Latest news with #TraciPark
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Are you from California?' Political advisor said he was detained at airport after confirming he's from L.A.
Veteran Los Angeles political consultant Rick Taylor said he was pulled aside by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while returning from a trip abroad, asked if he was from California and then separated from his family and put in a holding room with several Latino travelers for nearly an hour. 'I know how the system works and have pretty good connections and I was still freaking out,' said Taylor, 71. 'I could only imagine how I would be feeling if I didn't understand the language and I didn't know anyone.' Taylor said he was at a loss to explain why he was singled out for extra questioning, but he speculated that perhaps it was because of the Obama-Biden T-shirt packed in his suitcase. Taylor was returning from a weeklong vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter, who were in a separate customs line, when a CBP agent asked, "Are you from California?" He said he answered, 'Yeah, I live in Los Angeles.' The man who ran campaigns for L.A.'s last Republican mayor and for current Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla when he was a budding Los Angeles City Council candidate in the 1990s found himself escorted to a waiting room and separated from his family. There, Taylor said he waited 45 minutes without being released, alleging he was unjustly marked for detention and intimidated by CBP agents. 'I have no idea why I was targeted,' said Taylor, a consultant with the campaign to reelect L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park. 'They don't talk to you. They don't give you a reason. You're just left confused, angry and worried.' The story was first reported by Westside Current. Read more: Most nabbed in L.A. raids were men with no criminal conviction, picked up off the street Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the incident brought to mind Sen. Alex Padilla, who was arrested and handcuffed June 12 while trying to ask a question during a Los Angeles press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 'My former chief of staff and political consultant, Rick Taylor, was detained at Miami International Airport by federal authorities after returning from an international vacation,' he said in an email. 'As Senator Alex Padilla said a couple of weeks ago, 'if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.' This Federal government operation is OUT OF CONTROL! Where will it end?!' A representative from the Customs and Border Protection in Florida said an inquiry made by the Los Angeles Times and received late Friday afternoon will likely be answered next week. 'If Mr. Taylor feels the need to, he is more than welcome to file a complaint online on our website and someone will reach out to him to try and get to the bottom of things,' CBP Public Affairs Specialist Alan Regalado said in an email. Taylor, a partner at Dakota Communications, a strategic communications and marketing firm, said he was more concerned about traveling and returning to the U.S. with his wife, a U.S. citizen and native of Vietnam. He said he reached out to a Trump administration member before leaving on vacation, asking if he could contact that individual in case his wife was detained. Read more: ICE arrests at L.A. courthouse met with alarm: 'Absolutely blindsided' The family flew American Airlines and landed in Miami on June 20, where he planned to visit friends before returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday. In a twist, Taylor's wife and daughter, both Global Entry cardholders, breezed through security while Taylor, who does not have Global Entry, was detained, he said. He said after the agent confirmed he was a Los Angeles resident, he placed a small orange tag on his passport and was told to follow a green line. That led him to another agent and his eventual holding room. Taylor described '95% of the population' inside the room as Latino and largely Spanish-speaking. 'I was one of three white dudes in the room,' he said. 'I just kept wondering, 'What I am doing here?'' Read more: ICE seizes 6-year-old with cancer outside L.A. court. His mom is fighting for his release He said the lack of communication was 'very intimidating,' though he was allowed to keep his phone and did send text message updates to his family. 'I have traveled a fair amount internationally and have never been pulled aside,' he said. About 45 minutes into his holding, Taylor said an agent asked him to collect his luggage and hand it over for inspection. He said he was released shortly after. 'The agents have succeeded in making me reassess travel,' Taylor said. 'I would tell others to really think twice about traveling internationally while you have this administration in charge.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
LA City Council approves $13.9 billion budget that reduces layoffs to 600
