Month: April 2020

DSA-LA ORGANIZING PROFILES:

STREETWATCH VICTORY!

What is Streetwatch? Streetwatch began in 2017 as a project of the DSA-LA Housing & Homelessness (H&H) committee, inspired by and trained by the amazing organizers in the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN), who began their “Community Watch” program in 2006, and won several lawsuits against the city. Streetwatch member Jed Parriott, who is also a member of LA CAN, noticed that those lawsuits ended in settlements that only applied to Skid Row, and realized there was a need for a similar program that gathered evidence of the city’s harmful practices throughout LA. The Streetwatch group quickly grew into a big part of the work of the H&H committee. Streetwatch teams are now active in Echo Park, Hollywood, Westside, SF Valley, Koreatown and Downtown LA, with a newly formed South Bay team in progress. Streetwatch co-founded a citywide coalition that calls for Services Not Sweeps, which has now inspired the similar Solutions Not Sweeps in San Francisco and works closely with Ktown for All.A Major Legal Victory Streetwatch was there when Janet Garcia, a housecleaner, had all her work supplies thrown away by the city as she was using a nearby restroom, and has seen the city do this countless times. Janet Garcia and seven other unhoused people in different locations agreed to sue the City of LA. Members of LA CAN, Streetwatch, Ktown for All and lawyers at Legal Aid Foundation offered to negotiate with the city, and spent eight months trying to come to an agreement out of court. The city refused to offer meaningful concessions and the negotiations failed, so lawyers at Legal Aid filed the lawsuit, which challenges the city’s municipal code 56.11, one part of which allows the city to immediately trash anything they consider a “bulky item.” People living through these dehumanizing sweeps get no warning and no clear instructions on what is and is not bulky. The court ruled on April 13 that this part of the city code is likely unconstitutional, so the City of LA must immediately stop enforcing it. The lawsuit continues against other aspects of LAMC 56.11, but this is a huge victory for Janet Garcia and everyone else who has had their rights violated because they cannot afford a roof over their heads. DSA-LA was instrumental in the work that allowed this lawsuit to go forward; without Streetwatch we would not have had the leverage to get this result. In 2019, LA CAN presented DSA-LA with a “Freedom Now” award. We are proud of our work to bring together housed and unhoused people across the city, fighting against capitalism together — which continues with our #NoVacancyCA campaign!

