Sabha, Tamer
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From: humaira afzal
cityclerk
Tuesday, February 3, 2026 12:09 PM
Iraheta, Alba; Jomsky, Mark; Robles, Sandra; Sabha, Tamer; McMillan, Acquanette (Netta); Soo, Christine
FW: Agenda item 1 - Feb 3 Legislative Policy Committee meeting City Council start times.pdf
Sent: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 12:08:41 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) To: cityclerk <[email protected]>
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[Email and attachments to be submitted as part of the record for the 2/3/2026 Legislative Policy Committee meeting and shared with all Council members]
Council members,
I am submitting this information as a follow up to my comments at the January 2026 Legislative Policy Committee meeting regarding the lateness of City Council meeting start tmes. Documentation of Pasadena start times in 2025 and 2026 and data showing the punctuality of other cities in LA County in starting meetings is attached and also summarized below.
Pasadena is an outlier, and not in a good way. In 2025, meetings started an average of 29 minutes late. 2026 is off to a worse start, with an average start time of 53 minutes late. In stark contrast, other cities in Los Angeles County start on time or only a few minutes late. A number of these cities also hold closed sessions prior to the public meeting and still start on time or only a few minutes late.
Average minutes late of other cities are below, with details in the attachment. Cities were chosen at random to reflect various population sizes. The average is based on four random regular meetings, not the entire year. • Long Beach: 9
• Glendale: 4
• Palmdale: 0
• Pomona: 0
• El Monte: 3
• Burbank: 10
• Arcadia: 0
• Culver City: 6
• Monrovia: 3
• West Hollywood: 4
• South Pasadena: 6
Pasadena residents should be able to expect meetings to start on time. Making people wait - sometimes for over an hour - is disrespectful and unprofessional. A person's reason for attending a meeting is irrelevant; no one should be required to wait so long for a meeting to start.
At the January meeting, residents were told that it's "difficult", there are a lot of "moving parts", "it's a difficult needle to thread", or that "it's easier said than done". These are, frankly, invalid excuses as exemplified by the fact that other cities start on time or very close to it. We also heard that "there's a 100 people coming to every session to basically say the same thing. We're not going to get through everyone." That's not the point! Not everyone is attending to give public comment on items not on the agenda and, even if they were, they should be able to expect the meeting to start on time. Council makes EVERYONE wait, not just those people whose voices they may not want to hear.
I respectfully request that the Legislative Policy Committee seriously review options for changing procedures and scheduling in order to address Pasadena City Council's inability to start meetings on time.
Respectfully,
Humaira Afzal, PhD
District 7
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PASADENA
Population 136,650
Official start time 6:00 pm
Average 29 minutes late in 2025 (see attached)
Average 53 minutes late 2026 (as of 02/02/2026)
Other LA County Cities Meeting date Actual start time Minutes late Cities randomly selected to represent a variety of population sizes. 4 meeting dates from 2025-26 selected at random
* General meetings always or sometimes preceded by closed sessions Meeting date Actual start time Minutes late
6/10/2025 5:09 9
9/16/2025 5:04 4
12/9/2025 5:22 22
1/20/2026 5:02 2
Long Beach
Population 447,228
Official start time 5:00 pm
Average 9 minutes late
Gtendale*
Population 185,792
Official start time 6:00 pm
Average 4 minutes late
Palmdale
Population 160,943
Official start time 5:00 pm
Average 0 minutes late
Pomona*
Population 147,191
Official start time 7:00 pm
Average 0 minutes late
El Monte
Population 103,519
Official start time 6:00 pm
Average 3 minutes late
Burbank*
Population 102,663
Official start time 6:00 pm
Average 10 minutes late
3/18/2025
7/15/2025
9/30/2025
11/4/2025
1/22/2025
4/15/2025
7/15/2025
10/21/2025
2/3/2025
7/21/2025
9/15/2025
11/3/2025
3/26/2025
7/9/2025
9/17/2025
12/10/2025
2/4/2025
3/25/2025
7/29/2025
12/6/2025
6:07
6:04
6:01
6:03
5:00
5:00
5:00
5:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
6:04
6:02
6:05
6:00
6:19
6:08
6:06
6:06
7 4
1 3
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
4 2
5 0
19 8
6 6
Arcadia*
Population 53,961
Official start time 7:00 pm
Average 0 minutes late
3/4/2025
6/10/2025
10/21/2025
12/16/2025
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:00
0 0
0 0
Culver City*
Population 39,673
Official start time 7:00 pm
Average 6 minutes late
Monrovia
Population 37,733
Official start time 7:30 pm
Average 3 minutes late
West Hollywood
Population 34,039
Official start time 6:00
Average 4 minutes late
South Pasadena
Population 25,360
Official start time 7:00
Average 6 minutes late
2/24/2025
5/27/2025
9/29/2025
12/8/2025
2/18/2025
7/15/2025
10/7/2025
11/18/2025
2/18/2025
4/21/2025
8/4/2025
12/1/2025
3/5/2025
6/18/2025
9/3/2025
10/15/2025
7:03
7:12
7:10
7:07
7:32
7:36
7:30
7:33
6:05
6:00
6:05
6:05
7:00
7:12
7:07
7:05
3 12
10 7
2 6
0 3
5 0
5 5
0 12
7 5
PASADENA
2025
Date
1/27/2025
2/3/2025
2/10/2025
2/24/2025
3/3/2025
3/17/2025
3/24/2025
4/7/2025
4/14/2025
5/5/2026
5/19/2025
6/2/2025
6/9/2025
6/16/2025
6/23/2025
7/14/2025
7/24/2025
8/18/2025
8/25/2025
9/8/2025
9/15/2025
9/29/2025
10/6/2025
10/20/2025
10/27/2025
11/3/2025
11/10/2025
12/8/2025
12/15/2025
2026
Ioate
1/12/2026
1/26/2026
2/2/2026
Actual start time Minutes late
6:03 3
6:12 12
6:44 44
6:46 46
6:16 16
6:35 35
6:48 48
6:35 35
6:05 5
6:20 20
7:03 63
6:22 22
6:03 3
6:25 25
6:27 27
6:03 3
6:06 6
6:07 7
6:40 40
7:06 66
6:07 7
6:49 49
6:03 3
6:41 41
6:59 59
6:28 28
6:24 24
7:10 70
6:41 41
848
29 -·-------
actual start time minutes late
6:50 50
7:22 82
6:28 28
160
53 total minutes started late
minutes average late start
------ -- ----
Total minutes late
Average minutes started late