| Can San Clemente recreate Trestles and T-Street surf breaks in attempt to save sand? – Orange County Register |
| Can the eroded beaches at the north and south ends of sand-starved San Clemente be reconstructed to mimic the world-class waves at Lower Trestles or the popular T-Street surf break in an attempt to keep sand in place?
Would jetties – like built in West Newport to save its beaches from severe erosion in the ’60s – help to save Capistrano Shores where waves batter beachfront homes when big swells hits? [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2023-09-29 |
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| Huntington Beach Considers Potential Ballot Measures On Voter ID and Library Control |
| Surf City politicians are pushing for a series of changes to the city charter – including voter ID laws and regulating what books are available at libraries. [Article] |
| by , Voice of OC. 2023-09-29 |
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| McGuire’s aggravated arson bill awaits governor’s signature | News | triplicate.com |
| The alarm couldn’t be louder. California is facing unprecedented, destructive wildfires – 14 of the largest 20 wildfires in California history occurred just in the last decade. Unbelievably, some incredibly destructive wildfires have been set by arsonists including the Clayton Fire in Lake County, which destroyed 188 homes, and the Esperanza Fire, which claimed the lives of five firefighters in Southern California. [Article] |
| by , Del Norte Triplicate. 2023-09-29 |
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| Judge accepts L.A. County's proposal to end lawsuit over homelessness - Los Angeles Times |
| A federal judge signed off Thursday on Los Angeles County’s commitment to produce 3,000 new mental health and substance use treatment beds, settling a 3½-year lawsuit that alleged city and county officials had done little to address homelessness, while adding language to ensure the agreement was transparent and effectively monitored.
“This is an extraordinary step forward,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said. “It’s going to save a lot of lives.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, City Council President Paul Krekorian and Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn, attending the hearing at Carter’s invitation, praised the agreement.
“We are all now aligned,” Hahn told the judge. “The stars are aligned with 3,000 beds. This is a solid proposal. We will make it happen.”
After twice rejecting proposed settlements between Los Angeles County and the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a group representing primarily downtown business and property owners, Carter ended the case in characteristically disruptive style, accepting the latest proposed settlement only after inserting his own wording and requiring the parties to accept or reject his additions, “yes or no.”
The earlier proposals had started at 300 beds and then been raised to 1,000.
Bass, who told the court 3,000 beds would make a significant difference, said after the hearing that the starting figure of 300 had shocked her and that adding a zero was the right solution.
The settlement “is a floor, not a ceiling,” Carter said, dictating his amendment to an aide who wrote it by hand on a copy of the agreement projected on a screen. While significant, it “does not solve homelessness,” he said. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2023-09-29 |
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| Six months after strike, LAUSD workers say hard-won raises are life-changing – Daily News |
| Paying rent on time, stocking the fridge without anxiety, throwing a quinceañera — these things may seem mundane, but they make a world of difference to workers at the Los Angeles Unified School District who are enjoying the fruits of hard-won pay raises.
Six months ago SEIU Local 99, the union representing 30,000 service workers at LAUSD, staged a three-day strike that shuttered the district and resulted in significant pay bumps and longer hours.
The union’s membership is composed of the lowest paid staff at the school district including bus drivers, food service workers, instructional aides, custodians and special education assistants.
“With the economy going so high, we needed this raise,” said Yadira Martinez, a special education assistant who lives in Huntington Park. “I mean, literally, we were going to live in poverty.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2023-09-29 |
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| Will the Metro Board Please Pull the Plug on the Wasteful MicroTransit Pilot? - Streetsblog Los Angeles |
| This week the L.A. Times published a piece on Metro's obscenely costly microtransit pilot. The $1 ride that costs Metro $43. Why some want to keep it going, by Rachel Uranga, highlights numerous issues with the Metro Micro pilot - from cost ("more than four times what it costs to provide a ride on a bus") to ridership ("lower ridership drives up cost because it’s essentially becoming a personal ride instead of a shared one"). [Article] |
| by , LA Streetsblog. 2023-09-29 |
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| How A Fight Over An Airshow In Huntington Beach Became A Political Litmus Test | LAist |
| Jets are blazing across the sky in and around Huntington Beach on the first day of the Pacific Airshow that starts Friday and continues over this weekend.
