Common Sense is DOA in L.A. as City Councilmember Revives Ordinance to Ban Events

Operating in the shadows, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield intent on criminalizing culturally cherished traditions.

Many people are used to hearing about politics played out in proverbial smoke-filled back rooms. But even under clear, sunny skies in Los Angeles, California, we managed to see clandestine skirting of democratic principles like civil debate and discussion.

Back in December, L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield tried to ram through a ban of cowboy sports in the city. He falsely claimed the animals in bull riding and rodeo are tortured, pointing a finger at safety equipment used.  

PBR

To the contrary, one local billboard had a strong message for Southlanders prior to a bull riding event that would sell out Crypto.com Arena: The only thing being tortured is the truth.

PBR reports two bull injuries per every 5,000 outs, translating to an injury rate of 0.04%. The PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) cites an injury rate of 0.09% out of 566,717 total exposures, translating to a 99.9% safety rating.

First competing in Los Angeles in 2019, PBR has sold out Crypto.com Arena several times. Yet without attending a PBR event or speaking with the men and women who raise the sport’s marvelous bucking bulls spared the death sentence imposed on all other male bovines, Blumenfield instructed the City Attorney’s office, which was on record confirming unfamiliarity with the rodeo industry, to write a law that will remove a way of life along with millions of dollars pumped into the local economy.

Even Los Angeles’ own Equine Advisory Council, which has representatives from each L.A. City Council district with expertise on equestrian-related issues, was not consulted in crafting what became known as “the ordinance in search of a problem.” What’s more, in early June, the Equine Advisory Council voted unanimously to oppose the rodeo ban.

The proposed law that would prohibit the use of essential safety equipment for rodeo events – a back-handed way of banning rodeo altogether – was presented to the public last December. At the public hearing on this controversial legislation, local Latino and Black communities, disproportionally impacted by the animal torture false accusations, showed up in force at City Hall to fight for their culture and defend their dignity.

Many arrived on horses, animals who are loved rather than harmed.

Spring Street and the area around City Hall looked as if a remake of “Once Upon a Time in The West” was in production.  

Those living in the Council district in Los Angeles with the most ranches, the northeast San Fernando Valley, are fortunate to be represented by Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, the daughter of an immigrant who spent his youth as a farm worker and later earned his citizenship through military service in Vietnam.

Influenced by her father’s values, Councilwoman Rodriquez has lived her entire life in the district she serves. She knows her constituents. These are not cruel people delighting in inflicting pain on animals. They take care of their animals. Their rodeo, trick roping and equestrian events are generational touchstones bonding families creating memories lasting a lifetime.

Rodriguez wasn’t keen on Blumenfeld taking that away by criminalizing their culture, especially without meaningful, inclusive conversation, and she said as much at City Hall.

Her colleague’s tactics were “a weaponization of policies applied to communities of color,” she said.  

Rodriguez called on the City Attorney to take another shot at the law, carving out protections for cultural and traditional equestrian events.

Seven months after the ordinance was withdrawn with those redrafting instructions, a bomb dropped, exploding the delusion of an inclusive re-write.  

Blumenfield and the City Attorney blew off the strongly voiced desire for adult collaboration. They posted the redrafted ordinance – a second attempt to ram the unnecessary law through – without peer input; peculiar, though not unexpected, in this head-spinning summer of saving democracy.   

And what they unveiled was a sham.

At first glance, the new version appears to exempt cultural and equestrian events. Black and Latino communities would be allowed to continue to enjoy their Western Sports events and exhibitions.   

But in a feat of all-time absurdity, the proposed law goes on to stipulate these events are fine so long as they don’t include bareback bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, and team roping.

The rewrite is an unequivocal de facto ban of all rodeo and bull-riding events in the City of Los Angeles.

Said another way, this is tantamount to being told you can have a baseball game in Dodger Stadium…provided that no balls are thrown, no bats swung, and no bases run.

The now common question, “How stupid do they think we are?” comes to mind.

Beyond the patronizing absurdity, legal experts say the proposed law is a frontal assault on free expression, raising serious constitutional concerns.

Once again blind-sided by her colleague, Councilwoman Rodriguez was not amused.

“The City Council made a commitment to provide the equestrian community a seat at the table when drafting this ordinance that disproportionately affects BIPOC communities. Once again, the community was excluded and this was done in the dark, without the engagement of the Mexican Charro community, Native American and Black Cowboy communities that this threatens to criminalize,” Rodriguez said in a media statement.

“This ordinance and its abrupt release underscores the lack of equity and inclusion in the legislative process. I will continue to do everything in my power to rectify the continued wrongs in this ordinance to prevent criminalizing cultural activities.”

Meantime, while the Western Sports Industry Coalition fends off the L.A. ban, one that had been on the books for decades has been overturned in Pittsburgh, PA. On Monday, PBR announced that the Unleash The Beast tour will stampede into PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, home of the NHL’s Penguins, on January 24-25, 2025.

In Los Angeles, among the events Blumenfield plans to cancel is the Bill Picket Invitational Rodeo (BPIR), the world’s leading all-Black touring rodeo, now celebrating its 40th year.

“I was offended four years ago when first reading the ordinance language, and I’m offended to this day,” said BPIR President Valeria Howard-Cunningham, the only female to run a major rodeo organization. “The proposed law is offensive and damaging not only in falsely accusing me and my team of torturing animals, but because it will take away a cultural event important to the Black community as they come together to celebrate our Black Cowboys and Cowgirls.”

The rewritten bill will be discussed in a committee before moving to a full City Council vote.

Howard-Cunningham hopes that rational heads will prevail, weighing the truth about animal care in Western sports, the dollars the events produce, and the essential cultural perspective that councilmembers like Monica Rodriguez have offered. 

The head of the BPIR is a realist. Influencing the political machinations of a city council is way beyond her control.

She and her team will do what they’ve done for four decades: continue to deliver uplifting sporting events that pack arenas coast to coast, giving Black athletes competitive opportunities while teaching wide-eyed fans the forgotten history of Black Cowboys. 

And so, just after the new secretly concocted rodeo ban language was posted in City Hall, 20 miles due east at Expo Center in City of Industry, the BPIR held two sold-out events where young children saw real Black cowboys and cowgirls and learned that their existence is not anything new.

It's an eye-opening, affirming, inspiring realization – one that can and has changed lives.  

One L.A. lawmaker is doing the best he can to keep that history untold. Send the kids back into the dark. Tamp down their dreams. Ban the whole sport.

We still live in a democracy. Diverse voices can’t be censored. The madness can be halted.