The Thorn West

Issue No. 105 – April 15, 2022

City Politics

• Several candidates for Los Angeles mayor, including Gina Viola and Alex Gruenenfelder, held a rally to protest their exclusion from a May 1 debate being held at Cal State LA. The exclusion is especially egregious given that the most recent poll, released this week, has Viola favored over Councilmember Joe Buscaino.

Labor

• In March, workers at a Starbucks location in Little Tokyo became the latest to announce their intent to unionize. This Saturday, DSA-LA Labor Committee and Central Branch are rallying members to show up in support.

• Two weeks after voting to authorize a strike, Southern California members of United Food and Commercial Workers have voted to authorize a new contract with Kroger and Albertsons. The new contract wins workers at these stores the largest wages they’ve seen in decades, and is more than double what the chains were offering before the strike vote.

• The assistant chief counsel for California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing resigned in protest this week, alleging that Governor Newsom’s office had improperly interfered with a discrimination suit against Activision Blizzard Inc.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• A study commissioned by the Board of Supervisors indicates that the county policy of zero-dollar cash bail, instituted as a pandemic measure, has not had any impact on crime rates, and, per Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, may “safely remain in place.” Knock LA covers.

• Citing poor recruitment numbers, Los Angeles Police Commissioner Michel Moore has floated the idea of officially requesting landlords provide free or subsidized apartments to cadets.

Environmental Justice

• Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to pay more than $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for last year’s Dixie Fire and the 2019 Kincade Fire. 

• Two years ago, Governor Newsom launched the California Vegetation Treatment Program to fast-track wildfire mitigation efforts. CapRadio investigates the reasons that program hasn’t yet been able to complete a single project.

• California’s Air Resources Board, the state’s clean-air regulators, unveiled a proposal requiring a ramp-up in sales of zero-emission cars, culminating in a ban on new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. If adopted, the regulations would be the first in the world and could pave the way for nationwide standards.

Thorn West: Issue No. 104

City Politics

• Los Angeles City Hall will finally reopen to the public, starting May 4. This announcement comes one week after City Council President Nury Martinez acknowledged that the delay in reopening was due to anxiety over an “angry electorate.”

Housing Rights

• The City of Los Angeles has settled a lawsuit brought by LA Alliance, a coalition of downtown LA businesses and landlords that seeks to compel the city and county to conduct encampment sweeps in Skid Row. The city agreed to commit approximately $3 billion to produce enough shelter beds or housing units for 60% of the city’s unhoused population, while maintaining that the county is responsible for the other 40%. The county has pulled out of settlement negotiations.

• Last Friday, Los Angeles City Council passed a motion authored by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell calling for a report back on the city’s contract with the County Department of Health. The motion calls for more oversight of the county’s provision of medical services to unhoused Angelenos.

• Long-term tenants of the homes in the abandoned 710 corridor in El Sereno are demanding to be prioritized as purchasers now that Caltrans is selling the properties. Tenants are being prioritized where the corridor passes through Pasadena and South Pasadena.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• A superior court judge has ruled that Sheriff Alex Villanueva must comply with a subpoena issued by Inspector General Max Huntsman compelling him to testify about deputy gangs within his department.

• Knock LA held a forum for candidates for Los Angeles County Sheriff. Villanueva did not attend, but those who did answered serious questions about deputy gangs and deputy violence. Video here.

• Also in Knock LA: coverage of a political battle in West Hollywood, where concerns over fraud and waste in the city’s contract with the Sheriff’s Department have fueled a movement to divert a significant portion of the city’s law enforcement budget to social services.

Labor

• Last week, members of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 48,000 workers in Southern California and is renegotiating its contract with Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Ralphs, voted to authorize a strike. This week they have appeared to come to a tentative agreement. Details will not be released until after the contract authorization vote. The union was seeking wage increases.

