Author: David Hunter

LOCAL NEWS

• Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to stay at home, marking the first statewide mandatory restrictions on life in California since the outbreak of COVID-19 as 20 people have died in the state and more than 1000 tested positive. The restrictions still allow for people to travel to “gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks, convenience stores, takeout and delivery restaurants, banks and laundromats” and to “leave their homes to care for a relative or a friend or seek healthcare services.” The order also does not apply to workers in what are considered to be critical infrastructure sectors such as healthcare, transportation, energy, and others. No time limit has been placed on the stay at home order and failure to abide by the order could result in being charged with a misdemeanor.
  
• The state legislature has also been shut down. Prior to departing, lawmakers approved a plan for $500 million to help hospitals in the state prepare for an onslaught of infected coronavirus patients with another $500 million ready if needed. The money will be used to purchase additional ventilators and medical equipment as well as aid for nursing homes, seniors and child care facilities. 
  
• Los Angeles County and city officials also issued sets of restrictive orders. The city order requires all non-essential businesses to close and bans public and private gatherings of any size outside of a single home, with Mayor Eric Garcetti advising city residents to stay at home except for essential needs. Link above includes further details on what Angelenos are allowed to do and what is considered to be an essential service. The city order will stay in effect until at least April 19. 
  
• Despite the spread of coronavirus, ICE remains active in Southern California, continuing to make arrests. This is part of a national sweep that the Latinx and Chicanx activist group Mijente has denounced as “reckless.” While ICE indicated on Wednesday that it would “exercise discretion to delay enforcement actions until after the crisis,” ICE activity in the midst of the crisis is not ceasing, and ICE detention facilities remain deeply unsanitary, facilitating the spread of disease. 
  
• The US and Mexico have reached an agreement to restrict all non-essential travel across the border. This comes after the US State Department advised US citizens to avoid all international travel yesterday.
  
• Updated COVID-19 statistics can be found here for LA County and here for nationwide & global data. 
  
• Mayor Garcetti and the L.A. City Council are rolling out some protections against evictions and foreclosures, with City Hall issuing an executive order banning late fees and evictions during the lockdown. A citywide rental assistance fund will also be created while landlords and mortgage-holders will have to work out a payment plan. Gov. Newsom, meanwhile, is being criticized for not providing clearer guidelines from the state government on evictions, leaving it to cities and counties to enforce eviction protection. 
  
• Following the lead of the the Moms 4 Housing action in which unhoused mothers occupied a vacant house in Oakland to fight for housing as a human right, a group of unhoused and housing-insecure mothers, families, and activists have formed Reclaiming Our Homes and have occupied 12 vacant publicly owned houses in El Sereno, with the support of the Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment and DSA-LA. Under increased threat from COVID-19, Reclaiming our Homes activists “are calling on state and local governments to use all publicly owned vacant homes, libraries, recreation centers and other properties to house people immediately.”
  
• A second charge has been filed in the ongoing corruption probe into the Los Angeles City Hall and real estate development, with a political fundraiser pleading guilty to federal bribery charges. The Councilmember in question has remained anonymous in the court filings, however based on details provided, the recipient of the bribe is likely Councilman Jose Huizar. A search warrant filed in 2018 indicates agents are seeking “evidence of potential crimes including bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering involving more than a dozen people, including Huizar, Councilman Curren Price and a handful of council aides and political appointees.” 

ELECTIONS

• As of the most recent update on Tuesday, Jackie Lacey has less than 49% of the vote and challenger George Gascon has climbed to slightly above 28%, with 64,000 votes remaining to be counted in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s race. For Lacey to avoid the runoff she would need 53,000 votes from the remaining ballots, meaning that the runoff is almost certain at this stage in the vote count. 
  
• There are votes still being counted in the narrow District 12 City Council race, with challenger Lorraine Lundquist now just 803 votes behind incumbent John Lee, who is now ensnared in the FBI investigation into his former boss and City Council predecessor, Mitchell Englander. Lee confirmed that he was on a trip with Englander to Las Vegas where a businessman allegedly offered Englander cash and other gifts. 

