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. 104 - April 8, 2022
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- Los Angeles City Hall will finally reopen to the public, starting May 4. This announcement comes one week after City Council President Nury Martinez acknowledged that the delay in reopening was due to anxiety over an “angry electorate.”
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- On a day of record-breaking temperatures, four members of a scientist-led organized day of worldwide protest chained themselves to a downtown JP Morgan Chase bank on Wednesday, demanding the bank divest from the fossil fuel industry. They were met with an overwhelming force of LAPD officers in riot gear.
- California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office released a series of reports detailing the devastating impact climate change will have on California: “Climate change could alter everything, and spare no one in California, so legislators should consider preparing for sweeping impacts.” Reports collected here.
- The city plans to expand its pilot program for curbside food scrap collection to 40,000 households this summer — and 750,000 households next year — putting their food scraps in green bins instead of the trash so they can be composted instead of sent to a landfill.
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Police Violence and Community Resistance
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- A superior court judge has ruled that Sheriff Alex Villanueva must comply with a subpoena issued by Inspector General Max Huntsman compelling him to testify about deputy gangs within his department.
- Knock LA held a forum for candidates for Los Angeles County Sheriff. Villanueva did not attend, but those who did answered serious questions about deputy gangs and deputy violence. Video here.
- Also in Knock LA: coverage of a political battle in West Hollywood, where concerns over fraud and waste in the city’s contract with the Sheriff’s Department have fueled a movement to divert a significant portion of the city’s law enforcement budget to social services.
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- The City of Los Angeles has settled a lawsuit brought by LA Alliance, a coalition of downtown LA businesses and landlords that seeks to compel the city and county to conduct encampment sweeps in Skid Row. The city agreed to commit approximately $3 billion to produce enough shelter beds or housing units for 60% of the city’s unhoused population, while maintaining that the county is responsible for the other 40%. The county has pulled out of settlement negotiations.
- Last Friday, Los Angeles City Council passed a motion authored by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell calling for a report back on the city’s contract with the County Department of Health. The motion calls for more oversight of the county’s provision of medical services to unhoused Angelenos.
- Long-term tenants of the homes in the abandoned 710 corridor in El Sereno are demanding to be prioritized as purchasers now that Caltrans is selling the properties. Tenants are being prioritized where the corridor passes through Pasadena and South Pasadena.
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- Last week, members of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 48,000 workers in Southern California and is renegotiating its contract with Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions and Ralphs, voted to authorize a strike. This week they have appeared to come to a tentative agreement. Details will not be released until after the contract authorization vote. The union was seeking wage increases.
- Did you know there’s a Thorn in NYC? And that it’s actually the original Thorn? Food for thought if you are interested in tracking the historic vote to unionize at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island.
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