LOCAL NEWS

Hundreds of immigrant detainees report being on hunger strike to demand protections against COVID-19 at three ICE detention facilities in California — Adelanto, Mesa Verde and Otay Mesa. At Otay Mesa, site of the second-worst outbreak in ICE detention, 42 detainees and eight ICE employees have been confirmed positive for the virus as of April 22; ICE has confirmed 287 detainees and 35 employees in their facilities testing positive nationwide. Detainees at Otay Mesa report that employees of the private prison company Core Civic, which runs the facility, attempted to force them to sign a release form — written only in English — in exchange for a single surgical mask that they are expected to use for a period of 15 days. Those who refused to sign and protested were pepper sprayed. Detainees at other ICE facilities nationwide have described similar abuse as they have advocated for themselves in light of the risks of the pandemic. On April 20, a federal judge ordered ICE to review the custody of every at-risk person in detention nationwide and consider their release, saying that the government’s failure to protect them from the risks of COVID-19 “likely exhibited callous indifference to [their] safety and wellbeing.”  144 people incarcerated by the state of California have tested positive for COVID-19 as of April 22, as have 97 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees. The first confirmed death of an incarcerated person in a California state prison came Sunday in San Bernardino County. Meanwhile, Lompoc, CA, is the site of the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in a federal prison in the US; 69 incarcerated people and 25 employees have tested positive there. Research suggests that mass incarceration will be a major driver of COVID-19 infection rates and fatalities. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country on earth and also leads the world in COVID-19 cases. An epidemiological study released in collaboration with the ACLU this week finds that models projecting 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States have failed to account for mass incarceration as a vector of infection, and estimates that an additional 100,000 people could die unless drastic decarceration is undertaken.  A coalition of more than 50 Black Los Angeles–based community leaders issued 55 immediate and long-term demands in light of COVID-19 and rates of Black death, stating that “Interlocking economic, political, and social injustices collide with long-standing patterns of medical racism to make COVID-19 a Black issue that demands a response specific to the needs of the Black community” and highlighting that “Black people are dying at two-three times our population share from COVID-19. In Los Angeles County, the rate of Black death is twice our population share, with Black people constituting 9% of the County population, but 17% of the COVID-19 deaths. With nearly 900,000 Black residents in the County and 403,000 Black residents in the City (the eighth-highest number of any city in the United States), what happens in Los Angeles has serious national implications. While several initiatives have been launched nationally, state-wide and locally, none speak to the particular needs of the Black community.”  The coronavirus pandemic continues to place a spotlight on the devastating impact of air pollution on the human body, with severe cases of COVID-19 being linked to high air pollution. Scientists have recently detected coronavirus on particles of air pollution, and are investigating if this may increase the distance that the virus can travel. Even before the pandemic, air pollution was considered the largest environmental risk factor for disease in the US. Communities of color are particularly impacted by pollution due to higher rates of pollution and decades-long disparities in healthcare systems. The result is that African-American children are “500 times more likely to die from asthma than white children, and have a 250 percent higher hospitalization rate for the condition.” In Wisconsin, African-Americans are just 6% of the population but account for half of the COVID-19 deaths, and “in New York City, Hispanic people represent 29 percent of the population, and 34 percent of the city’s deaths — the largest percentage by race.” The impact of pollution goes far beyond being associated with severe cases of COVID-19. Studies have indicated links between high pollution and long-term health impacts such as increased likelihood of developing high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and negative impacts on fetal birth weight.  At Wednesday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting, a bid to blanket ban all evictions for the duration of the Coronavirus emergency failed, by a vote of 6–7. A measure already passed in March banned evictions of tenants who had been impacted by the pandemic, but Councilmember Mike Bonin, one of the sponsors of the blanket ban, echoed objections that the earlier law forced tenants to demonstrate loss of income, and allowed unscrupulous landlords to strong-arm tenants unsure of their rights. The city attorney, again present at council in an emergency capacity, reiterated concerns that a blanket ban would exceed the city’s authority and open the city to lawsuits. These concerns were cited by the measure’s opponents, including Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, who called the process a “charade” and specifically chastised the legal advocacy group Public Counsel — which had released analysis arguing the city indeed had the legal authority to enforce an eviction moratorium — for offering “false hope.” The legality of such a measure remains in dispute. Councilmember Gil Cedillo reassured the council that the knowledge that the City of Los Angeles would not be going much farther than it had to protect renters would bring people “peace.” The City Council passed a measure voicing support for combined relief for renters and property owners at the state and federal level, and moved over a million dollars into a fund that would provide assistance to renters. A similar fund established in Santa Clara quickly ran through 11 million dollars in March. A study found that people “experiencing homelessness are twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and two to three times more likely to die than the general population.” Getting into a shelter may not help, as outbreaks are developing in some — and a new UC Berkeley study shows “high-density congregate settings” to be unsafe even if operators follow social distancing guidelines. A better solution is to use single-occupancy hotel rooms, but, as of Tuesday, LA County has leased just 2500 and fewer than 750 are occupied, vastly below the city’s 60,000 homeless residents. Efforts to expand the use of hotels is being met with resistance from local residents. A drive-through protest of stay-at-home orders was held by right-wing group “Operation Gridlock” in Downtown Los Angeles, but was sparsely attended. The Los Angeles Times plans to stop publishing three community newspapers: the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun. “The three titles, while journalistically sound, are operating at significant losses,” the paper explained in a note to readers.

ELECTIONS

DSA-LA member and city council candidate Nithya Raman — an urban planner who has focused on urban poverty, housing and homelessness and is endorsed by DSA-LA in the ongoing race for City Council District 4 — published an op-ed criticizing the City Council for cracking down on unlicensed street vendors, writing that “in an environment of near-universal desperation like this one, getting relief requires a loud voice to make your needs heard. Unfortunately, those who need the most help right now are often people we’ve forced into the shadows all along. The faces of LA’s shadow food economy are its street vendors. There are about 50,000 street vendors operating in Los Angeles, 10,000 of whom sell food. Many are undocumented. Many are refugees, whose families came here fleeing violence in Central America. Many are seniors. 80 percent are women of color…Los Angeles has never done right by its vendors. This crisis was an opportunity to make up for decades of cruelty — to give neighborhood vendors the opportunity to serve food safely and legally, and help fill the gaps left by dried-up supply chains and shuttered restaurants. Instead, the city has done the opposite. We’ve failed them again.”

