Month: May 2023

Thorn West: Issue No. 157

State Politics

• The California Reparations Task Force released a historic report this week, which proposed a method of calculating how much the state owes to Black Californians for a variety of harms including over-policing and housing discrimination. In his response, Governor Gavin Newsom was noncommittal on support for reparations in the form of cash payments. The Task Force is due to complete work in July.

City Politics

• A coalition of activist groups is advocating for implementing a democracy vouchers program in Los Angeles. Vouchers would be issued to all Angelenos regardless of income; once pledged to a candidate for office, they could be redeemed for campaign funding. A motion to study democracy vouchers was introduced by councilmembers Nithya Raman and Marqueece Harris-Dawson this past March.

• Kevin de León’s presence at Los Angeles City Hall took another step toward normalization, as last Friday the disgraced councilmember was permitted to deliver a Cinco de Mayo presentation; many city councilmembers left the floor as he spoke. A protester was arrested following the provoked public outcry.

Labor

• The Writers Guild of America strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is ongoing. For schedules and locations of picket lines, see here. Joining is easy! DSA-LA and several of our electeds will be at Warner Brothers on Monday. This week President Biden expressed support for a “fair deal” for writers, after both Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom called for “both sides” to come to the table. Law enforcement has also expressed anti-solidarity, warning the public against “excessive honking” in support of striking workers.

Housing Rights

• The Ellis Act, a state law which allows landlords to evict tenants without cause provided they take the units off the market, is being used to evict hundreds of tenants from Barrington Towers in West LA — one of the largest mass evictions in state history.

• A new policy paper looks at the way a municipal public bank in Los Angeles could bolster the city’s affordable housing stock.

Transportation

• A report from Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) and the Alliance for Community Transit (ACT-LA) makes the case for universal fareless public transit across Los Angeles.

Environmental Justice

• After widespread pushback from residents of the San Joaquin Valley, Governor Newsom has restored $40 million in funding for floodplain restoration. An El Niño weather pattern is widely predicted for the upcoming year; this would put the area at an increased risk of flooding.

• In a 5 – 4 decision, the US Supreme Court narrowly sided with California voters, who voted in 2018 to ban the sale of meat and egg products from farms that did not meet animal welfare standards.

Thorn West: Issue No. 156

City Politics

• The Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance Committee wrapped up two weeks of hearings with a presentation from the People’s Budget LA coalition that began by calling out “eleven LAPD officers doing nothing” in the lobby of City Hall. A revised draft of the budget will now move on to the full council for deliberation.

Labor

• The Writers Guild of America has gone on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Stakes for writers are high, as the job is becoming one that doesn’t provide a sustainable living, and the two sides were still far apart in contract negotiations. Jacobin covers in further detail. Picket lines are ongoing, and DSA-LA is rallying members to support any way they can.

Anti-Gentrification

• In Compton, community members are fundraising to purchase the Compton Community Garden, which will otherwise be purchased for redevelopment. LA Public Press covers.

• DSA-LA joined with United Teachers LA, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, and Reclaim Our Schools LA to rally against a proposed zoning waiver that would allow a charter school to be built on vacant land owned by LAUSD.

Transportation

• In Culver City, a newly installed council has voted to roll back parts of MOVE Culver City, the highly successful road redesign that reallocated space away from cars and toward buses, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Reporting in the LA Times covers the deposition of a whistleblower from within the LAPD SWAT Unit, alleging a deeply ingrained culture of corruption and violence controlled by an inner circle of officers known as the “SWAT Mafia.”

Environmental Justice

• In a lawsuit filed this week, environmental groups argue that the California Public Utilities Commission acted illegally when it slashed compensation payments for power generated by solar panels. 

• Grist explains state Senate Bill 233, which mandates that all electric vehicles be equipped with bidirectional hardware. Bidirectional charging allows the power in vehicle batteries to be rolled back into the grid itself to bolster grid reliability.