City of Carson rallies against county homeless housing project
The City of Carson Mayor and City Council will today hold a press conference and rally at 401 East Albertoni Street — the site of a proposed 107-unit permanent supportive housing project for homeless residents — demanding that the county redirect the site to house the approximately 1,500 homeless students at nearby Cal State Dominguez Hills instead.
The proposed Weingart Primrose project would convert a former Extended Stay America hotel into studio apartments for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
According to the LA County Homeless Initiative, the project was awarded more than $34 million in Homekey 3.0 state grant funding plus $30.2 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation — a total investment of more than $64 million.
The Weingart Center Association, which operates homeless services programs across Los Angeles, is the nonprofit partner on the project. According to Random Lengths News, the project would include on-site wraparound services, a community patio and pet area, and landscaping and security improvements.
“Weingart do what’s right, put our students on the site,” the rally flyer reads. The City of Carson canceled a planned shuttle bus to the LA County Board of Supervisors meeting, saying residents would be made to wait hours to speak, and instead brought the fight directly to the project site.
The project sits squarely in the district of LA County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, who championed it.
“We are thrilled to have the Weingart Center as an experienced partner to deliver the Primrose project in Carson,” Mitchell said when the project was announced.
The county’s decision to move forward with the homeless housing project over the city’s objections highlights the persistent tension between the county’s land-use authority and individual municipalities’ wishes — a structural conflict embedded in LA County’s governance that has no easy resolution.
Burbank holds special meeting today on SB 79 and Metro BRT project
The Burbank City Council is holding a special meeting this afternoon at 3 p.m. to discuss two developments that could fundamentally reshape the city’s built environment — California Senate Bill 79 and the LA Metro North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project.
Senate Bill 79, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2025 and taking effect in less than two months on July 1, overrides local zoning restrictions and enables by-right residential development within a half-mile of major transit stops in qualifying urban transit counties — meaning developers can build higher-density housing near transit without going through local approval processes.
For Burbank, a city with multiple Metro stations and a strong history of local zoning control, the implications are significant.
The Metro NoHo-Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project adds another layer. The proposed 18-mile corridor would connect the Metro North Hollywood Red Line Station with the Pasadena Gold Line, passing through the Burbank Media District, Downtown Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock, and Pasadena.
A BRT operates like a light rail line with dedicated bus lanes, rail-like stations, and traffic signal priority that allows buses to bypass congestion. New BRT stops along the corridor could trigger SB 79’s by-right development provisions, significantly multiplying the bill’s impact on Burbank’s neighborhoods.
The public meeting is slated for 3 pm, today, May 20 at Burbank City Hall, 275 East Olive Avenue. It can also be watched live on Spectrum Channel 6, AT&T Channel 99, or streamed on the city’s YouTube page. Public comment can be submitted by phone at (818) 238-3335.
LA City strikes deal to save $800 million revenue stream
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced yesterday that the City has reached a deal to end a ballot measure campaign threatening to repeal the city’s gross receipts tax — a revenue stream that brings more than $800 million annually into the city’s general fund and funds basic services, from street repair to public safety.
Under the agreement, the City Council voted to approve an ordinance setting a phased-in minimum wage of $30 per hour by 2030 for certain hotel and airport workers — a two-year delay from the 2028 timeline previously approved.
In exchange, business groups behind the ballot measure to repeal the gross receipts tax pledged to abandon their campaign. According to LAist, the business coalition included Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and hotel trade groups who had gathered more than 73,000 signatures to qualify the repeal measure for the November ballot.
“This agreement ensures workers are paid fairly and that businesses that create jobs can continue serving LA and hiring Angelenos,” Bass said.
City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo had previously warned the council that losing the gross receipts tax would force the city to implement austerity measures far more severe than those seen during the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic, and that thousands of layoffs would be required.
Michigan Governor Whitmer visits El Segundo to learn from its hard tech growth model
The City of El Segundo has become a national model for how small cities can build thriving innovation economies — drawing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and senior state economic development officials to City Hall last week for a founder roundtable on startup growth, advanced manufacturing, and innovation ecosystem development.
The visit featured El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel and local business leaders from Varda Space Industries, CX2, Space Kinetic, and Picogrid discussing how El Segundo’s approach — regulatory clarity, responsive city government, and active ecosystem facilitation — has made it a magnet for frontier technology companies.
“We wanted to come and learn from you,” Whitmer said. “There are some great synergies between your expertise and your history and ours as you think about scaling and bringing to production a lot of the incredible work that’s happening here.”
The city’s formula, as described by its business community, is deceptively simple. “Having that rapid flexibility, that responsiveness, that clarity of being able to call one person and get an answer quickly — from a municipal standpoint, it’s just hard to beat that,” said Nathan Mintz, CEO and Co-Founder of CX2.
El Segundo, a city of roughly 17,000 residents adjacent to LAX, has quietly become one of the world’s densest concentrations of aerospace, defense, and space technology companies.
Manhattan Beach invites residents to shape future of two key downtown properties
The City of Manhattan Beach is asking residents to help design the future of two city-owned downtown properties — a demolished parking structure at 1155 Morningside Drive and the former US Bank building at 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard — through a pair of free community workshops over Memorial Day weekend.
According to the Easy Reader, the city purchased the former bank building for $13 million partly to prevent dense state-mandated residential development on the site, and the parking structure was demolished last year due to structural deterioration.
Options under consideration include a boutique hotel, public parking, mixed-use development, or open space.
The workshops are part of the city’s Project Pulse: Downtown MB initiative and will take place at the Joslyn Community Center on Saturday, May 30, from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. No registration is required.
A City Council decision on future uses is expected in August 2026. For more information, visit manhattanbeach.gov or email planning@manhattanbeach.gov.