LOCAL NEWS

• The coronavirus pandemic is having a devastating and disproportionate impact on black communities, and black pastors and activists representing communities from Los Angeles to Philadelphia are decrying disproportionately high death rates among African-Americans and demanding immediate action, including data on COVID-19 deaths by race and access to treatment. “Blacks often live in communities with less access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. This limits testing and treatment which results in more severe cases and deaths,” said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach. Due to persistent systemic racism, black communities are more likely to suffer from pre-existing conditions and unequal access to healthcare, black workers are more likely to hold jobs deemed essential and black people are disproportionately incarcerated in a prison system that is unsanitary and makes social distancing impossible. Environmental racism is also contributing to deaths, with polluted low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles being especially impacted. A week after the California Department of Public Health began collecting statewide data on how COVID-19 infections and deaths break down by race, the partial data released has shown that African-Americans, who make up 6% of the state’s population, currently account for 7% of infections and 11% of the 750 deaths, with a hospitalization and ICU rate 2.5x higher than those of white Californians. This disparate impact is also reflected in health data from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in which black people suffered the highest rates of severe illness and death. On April 14 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer to provide a breakdown of county data within 14 days, including an analysis of testing and COVID-19 fatalities by race, ethnicity and age group.
• Both Mayor Garcetti and Governor Newsom rolled out frameworks this week that will be used to determine when businesses and public spaces will be allowed to reopen. Both plans call for a stronger, more widespread system for testing and isolating coronavirus cases as well as strengthening hospital infrastructure to deal with future surges in infections. However, there is still no timeframe on when the lockdown may be eased or when businesses and public spaces will be able to reopen; we will all have to adjust to a new normal. LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says that retail stores, which will be the first to reopen, will have to put a limit on how many are in the store at any one time. Museums and cultural centers will likely have to do the same, and concerts and sporting events may not return until sometime next year. Talk of reopening might be very premature, as The Atlantic reports that growth of COVID-19 testing, critical to reopening the country, has stalled in the past two weeks.
• Three weeks after the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was signed into law, Americans have begun to receive their $1200 payments. About 60 million checks have already gone out to those who filed their 2018 or 2019 tax returns with direct-deposit information. A second round, in approximately one week, will reach Social Security recipients who did not file tax returns but provided direct-deposit information in other forms. A third round in the first week of May will cover those who are receiving the money by check.
• After an ongoing outcry from activists and residents for more relief for renters, a plan to give Los Angeles renters $1000 a month for three months was approved unanimously by the LA County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Under the plan, the county will use federal assistance money received in the recent stimulus, coupled with private funding, to provide rent aid to households that will not need to be paid back. Meanwhile California renters including sick, elderly and pregnantresidents continue to face evictions from landlords, highlighting the need for greater protections for renters and gaps in existing protections.
• The LA mayor’s office created a program that randomly awards a prepaid debit card of up to $1500 to residents, but the application website crashed after a crush of 56,000 applications on the first day. To be eligible for what’s being called the Angeleno card, residents’ income must have been below the federal poverty line before the stay-at-home order was issued last month or they must have fallen into “deeper hardship” with their income reduced by at least 50%. Eligible applicants will be placed in a lottery. On Tuesday, after the application web page melted down and phone lines crashed, Garcetti told desperate residents not to “worry if you’ve not gotten through because there are two more days still.”
• Amid reports from food banks of massive increases in usage, crops are being left to rot and thousands of gallons of raw milk dumped, while lines and demand at Southern California food banks are at historic levels. There has been a 49% increase in food distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which serves about 600 agencies across the region. Without the demand from restaurants, farmers say there is not a market for the produce and food banks cannot cover the cost of the labor needed to harvest it.
• Scientists have concluded that man-made global warming is responsible for at least half of a historic drought hitting California and western states that is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in 1200 years. UCLA scientist Daniel Swain highlighted the significance of the results, saying it provides evidence “that human-caused climate change transformed what might have otherwise been a moderate long-term drought into a severe event comparable to the ‘megadroughts’ of centuries past.”

ELECTIONS

• As Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, focus turned to the question of whether the candidate would receive “full-throated” endorsements from leftist politicians. Senator Bernie Sanders, as he did in 2016, endorsed his former rival for the nomination in a joint video. In a series of interviews, Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez made clear that she “will be supporting the Democratic nominee in November,” while challenging him to move to the left on several issues, and becoming one of the first high-profile politicians to speak openly about the sexual assault allegations against the candidate. Meanwhile, the DSA explicitly announced that they would not endorse Biden, alongside several local chapters of DSA, and YDSA.

