LA City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky faces threat of a recall effort

Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky could potentially face a recall effort if a group follows through with its stated intent to launch a campaign to drive her out of office.

No one has filed paperwork with the city clerk’s office to officially launch a recall effort, though a group of constituents in Council District 5 has announced that it hopes to oust Yaroslavsky from office. The Westside district, shaped like a giant “G,” is east of the 405 and includes Bel Air, Westwood, West L.A., Cheviot Hills, Mid-Wilshire, Fairfax District and parts of the Hollywood Hills.

The group Recall Katy Yaroslavsky 2025 claims on its website that the first-term council member, who’s been in office nearly two years, has been “dismissive” of constituents and their concerns.

They said Yaroslavsky told voters she’d enforce the city’s anti-camping law aimed at homeless people, known as “41.18” — the number in the city’s code section that makes it illegal for people to sit, lie down or set up encampments near schools, daycare centers, parks, libraries or other sensitive areas.

But critics said she hasn’t lived up to that promise.

Jonathan Ross, whose family has lived for more than five decades in Council District 5 and is spearheading the group that wants to recall Yaroslavsky, said residents are also upset about some development projects proposed in the district, including a 33-bed interim homeless housing facility at Midvale Avenue and West Pico Boulevard.

That project, located across from the former Westside Pavilion in a neighborhood with single-family homes and small businesses, was approved by the City Council with support from Yaroslavsky – though construction is temporarily halted because of an ongoing lawsuit.

In a press release this month announcing their hopes to oust the councilmember, Ross’ group said crime, homelessness and blight have worsened under Yaroslavsky’s time in office.

“Nearly two years into her term, it’s now abundantly clear that Yaroslavsky is not up to the task,” Ross said. “It’s time for new leadership in District Five.”

Ross confirmed on Friday that his group had yet to pull the papers from the city clerk’s office to start circulating a recall petition.

“We’re currently in the organizing stage and have not yet officially commenced the recall process,” he said in a text message.

Yaroslavsky told reporters this week that she “respect(s) the Democratic process and people’s right, including to file a recall petition” – while noting that no petition has been filed.

“We’ll see whether that happens,” she said, adding that in the meantime, “my focus, and the focus of my team is on doing the job that I was overwhelmingly elected to do – which is focus on homelessness, public safety and delivering excellent constituent services – and we’ve been focused on that.”

Yaroslavsky said that with new developments planned, the amount of homeless housing units will triple in Council District 5. Responding to criticisms about her record on public safety, the councilmember said she voted to increase salaries for police officers and used her office’s discretionary funds to pay for police overtime.

Yaroslavsky vowed to stay focused on the job she was elected to do and to not allow critics who have “announced (what) they’re maybe going to do” distract her.

She begged to differ with critics who say she’s been “dismissive” of her constituents.

“Sometimes, I think, when people don’t get the answer they want, instead of acknowledging that we’re just not in the same place on what we think the solution is to something, they say that we’re not doing a good job with outreach,” she said. “But I’d say the overwhelming majority of our constituents are really grateful for how responsive we are.”

Even if those who want Yaroslavsky recalled actually pull papers to officially begin gathering signatures for a petition, it’s unclear if they’ll manage to collect enough valid signatures to get a recall question on the ballot.

To recall a councilmember, residents must collect signatures from at least 15% of the registered voters living in the council district, according to city rules. In April, there were 159,173 registered voters in Council District 5. If that figure hasn’t changed, anyone wishing to recall Yaroslavsky would need 23,876 valid signatures.

Getting the required number of signatures is difficult.

Since 2016, attempts to recall current L.A. City Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilmember Nithya Raman, and now-former Councilmember Mike Bonin, failed to qualify for the ballot because organizers didn’t collect enough valid signatures. Similarly, three attempts to recall Councilmember Kevin de León between 2021 and 2023 failed to make the ballot.

That’s not surprising to Joshua Spivak, a senior research fellow at Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center who tracks recall attempts. Usually organizers fail to gather enough valid signatures, he said.

At the same time, Spivak did not seem surprised that organizers of the potential recall effort against Yaroslavsky cited issues concerning homelessness and development. Such divisive issues have been the impetus of recall efforts not only for some L.A. city councilmembers but elsewhere as well.

In San Mateo County, two Millbrae city councilmembers were recalled in July. Voters there were upset that the two officials did not take a more forceful stance against a county proposal to convert an inn into housing for homeless families and seniors. When the Millbrae City Council voted to send a letter to the county against the purchase of the inn, one of the now-recalled councilmembers abstained and the other one voted no.

Also in July, three councilors from Cottage Grove, Oregon faced recall votes. According to Spivak, voter dissatisfaction over the city’s handling of homeless camps triggered the recall efforts.

Although recall attempts based on voter dissatisfaction with an elected official’s handling of homeless issues appears to be growing, not everyone agrees with such actions.

Fix the City, a longtime nonprofit group that advocates for public safety, infrastructure, and accountability in Los Angeles’ city government, is suing the city of L.A. over the Midvale homeless housing project but does not support the recall effort.

“We believe that if voters wish to change course, the appropriate time to make that decision is during the next election for Council District 5 (CD5). Recalls should not be used to address policy disagreements – that is what elections are for,” Fix the City said in a statement.