Month: November 2020

Housing Justice

• A group of housing reclaimers who were occupying vacant, publicly-owned homes in the Los Angeles neighborhood of El Sereno were forcibly evicted by California Highway Patrol officers the night before the Thanksgiving holiday. The homes were acquired by Caltrans as the planned site of a highway extension that never materialized, and stood empty for years before recently being reclaimed by housing insecure families. At a press conference earlier in the day, Reclaim and Rebuild our Community addressed Governor Newsom, asking that the evictions be called off so that families could remain safely at home during the pandemic. Their press release is here. A rapidly mobilized response, organized in part by Street Watch LA, Ktown for All, and DSA-LA, drew many activists who were successful in partially disrupting the evictions and documenting the militarized enforcement of the eviction notice by CHP. Nonetheless, all of the RROC reclaimers have now been evicted, while Caltrans is still preventing 170 vacant homes in this corridor from being available for use. Governor Newsom, who has the power to have this housing released into a public trust, has yet to reply.

• As announced, Los Angeles City Council did not and will not vote on the proposed amendment to the municipal code that imposed blanket bans on “sitting and sleeping” in many public spaces. Instead, councilmembers had an open discussion about issues related to the unhoused. The City Council discussed their slow progress in increasing the supply of affordable housing, as well as their perceived need to increase encampment sweeps so that, in the future, communities will be more willing to allow supportive facilities and affordable housing to be built in their neighborhoods. Council President Nury Martinez then sent the motion back to the Homelessness and Poverty Committee for further discussion, with the explicit goal of returning a revised amendment.

• Councilmember Gil Cedillo has proposed that the city purchase the Hillside Villa Apartments. The apartment complex was in a 30-year covenant with the city to provide affordable housing. Upon the covenant’s expiration last year, the building’s owner sought to impose massive rent increases that would force many tenants out of their homes.

Police Divestment

• Amid widespread anxiety over potential furloughs within the city government as well as calls for reductions to police budgets, the LAPD’s proposed new budget increases its operating budget by $100 million.

Election Fallout

• A week of protests outside Mayor Garcetti’s house have been organized by Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles, using the hashtag #blockgarcetti, with the intention of voicing the objections of Angelenos to the mayor being given a position in the incoming Biden administration.

Housing Justice

• As announced by council president Nury Martinez Friday, the council will not vote on the municipal code amendment that would ban “sitting, sleeping, or lying down” within 500 feet of a shelter or supportive services facility, further criminalizing homelessness. Public backlash to the amendment took the form of public comments at the Homelessness and Poverty Committee meeting, and protests held outside the homes of councilmembers. Originally scheduled for a hearing in October, the vote was postponed to November 24 before apparently being cancelled entirely. Public resistance seems to have been instrumental in preventing council from implementing a brutal law that several councilmembers wanted. In announcing this move on Twitter, Martinez said that instead of voting on this ordinance, council will “continue to discuss homelessness on our city streets and work towards solving our unhoused crisis.”

• L.A. Taco updates the efforts of the community group Downtown Crenshaw to purchase Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. The shopping center was earlier to be sold to CIM Group, outside developers who planned to redevelop the mall as “creative office space.” They stepped aside following community opposition. Since then, Downtown Crenshaw has continued trying to purchase the site, to maintain community control over the neighborhood landmark, and to make sure that plans to repurpose the site include affordable housing. However, after the latest round of bidding, the mall is scheduled to be sold to a second outside developer.

• Reporting in the LA Times uncovers how “crime-free housing policies,” designed to encourage evictions of tenants who have had encounters with law enforcement, and developed in concert with police departments in municipalities across California, are thinly veiled attempts to discriminate against Black and Latinx renters.

Coronavirus Relief

• Though Covid infection rates are rising, several economic relief programs instituted at the beginning of quarantine are due to expire this month.

Election Results

• Following the narrow defeat of Proposition 15, which DSA-LA endorsed, Capital & Main provides a brief analysis of the campaign.

• Incoming District Attorney George Gascón has announced his transition team and, on Twitter, one journalist covering criminal justice in Los Angeles sees promising signs that Gascón will pursue criminal justice reform.

Post-election Roundup

• Black Lives Matter Los Angeles led the opposition to Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, both in the streets and at the ballot box, and this committed opposition was instrumental in her electoral defeat last Tuesday by George Gascón. This Monday, in a meeting organized by BLM-LA, Gascón met with family members of people shot by police. Though many celebrated Gascón’s victory, most recognized the need for continued vigilance in activist oversight of the office, even under a new, more progressive administration. Melina Abdullah, a founder of BLM-LA, said to Gascón, “This is a great first step, but we also want to make it very clear that we plan to hold you accountable.”

• In national media this week, a rash of articles deal with the potential fallout from the passage of California’s Proposition 22, which strips worker protections from Lyft and Uber drivers, as well as other workers in the gig economy. Lyft and Uber CEOs are feeling exuberant after their victory, and have spoken of taking the law “nationwide.”

• The advocacy of the Re-Imagine LA coalition was successful in passing Measure J, a county-wide measure that mandates 10% of the general fund be set aside for alternatives to incarceration. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took the next step toward implementation.

• The board also voted 3–2 in favor of exploring options to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva from office, in response to Villanueva’s unceasing onslaught of deeply antisocial behavior. “Options” include impeachment, altering the state constitution or county charter, or simply limiting the duties of the office legislatively. Meanwhile, a similar proposal within the Los Angeles Democratic Party, which would officially call for Villanueva’s resignation, fell short of the 60% approval threshold. Instead, the party issued a strongly worded request that the sheriff try harder.

• The LA Times envisions the possibilities for a second stimulus bill under a Biden administration, with Republicans still plausibly retaining control of the Senate. Meanwhile, CalMatters examines the debilitated state of California’s unemployment protection program.

• More post-election speculation, as a treat: LAist tries to imagine what it might mean for the state to have a vice president emerge from California politics. Others make predictions for whom Governor Newsom will appoint to fill Harris’ Senate seat.

• DSA-LA congratulates Nithya Raman on her incredible campaign victory! Here’s an account, from a voice within her campaign, of why Raman was able to succeed in a city in which incumbent councilmembers are extremely difficult to unseat. It also presents a great diagnosis of the dire state of Los Angeles news media, and the emerging alternatives.

• Speaking of emerging alternative media, here is an article that ran in KNOCK.LA that asks what’s next after the election.