Author: David Hunter

Thorn West: Issue No. 103

State Politics

• Most Californian tenants are again exposed to pre-pandemic eviction protections following the close of applications for the Housing Is Key rental assistance program and the expiration of the state’s eviction moratorium. The legislature did pass AB 2179, emergency legislation that extends the moratorium until June 30, but only for tenants who applied for rental assistance before the deadline and are still waiting on resolution from the backlogged program. AB 2179 also prevents municipalities from passing additional, stronger protections, and strips many that were already in place, including in Los Angeles County. It is supported by landlord lobbyist groups such as the California Apartments Association.

• The nine-person advisory task force assembled to craft a potential statewide policy on reparations voted 5–4 to limit benefits to those who can demonstrate a direct lineage to enslaved ancestors.

City Politics

• Los Angeles County has begun taking applications for “Breathe,” its guaranteed income pilot program. Those accepted into the program will receive $1,000 a month for three years.

Housing Rights

• After a six-month-long tenant-led campaign, the Pasadena Tenant Justice Coalition is celebrating the submission of over 15,000 signatures in support of amending the city charter to guarantee rent control and stronger eviction protections for Pasadena tenants; 13,366 signatures were needed to put the amendment on the November 2022 ballot.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Knock LA is hosting a candidate forum for Los Angeles County Sheriff, moderated by Cerise Castle, this Tuesday, April 5.

Labor

• Many celebrities crossed a picket line to attend a post-Oscars party thrown by Jay-Z at the Chateau Marmont. Unite Here Local 11 has been calling for a boycott of the hotel since it laid off most of its workforce two years ago, and two former employees have since filed a lawsuit alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Environmental Justice

• State regulators entered a South LA oil drilling site with a warrant and bolt cutters after being unable to schedule an inspection. “It demonstrates that the state oil and gas regulator is willing to take actions that would assist in protecting the health of the community,” said Hugo García, campaign coordinator with social justice nonprofit Esperanza Community Housing Corporation.

• Governor Gavin Newsom ordered water suppliers across California to step up their local drought responses, but fell short of requiring water rationing or setting a statewide conservation target.

• With drought conditions leaving California vulnerable to a dangerous wildfire season, the state auditor reported that officials are failing to hold electric utilities accountable for their equipment failures.

Issue No. 101 – March 18, 2022

State Politics

• In response to rising gas prices, some state legislators have now proposed sending a $400 rebate to every California taxpayer (not just drivers). Curbed LA promotes a more impactful approach: a federal buyback of gas-powered cars.

City Politics

• With petition numbers now finalized, it’s clear that DSA-endorsed candidate Eunisses Hernandez will be incumbent Gil Cedillo’s only challenger on the ballot in Council District 1. This means the primary on June 7 will decide the winner.

• LA Podcast’s newsletter highlights a particularly substantive mayoral debate from last week, organized by the Los Angeles Provider Alliance to End Homelessness.

• Knock LA talks with “The Defenders of Justice,” a slate of public defenders running for judgeships in the Superior Court of LA County.

• Cat Packer, the head of Los Angeles’ Department of Cannabis Regulation, resigned last week. Packer had been battling the city for more personnel in the department, which has struggled to process licenses in a timely fashion. The city’s licensing program prioritizes social equity applicants who have had undue exposure to the criminal justice system, many of whom have been left on the hook leasing storefront space they cannot use.

Housing Rights

• Housing Is Key Rental Assistance Program, a fund that helps pay off back rent for Californians affected by COVID, will be closing for new applications on March 31 at 5 PM. (Apply here.) The program has so far struggled to disburse its funds to tenants in need.

• A planned sweep displaced an encampment at Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo this week. Councilmember and mayoral candidate Kevin de León, who ordered the sweep, embraced the full Orwellian playbook, conflating temporary shelter with “housing,” while demonizing on-the-ground activists as “agitators.” Disgraceful.

Labor

• A second Starbucks location in Los Angeles has announced an intent to unionize, and DSA-LA is organizing its members in support.

Environmental Justice

• Despite a drought emergency being declared and the state pleading to cut back water usage, ​​Californians used 2.6% more water in January 2022 compared to January 2020. Newsom has yet to issue a mandatory conservation order.

• California legislators have been given a “D” grade for their actions (or lack thereof) in 2021. EnviroVoters — an environmental group that has been evaluating politicians’ voting records, budgets, and policies since 1973 — gave California its lowest marks ever, writing that “state legislators are taking money from fossil fuel companies and dragging their feet on climate action.”