• Did you know there’s a Thorn in NYC? And that it’s actually the original Thorn? Food for thought if you are interested in tracking the historic vote to unionize at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island.

Environmental Justice

• On a day of record-breaking temperatures, four members of a scientist-led organized day of worldwide protest chained themselves to a downtown JP Morgan Chase bank on Wednesday, demanding the bank divest from the fossil fuel industry. They were met with an overwhelming force of LAPD officers in riot gear.

• California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office released a series of reports detailing the devastating impact climate change will have on California: “Climate change could alter everything, and spare no one in California, so legislators should consider preparing for sweeping impacts.” Reports collected here.

• The city plans to expand its pilot program for curbside food scrap collection to 40,000 households this summer — and 750,000 households next year — putting their food scraps in green bins instead of the trash so they can be composted instead of sent to a landfill.

Thorn West: Issue No. 103

State Politics

• Most Californian tenants are again exposed to pre-pandemic eviction protections following the close of applications for the Housing Is Key rental assistance program and the expiration of the state’s eviction moratorium. The legislature did pass AB 2179, emergency legislation that extends the moratorium until June 30, but only for tenants who applied for rental assistance before the deadline and are still waiting on resolution from the backlogged program. AB 2179 also prevents municipalities from passing additional, stronger protections, and strips many that were already in place, including in Los Angeles County. It is supported by landlord lobbyist groups such as the California Apartments Association.

• The nine-person advisory task force assembled to craft a potential statewide policy on reparations voted 5–4 to limit benefits to those who can demonstrate a direct lineage to enslaved ancestors.

City Politics

• Los Angeles County has begun taking applications for “Breathe,” its guaranteed income pilot program. Those accepted into the program will receive $1,000 a month for three years.

Housing Rights

• After a six-month-long tenant-led campaign, the Pasadena Tenant Justice Coalition is celebrating the submission of over 15,000 signatures in support of amending the city charter to guarantee rent control and stronger eviction protections for Pasadena tenants; 13,366 signatures were needed to put the amendment on the November 2022 ballot.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Knock LA is hosting a candidate forum for Los Angeles County Sheriff, moderated by Cerise Castle, this Tuesday, April 5.

Labor

• Many celebrities crossed a picket line to attend a post-Oscars party thrown by Jay-Z at the Chateau Marmont. Unite Here Local 11 has been calling for a boycott of the hotel since it laid off most of its workforce two years ago, and two former employees have since filed a lawsuit alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Environmental Justice

• State regulators entered a South LA oil drilling site with a warrant and bolt cutters after being unable to schedule an inspection. “It demonstrates that the state oil and gas regulator is willing to take actions that would assist in protecting the health of the community,” said Hugo García, campaign coordinator with social justice nonprofit Esperanza Community Housing Corporation.

• Governor Gavin Newsom ordered water suppliers across California to step up their local drought responses, but fell short of requiring water rationing or setting a statewide conservation target.

• With drought conditions leaving California vulnerable to a dangerous wildfire season, the state auditor reported that officials are failing to hold electric utilities accountable for their equipment failures.

Issue No. 102 – March 25, 2022

City Politics

• Another mayoral debate was interrupted by protests from a coalition of activists. The action took a similar form as the protest two weeks ago at Loyola Marymount University, with each candidate being heckled in turn, to express that none of the candidates on stage offer humane platforms on homelessness or policing. There are mayoral candidates with more progressive platforms, but they have yet to be invited to any of these debates due to the importance of meeting preconceived thresholds of support.

• A court had issued a restraining order barring former council president Herb Wesson from serving as interim councilmember in CD10 while Mark Ridley-Thomas faces federal corruption charges, as Wesson has already termed out. Last week that ruling was set aside.

• On March 30, Knock LA is co-hosting a forum for the candidates for Los Angeles City Attorney.

