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Council committee directs expansion of library cooling centers, orders feasibility report
Summary
A City Council committee approved expanding a pilot library cooling-center program, instructed staff to seek funding and report back on staffing and costs, and directed outreach to promote libraries as heat refuges for the 2025 heat season.
Los Angeles City Council committee members voted to expand a pilot program that uses public libraries as cooling centers during extreme heat and instructed city staff to report back on feasibility, staffing and funding.
The committee approved a motion directing the City Administrative Officer (CAO), the City Librarian (Los Angeles Public Library), the Chief Heat Officer and the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office (CEMO) to prepare a feasibility analysis on necessary staffing and existing funding to support a phased expansion of the pilot. The committee also directed CEMO and the CAO to pursue federal and state grants and added three more library locations for heat season 2025, bringing the pilot’s planned total to eight sites. Councilmembers Nazarian, Raman and Padilla voted aye; two members were absent and the motion passed.
The motion responded to a presentation from Martha Segura, the city’s chief heat officer and director of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, who said the pilot opened five libraries in summer 2024 to serve as places of refuge on extreme-heat days. “Over…
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