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. 36 - November 27, 2020

Housing Justice

• A group of housing reclaimers who were occupying vacant, publicly-owned homes in the Los Angeles neighborhood of El Sereno were forcibly evicted by California Highway Patrol officers the night before the Thanksgiving holiday. The homes were acquired by Caltrans as the planned site of a highway extension that never materialized, and stood empty for years before recently being reclaimed by housing insecure families. At a press conference earlier in the day, Reclaim and Rebuild our Community addressed Governor Newsom, asking that the evictions be called off so that families could remain safely at home during the pandemic. Their press release is here. A rapidly mobilized response, organized in part by Street Watch LA, Ktown for All, and DSA-LA, drew many activists who were successful in partially disrupting the evictions and documenting the militarized enforcement of the eviction notice by CHP. Nonetheless, all of the RROC reclaimers have now been evicted, while Caltrans is still preventing 170 vacant homes in this corridor from being available for use. Governor Newsom, who has the power to have this housing released into a public trust, has yet to reply.

• As announced, Los Angeles City Council did not and will not vote on the proposed amendment to the municipal code that imposed blanket bans on “sitting and sleeping” in many public spaces. Instead, councilmembers had an open discussion about issues related to the unhoused. The City Council discussed their slow progress in increasing the supply of affordable housing, as well as their perceived need to increase encampment sweeps so that, in the future, communities will be more willing to allow supportive facilities and affordable housing to be built in their neighborhoods. Council President Nury Martinez then sent the motion back to the Homelessness and Poverty Committee for further discussion, with the explicit goal of returning a revised amendment.

• Councilmember Gil Cedillo has proposed that the city purchase the Hillside Villa Apartments. The apartment complex was in a 30-year covenant with the city to provide affordable housing. Upon the covenant's expiration last year, the building's owner sought to impose massive rent increases that would force many tenants out of their homes.

Police Divestment

• Amid widespread anxiety over potential furloughs within the city government as well as calls for reductions to police budgets, the LAPD's proposed new budget increases its operating budget by $100 million.

Election Fallout

• A week of protests outside Mayor Garcetti's house have been organized by Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles, using the hashtag #blockgarcetti, with the intention of voicing the objections of Angelenos to the mayor being given a position in the incoming Biden administration.

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