Housing Rights

• On the anniversary of the police displacement of the encampment at Echo Park Lake, the Echo Park Research Collective has released a report that tells the story of the encampment, the eviction, and its aftermath, relying on first-person accounts from the people who lived there. Most prominently, the report drives a final stake through the heart of Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell’s repeated claims that the displaced residents of the encampment were provided “housing” by the city. For this and much more, read the report here. Coverage here.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• L.A. Taco covers: The city has used half of the funding received under the American Rescue Plan Act on LAPD payroll — $317 million. The city did not disclose this in its public-facing records on how ARPA funds were being spent, and this information was only revealed by a records request from candidate for comptroller Kenneth Mejia.

• The Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission is launching a seemingly large-scale investigation into deputy gangs in the Sheriff’s Department. Earlier this week, a letter sent to the Sheriff by Inspector General Max Huntsman indicated that there are 41 known gang members in the department.

Transportation

• Governor Gavin Newsom has finally unveiled the details of his plan to respond to high gas prices. Included is a $400 payment for car owners ($800 if you own two cars), a pause on increasing the gas tax, and $750 million in grants toward suspending fares for public transportation. Streetsblog LA critiques: “It’s a mess.”

• Investing in Place tries to figure out how Metro fell so far short of ambitious goals, stated in 2020, to expand LA-area bus service.

Environmental Justice

• The State Water Resources Control Board announced it was sending letters to farms and cities that draw water from California’s rivers, warning them to prepare for mandatory cutbacks. Similar curtailments were also put in place in 2021, but not until late August.

• This week, California proposed lowering the standard for hexavalent chromium, the “Erin Brockovich chemical,” to ten parts per billion in drinking water. While even lower would be better, the costs of cleanup in cities where the water routinely tests at three times that rate are onerous.

Issue No. 101 – March 18, 2022

State Politics

• In response to rising gas prices, some state legislators have now proposed sending a $400 rebate to every California taxpayer (not just drivers). Curbed LA promotes a more impactful approach: a federal buyback of gas-powered cars.

City Politics

• With petition numbers now finalized, it’s clear that DSA-endorsed candidate Eunisses Hernandez will be incumbent Gil Cedillo’s only challenger on the ballot in Council District 1. This means the primary on June 7 will decide the winner.

• LA Podcast’s newsletter highlights a particularly substantive mayoral debate from last week, organized by the Los Angeles Provider Alliance to End Homelessness.

• Knock LA talks with “The Defenders of Justice,” a slate of public defenders running for judgeships in the Superior Court of LA County.

• Cat Packer, the head of Los Angeles’ Department of Cannabis Regulation, resigned last week. Packer had been battling the city for more personnel in the department, which has struggled to process licenses in a timely fashion. The city’s licensing program prioritizes social equity applicants who have had undue exposure to the criminal justice system, many of whom have been left on the hook leasing storefront space they cannot use.

Housing Rights

• Housing Is Key Rental Assistance Program, a fund that helps pay off back rent for Californians affected by COVID, will be closing for new applications on March 31 at 5 PM. (Apply here.) The program has so far struggled to disburse its funds to tenants in need.

• A planned sweep displaced an encampment at Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo this week. Councilmember and mayoral candidate Kevin de León, who ordered the sweep, embraced the full Orwellian playbook, conflating temporary shelter with “housing,” while demonizing on-the-ground activists as “agitators.” Disgraceful.

Labor

• A second Starbucks location in Los Angeles has announced an intent to unionize, and DSA-LA is organizing its members in support.

Environmental Justice

• Despite a drought emergency being declared and the state pleading to cut back water usage, ​​Californians used 2.6% more water in January 2022 compared to January 2020. Newsom has yet to issue a mandatory conservation order.

• California legislators have been given a “D” grade for their actions (or lack thereof) in 2021. EnviroVoters — an environmental group that has been evaluating politicians’ voting records, budgets, and policies since 1973 — gave California its lowest marks ever, writing that “state legislators are taking money from fossil fuel companies and dragging their feet on climate action.”

