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. 117 - July 15, 2022
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- DSA-LA Convention is this Saturday! All members in good standing can attend and help select organizational priorities for the upcoming year from a list of proposals you can read about here. RSVP here!
- Mayoral candidate Karen Bass had endorsed Faisal Gill for city attorney. Today, her opponent, Rick Caruso, called a press conference to denounce this endorsement on the basis of Gill’s proposal to steer misdemeanor offenders into diversionary programs. Bass immediately announced the withdrawal of her endorsement of Gill and adopted Caruso’s position. Gill’s response here.
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The Mayfair Hotel, one of the remaining participants in Project Roomkey, is exiting the program on July 15. One of Project Roomkey’s goals was to transition participants into permanent housing, but few if any of the formerly unhoused people being evicted from the Mayfair have been given that option. Statement from LACan; statements from displaced Mayfair residents.
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- In a letter to workers, Starbucks announced that it would be closing 16 stores nationwide, including six in Los Angeles, confusingly citing concerns over worker safety. A statement from Starbucks Workers United PDX associates the closures with retaliation against unionization efforts at Starbucks stores. Two of the closed stores had successfully unionized. More from the Guardian.
- This week, food and beverage workers at Dodger Stadium, represented by Unite Here Local 11, voted 99% in favor of a strike in advance of this weekend’s All-Star Game. Since that authorization, contract negotiations have progressed and are further enough along that workers have agreed not to strike this weekend.
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Police Violence and Community Resistance
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- A county charter amendment giving the County Board of Supervisors the power to remove the sheriff has been approved by the board and is on course for the November ballot. It would still leave in place the larger issue, a 1980 state law that requires that all county sheriffs have law enforcement officer experience. A proposed law to change this has quietly died in the state legislature.
- A random 5% sample of signatures on the petition to recall District Attorney George Gascon met the minimum threshold necessary for a full vetting of all signatures. The roughly 78% validation rate in the sample would not quite be enough to get the petition on the ballot.
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- A city council ordinance would see Los Angeles joining other cities in no longer issuing permits for new gas stations nor allowing existing sites to add fuel pumps.
- At least 30 oil wells belonging to five different companies were found to have been leaking gas in recent weeks, according to the Geologic Energy Management Division of the California Department of Conservation (CalGEM). The state agency did not disclose data from their readings, but initial reports of the leak said some wells were releasing methane at a concentration of 50,000 parts per million — a level that can be explosive, environmental groups say.
- Los Angeles’ water use in June 2022 was down compared to June 2021. While this is the second month in a row this has been true, experts say this progress is too slow, and “much more needs to be done to help people understand the severity of the drought.” The LA Times has built a tracker that allows the public to explore the amount of water usage in their district.
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