City council honors emergency‑preparedness partners, recognizes employees and approves routine agenda including a homicide reward

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday, May 25 recognized the organizers and sponsors of the city’s largest Emergency Preparedness Fair, presented awards to city employees and corporate partners, welcomed visiting officials and approved several routine agenda items, including a special reward motion tied to the fatal shooting of Jose Luis Castaneda.

The council commended organizers of the fair, which council members and presenters said was the largest held to date and drew public‑safety agencies, corporate partners and visitors from outside California. “This was the largest fair, ever,” said Chief Gascon of the Los Angeles Police Department during remarks acknowledging Dodger Stadium as the venue and thanking corporate and agency partners. Ellis Stanley, who introduced the item to the council, said the event showcased more than 20 city departments, about 50 outside agencies and more than 30 vendors and included tours for roughly 2,500 children and an air show that drew about 25 helicopters from fire, police, sheriff and military agencies.

Tommy Hawkins, representing the Los Angeles Dodgers, thanked the council and said the club was proud to host the event at Dodger Stadium. “If we put our individual energies together, we come up with synergistic forces that is greater than any of us can do individually,” Hawkins said, thanking partners for helping spread preparedness messaging to children and families.

The council also presented a civic leadership recognition to Paula Madison, identified at the meeting as president and general manager of KNBC (NBC Channel 4). Madison told the council the station had refocused its newsroom to cover beats such as immigration, health and education and pledged increased community coverage. “We’ve completely revamped our news department so that our reporters cover specific areas, including immigration and health and education,” Madison said.

City staff and council members honored Popkin Havasapien and the city’s asphalt recycling program for expanding reuse of reclaimed pavement material. John Muckrey and Robert Jensen, senior managers in General Services, and laboratory staff including Ricardo Villacorta were acknowledged for work that presenters said grew the city’s recycled asphalt program from about 50,000 tons in the early period to roughly 250,000–300,000 tons annually. Popkin Havasapien, accepting the council’s commendation, said quality was central to the program’s success: “When I first took over this position ... I had three things on my mind, quality, quality, and quality.”

Council members also recognized the Shell L.A. Scholars program; presenters said Shell committed about $400,000 toward the scholarship fund and, since inception, the program has awarded roughly $800,000 in scholarships to Los Angeles Unified School District seniors. The council singled out Shell community relations staff Robert A. Russ and Cheryl Masselson for their involvement.

On routine business the council confirmed it had a quorum and handled motions to continue multiple items and to approve consent and non‑public‑hearing calendar items with minimal discussion. Council members voted unanimously on the listed items, with the clerk recording 10 ayes on the roll calls shown below.

Votes at a glance - Continue item 4 to May 30 — approved (10 ayes). Motion to continue made on the floor. - Continue item 12 to July 27 — approved (10 ayes). - Continue closed session item 21 to May 29 — approved (10 ayes). - Continue closed session item 22 to May 30 — approved (10 ayes). - Continue a confirmation/commission appointment to June 8 — approved (continuance recorded; members discussed charter timing; no roll‑call names given). - Opened and continued street‑lighting public hearings: item 1 continued to July 11; items 2 and 3 continued to June 15 — hearings opened and continued (no votes opposing recorded). - Items 6–10 (public‑hearing and consent calendar items) — approved (10 ayes); item 9 approved forthwith. - Items 11–20 (non‑public‑hearing items, excluding item 12 previously continued) — approved (10 ayes). - Special Item 1 (reward motion related to the May 14 homicide of Jose Luis Castaneda): council made the required findings to add the special motion and then approved the reward motion — findings approved (10 ayes); reward motion approved (10 ayes). The transcript records the motion and the 10‑aye tallies; the reward amount was not specified on the record excerpt provided.

The council also recorded excused‑absence motions for individual members and adjourned the meeting after a series of ceremonial recognitions and a brief public comment period with no speakers. Several council members noted the importance of maintaining emergency‑preparedness outreach and praised the public‑private partnerships that supported the Dodger Stadium event.

Ending The council adjourned after completing the day’s presentations and routine business. Several presenters and council members said they expected the emergency‑preparedness partnerships to continue and to expand outreach in future years.