Issue No. 100 – March 11, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom has suggested pausing a scheduled increase in the gas tax as a response to soaring gas prices, but legislators warned this would harm the state’s ability to maintain roads. During Tuesday’s State of the State Address, he shifted focus to a proposed gas rebate that would be paid to California’s car owners. (Biking in LA addresses the unfairness of that.) Newsom also resisted calls to increase oil drilling in the state.

City Politics

• Across several races, Los Angeles’ political incumbents have, predictably, begun trying to leverage the crisis in Ukraine to score points against any challengers who are supported by the DSA (whose calls for peace in the region they deride as utopian). If you would like to learn what the left actually stands for regarding Ukraine, join the DSA’s panel this Sunday at 2pm, where you’ll hear from Ukrainians and other folks with ties to the region. The panel will be followed by a hybrid in-person/online fundraiser for civilian relief and refugee support efforts.

• A great resource from UnrigLA on Twitter: a calendar of all upcoming Los Angeles candidate debates.

Labor

• Writers for animated TV shows are arbitrarily paid far less than their counterparts in live action television. With contract negotiations underway with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Animation Guild is pushing for fair compensation using the hashtag #Rally4Animation. The guild is holding an in-person rally on March 20 (with DSA Hollywood Labor support).

Housing Rights

• Streetwatch LA and J-Town Action are rallying in opposition to another displacement of an encampment — and the fencing off of more public space — this time at Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo. Petition here.

• The Homelessness and Poverty Committee unanimously approved a motion for the city to purchase from Caltrans many of the vacant homes along the abandoned planned 710 freeway extension for development as housing. These are the same homes that were occupied by the Reclaiming Our Homes movement before a police eviction conducted over Thanksgiving in 2020.

Education

• The Los Angeles Unified School District released its Second Interim Financial Report this week, showing $2.8 billion in unspent reserves and a projected year-end reserve of over $3 billion, even as the Superintendent’s office is currently proposing to close a number of schools.

Environmental Justice

• The Biden administration has restored California’s authority to set emissions rules for cars and SUVs that are tougher than federal standards, reversing a Trump administration policy. 

• The Environmental Science and Technology Letters published a study on Wednesday that showed a correlation between past redlining and current air pollution in communities such as Boyle Heights.

Los Angeles Media

• Happy 100 issues of Thorn West! We are always looking for new writers, new sources, new friends, as well as new ideas for longer-form content. Email us at dsalathornwest@gmail.com.

Issue No. 99 – March 4, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom’s new homelessness plan, called CARE Court, empowers the courts to forcibly compel unhoused people with mental health or drug addiction issues into treatment. “Subjecting unhoused people to forced treatment is extremely draconian,” said one critic from the ACLU. “It’s morally wrong.” Mayor Garcetti has already expressed gushing support for the plan, which will need the approval of the legislature.

Coronavirus and Relief

• Los Angeles County is one of several California counties that have magically had their risk of COVID infection set to “low,” thanks to new guidelines from the CDC that weight hospitalizations more heavily than infections. Today the county dropped its indoor mask mandate, though masks are still “strongly recommended.” CalMatters speaks with immunocompromised people who have been left behind by the rushed return to “normalcy.”

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• The Los Angeles Police Commission approved reforms that prohibit officers from making “pretextual stops” for minor offenses without first recording on bodycam why they believe a more serious crime may have been committed. The policy has been called “the middle ground” by LAPD officials and has drawn criticism from activists for its loopholes.

Transportation

• Knock LA wants Angelenos to know about the city’s Metro Micro pilot program, a $1 rideshare program currently being tried out in a few areas around the city.

Education

• LAUSD officials have presented plans to displace the students at Orville Wright Middle School STEAM Magnet, in Westchester, to make way for a charter school. They also plan to close Pio Pico Middle School in the Mid-City area, where students are 90 percent Latine, and over the past five years the share of the student body qualifying for free and reduced-price meals has increased from 75% to 90%.
• LAUSD has committed to installing solar panels on 30 schools by 2027, and on another 50-to-70 more schools by 2030. With enough available roof space for solar panels to meet the LAUSD’s power needs and then some, the program is a potential revenue earner for LA’s public school system — but has fallen behind schedule. Plan details here.

Environmental Justice

• After the driest consecutive January and February in the Sierra in recorded state history, the statewide snowpack has dropped from 160% of normal to 63%. LAist covers the season’s wild weather swings.

Issue No. 98 – February 25, 2022

State Politics

• SB 972, introduced by State Senator Lorena Gonzalez, makes it simpler and more affordable for street vendors to obtain permits, a process that is effectively impossible to complete as currently designed. LA Times coverage in Spanish here.

