The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.

Issue No. 21 - July 31, 2020

Housing Rights

Despite objections from activists and community members, the Los Angeles City Council voted 10–4 to resume sweeps of the “Special Enforcement and Cleaning Zones” created around shelters associated with Mayor Eric Garcetti’s A Bridge Home program. The Bureau of Sanitation had ceased these operations in March due to the pandemic and the recommendation of public health officials that unhoused people be allowed to remain in place.

Kristy Lovich, a Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority supervisor who has pushed in recent weeks for the homeless agency to sever ties with law enforcement, was fired for undisclosed reasons this week. Lovich has spoken out against LAHSA’s reliance on police to do enforcement sweeps, accusing the agency and city council of reneging on a promise last fall to allow service workers (instead of police) to take the lead on interactions with unhoused Angelenos.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

Mayor Eric Garcetti joined with other city officials to announce the expansion of the Community Safety Partnership, a unit of the police that focuses on building relationships between law enforcement and the communities they police. Though conceived as a reply to protests against police violence, the move is opposed by many activists. “We absolutely want the things that were raised — tutoring, field trips, recreation programs. I'm a mom, I want those things. But those services cannot and should not be offered by police,” said BLM-LA co-founder Melina Abdullah.

Protesters from various organizations, including BLM-LA, gathered in Westwood on Sunday to show solidarity with activists in Portland. This comes after recent reports from Portland of brutal crackdowns and the removal of protesters by federal agents in unmarked vans.

ICE’s “Citizen’s Training” program has been flooded with false applications. The program, which offers “scenario-based” training to civilians, has been criticized as an “armed vigilante” group. Organizations such as Never Again encouraged people to flood the database in order to delay the project, even reaching out to K-pop fans. The first Citizen’s Academy was offered during the Obama administration.

A veteran LAPD SWAT sergeant has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the department, claiming that leaders of the SWAT division “glamorize the use of lethal force, and direct the promotions of officers who share the same values while maligning the reputations of officers who do not.”

Three LAPD officers have been charged with falsifying records and obstructing justice, as evidence surfaced that they falsely portrayed people as gang members or associates on field interview cards. Field interviews of gang members are used as a measure of productivity for officers, which can incentivize false reports; over 20 more officers are still under investigation. District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced this week that her office would review hundreds of cases involving the three charged officers.

Unite Here Local 11, which represents Cristobal Guardado — the father of Andres Guardado, the eighteen-year-old whom the sheriff’s department shot and killed on June 18 — has called for the resignation of Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The letter, signed by 60 organizations including BLM-LA and the American Civil Liberties Union, declares, “You have dramatically exacerbated [the department’s] problems by undermining basic mechanisms of accountability and civilian oversight at every turn. This historic moment demands that you recognize when it is time for you to go — and the time is now.”

This pressure on Sheriff Villanueva mounts as his attitude toward LA County’s Board of Supervisors has grown increasingly toxic and strange.

Climate

As climate activists call for a total phaseout of fossil fuels, SoCalGas is being investigated by the Public Advocates Office to determine whether the utility has used ratepayer dollars to support pro-gas advocacy and lobbying. In response to questions from the consumer watchdog, SoCalGas has acknowledged lobbying government officials for policies that would result in more natural-gas-fueled vehicles and has also acknowledged charging its customers for some of that lobbying.

Labor

By a margin of 97%, childcare workers for low-income families on public assistance voted to join Child Care Providers United, a union formed in a partnership of SEIU and AFSCME. These workers, mostly women of color, are heavily reliant on state aid, and many effectively make less than minimum wage.

Elections

An article published in the Los Angeles Times recontextualizes Councilmember David Ryu’s recent rebranding as a “progressive fighter” as a likely reaction to the challenge he is facing to his left from campaign rival Nithya Raman.

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