Issue No. 100 – March 11, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom has suggested pausing a scheduled increase in the gas tax as a response to soaring gas prices, but legislators warned this would harm the state’s ability to maintain roads. During Tuesday’s State of the State Address, he shifted focus to a proposed gas rebate that would be paid to California’s car owners. (Biking in LA addresses the unfairness of that.) Newsom also resisted calls to increase oil drilling in the state.

City Politics

• Across several races, Los Angeles’ political incumbents have, predictably, begun trying to leverage the crisis in Ukraine to score points against any challengers who are supported by the DSA (whose calls for peace in the region they deride as utopian). If you would like to learn what the left actually stands for regarding Ukraine, join the DSA’s panel this Sunday at 2pm, where you’ll hear from Ukrainians and other folks with ties to the region. The panel will be followed by a hybrid in-person/online fundraiser for civilian relief and refugee support efforts.

• A great resource from UnrigLA on Twitter: a calendar of all upcoming Los Angeles candidate debates.

Labor

• Writers for animated TV shows are arbitrarily paid far less than their counterparts in live action television. With contract negotiations underway with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Animation Guild is pushing for fair compensation using the hashtag #Rally4Animation. The guild is holding an in-person rally on March 20 (with DSA Hollywood Labor support).

Housing Rights

• Streetwatch LA and J-Town Action are rallying in opposition to another displacement of an encampment — and the fencing off of more public space — this time at Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo. Petition here.

• The Homelessness and Poverty Committee unanimously approved a motion for the city to purchase from Caltrans many of the vacant homes along the abandoned planned 710 freeway extension for development as housing. These are the same homes that were occupied by the Reclaiming Our Homes movement before a police eviction conducted over Thanksgiving in 2020.

Education

• The Los Angeles Unified School District released its Second Interim Financial Report this week, showing $2.8 billion in unspent reserves and a projected year-end reserve of over $3 billion, even as the Superintendent’s office is currently proposing to close a number of schools.

Environmental Justice

• The Biden administration has restored California’s authority to set emissions rules for cars and SUVs that are tougher than federal standards, reversing a Trump administration policy. 

• The Environmental Science and Technology Letters published a study on Wednesday that showed a correlation between past redlining and current air pollution in communities such as Boyle Heights.

Los Angeles Media

• Happy 100 issues of Thorn West! We are always looking for new writers, new sources, new friends, as well as new ideas for longer-form content. Email us at dsalathornwest@gmail.com.

Issue No. 99 – March 4, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom’s new homelessness plan, called CARE Court, empowers the courts to forcibly compel unhoused people with mental health or drug addiction issues into treatment. “Subjecting unhoused people to forced treatment is extremely draconian,” said one critic from the ACLU. “It’s morally wrong.” Mayor Garcetti has already expressed gushing support for the plan, which will need the approval of the legislature.

Coronavirus and Relief

• Los Angeles County is one of several California counties that have magically had their risk of COVID infection set to “low,” thanks to new guidelines from the CDC that weight hospitalizations more heavily than infections. Today the county dropped its indoor mask mandate, though masks are still “strongly recommended.” CalMatters speaks with immunocompromised people who have been left behind by the rushed return to “normalcy.”

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• The Los Angeles Police Commission approved reforms that prohibit officers from making “pretextual stops” for minor offenses without first recording on bodycam why they believe a more serious crime may have been committed. The policy has been called “the middle ground” by LAPD officials and has drawn criticism from activists for its loopholes.

Transportation

• Knock LA wants Angelenos to know about the city’s Metro Micro pilot program, a $1 rideshare program currently being tried out in a few areas around the city.