City Politics

• Five candidates for Los Angeles mayor participated in a debate at Loyola Marymount University this week, presenting five versions of the same uninspiring platform on policing and homelessness. Protesters loudly heckled all candidates. Knock-LA covers. Video here.

• Writing in LA Progressive, Melina Abdullah and Patrisse Cullors lament Karen Bass’ pivot to the right as a mayoral candidate and express hope for a return to form.

• On Tuesday, the City Council voted to approve former Councilmember Herb Wesson as interim replacement for Mark Ridley-Thomas, whom they previously voted to suspend while he faces corruption charges. On Thursday, a judge blocked the appointment on the grounds that Wesson has already hit the term limit. CD10 remains without representation.

Education

• On Thursday, new LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho released a “100-Day Plan” for his project to reform the district. Absent from all of the reporting on the plan is any mention of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), or the union’s struggle to reduce class size. On this vital question, all Superintendent Carvalho says is that LAUSD will study “the effects of reducing class-size on academic achievement.”

• The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor voted on school board endorsements on Thursday, voting to endorse Maria Brenes for Board District 2 over UTLA’s endorsed candidate Rocío Rivas, and to endorse Nick Melvoin in BD4, over UTLA’s objections.

Labor

• CalMatters diagrams a rift within California labor over “just transition” plans as fossil fuel production within the state is being phased out.

Housing Rights

• A motion from Councilmember Mike Bonin making it easier to open a shelter for people experiencing homelessness without requiring a lengthy application process has advanced out of committee.

• State housing regulators rejected Los Angeles’ Housing Element for failing to expand the city’s zoning capacity to meet state mandated housing and affordable housing targets on a fast enough timeline. Hundreds of millions of dollars in housing grants are at stake.

• A discrimination lawsuit has been filed against real estate company K3 Holdings LLC by a group of tenants organized in part by the K3 Tenants Council. Coverage on Univision and ABC7. Details about the campaign against K3 Holdings can be found at K3TC.org.

Environmental Justice

• Local activists have filmed construction proceeding illegally on a build site that citizen journalists discovered, earlier this year, was known to be contaminated.

• State regulators have hand-waved aside a study exposing the likely ineffectiveness of California’s “cap-and-trade” program at restraining polluters.

• This week’s Boiling Point column in the LA Times lists all the climate legislation eligible for movement in the current state legislative session.

Issue No. 97 – February 18, 2022

STATE POLITICS

• California’s mask mandate for vaccinated people was lifted on Wednesday, though it remains in effect for the time being in LA County. On Thursday Governor Newsom announced S.M.A.R.T.E.R, the “next phase” of California’s COVID response strategy. His repeated reference to an “endemic” era suggests that the plan is to raise the threshold that would trigger any state action while accepting some level of infection and death as inevitable. The state of emergency does remain in effect.
• The first of many attempts at billionaire-funded recall petitions has succeeded in San Francisco, where three members of the school board were just recalled. A ballot measure this June will allow that city to vote to restrict the window of recalls, prohibiting them in the first 12 months of a term or when there are less than 12 months until the next election.

CITY POLITICS

• Early polls in the mayoral race show a lot of undecided voters, but Representative Karen Bass nevertheless has a commanding lead.
• The filing deadline for the 2022 elections has closed. Activist Gina Viola announced her candidacy at the wire, and with Karen Bass promising to increase police budgets as mayor, Viola is one of few candidates committed to decreasing the role of armed police in public safety.
• CD 10 has been without representation on the city council since Mark Ridley-Thomas was suspended in October of last year. This week, Council President Nury Martinez introduced a motion to appoint former councilmember Herb Wesson, aand political ally, to fill the seat on an interim basis.

HOUSING

• The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is scheduled for next week. Care+ sweeps will be suspended for three days but are still being conducted this week, potentially skewing the data.

TRANSPORTATION

• Metro service cuts, forced by staffing shortages, go into effect starting Sunday. Details on which lines will be affected here.

CLIMATE

• After record-setting storms in October and then December, the past six weeks — usually among the wettest months in California — have seen precipitation totals plateau.
• California’s emissions reduction targets are slipping out of reach, due to over reliance on marketplace solutions that allow companies to pay to emit greenhouse gases. A recent report notes the unsustainable amount of carbon credits that have already been banked.

City Politics

• Mark Ridley-Thomas’ chief of staff has been appointed as “caretaker” of District 10 while the councilmember is suspended. The district is still without voting representation on the council.

• With widespread calls to bring independent redistricting to Los Angeles in 2030, CalMatters looks at the results of some independent redistricting commissions statewide. Meanwhile, City Council’s extremely not-independent ad hoc Redistricting Committee met for the first time this week and made many recommendations. They meet again this afternoon.