In recent years, more than half a million visitors have come out to watch eye-and-ear popping aerial demonstrations from the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and other renowned daredevils.
The event has also become a political lightning rod in the increasingly fractious beach city. [Article] |
| by , . 2023-09-29 |
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| Los Angeles city and county to spend billions to help homeless people under lawsuit settlement | AP News |
| Los Angeles County and city will spend billions of dollars to provide more housing and support services for homeless people under a lawsuit settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge.
The county ends more than two years of court battles over LA’s response to the homelessness crisis by agreeing to provide an additional 3,000 beds by the end of 2026 for people with mental health and drug abuse issues. [Article] |
| by , . 2023-09-29 |
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| California is opening the door to psychedelics. The federal government needs to catch up. – Daily News |
| From clean energy to voting rights, as California goes, so goes the nation. Californians have long prided themselves on being at the leading edge of innovation and inclusion. And with California lawmakers voting to decriminalize psychedelics this month, we are entering another new chapter of this storied history, subject to Governor Newsom’s veto-power. This time, pushing boundaries for treatment and care for those suffering in our communities—our California veterans, first responders, service members, and our neighbors struggling with PTSD, depression, and addiction.
To me, this is huge. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2023-09-29 |
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| A Controversial Past Haunts Orange County’s CARE Court Judge |
| New mental health courts launch next week across California, and in Orange County the program is being run by a former prosecutor who was fired after a federal Department of Justice investigation found he ran a program that systematically violated prisoner’s civil rights. [Article] |
| by , Voice of OC. 2023-09-29 |
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| Talks Continue To Avoid Huge Kaiser Health Strike. Impact In SoCal Would Be Big | LAist |
| Thousands of Kaiser Permanente health employees in California and other states are poised to stage a three-day strike next week if a labor deal isn’t reached. Their current contract expires on Sept. 30. [Article] |
| by , . 2023-09-29 |
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| Metro adds $1.6M and a new schedule for Metrolink’s Antelope Valley Line – Daily News |
| Metro’s Board of Directors approved $1.6 million to boost rail service along its Antelope Valley Line on Thursday, Sept. 28, expected to lead to an increase of midday and evening round trips, and new security services for late-night trains.
Director and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger initiated the request for additional funding. The Antelope Valley Line, or AVL, will implement its service changes starting on October 23. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2023-09-29 |
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| Guest Opinion: Ten Years In, CA Active Transportation Program Lays Bare a Tale of Two Agencies - Streetsblog Los Angeles |
| It’s been a decade since the California Active Transportation Program (ATP) launched and became the primary source of funding for local pedestrian and bicycle projects in the state. Created in 2013, the ATP combined a number of different funding sources for bicycle, pedestrian, and Safe Routes to School projects into one pot of money. [Article] |
| by , LA Streetsblog. 2023-09-29 |
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| Editorial: The research is clear. Money bail doesn’t make communities safer - Los Angeles Times |
| The judge presiding over the ongoing lawsuit to end the use of bail schedules in Los Angeles County considered studies and testimony from experts in academia who have examined the effect of money bail requirements and programs that reduced or eliminated them.
There were two principle questions: Were suspects released without bail less likely to show up in court for mandatory hearings? And were they more likely to be arrested for new crimes?
The evidence pushed in a single direction: Eliminating money bail did not increase either failures to appear or rearrests. In fact, it showed that both court appearances and public safety improved.
Studies of jurisdictions around the country, including New Jersey; Harris County, Texas; Kentucky; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Orange County; and counties in Colorado, Washington state and North Carolina, all show similar results, and some show that money bail and pretrial detention are correlated with significant harms for the defendants — while also making them more likely to be charged with new crimes.