The Los Angeles City Council approved a $13.9 billion budget, which has revisions that spared 1,000 jobs while also closing the city's nearly $1 billion deficit. Tensions at City Hall boiled over in the heated debate leading up to the 12-3 vote as council members expressed their anger and frustration over the situation. Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson described the spending plan as "the least bad we could do," while Councilwoman Traci Park called it "a bottomless pit and taxpayer boondoggle that doubles down on failure." "The idea of cutting a billion dollars, there's just not a good way to do that," Harris-Dawson said. "You can try to be responsible. You can try to be forward-looking. You can try to do harm reduction. But, there isn't a good way to do that." Mayor Karen Bass' original proposed budget included 1,647 layoffs and the elimination of 1,074 vacant positions. However, the revised plan that the council approved reduced the number of layoffs to roughly 600, in part by slowing down police hiring. The Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments will not receive increases in their budgets either. Council members who voted against the budget were unsatisfied with the changes, especially given that the city will soon host the World Cup and the Olympics. "All of our residents and taxpayers want is a fully-funded police and fire department," Park said. "They want the sidewalks fixed. They want the streetlights to work and they want their kids to be able to play at the local park without having to step over drug and trash camps." Council members who voted in favor of the budget defended their decision. "We took a horrible budget proposal and made it into one that's very bad," Councilman Bob Blumenfield said. "But that's an accomplishment. But it is better, and we did save jobs, but the fundamentals are still very bad."
Newsweek
15-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Los Angeles Votes for $30 Minimum Wage
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Los Angeles lawmakers have advanced a measure that would make the city home to the nation's highest minimum wage, approving a plan to raise hourly pay to $30 for tens of thousands of tourism workers by 2028, the year the city is set to host the Olympic Games. The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 on Wednesday to approve the proposal, which applies to hotels with more than 60 rooms and businesses operating at Los Angeles International Airport. Newsweek reached out to Councilmembers John Lee, Traci Park and Monica Rodriguez, who opposed the bill, as well as Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who supported the bill, outside of regular working hours via email for comment. Why It Matters The tourism industry is one of the top five employers in Los Angeles County, supporting more than 540,000 Angelenos, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA). However, there have been growing concerns about the sector, which has not fully rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Los Angeles only saw 79 percent of the number of international visitors it had in 2019, according to the AHLA. The association warned that "slower-than-anticipated pandemic recovery" coupled with other factors, including the wildfires, have massively impacted the tourism industry. Industry groups argue that the wage plan will add pressure to businesses already struggling with staffing and a drop-off in tourism. Protesters rally outside Los Angeles City Hall on July 30, 2024, to demand a wage increase for tourism workers ahead of the 2028 Olympics. Protesters rally outside Los Angeles City Hall on July 30, 2024, to demand a wage increase for tourism workers ahead of the 2028 Olympics. Hans Gutknecht/The Orange County Register via AP What To Know The measure would result in a 48 percent wage increase for hotel workers and a 56 percent rise for airport employees over the next three years. The minimum wage for large hotel workers is currently two dollars higher than the standard minimum wage in the city, at over $18. The wage increases would be brought in gradually, starting with $22.50 per hour in July 2025, increasing to $25 in 2026, $27.50 in 2027, and finally $30 in July 2028. Several other amendments are also being proposed to the existing Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance. The new ruling would also enforce training requirements. Employers must provide six hours of paid training annually to each employee, covering safety, worker rights, harassment, discrimination and other topics. The ordinance would also instruct hotel employers to provide $8.35 per hour for their workers' health care by July 2026. What People Are Saying The Hotel Association of Los Angeles, in an October 2024 letter to the Chair of the Economic, Community Development and Jobs Committee: "The proposed Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance is misguided and its economic impact analysis utterly incomplete. The proposed ordinance calls for a dramatic increase in hotel wages within 60 days of adoption. Increasing hourly wages to $24.40 with an additional $8.35 for health benefits would result in a 69% increase in payroll in just two months. No industry can afford that financial uptick in such a short period of time." The American Hotel and Lodging Association's 2025 report on tourism in Los Angeles: "Los Angeles' tourism industry has historically been a top contributor to the city's economy. However, the compounded effects of a lagging pandemic recovery, the devastating wildfires, soaring operational costs, and decreased international travel have brought the hospitality industry to an inflection point. "If the situation does not improve soon, the industry anticipates more permanent hotel closures and worker layoffs, which would impact thousands of residents, cost the city millions in tax revenue, and jeopardize the success of upcoming major international events such as the World Cup and Olympics." What Happens Next The council will hold a second vote on the proposal next week. If approved again, the ordinance will take effect and begin phasing ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games.