Housing Rights

• The City Council, with the support of Mayor Garcetti, is rapidly designating hundreds of sites as anti-sit/lie/sleep enforcement zones. It’s a complete reversal of the city’s previous stated policy on addressing homelessness.

Labor

• From November 12 to 15, IATSE members will vote on whether or not to ratify the tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A series of virtual town halls is scheduled before then; not all members are satisfied with the terms of the new contract. DSA and IATSE member Victor P. Bouzi offers one perspective in an essay published at Knock LA.

• Unions representing 30,000 workers for Kaiser Permanente have delivered the required ten-day notice that will allow them to call a strike on November 15 if contract negotiations don’t progress. Workers are opposed to the two-tiered wage system proposed by Kaiser. Similar proposals have motivated the ongoing strikes at Kellogg’s and John Deere.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Capital and Main checks in on what has been accomplished by the Black Student Achievement Plan, a program which steered $35 million in resources to schools with high percentages of Black students, including the $25 million defunded from school police.

• Analysis in the LA Times reveals a pattern of intrusive stops of cyclists by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Seven out of ten stops involve Latin cyclists.

Environmental Justice

• A month after a Southern California offshore oil spill, the Center for Biological Diversity said it sent notice to the secretary of the interior of its intent to sue the federal government over the failure to review and update plans for coastal oil platforms.

• A noxious odor reported by residents of the city of Carson has been traced to rotting vegetation in the drought-stricken Dominguez Channel. It has been declared a local emergency to speed up the cleanup process.

• Reported by the Daily Poster: progressive members of the California Democratic Party’s executive board forced a special meeting on October 24 to decide whether the state party should stop accepting money from fossil fuel and law enforcement interests. But the party’s officers chose to table a vote on the matter, prompting fears that party leadership will ultimately renege.

City Politics

• Applications are open for BIG:LEAP, the city’s pilot guaranteed income program. Angelenos are eligible if they are living at or below the poverty level, can claim at least one dependent or are pregnant, and can demonstrate that their income was affected by COVID-19. Randomly selected applicants will receive $1,000 a month for 12 months.

• The LA Podcast newsletter goes into detail about how recently suspended Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas’ seat could be filled, and how constituent services in Ridley-Thomas’ district will be met while the seat remains open.

• City Council President Nury Martinez introduced a motion to form an Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee, citing disappointment in the work of the Redistricting Commission. The LA Times editorial board also attacked the redistricting process, pointing out that the commission is made up of political appointees. The commission’s final report recommended that the process be made fully independent from City Council, and that the council itself be expanded.

Housing Rights

• A comprehensive report from the ACLU finds legalized discrimination against unhoused people spreading across California.

Labor

• A consortium of business interests wrote a letter to Governor Newsom asking for a suspension of labor and environmental regulations as a cure for the backlog at the Long Beach and San Pedro ports.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• The city of Pasadena’s Police Oversight Commission held its first meeting.

Environmental Justice

• An “atmospheric river” (i.e. a corridor of rain traveling through the sky) caused historic amounts of rainfall across parts of drought-stricken California and the Pacific Northwest. The long-term drought forecasts remain unchanged. The storm will decrease the risk of wildfires for the rest of the season, though areas that have experienced recent wildfires are now at greater risk of mudslides.

• Carcinogenic chemicals have been detected in the groundwater near Lost Hills, a fossil fuel wastewater containment facility in Central California. Grist explains how lax regulations allowed this to happen.

• With the issue facing sustained public scrutiny, the Newsom administration took the first step toward banning new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, and healthcare facilities.

City Politics

• The Los Angeles City Council voted 11–3 to suspend Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, who faces federal charges of corruption. Ridley-Thomas entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday, with trial set for December. The Board of Supervisors voted to approve an independent audit of the contracts mentioned in Ridley-Thomas’ indictment, among others. Indictment here. Ridley-Thomas’ district is currently without representation.

• The Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission voted to approve their finalized draft map, despite “potentially significant flaws.” It will now be sent on to City Council. Council President Nury Martinez weighed in for the first time today, criticizing the proposed map’s “drastic changes.” The council can revise the map and seems likely to. Per activist Rob Quan, public pressure has been instrumental so far and can help ensure that the next changes are for the better.

Housing Rights

• The City Council voted 12–2 to approve bans of sitting, lying, and sleeping at 54 locations across three council districts, as recent revisions to municipal code 41.18 now allow. Though the revisions are meant to be accompanied by expanded outreach, the outreach plan has yet to be finalized or staffed. Councilmembers Mike Bonin and Nithya Raman voted in opposition.