LOCAL NEWS

• Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 2.3 million unemployment claims have been processed in the last four weeks. Many newly unemployed workers are struggling to access benefits as phone lines are overwhelmed during the daily four-hour window provided by the Employment Development Department. In response, state lawmakers have called to extend the hours. Other weaknesses in the system have also been exposed: California’s unemployment benefits have not kept up with inflation, and limited reserves mean that the state will likely have to borrow from the federal government to pay out the massive increase in claims. Starting Sunday, weekly benefits will increase by $600, funded by the federal stimulus relief package. However, the state has not yet been able to develop a mechanism for distributing benefits to the newly expanded pool of workers eligible for unemployment, which includes people who are self-employed, temporary workers, part-time workers, freelancers, contract workers, and gig economy workers.
• With coronavirus spreading at a San Diego detention center, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says it will review cases for release nationwide. This may be too little too late for some high-risk detainees who have been placed in close proximity to other potentially infected detainees due to an ICE practice known as “cohorting.” If one detainee in a unit tests positive for the virus, then all of the other detainees in that same unit become “cohorts” and are isolated together, which means that someone could avoid being infected by the initial positive carrier only to be placed together with others who are potentially contagious for two weeks. Then if another cohort tests positive, the clock is reset and the detainees must weather another 14-day period. Detainees say the practice of cohorting is particularly anxiety-inducing for those with conditions that make them susceptible to severe COVID-19 symptoms.
• California officials are looking at some measures to ease overcrowded prisons as more prison officials test positive for coronavirus. These potentially include 6-month early release for thousands of inmates, setting bail at zero for misdemeanor and lower-level felony offenses, and the expansion of video and phone use to ensure defendants are not held in custody without timely hearings.
• While the Bay Area has prohibited almost all residential and commercial construction, most of California is continuing with construction projects amid the pandemic, with Governor Gavin Newsom saying that a wide ban like in the state of New York is not necessary. Robbie Hunter, the head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which represents 460,000 workers and 60,000 apprentices, backed Newsom, saying “We are used to serious training for different scenarios — and we have applied everything we’ve got on this.” Despite their assurances, at least one worker has tested positive at the construction site for the SoFi Stadium, the future home of the NFL’s Chargers and Rams, and another is suspected positive. One worker said “If our safety was the most important thing, they wouldn’t have us out here,” while another said “Everyone is a little nervous, but we need the money.”
• “President Newsom” was briefly trending on Twitter this week, following an interview with Rachel Maddow in which the governor announced that California had procured a monthly supply of 200 million N95 respiratory and surgical masks through negotiations with “a consortium of nonprofits.” Newsom later announced that California was able to loan 500 ventilators to states that were desperately undersupplied due to COVID-19. This led to some controversy within the state, where some counties are still concerned about their lack of ventilators on hand during a week when California anticipates a potential surge of cases. “It did catch us off guard,” said Kevin Jeffries, Riverside County’s district supervisor. “Our request [for ventilators] through the state and feds have not been filled and our attempt to purchase them on the market has not been successful.”
• After arriving on March 27, the Mercy, a massive floating hospital “carrying 1,000 beds, a crew of 800, 12 operating rooms, labs, pharmacy, and radiological equipment,” has treated just 31 patients, none of whom are COVID-19 patients. According to its captain, this is by design, with the ship currently testing the system in place so that it can act as a release valve for local area hospitals should they begin to see a surge in coronavirus cases. If necessary, the ship may shift to treating only coronavirus patients.
• As programs that provided home health aides and other services have been forced to close by the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have had to start caring for severely disabled loved ones on their own. Caretakers for people with developmental disabilities are not specifically included in Newsom’s 14-page order enumerating who is and isn’t an essential worker. Students with disabilities— especially those in minority communities — have struggled similarly with a loss of their safety nets as an effect of district-wide school closures.
• Local officials are beginning a crackdown on those who violate the state’s stay-at-home order, with Los Angeles arresting and fining individuals and filing criminal charges against businesses that refuse to close. Amid worries that cases may begin to surge in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said that the city’s ability to manage the surge will depend on residents adhering to guidelines. The maximum penalty for a violation is a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
• A nonprofit named Shared Harvest — founded by doctors Nana Afoh-Manin, Joanne Moreau, and Briana DeCuir — launched a pop-up coronavirus testing site in Culver City last week to serve uninsured and underinsured residents of Los Angeles. Despite the high costs of testing, they plan to expand the service. “The only way we are going to make sure that no individuals are left behind is to get into the community, meet them where they are, and provide the services they need so that we can stop this virus,” said CEO Afoh-Manin.
• Coronavirus may exacerbate existing problems in the housing market in California, further driving up the cost of affordable housing, which in some counties has already reached the eye-popping sticker price of $1.1 million per unit. With over a million California residents recently having lost their jobs, the current 1.3 million shortfall in affordable housing units is likely to get even worse. Meanwhile, cities face a potentially devastating loss of tax revenue, which will leave them with even less money to finance affordable housing.
• April 1, for many, was the first time their rent was due since COVID-19 cost them their employment, leading to uncertainty for many who will struggle to afford their rent. This week a patchwork of efforts at the state and local level sought to address this. At the April 7 meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, Councilmember Mike Bonin put forth a motion that would reclassify rent as “consumer debt,” which would mean that unpaid rent, though it would still need to be repaid, could no longer lead to an eviction. The motion will be considered at a later meeting. At the county level, supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis proposed an emergency rent-assistance program for up to $1,000 a month for three months to renters affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The strongest protection for tenants happened at the state level, as the Judicial Council adopted an emergency court rule that effectively — though not literally — prevents all evictions until 90 days after the governor lifts the state of emergency. None of these measures offer rent forgiveness, and all would leave tenants responsible for repaying back rent at some later date when they will again be vulnerable to eviction. Meanwhile, landlords are finding various ways of strong-arming and deceiving tenants into paying rent.
• In an effort dubbed Project Roomkey, Los Angeles County officials will work with the state government and Federal Emergency Management Agency to utilize currently vacant hotel and motel rooms to house some of the county’s unhoused residents. Officials say that 1,340 beds will be available by next week. Their goal is to eventually reach 15,000, which would help just a quarter of the city’s 60,000 homeless, many of whom are considered highly vulnerable to the coronavirus. This effort is in conjunction with the city converting recreation centers into emergency shelters, with 563 beds installed at 13 locations so far.
• A federal judge excoriated Los Angeles officials after he found that over 80% of handwashing stations in Skid Row were without water, leaving its vulnerable population without one of the key defenses to contracting coronavirus. In response, Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to have the stations refilled daily. The Legal Aid Foundation has further argued that the 410 handwashing stations around Los Angeles are inadequate for meeting the public health crisis. Food supplies for the unhoused are also being jeopardized due to hoarding and the economic downturn, as staples become hard to get and food pantry operations are disrupted.
• California has issued its first fracking permits since July 2019, a move Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog criticized, saying, “With the entire state shut down and kids out of school, what purpose could approving these fracking permits have now other than to do a solid for the oil industry when no one is watching.”