Education

• LAUSD officials have presented plans to displace the students at Orville Wright Middle School STEAM Magnet, in Westchester, to make way for a charter school. They also plan to close Pio Pico Middle School in the Mid-City area, where students are 90 percent Latine, and over the past five years the share of the student body qualifying for free and reduced-price meals has increased from 75% to 90%.
• LAUSD has committed to installing solar panels on 30 schools by 2027, and on another 50-to-70 more schools by 2030. With enough available roof space for solar panels to meet the LAUSD’s power needs and then some, the program is a potential revenue earner for LA’s public school system — but has fallen behind schedule. Plan details here.

Environmental Justice

• After the driest consecutive January and February in the Sierra in recorded state history, the statewide snowpack has dropped from 160% of normal to 63%. LAist covers the season’s wild weather swings.

Issue No. 98 – February 25, 2022

State Politics

• SB 972, introduced by State Senator Lorena Gonzalez, makes it simpler and more affordable for street vendors to obtain permits, a process that is effectively impossible to complete as currently designed. LA Times coverage in Spanish here.

City Politics

• Five candidates for Los Angeles mayor participated in a debate at Loyola Marymount University this week, presenting five versions of the same uninspiring platform on policing and homelessness. Protesters loudly heckled all candidates. Knock-LA covers. Video here.

• Writing in LA Progressive, Melina Abdullah and Patrisse Cullors lament Karen Bass’ pivot to the right as a mayoral candidate and express hope for a return to form.

• On Tuesday, the City Council voted to approve former Councilmember Herb Wesson as interim replacement for Mark Ridley-Thomas, whom they previously voted to suspend while he faces corruption charges. On Thursday, a judge blocked the appointment on the grounds that Wesson has already hit the term limit. CD10 remains without representation.

Education

• On Thursday, new LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho released a “100-Day Plan” for his project to reform the district. Absent from all of the reporting on the plan is any mention of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), or the union’s struggle to reduce class size. On this vital question, all Superintendent Carvalho says is that LAUSD will study “the effects of reducing class-size on academic achievement.”

• The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor voted on school board endorsements on Thursday, voting to endorse Maria Brenes for Board District 2 over UTLA’s endorsed candidate Rocío Rivas, and to endorse Nick Melvoin in BD4, over UTLA’s objections.

Labor

• CalMatters diagrams a rift within California labor over “just transition” plans as fossil fuel production within the state is being phased out.

Housing Rights

• A motion from Councilmember Mike Bonin making it easier to open a shelter for people experiencing homelessness without requiring a lengthy application process has advanced out of committee.

• State housing regulators rejected Los Angeles’ Housing Element for failing to expand the city’s zoning capacity to meet state mandated housing and affordable housing targets on a fast enough timeline. Hundreds of millions of dollars in housing grants are at stake.

• A discrimination lawsuit has been filed against real estate company K3 Holdings LLC by a group of tenants organized in part by the K3 Tenants Council. Coverage on Univision and ABC7. Details about the campaign against K3 Holdings can be found at K3TC.org.

Environmental Justice

• Local activists have filmed construction proceeding illegally on a build site that citizen journalists discovered, earlier this year, was known to be contaminated.

• State regulators have hand-waved aside a study exposing the likely ineffectiveness of California’s “cap-and-trade” program at restraining polluters.

• This week’s Boiling Point column in the LA Times lists all the climate legislation eligible for movement in the current state legislative session.

Issue No. 97 – February 18, 2022

STATE POLITICS

• California’s mask mandate for vaccinated people was lifted on Wednesday, though it remains in effect for the time being in LA County. On Thursday Governor Newsom announced S.M.A.R.T.E.R, the “next phase” of California’s COVID response strategy. His repeated reference to an “endemic” era suggests that the plan is to raise the threshold that would trigger any state action while accepting some level of infection and death as inevitable. The state of emergency does remain in effect.
• The first of many attempts at billionaire-funded recall petitions has succeeded in San Francisco, where three members of the school board were just recalled. A ballot measure this June will allow that city to vote to restrict the window of recalls, prohibiting them in the first 12 months of a term or when there are less than 12 months until the next election.

