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.

Issue No. 131 - October 21, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom’s office announced Monday that, despite concerns over a winter surge, California’s COVID-19 state of emergency will end February 28, 2023. The governor will seek to codify some elements into law. This may trigger an end to eviction protections in San Francisco and Oakland. (Los Angeles didn’t wait.)

City Politics

• Last week, a leaked recording of three councilmembers engaged in racist gerrymandering revealed to Angelenos a widespread malignancy in city government. Over the weekend, Knock LA analyzed another recording leaked at the same time, which doesn’t feature any councilmembers. In this recording, made just this September, LA County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera and a former Mitch O’Farrell staffer discuss Hugo Soto-Martinez, the CD13 race, and the importance of “buying” endorsements from local Democratic clubs. A surprising response from the current president of the Stonewall Democratic Club illuminated how influence was used to sway that club’s endorsement toward O’Farrell over internal objections.

• On Tuesday, though Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León had still ignored the calls to resign coming from every corner of Los Angeles, City Council held a meeting. It was held via Zoom to avoid being shut down by the many activists who have been demanding that meetings halt until the resignations are in (though the stated reason was COVID-19 precautions). Only 10 members attended. This included the council’s progressive wing, despite pressure on them to refuse to attend, and their own expressed doubts — now quashed — about continuing city business without resignations. At the doors of City Hall, a protester was assaulted by an LAPD officer.

• At Tuesday’s meeting, in reaction to the corruption revealed on the recording, two motions to draft 2024 ballot measures — which would, respectively, implement independent redistricting and expand the size of City Council — were approved.

• Additionally, the council voted on a new president to replace Nury Martinez, who resigned last week. San Fernando Valley councilmember (and landlord) Paul Krekorian was chosen unanimously — suggesting that much council business is still coordinated out of the public view.

• Councilmember Mike Bonin later wrote a lengthy thread explaining how the coalition led by Nury Martinez has stymied progressive legislation in Los Angeles for years.

• Wednesday, Kevin de León announced that he will refuse to resign from the CD14 seat. Recall petitions are already being discussed, including at a forum held this week by DSA-LA on the way forward: recording here. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, alongside other Black-led and -allied organizations, have been holding a protest at De León’s Eagle Rock residence for the entire week, demanding De León’s immediate resignation.

Housing Rights

• The resignation of Nury Martinez and, eventually, of Kevin De León might impact the city’s recent settling of the LA Alliance lawsuit, which those two councilmembers spearheaded, and which has the potential to reshape the city’s homelessness policy. Details here.

• At Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson joined with Councilmembers Bonin and Nithya Raman in voting against another new 41.18 zone. Due to the few number of members in attendance, this protest vote actually caused the measure to fall one vote below the threshold for action. However, Harris-Dawson then changed his vote, and the motion carried.

• The City of Santa Monica’s flouting of state housing laws has brought the city significant consequences. The city’s failure to submit a compliant Housing Element triggered a penalty that removed local control over development approval. Developers noticed, and by the time the city regained compliance this week, plans for an estimated 4,000 units of housing had been automatically approved. More on the Chauceresque “builder’s remedy” in Slate, which picked up the story nationally.

Labor

• Workers at Amazon’s air freight fulfillment center in San Bernardino, the company’s third-largest in the US, walked off the job last Friday over what they say are insufficient wages and unsafe working conditions. This is the second worker strike at the air hub since August.

Environmental Justice

• Last year, an LA Times investigation found that California has chronically underestimated heat fatalities even as heat waves become more frequent and more deadly. The California Legislature recently agreed to the creation of a system that will collect real-time data from emergency departments.

• In a study published on Thursday, researchers estimated that over 4 tons of benzene per year are being leaked into the atmosphere from pipes that deliver the gas to buildings around California — the equivalent to the benzene emissions from nearly 60,000 vehicles. And those emissions are unaccounted for by the state.