ELECTIONS

• Senator Bernie Sanders has suspended his presidential campaign, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee and President Donald Trump’s general election opponent. While falling short of the nomination, Sanders had a transformative effect on national politics, raising vast sums of money exclusively through small-dollar donors and dramatically shifting the policy debate toward previously unthinkable initiatives such as Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and free public college and student debt forgiveness. Biden, in an attempt to win over the Sanders coalition, has recently announced proposals such as lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60 and means-tested student debt forgiveness.

LOCAL NEWS

• The coronavirus crisis has put strain and increased scrutiny on California’s prisons and jails, as an inmate and four employees at Los Angeles County jails have tested positive. Inmates at Men’s Central Jail say that hygiene supplies have run out and many inmates have resorted to using bed sheets as toilet paper. In response, 3,500 California inmates have been released statewide in an effort to decrease the prison population, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved an order for the County Public Health Department to review conditions in the prisons, with plans to release more inmates. Last week, roughly 10% of Los Angeles County’s inmate population was released. 
  
• Tracking of positive tests in each Los Angeles neighborhood reflects that the highest number of positive tests are in Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills, while South Los Angeles has noticeably fewer positives. Wealthy neighborhoods are getting better access to testing; clinics in poorer neighborhoods like Saint John’s Well Child and Family Center are only getting dozens of tests for a patient pool of thousands. Los Angeles is suffering from the same shortfall in coronavirus testing capability that is hampering efforts to combat the pandemic across the U.S. Major problems include testing sites lacking basic materials such as swabs and many hospitals having to send their tests offsite, which can cause days-long delays of results. The delay renders the data “relatively useless” to officials, because it means the data cannot be used to trace an infected person’s contacts to stop the spread. Los Angeles County’s coronavirus testing coordinator said the “failure was federal, state and local. We all failed.”
  