• Knock LA covers the role that various Brentwood homeowners cabals have played in privatization of land use at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus, which has prevented unhoused veterans from receiving services. This week the US Secretary of Veterans Affairs vowed to find housing for the unhoused residents of Veterans Row, an encampment of roughly 30 tents just outside the campus.

Gentrification

• Capital and Main updates the story of the Crenshaw Mall, the South LA cultural landmark that was inexplicably sold to outside developers despite a higher bid from community-based investment group Downtown Crenshaw. Next steps include potential lawsuits

Labor

• Sunday, a tentative deal was struck between IATSE and the AMPTP, a day before a strike would have been triggered. However, that deal still needs to be voted on by membership. Labor Notes explains the mechanics of that election, and spotlights the significant dissatisfaction with the proposed deal among IATSE members.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his undersheriff, Tim Murakami, unlawfully defied subpoenas that would require them to testify before the LA County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission about deputy gangs within the Sheriff’s Department.

• In recognition of National Anti-Police Brutality Day, a coalition of activists including BLM-LA, LA CAN, and Streetwatch LA are rallying outside LAPD headquarters from 4–7pm today.

Environmental Justice

• On Tuesday Governor Gavin Newsom expanded the California drought emergency from 50 counties to statewide, but did not implement any water conservation mandates. Newsom did authorize water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks.

• An independent study has found that the 2018 Woolsey Fire caused radioactive contamination to migrate from Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a former nuclear research lab, into neighboring communities. The new study contradicts the initial report from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Housing Justice

• US District Judge David O. Carter is overseeing a lawsuit against the city and county (brought by the so-called LA Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of downtown business owners and residents), alleging that both have failed in their responsibilities to rapidly and humanely shelter the unhoused. (Some background here). This week, Carter held an open-air hearing at the Downtown Women’s Center on Skid Row, at which county and city representatives were questioned about why efforts to address the crisis continue to lag. Members of the unhoused community were able to listen into the proceedings over loudspeaker from nearby. LA Community Action Network commented on the hearing on Twitter.

• At the Carter hearing, and in an op-ed published earlier in the week, Councilmember Mike Bonin advocated for a “consent decree,” which would give the courts, under Carter’s supervision, the authority to compel action from various county and city entities to take direct action to shelter the unhoused. Examples Bonin used as illustration include compelling reluctant councilmembers to approve supportive housing in their districts, or compelling the city to commandeer motels.

• KNOCK.LA reports that LAPD plans to implement 24/7 police presence at Echo Park Lake by springtime, with support from Friends of Echo Park Lake (FoEPL) and CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell. FoEPL is advocating for a “Tiny Homes Project” proposed for Alvarado Street in Echo Park, as a (non-optional) housing alternative for residents of the lake. It’s unclear whether they’ve sought out input from the unhoused community on this project, as Theo Henderson, advocate for the unhoused, was muted after calling into an FoEPL meeting to raise concerns.

• This “housing report card” created by the Southern California News Group explains in detail the state’s current requirements for affordable housing, and provides a granular look at how well municipalities all over California are meeting their state-mandated affordable housing goals. Extremely poorly! And the requirements are about to go up. In January, Governor Newsom proposed creating a Housing Accountability Unit to enforce greater compliance with these benchmarks.

• In a well-timed article, LAist dives into the topic of community land trusts, which can empower communities to maintain control over land use in their neighborhoods and maintain some level of local affordable housing.

Labor

• Grocery store workers rallied in opposition to Kroger’s closing of two Long Beach supermarkets, a direct retaliation against the city’s passage of mandatory hero pay for frontline workers in large supermarkets.The city of Montebello passed a similar ordinance this week, and the California Grocers Association, which is already suing Long Beach, filed a lawsuit in response. Nevertheless, a request for legislation to be drafted that would mandate hero pay in the city of Los Angeles passed through the city council unanimously.

• The California Teachers Association has challenged Governor Newsom’s timeline on reopening California schools, advocating for strict safety benchmarks to be met as opposed to picking an “artificial calendar date.” LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner similarly criticized the county’s patchwork approach to reopening as “bass ackwards” and “political.”

• Some of the people who have been thrust into the role of supervising COVID safety on Hollywood sets question whether the precautions being taken to protect worker safety are remotely adequate.

Electoral Politics

• The DSA-LA membership has voted overwhelmingly in favor of endorsing Daniel Lee for State Senate!

• Here is an extremely early look at which candidates are already raising money for some of the bigger Los Angeles elections in 2022.