated it specifically. In this case, there was no record, she said.

I asked (and again) if the email or text had been deleted. She didn’t respond.

This week we went on a loop with Harris Dawson’s Communications Director. Ronda Mitchelland we said we were going to write about the issue. Mitchell did not answer questions about whether Harris Dawson deleted messages or emails.

“It’s just the CPRA that’s returned, and the CPRA returns that records have been found,” Mitchell said Friday.

Base spokesman Zack Seidl “The mayor and the president of the council have called multiple times during this period.” He refused to say whether the message with Harris Dawson was a message previously withheld by his office in response to the request for texts on our base. He also did not address whether Harris Dawson and Bus had emailed them during this period.

Returning to the original question is how did the mayor lead the city with Harris Dawson?

Yes, they spoke on the phone, but the lack of written communication raises serious questions.

If such messages exist, they are important parts of the historical record and an important part of the puzzle in understanding the bass response to fire. If they exist, Harris Dawson’s office cannot legally withhold it without providing a reason. If they are removed, the public should be told along with that.

And if Bass and Harris-Dawson don’t actually communicate in writing, they should deal with why it is.

The Times received several emails between Harris Dawson’s team and the mayor’s office.

Last month, in response to another record request, Harris Dawson published a collection of emails sent to his office between January 2nd and January 7th to his office regarding wildfire conditions, strong winds, emergency preparations and the National Weather Service. Harris Dawson served as mayor for four of those days.

The most important communication from the Bass team was a January 7 email from Thomas Arechiga, the mayor’s deputy director of legislative affairs, asking Harris-Dawson to sign the declaration of a local emergency.

“Please note, there will be no change to the mayor’s planned return tomorrow morning,” writes Alekiga.

Harris-Dawson’s office sent back to Arechiga the signed document, about 10 minutes later.

The state of play

– soboroff sidelined: in Expansive exit interviewChief Shipping Recovery Officer Steve Soborov He said it was closed at the mayor’s office. He also raised concerns about the role of Hagerty, the city’s recovery consultant.

Soboroff and Real Estate Executives Randy Johnson I went into more detail about their work “Chief Recovery Officer Report” on page 6; It was delivered to base this week.

– New Leadership: Base was appointed as new vice mayor for public safety on Monday, setting up a former FBI official Robert Clark As her top aide overseeing police, fire and emergency preparations. Clark’s predecessor, Brian K. Williamstook administrative leave last year after being accused of committing a bomb threat to city hall. Williams is still on city pay, but “retired,” said Seidl, a bass spokesman. Seidl did not respond when asked how long Williams would stay on his salary.

Williams earns around $245,000 a year, and has been paid nearly $75,000 since being placed on administrative leave, according to the city’s manager’s office. Clark earns a similar salary.

– Who is running? The chatter about who would run to her reached a fever pitch as the base seemed increasingly vulnerable. However, it is unclear whether anyone will seriously challenge the incumbent who still has considerable influence. I looked into the field.

– Securing her base: But the bass is very good for the campaign trajectory. This week she stopped by a Los Angeles County Democrats meeting to give a brief speech, meeting with the leader of the Valley Democrat Club at El Mariachi Grill in Encino last weekend.

– All smiles: They could become rivals in next year’s mayoral election. But on Thursday, Bass and her former enemy, real estate developer Rick Carusoappeared together and announced a partnership to rebuild the Pacific Palisade Recreation Centre, which was severely damaged by the Palisade fire.

– Taskmaster:Our atty. Bill Essayrecently appointed to oversee federal prosecutions in Southern California and announced the creation of a task force to look for potential fraud and corruption in homeless programs. This task can cause new bass headaches, depending on how wide the probe is.

– Trump’s Factors: Essay, his boss is Trump’s Atty. Gen. Pam Bondya sharp critic of the state’s approach to the crisis, making references derived from the “homeless industrial complex.” Bass said she doesn’t know that “types of Trump appointees” can become an essay. “Is he going to go on a fishing expedition?” she told KNX earlier this week. “Or is he going to actually look at the system and study it and work with us to fix it?”

– The story of garbage: City Council has approved plans for its fifth consecutive year of garbage fee hikes. The first one is by far the biggest. Single-family homes and duplexes will increase by 54% next year, while Triplex and four-unit buildings will see double the garbage bill by next year.

– The victory of labor: City Council voted 14-1 to spend another $27.7 million on design and technical work on the planned expansion of the convention center. This vote brought a huge victory for the Construction Workers Union. Construction Workers’ Unions have mobilized to keep the project alive amid a major budget crisis. This week’s vote did not approve the renovation itself, but showed that the council is firmly behind the structure’s overhaul.

– Allow push: Los Angeles County failed to issue a single rebuild permit in the three months since the Eton Fire destroyed Altadena. Now, the Supervisory Board is trying to speed up the process.

– The first battle: Two candidates appeared to challenge councillors. eunisses hernandez District 1 will expand from Highland Park to Westlake and Pico integration in June 2026. Raul Claros, a Former member Of the city’s Affordable Housing Commission, he announced his bid in this week’s news release. meanwhile, Sylvia Robredoformer aide to former councillors Yang Perry and Gil Cedillorecently created her own Campaign Committee According to the ethics application, you will be running for a seat.

– Two words: The Council’s Rules Committee has advanced plans to ban two slurs (one targeting black people and the other women) from speaking during the council’s public comment period.

– Housing Crunch: The so-called mansion tax in LA, approved by voters in 2022, is likely to have reduced the construction of apartments in the city, according to a report published by UCLA and RAND researchers. Joe Donlinrepresenting the coalition that supported the ULA measurement, he replied that the report was based on “a highly questionable assumption” and only further promotes the interest of “real estate billionaires and billionaires.”

– Feel the burn: Many traffic is planned in the Civic Center area on Saturday, with a large crowd gathering for the Sen. Bernie Sanders and the person in charge. Alexandria Ocasio CortezRally at Gloria Molina Grand Park. With Councillor Hernandez Isabel Jurad I’m expected to talk.

It will also be Spring Street Homecoming for Sanders’ Communications Director Anna Barrbegan her political career with mayor. Eric Garcetti’He performed base communications in the S Office and her mayoral primary.

Quick Hit

• Where is the inside? The mayor’s signature program to combat the homelessness didn’t go to new locations this week, but revisited a spot where previous internal safe operations were targeted.
• At the docket next week: The council heads for another break. This time it’s for Passover (starting from Saturday to sunset) and Good Friday.