CITY POLITICS

• Early polls in the mayoral race show a lot of undecided voters, but Representative Karen Bass nevertheless has a commanding lead.
• The filing deadline for the 2022 elections has closed. Activist Gina Viola announced her candidacy at the wire, and with Karen Bass promising to increase police budgets as mayor, Viola is one of few candidates committed to decreasing the role of armed police in public safety.
• CD 10 has been without representation on the city council since Mark Ridley-Thomas was suspended in October of last year. This week, Council President Nury Martinez introduced a motion to appoint former councilmember Herb Wesson, aand political ally, to fill the seat on an interim basis.

HOUSING

• The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is scheduled for next week. Care+ sweeps will be suspended for three days but are still being conducted this week, potentially skewing the data.

TRANSPORTATION

• Metro service cuts, forced by staffing shortages, go into effect starting Sunday. Details on which lines will be affected here.

CLIMATE

• After record-setting storms in October and then December, the past six weeks — usually among the wettest months in California — have seen precipitation totals plateau.
• California’s emissions reduction targets are slipping out of reach, due to over reliance on marketplace solutions that allow companies to pay to emit greenhouse gases. A recent report notes the unsustainable amount of carbon credits that have already been banked.

Issue No. 95 – February 11, 2022

State Politics

• In CalMatters, an autopsy for AB 854, the tenant protection bill authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee that was held from a vote last Monday. Said one tenants rights activist: “Why would they listen to us when we don’t give them any money […] but the Apartment Association is the reason that they’re in office?”

City Politics

• With Yasmine Pomeroy announcing that she will drop out of the race, District 3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield does not have a progressive challenger ahead of tomorrow’s filing deadline.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Current mayoral front-runner Rep. Karen Bass has released her “public safety” plan, which calls for increased police funding and hiring, which Bass argues is necessary because Angelenos don’t “feel safe,” having seen “news coverage” of crimes. Response from Stop LAPD Spying and LA CAN here, tying this into the similar platforms of the other mayoral candidates and the failed criminal-justice strategies of the past.

• Check the Sheriff is leading a renewed charge for an amendment to the LA County charter that would allow the Board of Supervisors to impeach and remove the sheriff, as is the policy in other California counties.

• A tool developed and released by the Kenneth Mejia for comptroller campaign maps the most frequent locations of LAPD traffic and pedestrian stops, and can be filtered by race.

Education

• On Tuesday the LAUSD Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution supporting a “climate literacy” curriculum across the district’s 950 schools. DSA-LA had endorsed the resolution and sent more than 350 letters to members of the board.

Housing Rights

• LA City Council voted to advance a measure that will ban the repair of bicycles on public sidewalks. Supporters explicitly argued that the motion was necessary to give the police additional pretext to harass unhoused people whom they suspect, but cannot prove, are in possession of stolen bikes. The motion, which passed 11–3, only calls for the ordinance to be drafted by the city attorney. The ordinance itself has not yet been passed.

Transportation

• Healthy Streets LA is gathering signatures to get a public measure on ballots this November mandating that Los Angeles implement its Mobility Plan. The plan was passed in 2015 to protect pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation, but councilmembers have repeatedly caved in to opposition within their districts. (Sign/volunteer here.)

Environmental Justice

• SoCalGas has been fined $9.8 million by the California Public Utilities Commission related to last year’s revelations that it had continued to use income from ratepayers to fund lobbying efforts against clean energy policy, in flagrant violation of a 2018 court order. The Public Advocates Office had recommended a fine of $124 million.

• On Wednesday, Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion to require that all newly constructed buildings in Los Angeles be zero-carbon. The motion, already co-signed by much of the council, seems likely to pass. It is written to go into effect on January 1, 2023.

• At the state level, proposed legislation would end all offshore drilling in the state of California, following last year’s disastrous Huntington Beach oil spill.