LOCAL NEWS

• California has been in a state of emergency over COVID-19 since March 5. There are 32 confirmed cases in Los Angeles County at press time, though the real number is undoubtedly far higher. The Los Angeles Unified School District will close all schools as of Monday. Mayor Garcetti has recommended canceling events of over fifty people; the city has curtailed travel on official business; and the city has seen a series of cultural events and institutions close down or be postponed. UCLA and USC have ended in-person classes, joining Caltech, CSU-Long Beach, and Pepperdine. 
  
• The statement from DSA on COVID-19 can be found here. 
  
• City Councilman John Lee (CD-12) is facing calls to resign after his former boss and the man who he replaced on the city council Mitchell Englander surrendered to federal authorities for “criminal charges of obstructing a federal investigation into allegations that he accepted cash, hotel rooms, costly meals and the services of a female escort during 2017 trips to Vegas and Palm Springs from an unnamed businessman.” Lee was chief of staff to Englander and accompanied him on the trip to Las Vegas, but claims he was not aware of his boss’ activities and did not say whether he is “City Staffer B,” who is identified in the federal indictment as receiving some of the same perks as Englander. News of the charges emerged after Lee narrowly secured a majority on March 3rd to avoid a runoff in November.
  
• State Sen. Scott Wiener, the San Francisco lawmaker behind the defeated SB50 housing bill, is trying again with a new bill that he calls a “light touch” approach. The new bill, SB902, would push for more residential units in single-family neighborhoods without local government approval and would provide incentives for larger cities to allow for 10-unit projects.
  
• The California Labor Commission’s office hit the owners of a KBBQ chain with a $2.1 million fine over wage theft. An investigation into Genwa restaurants found that workers were not allowed rest or meal breaks and that many of them were not paid minimum wage or shorted on overtime pay while working 11-hour shifts. The Los Angeles Times’ Frank Shyong published a column last July about the poor conditions for restaurant workers throughout Koreatown. 
  
• Neighborhood organizations in Bel-Air are preparing to take action against L.A. Metro in an effort to stop plans to build a rail line through the Sepulveda Pass that would connect the Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley to the Expo Line between Santa Monica and Culver City and the extended Purple Line at UCLA. The Bel-Air Association Board is calling for “continued financial support” and is “prepared to wage war and protect our land and property values.”
  

ELECTIONS

• Bernie Sanders has received 210 out of California’s 415 delegates, with 22 delegates remaining to be allocated. Block-by-block results from the state’s 58 counties are viewable on this map, which will be updated until the count ends.
  
• DSA-LA member and DSA-LA endorsed candidate Nithya Raman is headed for a November runoff with incumbent David Ryu, after gaining 39.44% of the vote in the Los Angeles City Council’s 4th District. As Los Angeles municipal elections now coincide with the November presidential election date, the campaign will continue for an unprecedented eight months. 
  
• Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey appears to be headed for a runoff election in November after her share of votes fell below 50%. She is expected to run against former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, who leads public defender Rachel Rossi with 27.6% of the vote to 22.4%. The county registrar is updating the vote count today. 
  
• A big win for Measure R, co-written by the Reform L.A. Jails Committee, which provides stronger civilian oversight by allowing the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission to investigate misconduct using subpoenas and requires the development of a plan to reduce the jail population.
  
• Proposition 13, a $15 billion bond measure that would have funded school construction has been defeated. The CA School Boards Association believes a major factor in its defeat was voters confusing it with the 1978 Prop 13 that severely limited property tax increases. 
  
• California and Los Angeles once again suffered debilitating problemson election day last week as “[i]nadequate staffing, poor communications and balky technology” resulted in voters waiting longer than four hours in some cases. The problems this year are consistent with previous years in California as well as issues experienced in multiple other states this year. 

DSA-LA
http://www.dsa-la.org/