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. 96 - February 11, 2022
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- In CalMatters, an autopsy for AB 854, the tenant protection bill authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee that was held from a vote last Monday. Said one tenants rights activist: “Why would they listen to us when we don’t give them any money […] but the Apartment Association is the reason that they’re in office?”
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- With Yasmine Pomeroy announcing that she will drop out of the race, District 3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield does not have a progressive challenger ahead of tomorrow’s filing deadline.
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Police Violence and Community Resistance
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- Current mayoral front-runner Rep. Karen Bass has released her “public safety” plan, which calls for increased police funding and hiring, which Bass argues is necessary because Angelenos don’t “feel safe,” having seen “news coverage” of crimes. Response from Stop LAPD Spying and LA CAN here, tying this into the similar platforms of the other mayoral candidates and the failed criminal-justice strategies of the past.
- Check the Sheriff is leading a renewed charge for an amendment to the LA County charter that would allow the Board of Supervisors to impeach and remove the sheriff, as is the policy in other California counties.
- A tool developed and released by the Kenneth Mejia for comptroller campaign maps the most frequent locations of LAPD traffic and pedestrian stops, and can be filtered by race.
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Healthy Streets LA is gathering signatures to get a public measure on ballots this November mandating that Los Angeles implement its Mobility Plan. The plan was passed in 2015 to protect pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation, but councilmembers have repeatedly caved in to opposition within their districts. (Sign/volunteer here.)
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- LA City Council voted to advance a measure that will ban the repair of bicycles on public sidewalks. Supporters explicitly argued that the motion was necessary to give the police additional pretext to harass unhoused people whom they suspect, but cannot prove, are in possession of stolen bikes. The motion, which passed 11–3, only calls for the ordinance to be drafted by the city attorney. The ordinance itself has not yet been passed.
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- SoCalGas has been fined $9.8 million by the California Public Utilities Commission related to last year’s revelations that it had continued to use income from ratepayers to fund lobbying efforts against clean energy policy, in flagrant violation of a 2018 court order. The Public Advocates Office had recommended a fine of $124 million.
- On Wednesday, Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion to require that all newly constructed buildings in Los Angeles be zero-carbon. The motion, already co-signed by much of the council, seems likely to pass. It is written to go into effect on January 1, 2023.
- At the state level, proposed legislation would end all offshore drilling in the state of California, following last year’s disastrous Huntington Beach oil spill.
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