Travel Weekly
05-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Battle lines drawn over proposed $30 minimum wage for L.A. tourism workers
A contentious $30 minimum wage proposal for tourism workers has sparked fierce opposition in Los Angeles, with hoteliers warning it could cripple an industry still reeling from January's wildfires and the pandemic. On April 29, tourism stakeholders gathered at Los Angeles City Hall to oppose an amendment to the city's Living Wage Ordinance and Hotel Workers Minimum Wage Ordinance. The proposed measure, nicknamed the "Olympic Wage Ordinance," would incrementally raise minimum wages for airport workers and employees of hotels with more than 60 rooms to $30 per hour by 2028, coinciding with the Los Angeles Olympics. The amendment is scheduled to be heard by the city's Economic Development and Jobs Committee on May 6 before potentially moving to the full council. If passed, the first wage hike would kick in on July 1, increasing the minimum wage rate for covered workers to $22.50. "The city of L.A. is on the verge of adopting a policy that is going to increase operating costs for many hotels and local businesses by as much as 69% in just 60 days," said city councilmember Traci Park at the City Hall event. "It would be an unprecedented increase." A mid-April report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) cited an Oxford Economics analysis suggesting that the ordinance's knock-on effects could eliminate 14,000 hotel jobs, cost $169 million in state and local tax revenue and discourage $342 million in hotel construction spending. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce launched the Alliance for Economic Fairness, a coalition opposing the ordinance, when it was introduced nearly two years ago. The coalition, which counts the AHLA and the California Hotel & Lodging Association among its members, reports that the developer of at least one major hotel expansion project -- the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City -- plans to pull the plug if the wage measure passes. "We believe in a living wage, and we've been honoring the living wage," said Maria Salinas, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. "But this is just not sustainable at this point in time, because tourism is not back." Los Angeles tourism's woes Los Angeles trails most major U.S. destinations in post-pandemic tourism recovery, ranking near the bottom of the nation's top 25 markets. And while the city's 12-month average RevPAR through March had reached 104% of 2019 levels, according to CoStar data, 15 of the top 25 U.S. hotel markets had achieved recovery rates between 110% and 145% of 2019 levels. Likewise, room demand has recovered to just 95% of pre-pandemic levels, and a 3% increase in hotel inventory has kept occupancy approximately 6 percentage points below pre-pandemic figures. January's devastating wildfires further hindered recovery. "The fires really took the wind out of our sails," said Tom Kiely, CEO of Visit West Hollywood. "January and February were pretty disastrous months for us." Labor unions: This is a cost-of-living issue Labor organizations supporting the wage increase present a different perspective, arguing that the move is necessary to ensure tourism workers can afford housing in the expensive L.A. market. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers throughout Southern California and Arizona, criticized council members opposing the ordinance. "Raising wages for tourism workers keeps tens of thousands of families in their homes and boosts our local economy instead of lining corporate pockets," he said. "City leaders have an opportunity to ensure the Olympic and Paralympic Games benefit hard working Angelenos, and this ordinance does just that." Industry stakeholders are optimistic those events will improve the city's tourism performance. "We've got World Cup coming, the Super Bowl and the Olympics over the next few years," Kiely said. "That is really going to boost occupancy and boost the image of greater Los Angeles." He has already seen signs that tourism is getting back on track. "Going into March, things picked up," he said. "April is good, and May is looking even better. So, we're definitely seeing an uptick in business return." However, Los Angeles is being hit yet again by the recent downturn in international arrivals to the U.S. The National Travel and Tourism Office reported that overseas visitation to the U.S. fell 11.6% in March compared with the same period of 2024 and is down 3.3% year to date. The city was already struggling from the falloff in inbound visitors, with CoStar reporting that international visitation to Los Angeles in 2024 was roughly 17% below 2019 levels. In Q1 of this year, that gap widened, with international arrivals off an additional 6%. "The market is heavily reliant on leisure travel, particularly international inbound visitors," said Michael Stathokostopoulos, senior director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. During the City Hall event, councilmember Park also expressed concern that air travel into LAX is still below 2019 levels and down by 30% compared to competitor airports. "We've learned that in 2024, LAX fell off the top 10 busiest airports in the world for passenger traffic for the first time in well over a decade, and this year's projections are even lower than last year," she said. "Canadian and Mexican tourism to California has plummeted, leaving our hotel rooms empty."
