Month: October 2021

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.

State Politics

• Governor Newsom has vetoed the Freedom to Walk Act, which would have removed the penalty for safe jaywalking. CalMatters provides a roundup of Newsom’s “year in vetoes.” A two-thirds vote in both houses of legislature would override any veto, but even with the current Democratic supermajority, no veto has been overturned since 1979.

City Politics

• In surprising news, Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted and now faces federal corruption charges related to his relationship with the University of Southern California. Ridley-Thomas is the third LA Councilmember to be indicted on corruption charges in the past two years. LA Podcast has thorough coverage.

• The LA City Council Redistricting Commission’s attempt to unseat Councilmember Nithya Raman has become national news, with a multi-part opinion piece in the New York Times. This week Raman replaced her delegate on the commission with former councilmember and current LAUSD boardmember Jackie Goldberg. The final public hearing of the proposed map is tomorrow morning at 10am. See here for a toolkit for submitting written and public comment.

• The DSA-LA annual convention is tomorrow! More details here.

Labor

• The United Nurses Associations of California and Union of Health Care Professionals voted 96% in favor of authorizing a strike against Kaiser Permanente. CalMatters has more on this, as well as the potential of the coming #striketober to empower California healthcare workers across the system.

• Newsom has signed SB 62, which bans piece rate pay for garment workers. It will go into effect January 1. The bill also expands liability for wage theft in the garment industry.

• The Port of Los Angeles will now enter round-the-clock production, in order to clear a backlog of cargo ships. This was first announced in a statement released by President Joe Biden.

Environmental Justice

• An analysis conducted by Grist and Capital & Main demonstrates the racial disparities in community exposure to oil drilling across California, a state which does not regulate “buffer zones” between residential areas and drilling sites.

• Southern California’s fall wildfire season has begun, as the Alisal Fire has burned across 13,400 acres in Santa Barbara.

• California Attorney General Rob Bonta has launched an investigation into the Huntington Beach oil spill.