Month: December 2024

Thorn West: Issue No. 222

City Politics

• LAist talks with incoming (DSA-LA-endorsed councilmember Ysabel Jurado about her vision for CD 14. Conversely, Streetsblog LA covers the last day of outgoing CD14 councilmember Kevin de León. 

• The office of City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto has elected to press charges against several dozen activists who were arrested while blocking traffic on the 110 Freeway, to demand an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

• A report from the CAO updates the city’s worsening budget problem.

Health Care

• The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health launched the Medical Debt Relief Program. The program enables the county to purchase $500 million of qualifying county residents’ medical debt, at a fraction of its cost. The debt is then automatically forgiven.
• Governor Newsom has declared a state of emergency to combat the spread of bird flu, following several confirmed cases across the state.

Labor

• LAUSD school principals have voted to join the Teamsters union. The result of the election is seen as a rebuke of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho who has pushed to cut administrative jobs and increase principal workloads.

Housing Rights

• LA Public Press projects the various ways that an incoming Trump administration could disrupt housing and homelessness policy in Los Angeles.

• The city’s Board of Transportation Commissioners has voted not to transfer a city parking lot in Venice, which is planned for use by a low income housing project. City Council can vote to override the decision. A lawsuit against the city alleges that officials, including City Attorney Feldstein Soto and Councilmember Traci Park, have colluded to sabotage the project.

Transportation

• The incoming Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funding to the long-planned high speed rail project connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Incarceration

• CalMatters places Proposition 36, which will result in more people being incarcerated in the California prison system, in the context of the state’s obscenely high number of inmate deaths.

• Last week, the LA County Probation Department announced that it will not comply with a state order to close the understaffed and unsafe Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. This week the Board of Supervisors later voted 4–1 to declare a state of emergency in a last-ditch effort to keep the dysfunctional facility open.

Environmental Justice

• The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to California’s vehicle emission standards – which are more strict than the federal standard – leaving them in place for now.

• Demands to close the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility have thundered since it was the site of the largest methane leak in U.S. history, nine years ago. Despite public outrage, today the California Public Utilities Commission voted to delay the closure indefinitely, until such time as the demand for natural gas has dropped.

Thorn West: Issue No. 221

State Politics

• A new state legislative session has begun. Both houses have adopted new rules that reduce the amount of bills a member may introduce: from from 50 to 35 in the Assembly and from 40 to 35 in the Senate.

• Though Republicans gained a few seats in the state legislature, Democrats have maintained their supermajority in both houses.

• Several close House races across California have finally been called, with the results favoring Democratic Party candidates. The final split in the House of Representatives will be 220-215 in favor of Republicans.

• The special legislative session called for by Governor Newsom to “Trump-proof” California met for the first time this week. So far, it has introduced legislation to set aside $25 million for potential legislation against the Trump administration (a move which does not require that the legislature be called).

City Politics

• This Saturday, several of DSA-LA’s successfully endorsed candidates for local office will sit with DSA-LA members running for organizational leadership in 2025 for a panel discussion on “what our roadmap to a Los Angeles for the working class looks like in the year ahead.” Click here to find out more or to RSVP (note that this event is only open to DSA-LA members in good standing).

Labor

• Starbucks Workers United is entering a critical phase in contract negotiations, and is organizing solidarity flyering events nationwide. In Los Angeles, DSA-LA is organizing a flyering event on Sunday, December 15, at 2 pm, at the Starbucks at 3785 Wilshire Boulevard. (For more info, email:  labor@dsa-la.org)

Immigration

• StreetsblogLA goes into depth on LA’s new “sanctuary city” ordinance, placing it in the context of the attempts to implement such a law, which have run into the LAPD’s unwillingness to be democratically controlled. The final version of the ordinance was put into effect by a unanimous City Council vote this week.

• Though both the city and state have announced intentions to fight the Trump administration’s stated intention to conduct dystopian levels of deportations, there may be no way to stop the planned construction of a new detention facility that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to build in the state.

NOlympics

• Outgoing City Council President Paul Krekorian has been appointed to lead LA’s newly created “Office of Major Events,” which will oversee, among other things, the Olympic Games in 2028. More from Torched.

• The LA Metro Board has sent a letter to incoming President Trump, asking him to set aside $3.2 billion to fund transportation projects, specifically in support of the Olympics.

Local Media

• A former editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times explains the motive for his recent resignation: the ongoing heavy-handed interference of the paper’s billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, on behalf of the hard right Trump coalition.

Environmental Justice

• LA Public Press spoke with several local experts on the potential impact of a Trump administration on the city and state’s climate policy.