Together, the studies create a body of evidence, widely accepted among social scientists and criminologists, that shows money bail does none of the good things that its proponents claim it does. Eliminating it causes none of the disasters they warn about. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2023-09-29 |
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| Metro riders speak out about crime, drug use and homeless on transit system – Press Telegram |
| While Metro has seen similar concerns in past forums and surveys, this meeting was unprecedented because the advisory committee attended and hosted the meeting. Some committee members openly criticized Metro’s response to crime on its transit lines and advocated for changes.
Rafael Mastrangelo Jr., an ex-officio committee member and a Metro employee, said he takes the Red Line to work every day and regularly informs Metro officials about unlawful acts he sees on trains and station platforms. [Article] |
| by , Long Beach Press Telegram. 2023-09-29 |
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| Striking hotel workers and Millennium Biltmore hotel reach a tentative contract – Press Telegram |
| Days before it marks its 100th anniversary, the Millennium Biltmore hotel reached a tentative labor agreement with striking hospitality workers, their union announced on Friday, Sept. 29, becoming the second major Los Angeles hotel to strike a contract deal.
According to the Unite Here Local 11 union, the tentative labor deal affects 300 workers at the historic downtown hotel, which opened its doors on Oct. 1, 1923.
“We applaud the Biltmore Los Angeles for putting their workers and our city first,” Kurt Petersen, union co-president, said in a statement. “L.A. is the world’s most important tourist destination, with the World Cup and Olympics coming back to back in 2026 and 2028. This agreement takes steps to ensure that workers who work in LA will be able to live in L.A.” [Article] |
| by , Long Beach Press Telegram. 2023-09-29 |
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| Editorial: Proposition 1 has the potential to advance California’s mental health programs - Daily Bruin |
| Voters may soon decide whether to fundamentally reshape California’s mental health programs to help people experiencing homelessness. [Article] |
| by , . 2023-09-29 |
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| Southland cities seek court order to block LA County’s zero bail plan – San Gabriel Valley Tribune |
| A dozen Southland cities filed an 11th-hour court action Friday, Sept. 29, in hopes of halting the implementation of a zero-bail system in Los Angeles County that will eliminate cash bail for most people arrested of non-violent or non-serious crimes, allowing them to be released with a citation to appear in court at a later date.
The zero-bail system is scheduled to take effect Sunday. But in court papers submitted to Los Angeles Superior Court Friday, 12 cities contend that the switch to zero-bail represents a threat to public safety. [Article] |
| by , San Gabriel Valley Tribune. 2023-09-29 |
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| Metro program will pay people not to drive their cars - Los Angeles Times |
| Would you be willing to give up driving your car if the government paid you?
Residents of Santa Monica will be contemplating that question as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority rolls out a new pilot program.
In partnership with the city of Santa Monica, Metro’s “One Car Challenge” will pay 200 residents of households that have multiple vehicles a weekly stipend to use only one car.
The program offers payments of up to $119.80 per week for five weeks, a total of $599 per household, starting in early November. The city is also offering bonus incentives of a Metro TAP card preloaded with $50 as well as five to 10 free rides on Metro Bike Share. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2023-09-29 |
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| O.C. Sustainability Decathlon, coming to fairgrounds Oct. 5, proves it is easy being green - Los Angeles Times |
| It’s not easy being green — but it could be. At least that’s the hope of a new event, years in the making and due to open next Thursday at the county fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
The first-ever Orange County Sustainability Decathlon is a simple concept that hopes to make a big impact in the way people understand, talk about and respond to climate change, according to Fred Smoller, co-founder of the event and Chapman University associate professor.
“What I’ve been arguing for years is if you’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars transforming the economy, which we are [in California], you’d better raise people’s comfort levels,” said Smoller, who teaches political science courses at the Orange campus.
The event, which runs Thursday through Sunday before breaking for three days and reopening Oct. 12 through 15, will feature a model sustainability village of prototype homes built largely by college students, an Oct. 13 green job and school fair, guest speakers and vendors, activities for children as well as a sustainable beer and wine garden. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2023-09-29 |
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