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. 136 - December 2, 2022

City Politics

• Mayor-elect Karen Bass has appointed Chris Thompson, a senior vice president with Los Angeles’ private Olympics organizing committee as her chief of staff, with the proviso that he will “not participate in matters regarding the Olympics” for his first year. A statement from NOlympics explains why this choice is ominous and why the proposed firewall is nowhere near adequate.

• DSA-LA is accepting nominations for 2023 Local Officers and Branch Coordinators. If you’re a member of DSA in good standing who joined prior to July 2022, you can nominate yourself using this link. The nomination period for these offices ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Health Care

• According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, LA County may enter “high” levels of community transmission of COVID as soon as next week, which would theoretically trigger an indoor mask mandate. For now, wearing masks indoors is strongly recommended.

Education

• LAist forecasts a shift in the balance of power on the LAUSD board following the victory of Rocio Rivas, whom DSA-LA endorsed in the race for the District 2 board seat, which gives a voting majority to union-endorsed candidates.

• DSA-LA is organizing members to stand with teachers at a rally on Monday, December 5, at 4 PM to support UTLA’s Beyond Recovery platform, a slate of priorities the union will bring into this year’s negotiations with the school district.

Labor

• Knock LA has some of the most recent coverage of the ongoing strike of academic workers, the largest strike in the nation this year. DSA-LA continues to organize strike support here.

Housing

• Via important reporting in L.A. Taco, data obtained from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority demonstrates that the city’s CARE program, which combines outreach with encampment clearings, has a 90% failure rate at fulfilling its stated purpose, connecting unhoused people with temporary shelter or permanent housing.

Transportation

• Following a wave of organized pushback, LA Metro has backed off a proposed fare hike, explicitly citing public opposition as their reason for doing so. Streetsblog LA breaks down the newly revised proposal for fare adjustments. An LA Times survey is attempting to measure public support for free public transit.

• Metro is also polling Angelenos about how they would like to allocate the transit budget in 2024, via a fun little web app.

Environmental Justice

• Salton Sea will receive $250 million in federal funding over the next four years, aimed at environmental cleanup and restoration work on the lake.