• Measures taken by California Governor Gavin Newsom to protect renters are so weak that even the L.A. Times Editorial Board has called his executive order “flimsy,” saying the so-called moratorium on evictions is really just a delay. Evictions can still be initiated now due to non-payment and then enforced after May 31. Furthermore, the onus is placed on renters to prove in writing that their non-payment is related to COVID-19, which could be particularly difficult for undocumented workers or micro-entrepreneurs, such as street vendors, who do not have traditional proof of income. All missed rent also must be repaid in full. Newsom has the power to prevent all evictions, but is choosing not to.
  
• In a marathon 11-hour City Council online Zoom meeting last Friday, the Los Angeles City Council passed a round of emergency measures intended to add protections for renters and workers at large businesses struggling during the pandemic. The city now requires businesses with over 500 employees to provide 80 hours of paid leave that workers can use to recover from COVID-19 or to care for their family. This category of employers had been exempted from the federal coronavirus sick leave bill signed into law on March 18. The council also passed a watered-down motion that expands the length of time renters can pay back rent that goes unpaid during the coronavirus outbreak — from the six months originally proposed by Mayor Eric Garcetti to a year. It should be noted that eight of the 15 councilmembers are disclosed rental property owners, some of whom even still voted to strengthen protections for renters. The eviction moratorium failed by one vote, with Paul Krekorian and Curren D. Price Jr. recusing themselves. Price owns more properties than any other councilmember, with 13 units. The moratorium as it stands now would put a halt to all evictions and late fees for tenants that are impacted by COVID-19, until the emergency declaration is lifted, including commercial tenants.
  
• L.A. Times beat reporters David Zahniser and Emily Alpert Reyes have outlined the wide-reaching extent of the federal investigation that brought the downfall of former councilmember Mitchell Englander. Englander admitting last week to having taken envelopes full of cash in casino bathrooms is merely the latest cartoonish example of public grift. Englander was accompanied by current councilmember John Lee on the trip where the cash was handed over, though Lee claims innocence. Councilmember Jose Huizar had his home raided by the FBI in 2018 in connection to a political fundraiser.
  
• Militancy is rising among California’s tenants as they are pushed to the brink of survival by the coronavirus crisis. While advocacy coalitions such as Healthy LA (which includes DSA-LA and other partners) are pushing elected officials to do more with policies such as rent freezes and rent forgiveness, people are taking matters into their own hands with rent strikes and the Reclaiming Our Homes movement. For answers to common questions about what to do if a tenant cannot pay rent or receives an eviction notice due to coronavirus, see here.
  
• Public transit routes are being reduced or suspended throughout Southern California due to coronavirus, and the Beverly Hills City Council and Metro are moving to speed up construction on the Purple Line subway extension during the lull in congestion. Metro has also expanded its Mobility on Demand program to cover trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, and medical facilities. 
  
• Power plant operator AES Corp. has finalized an agreement to sell 51 acres of Redondo Beach waterfront property to real estate developer Leo Pustilnikov, including a commitment to shut down the gas-fired power plant on the site by 2023. Redondo Beach officials and activists are pushing to shutter the plant this year, after years of debate over the fate of the power plant. State policy has mandated that coastal power plants either close or stop the destructive process of using ocean water for cooling, and AES Corp. had been scheduled to shut down the plant by the end of 2020. However, the California Public Utilities Commission proposed extending the closure deadline for four coastal power plants in November of 2019. Local officials are pressing the State Water Resources Control Board to reject the extension, with Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand commenting that “[the plant] emits tons of fine particulate emissions, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases every year it operates…there are 21,000 people living within one mile of the power plant.” Meeting the state’s target of 100% clean electricity by 2045 would likely require a total or near-total phaseout of gas. 

ELECTIONS

• Certified election results from the March 3 primary were released on March 27. Nithya Raman, who is a member of and endorsed by DSA-LA, will advance to a runoff with incumbent David Ryu for the Los Angeles City Council’s Fourth District; DSA-LA member and school board incumbent Jackie Goldberg was victorious with 58% of the vote in L.A. Unified District 5; and Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey will compete in a runoff against former San Francisco D.A. George Gascon.