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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles City Council is set to wrap up its fourth week of meetings Friday since the City Hall racism scandal broke, with Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo showing no intentions of resigning and the council attempting to move forward with regular business.
Protesters have regularly attempted to disrupt meetings with chants and shouts, demanding that de León and Cedillo resign before the council meets. But the number of protesters has dwindled this week from a couple dozen last week to around 10 on Wednesday.
Neither de León nor Cedillo has attended a meeting since Oct. 11.
This week, Council President Paul Krekorian has moved to eject protesters after several quick warnings.
Krekorian cited Council Rule 12, which states in part that "no person in the audience at a Council or Committee meeting shall engage in conduct that disrupts the orderly conduct of any Council or Committee meeting." Krekorian, in his third week as council president, had not cited the rule by name during previous protests.
"There will be no disruptions of this council," Krekorian said on Wednesday. "Any shouting, any noise that actually disrupts this meeting will make you subject to removal."
Krekorian had previously allowed the couple of dozen protesters to chant, shout and slap benches while the council members continued with the meeting, with council members wearing earphones to hear
Jason Reedy, an organizer with the activist group People's City Council, told the council during public comment on Tuesday that protesters would not be deterred.
"No meetings, no resignations," Reedy said. "Many of you made the commitment when the scandal came out that you guys weren't going to go on with business as usual. But what are we doing here? Business as usual."
Items on Friday's agenda include several motions relative to adjustments to Los Angeles Animal Services, and consideration of measures to address an increase of charter flights at Van Nuys Airport.
De León and Cedillo have defied fierce and widespread calls to resign for taking part in a leaked 2021 conversation that involved racist comments and attempts to manipulate redistricting, though a notice of intent to recall de León was filed with the City Clerk's Office on Thursday.
With neither showing any indication he plans to resign, council members have stressed that certain city business needs to get done. The council cannot expel its own members.
De León has conducted a series of television and radio interviews reiterating his desire to regain the trust of the community and his colleagues. Cedillo, who lost his re-election bid, will be off the council in December regardless. His only public comments since an initial statement the day the recordings were released have come through a spokesman, who maintains that Cedillo is at "a place of reflection."