Hi everyone,

It feels like the American experiment is in bad shape.

ICE and the National Guard just raided MacArthur Park in armored cars.

The Big Terrible Bill passed which will rip Medicare and food stamps from millions, devastate environmental programs, and increase the ICE budget to greater than most nation’s militaries.

How do we show up when there is so much hurt in our community? How do we focus on the good when there’s so much devastating news all around us?

In the face of the depravity coming out of Washington D.C., I am reminded of this quote from the Talmud:

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

We are called in this moment to protect each other, and our local work toward a just and inclusive city has never been more important.

And to that end, there’s a lot to update you on.

Recap of Monday’s Emergency Meeting

An emergency Council meeting was held last week. You can watch the video below or read on for the recap.

Shout out to Walter for helping me escape the “Big Nasty Bill”- induced funk I was in. I highly recommend his services.

We voted to officially endorse SB 627 (Wiener, Arreguín) and SB 805 (Pérez), and we also requested a discussion of the four topics we are hearing at the meeting tomorrow (see below).

Emergency Meeting Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6PM!

Tomorrow, we will be discussing Culver City’s response to these depraved ICE raids. You can attend in person at Culver City Hall or on zoom.

We requested to discuss the following topics:
- 🚘 ending the city’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) program and contract with Flock
- 👮 reviewing the city’s police ‘mutual aid’ policies
- 🏘️ enacting an eviction moratorium
- 🚑 creating a standing public safety subcommittee.

As always, you can watch in person at Council Chambers (9770 Culver Blvd) or remotely on Zoom here.

You can request to speak here or send in your comment by emailing city.council@culvercity.org.

The meeting has yet to be posted as I’m writing this, but it should be live soon.

Hope to hear from you at the meeting!

Sign up to speak!

What do Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) have to do with immigration?

In 2023, an investigation by the ACLU found that 71 law enforcement agencies were violating state law by sharing data from the ALPRs with out-of-state agencies.

And a recent investigation by 404 Media found “more than 4,000 nation and statewide lookups by local and state police done either at the behest of the federal government or as an “informal” favor to federal law enforcement, or with a potential immigration focus.”

These license plate readers collect an extraordinary amount of data on the movement of people in our city.

The cameras don’t just record the plates but the make, model, color and other identifiers of all vehicles in their sights. Law enforcement can perform searches to see where exactly a vehicle, and by extension person, was at a certain time and map out their movements.

Even setting aside the risk of ICE involvement, Flock has created a mass surveillance network that poses significant risks to our communities.

As the Trump administration builds a database of citizens and attacks the court system, strong data privacy laws are no longer enough to offset the risks posed by a government having access to troves of information about us and our exact whereabouts.

Governance Committee Considers ‘Civic Assemblies’

Do you ever wish city government were more responsive to the needs of the community? I do, and I’m on City Council!

A ‘civic assembly’ was recently held right here in Culver City at Veteran’s Memorial Center which I attended along with members of our city staff and about 50 or so others. NPR was there and wrote all about the experience here.

So, what’s a “civic assembly” exactly?

It’s a group of randomly selected people who are demographically representative of a community, tasked with suggesting solutions to a problem. Members are fully compensated for their time to ensure equitable participation.

Over the past 30 years, cities across the world — including many in the US — have adopted civic assemblies to address important questions around climate, housing, land use, and more.

Public Democracy Los Angeles will be presenting to the Governance Subcommittee tomorrow, July 8 at 3PM.

Please join us at City Hall or on Zoom if you’re interested in learning more and sharing your thoughts!

Culver City Celebrates Pride!

Culver City knows how to spread joy and love—especially when we need it the most.

Year five of the Culver City Pride Ride & Rally was our biggest and most beautiful Pride yet.

Shout out to the young leaders who organized this year’s event, Phoebe Kiekhofer Garfinkel, Chris Michel, Jill Young, and Jack Galanty, and our dedicated city staff for making it all happen.

Here’s to building a city where everyone can show up exactly as they are. 🌈🦄🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Culver City Stands with Kidnapped Paletero, Enrique Lozano

Our community is outraged and hurting for a beloved paletero and husband, Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano, who was kidnapped off the street last week and detained by masked federal agents.

You can donate / share to his gofundme for legal fees and living expenses at the family’s GoFundMe.

Thank you to Vice Mayor Puza and Enrique’s family for organizing a meaningful show of support.

Burrito Project Feeds Unhoused Neighbors

Aaron and I recently joined The Burrito Project which has been cooking and delivering warm, tasty vegetarian burritos for our unhoused community since 2010!

I was grateful to meet more of our unhoused neighbors face-to-face and to see what a simple gesture of kindness means to them.

For those who want to join, it’s every other Tuesday 7-9PM at Culver Palms Church of Christ. Future events listed here.

All are welcome. Donation link is here if you prefer to support that way 🙏

Thank you for catching up with me. I hope to hear from you at the meeting tomorrow night.

- Bubba

Important Meeting Wednesday!