When the Los Angeles City Council is up to no good — which is often — people send me clips. “Eric, do something.” I used to show up in person, but the council eliminated virtual public comment, effectively banning anyone without free mornings and a downtown parking strategy.
I still write — mostly on CityWatch. It’s not the New York Times, but it gets more eyeballs than most council meetings ever will.
The latest clip didn’t land in my inbox — it turned up in a city case file. Submitted by the City Attorney’s office. A greatest-hits reel of so-called “disruptive” speakers, paired with a letter from Zuma Dogg warning the city that banning profanities like the N-word or the C-word wouldn’t survive a legal challenge.
Let me be clear: I don’t use those words. I’ve never joined the expletive wars. My criticisms are pointed, yes — but rooted in civic purpose. I don’t shout obscenities. I call out what’s obscene.
And what’s obscene is this: The City Council is, once again, trying to silence dissent under the banner of “decorum.”
Back in 2018, then-Council President Herb Wesson — with assists from convicted felons José Huizar and Mitch Englander — rewrote Council Rules 7 and 63 to create an escalating ban system for “disruptive” speakers. One disruption? Out for the day. Two? Out for three more. Three? Six-meeting blackout. No clear definition of disruption. No hearing. No appeal. Just the gavel.
Attorney Dan Wright warned them it wouldn’t hold up. He cited Walsh v. Bryant Enge, a federal case out of Portland, where the Ninth Circuit ruled cities can remove someone for actualdisruption — not because they might say something inconvenient. “Actual disruption means actual disruption.”
But LA pushed ahead. Because this wasn’t about safety. It was about control.
Meanwhile, they were moving public hearings into committee rooms with no cameras. I remember 30 separate property lien items getting fast-tracked in Budget and Finance — all off-air, away from public view. When I objected, Paul Krekorian said I had no business speaking. “You’re not a lawyer or a lobbyist,” he said. “You take no money.”
Exactly, Paul. That’s why I speak.
Now, in 2025, under Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the same old plan is back. Officials are reposting those disruptive-commenter clips and teasing new “civility” rules. They say it’s about restoring order. But let’s be honest — they just want the noise to go away.
Rule 19 already governs public comment. It requires that speakers be allowed to weigh in before the council votes on any item. It guarantees at least one minute of general public comment. That’s it. But even that has become too much for some councilmembers.
Instead of protecting that right, they’ve weaponized process. Rule 12 lets them bypass committee hearings altogether — pulling items straight to the council floor and avoiding public input. They use it when transparency gets inconvenient. And it’s legal, because they wrote it that way.
The message is clear: Speak if you must — but only when we say, how we say, and about what we say. And if your tone is wrong? Out you go.
Look, not every speaker is eloquent. Some are offensive. But democracy is offensive sometimes. It’s uncomfortable by design. If our elected officials can’t handle one minute of unfiltered public input, maybe it’s not the public that needs to be removed.
The real obscenity at LA City Hall isn’t the C-word or N-word shouted by an angry constituent.
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I call it cowardice.
I may no longer be in the room, but I’m not silent. I’m still writing. Still watching. And I’ll keep pointing out every Rule 12 shortcut, every suppression tactic, every time they pretend sixty seconds of truth is a threat to democracy.
Because Rule 19 says the public gets a minute.
But the people of Los Angeles deserve much more.
Eric Preven is a writer, producer, SoCal Journalism Award winner, who took on the Los Angeles City Council and won a pivotal battle for public transparency and the right to speak in the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
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