On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council was set to vote on an ordinance that would effectively ban rodeos within city limits, but the proposal was swiftly sent back for retooling amid concerns that the ban missed the mark regarding cultural and traditional considerations.
Los Angeles councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who introduced the motion in 2021, was blunt when sharing why he thinks rodeos should be banned, saying, "Strangling baby calves, chasing animals, slamming them to the ground, forcing horses and bulls to buck beyond their normal or natural capacity, which regularly leads to injuries and death. After almost 500 years, Mexico City has recently banned bullfighting. It was not about culture because bullfighting is horrifically cruel."
There was ultimately no vote on Blumenfield's proposed rodeo ban because of a motion that came up quite by surprise from councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who viewed the language as punitive towards a tradition that dates back generations in Los Angeles.
"There has been an absence of fully appreciating who will be impacted by this. Communities of color have borne the burden of enforcement tactics. This one in particular," Rodriguez said.
The motion intends to carve out protections for cultural and traditional equestrian events such as Charrería, predominantly practiced by Latinos and a tradition in Mexican and western United States livestock herding communities, among other activities.
Rodriguez said if the city were to approve a blanket ban on rodeos, it could be weaponized and directly impact communities of color.
Councilmember Rodriguez's motion to send the proposed ban back to be reworked by the committee passed by a unanimous 14-0 vote.
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While Rodriguez and other council members applauded the motion changes, Blumenfield clarified that no major changes would be made to the item.
"I don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the kumbaya here, but I want to make it clear this is not about re-litigating or sending it back to committee or going back to the drawing board," Blumenfield said.
He told his colleagues that the motion is an "instruction" to the city attorney to draft an ordinance that bans specific cruel activities such as "bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, road capping, etc."
Blumenfield added that "we are going to define rodeos not to include equestrian and Charrería events; American Indian or indigenous rodeo events, etc." provided that the event does not engage in the "compromising" activities that meet the definition of rodeo.
When the proposed ordinance heads to the Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee next, at a future date, the three-member body will consider whether or not the city attorney's draft does "what we are telling them to do," the councilman noted.
Rodriguez said she was disappointed there wasn't expertise or input from stakeholders in drafting the proposed ordinance to fully understand the implications of what the affected events are, or what they entail.
"... I want this to go back to committee for the purposes of really having a very firm technical understanding of how this could potentially be misinterpreted and applied to communities of color," Rodriguez said.
"This has to invite our communities to be part of that conversation so that we can fully appreciate it."
Councilman John Lee, who sits on the committee, agreed with Rodriguez, and he noted he will ensure a complete discussion around protecting cultural traditions.
Council President Paul Krekorian reiterated that whenever a council majority decides to weigh in or change a proposed ordinance, they "always" preserve that option.
City News Service contributed to this article.
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