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. 126 - September 16, 2022

State Politics

• This Saturday and Sunday in Los Angeles, the California Reparations Task Force will be holding its first public meeting since the release of their interim report in June. The task force’s final recommendations are still scheduled to be delivered in July of 2023. this weekend's agenda here.

City Politics

• Marilyn Flynn, the USC dean who was facing corruption charges alongside suspended councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas (as his co-defendant), has agreed to plead guilty. Ridley-Thomas’ trial was scheduled for November 15. Pending the outcome, he would either be reinstated or a special election will be called to fill his seat, currently filled by appointment.

Housing Rights

• Despite recent reports suggesting that state protections during the pandemic were instrumental in slowing the growth of houselessness in Los Angeles, this week on back-to-back days the county Board of Supervisors and City Council Housing Committee (in a particularly chaotic and contentious meeting) set in motion rollbacks of tenant protections that may go into effect at the end of the year.

• As expected, Governor Newsom signed CARE Court into law. Newsom dismissed the coalition of activists who oppose the program, which facilitates the state forcing people experiencing mental health issues into carceral forms of care, as “groups … holding hands talking about the way the world should be.” CalMatters details the massive tasks that lie ahead if the law is actually to be put into practice.

• Los Angeles County has settled its part of a lawsuit initiated by a coalition of landlords and business owners frustrated with the city’s failure to control the presence of unhoused people in Downtown Los Angeles. The city settled several months ago, agreeing to build more temporary shelters, which the county has now agreed to partially fund.

• Nice interview with a volunteer from KTown for All, discussing the state of services for unhoused people in Los Angeles.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies executed search warrants at the homes of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Civilian Oversight Commissioner Patti Giggans, who have both been outspoken critics of LASD. Attorneys have challenged the legality of the warrant, which was issued by a judge with a close relationship with LASD. This is part of a pattern of the LASD under Villanueva using its power to harass critics, including the families of victims of LASD killings. Bad.
  

Incarceration

• The ACLU has filed for an emergency order that would force the county to improve “barbaric” conditions at the Inmate Reception Center of the LA County jail, where people are held while awaiting trial.
  

Environmental Justice

• Last weekend’s heavy rains caused significant mudslides in burn-scarred areas of the San Bernardino mountains. There has been one confirmed fatality.

• KQED writes about the success of an innovative and volunteer-powered response to a failing water system in Allensworth, a historically Black community in California’s Central Valley.

• A “community solar” bill has passed through the state legislature and awaits Governor Newsom’s signature. Community solar plans, which already exist in a few other states, socialize some of the benefits of solar panels. Canary Media has a detailed explainer for how California’s implementation of this concept, designed with equity in mind, will work.