What’s happening today?
The CD11 Coalition for Human Rights, which advocates for the interests of unhoused people in the 11th LA city council district (you can also check out their analysis, done with UCLA researchers, on CARE+ spending in that district), says they’re seeking donations of “rain ponchos, tarps, tents, replacement sleeping bags or other gear.” They’re asking that people send a “Venmo to @VeniceJustice or email cd11forhumanrights@gmail.com for other donation arrangements.”
The group says they’re concerned about whether adequate services will be available for unhoused people, during this so-called “super” El Niño season. In particular, they are making a push to get public officials to ensure that they are “opening easy to reach local Recreation Centers for 24 hour access to unhoused people in every area of Los Angeles during extreme weather events. This includes rain, heat, or fires!” They also put out the word to regular Angelenos around the county to “make your own emergency weather drive and very publicly let everyone, including your city and county representatives, know that LA needs to step up during extreme weather events.”
Some public officials might be already making some moves, around this matter. Los Angeles City Council member Ysabel Jurado last Tuesday authored a motion that calls for a report in 21 days on how the city is preparing to assist unhoused people during the El Niño season, and it’s been referred to the committee that she now chairs, which is the Homelessness and Health Committee. According to Jurado’s motion, “amidst other environmental emergencies, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and other governmental agencies have worked to rehouse unsheltered people, but there was still a significant delay in setting up temporary shelters and bringing people indoors.” And on the county side, The LA Reporter was told by the LA County CEO’s office that officials from their Department of Homeless Services and Housing took part in an Aug. 18 meeting of the Emergency Management Council focused on preparing for the El Niño season.
What just happened?
Yet another attempt at tackling LA’s persistent illegal trash dumping problems
One of the motions put out by City Council members last week makes yet another go at a longstanding problem of illegal trash dumping in Los Angeles. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, along with co-authors Imelda Padilla and Curren Price, suggest that enforcement could be helped by improving their technological capabilities.
Illegal dumping was something that Padilla’s predecessor, Nury Martinez, focused on, when she operated a strike team of her own staff to supplement the citywide work that the Bureau of Sanitation was already supposed to be carrying out. The issue is at least a couple decades old, going back to a 2008 investigation by LA Times investigative reporter Robert J. Lopez.
And City Controller Ron Galperin’s office in 2021 put out a report identifying this as a problem that needed to be addressed, writing at the time that “in recent years, as illegal dumping service requests have climbed, the City has put more resources into PROW [Public Right-of-Way] cleanup efforts spearheaded by the Bureau of Sanitation (LASAN). But even with funding for new cleanup crews and equipment, LASAN is struggling to keep up with the high demand for services.”
Also, LA City Council members want to get more details on evictions at single-room occupancy residences, and the city’s inventory of interim housing beds: A couple of other interesting motions to track including Council member Ysabel Jurado’s motion on getting a better understanding of eviction proceedings at single-room-occupancy residents. Jurado’s motion calls for report backs on “procedures and legal requirements related to residential eviction proceedings, or actions, including those occurring at Single Room Occupancy buildings. This report should outline what role, if any, the Police Department has in these proceedings, and specifically its coordination, if any, with the County Sheriff’s Department.”
And there’s a motion that calls for taking stock of the interim housing “beds” in Los Angeles. This motion notes that “the City has invested its local dollars as well as funding from State and federal resources to build an inventory of interim beds to serve unhoused people in Los Angeles.” Those beds were created as part of various programs, and they name a few of them: “Roadmap Plan and A Bridge Home Program, Tiny Home Villages, Inside Safe motel and hotel placements, and beds created under the LA Alliance Settlement Agreement program.”
The motion also notes that “the County of Los Angeles (County), including their Department of Mental Health (DMH), Department of Health Services’ (DHS) Housing for Health, and the Department of Homeless Services and Housing, regularly places clients into city-supported beds. If the City builds its own homelessness system and behavioral health department, the County’s placement options could be impacted.”
A few other things…
Golden State has a page, that will continue to be updated, that rounds up their recommendations on the state’s 14 ballot propositions.
Ruth of Roofless examines Mayor Karen Bass and Nithya Raman’s homelessness track record.
The evacuation orders in La Verne — put in place after a solar farm battery caught fire and a second battery overheated — were lifted last Friday. La Verne Daily News’s Staci Baird reports that officials are now working to remove the damaged batteries and investigating what happened at the solar farm that powers the Metropolitan Water District’s water treatment plant.
Alissa Walker of Torched reports that Rick Cole, a former staffer in Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office, would be leading Nithya Raman’s transition team, should Raman win the race for LA mayor. Cole is a council member in Pasadena, and has served in a variety of administrations in LA city and other cities, including as a budget adviser to former LA mayor Eric Garcetti.
And a poll co-sponsored by the LA Times gave Marissa Roy a 10-point lead over her opponent John McKinney, in the LA City Attorney’s race. The newspaper’s “LA on the Record” politics newsletter this weekend also features a tour through Nithya Raman’s DSA-LA questionnaire.
I’ve interviewed Rick Cole before, he’s very measured and principled even if he doesn’t have all the policy solutions.