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. 57 - April 30, 2021
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- The petition to recall Governor Newsom has officially reached the required 1.5 million signatures and will proceed. The LA Times broke down the numbers and found the signatures primarily came from Republican-leaning areas.
- The statewide eviction moratorium is scheduled to end June 30, and once again there is no sign yet of whether it will be extended. KNOCK-LA explains which eviction protections would remain in place and how to use them.
- For the first time in the state’s history, California will lose a congressional seat, according to recently released census data. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission will be responsible for drawing up new geographic boundaries for each congressional district, and some speculate that LA County will end up losing the seat.
- A proposed bill to ban corporate donations to election campaigns, authored by newly seated Democratic Socialist Assemblymember Alex Lee, did not even receive a second in the Elections Committee.
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- The Budget and Finance Committee has been holding hearings all week on the Mayor’s proposed budget. Kenneth Mejia, 2022 candidate for city controller, has live-tweeted several days of it: 1, 2, 3.
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- Curbed looks at the tiny-house village that recently opened in North Hollywood as a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. LA Podcast (@22:00) extends the conversation to Judge David Carter’s recent order compelling the city to offer shelter to every unhoused resident of Skid Row within 180 days, which many predict will not survive on appeal. The context in both cases is that the proposed housing solution is the pretext for inevitable enhanced criminalization of encampments.
- A skyscraper being developed in Skid Row has been written up in the LA Times, without mention of the fact that the developer is one of the plaintiffs in the LA Alliance suit that has spurred Judge Carter’s order to displace Skid Row’s unhoused residents.
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Police Violence and Community Resistance
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- There are currently 10 proposed police reform bills circulating in the California state Legislature. Many of these bills were previously allowed to fail by Democrats in 2020, and many of the bills, like AB-26 or SB-2, are a desperately needed step in the journey to hold our police accountable.
- The temporary restraining order on LAPD use of foam projectile weapons, directed by a judge last week, has been lifted. Though the hearing on their use will continue, officers may once again use these weapons at protests.
- The Office of the City Administrative Officer is requesting feedback on their plan to pilot an unarmed model of crisis response as an alternative to policing. The program, approved by the council in October, remains in the planning stages, and is still seeking nonprofit partners. The CAO’s survey can be filled out here.
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