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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. 84 - November 5, 2021
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- Mark Ridley-Thomas’ chief of staff has been appointed as “caretaker” of District 10 while the councilmember is suspended. The district is still without voting representation on the council.
- With widespread calls to bring independent redistricting to Los Angeles in 2030, CalMatters looks at the results of some independent redistricting commissions statewide. Meanwhile, City Council’s extremely not-independent ad hoc Redistricting Committee met for the first time this week and made many recommendations. They meet again this afternoon.
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- The City Council, with the support of Mayor Garcetti, is rapidly designating hundreds of sites as anti-sit/lie/sleep enforcement zones. It’s a complete reversal of the city’s previous stated policy on addressing homelessness.
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- From November 12 to 15, IATSE members will vote on whether or not to ratify the tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A series of virtual town halls is scheduled before then; not all members are satisfied with the terms of the new contract. DSA and IATSE member Victor P. Bouzi offers one perspective in an essay published at Knock LA.
- Unions representing 30,000 workers for Kaiser Permanente have delivered the required ten-day notice that will allow them to call a strike on November 15 if contract negotiations don’t progress. Workers are opposed to the two-tiered wage system proposed by Kaiser. Similar proposals have motivated the ongoing strikes at Kellogg’s and John Deere.
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Police Violence and Community Resistance
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- Capital and Main checks in on what has been accomplished by the Black Student Achievement Plan, a program which steered $35 million in resources to schools with high percentages of Black students, including the $25 million defunded from school police.
- Analysis in the LA Times reveals a pattern of intrusive stops of cyclists by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Seven out of ten stops involve Latin cyclists.
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- A month after a Southern California offshore oil spill, the Center for Biological Diversity said it sent notice to the secretary of the interior of its intent to sue the federal government over the failure to review and update plans for coastal oil platforms.
- A noxious odor reported by residents of the city of Carson has been traced to rotting vegetation in the drought-stricken Dominguez Channel. It has been declared a local emergency to speed up the cleanup process.
- Reported by the Daily Poster: progressive members of the California Democratic Party’s executive board forced a special meeting on October 24 to decide whether the state party should stop accepting money from fossil fuel and law enforcement interests. But the party’s officers chose to table a vote on the matter, prompting fears that party leadership will ultimately renege.
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