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.
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Issue No. 45 - February 5, 2021
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- US District Judge David O. Carter is overseeing a lawsuit against the city and county (brought by the so-called LA Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of downtown business owners and residents), alleging that both have failed in their responsibilities to rapidly and humanely shelter the unhoused. (Some background here). This week, Carter held an open-air hearing at the Downtown Women's Center on Skid Row, at which county and city representatives were questioned about why efforts to address the crisis continue to lag. Members of the unhoused community were able to listen into the proceedings over loudspeaker from nearby. LA Community Action Network commented on the hearing on Twitter.
- At the Carter hearing, and in an op-ed published earlier in the week, Councilmember Mike Bonin advocated for a “consent decree,” which would give the courts, under Carter's supervision, the authority to compel action from various county and city entities to take direct action to shelter the unhoused. Examples Bonin used as illustration include compelling reluctant councilmembers to approve supportive housing in their districts, or compelling the city to commandeer motels.
- KNOCK.LA reports that LAPD plans to implement 24/7 police presence at Echo Park Lake by springtime, with support from Friends of Echo Park Lake (FoEPL) and CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell. FoEPL is advocating for a “Tiny Homes Project” proposed for Alvarado Street in Echo Park, as a (non-optional) housing alternative for residents of the lake. It’s unclear whether they’ve sought out input from the unhoused community on this project, as Theo Henderson, advocate for the unhoused, was muted after calling into an FoEPL meeting to raise concerns.
- This “housing report card” created by the Southern California News Group explains in detail the state’s current requirements for affordable housing, and provides a granular look at how well municipalities all over California are meeting their state-mandated affordable housing goals. Extremely poorly! And the requirements are about to go up. In January, Governor Newsom proposed creating a Housing Accountability Unit to enforce greater compliance with these benchmarks.
- In a well-timed article, LAist dives into the topic of community land trusts, which can empower communities to maintain control over land use in their neighborhoods and maintain some level of local affordable housing.
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- Grocery store workers rallied in opposition to Kroger’s closing of two Long Beach supermarkets, a direct retaliation against the city’s passage of mandatory hero pay for frontline workers in large supermarkets.The city of Montebello passed a similar ordinance this week, and the California Grocers Association, which is already suing Long Beach, filed a lawsuit in response. Nevertheless, a request for legislation to be drafted that would mandate hero pay in the city of Los Angeles passed through the city council unanimously.
- The California Teachers Association has challenged Governor Newsom’s timeline on reopening California schools, advocating for strict safety benchmarks to be met as opposed to picking an “artificial calendar date.” LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner similarly criticized the county's patchwork approach to reopening as “bass ackwards” and “political.”
- Some of the people who have been thrust into the role of supervising COVID safety on Hollywood sets question whether the precautions being taken to protect worker safety are remotely adequate.
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- Here is an extremely early look at which candidates are already raising money for some of the bigger Los Angeles elections in 2022.
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