Los Angeles Times
22-04-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Finding Shelter for You and Your Pet After a Wildfire
After a wildfire, many families face the dual challenge of finding stable housing and caring for beloved pets. Whether you're trying to reunite with a missing animal or searching for long-term pet-friendly housing, use this guide to understand the resources and rules in place to help. If you're staying with someone after evacuating — or have opened your home to displaced friends, relatives, or their animals — emergency ordinances may protect you from eviction. The Los Angeles City Council passed a one-year ordinance that prohibits landlords from evicting tenants for temporarily housing unauthorized pets or people displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires. Rent increases tied solely to new occupants are also paused for rent-stabilized units. 'Acts of kindness and compassion should not be punished,' said Councilwoman Traci Park, who introduced the measure. 'Anyone who has opened up their home to provide shelter, peace, and security should not have to worry about risking eviction for taking on additional pets or occupants.' L.A. County enacted similar protections in unincorporated areas, preventing evictions related to hosting displaced pets or people through May 31, 2026. 'These are targeted, common-sense measures,' Park said, 'to keep impacted residents housed while they navigate the recovery process.' Finding temporary or permanent housing after a wildfire is already difficult — having a pet can make it harder. Here are lists and resources to help find rentals and hotels that allow pets. Even when you find housing that meets your budget and needs, there may still be some pet restrictions in place. When viewing a new rental unit or neighborhood, be sure to check for breed or size limit restrictions, pet deposits, or Homeowner Association rules. Apartment complexes may have stricter policies about cleaning after a pet and areas where they can be off-leash. Always communicate with property managers before signing a lease, and make sure the space is suitable for your animal's needs and comfort. Fast-moving fires can separate families from their pets. Fortunately, several free tools and services can help reunite them. The Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control Center advises anyone who lost a pet to use social platforms like Nextdoor, PetFinder, Craigslist and Facebook groups to get help from the local community. Services like Petco Love Lost, a national facial-recognition database for lost pets, and Pawboost, a free alert system for pets, can also help reunite you and your pet. Other tips include posting flyers in high-traffic areas, such as grocery stores, libraries, and gas stations. Delivery drivers and mail carriers may also encounter your pet on their routes, as the animal may return to your area if it is out on its own. Wildfire survivors can claim a lost pet by searching the databases below or by contacting a shelter or fire-specific hotlines to ask about your pet: Ways to Help Shelters across Los Angeles County are stretched beyond capacity. Fostering or adopting an animal is one of the best ways to help right now. Another option is to shelter at home with any found pets instead of taking them to a shelter. You will need to register the pet with animal services, but keep it at home until it is claimed. Anyone who wants to help can also volunteer at pet shelters or donate funds to these organizations. They also need supplies such as food, bedding, or crates, medical supplies, or transportation assistance.
