(Councilmember Paul Krekorian issued the following statement following his unanimous election as City Council President on October 18, 2022.)
I am honored and humbled by the trust my fellow Councilmembers have placed in me at this time of crisis and challenge.
The Council Presidency is a position of collaboration, not command. I will see that the power of the Council Presidency is reduced, not enlarged. The era of unilateral decision making and consolidating power ends today. This is an extraordinarily painful moment for our City. We must ensure that the crisis we face becomes an opportunity we seize an opportunity for greater unity, greater understanding, and a greater shared vision for our collective future.
Three elected members of this Council forfeited the publics trust. One has already resigned, the greatest service to the city that the others can now perform is to resign their offices so that we can begin the process of healing.
But the people of Los Angeles cannot wait for two individuals to resign before we take action on the issues that confront the people of Los Angeles.
The people of Los Angeles can't wait for action on housing, on homelessness, on public safety, on reform of the way the City and this Council do business.
The first task before this Council is to restore the peoples trust in their elected representatives. We began that process with measures we passed today to create an independent redistricting process and expand the size of the Council to ensure broader representation and empowerment of people and neighborhoods.
There will be many more issues to discuss in the weeks to come, but this is foremost: all of us who are privileged to serve in City Hall must commit ourselves to setting aside any idea of serving one faction, one group, one neighborhood at the expense of others. We must serve all of the people of Los Angeles with integrity, and without preference or favor.