| USGS predicts LA’s next big earthquake could displace 270,000 people - Curbed LA |
| In the three days after the Northridge Earthquake, sociologist Paul O’Brien trekked to the epicenter to collect survivors’ stories. He spoke with 31 survivors, some over the phone, but for the most part, he met people where they were lodging during those first few days and nights: on the street.
“One could not drive down any street in the Northridge section of town, and not find tents staked out on lawns, in parks, and anywhere else residents could find room,” he wrote in a research report published the same year. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-01-16 |
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| Los Angeles County Supervisors Vote to Create Regulatory Program for Scooters - NBC Southern California |
| Los Angeles County joined the ranks of municipalities wrangling with how to regulate electric scooters, voting Tuesday to create a pilot regulatory program.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended the pilot, saying when scooters showed up in the unincorporated areas of Altadena and East Pasadena in November, residents raised concerns about public safety and nuisance issues [Article] |
| by , KNBC Los Angeles. 2019-01-16 |
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| LA County to Prohibit Landlord Discrimination Against Section 8 Families - NBC Southern California |
| The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $5 million to prevent housing discrimination, including drafting an ordinance to prohibit landlords from denying renters who use Section 8 vouchers.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended doing more to enforce and expand protections offered by federal fair housing laws in place for decades. [Article] |
| by , KNBC Los Angeles. 2019-01-16 |
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| Evacuations ordered in Malibu, Burbank, Ventura County, LA County, Riverside County | abc7.com |
| LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (KABC) -- A series of storms continued to move through the Southland, prompting evacuation orders in areas affected by the Thomas, Woolsey and Holy fires.
Los Angeles County issued mandatory evacuation orders for portions of the Woolsey Fire burn area as rain is expected to douse the region all week. Evacuation orders were also in place for Holy Fire burn areas in Riverside County.
By Tuesday, evacuation orders - mandatory and voluntary - were issued for parts of Ventura County affected by the Woolsey and Thomas fires. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-01-16 |
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| Evacuations Orders Downgraded for Holy Fire Burn Zone | KTLA |
| Some residents living near the Holy Fire burn area in Riverside County were breathing a bit easier Tuesday after mandatory evacuations for the Holy Fire burn area in Riverside County were downgraded to voluntary. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-01-16 |
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| Pasadena Now » Los Angeles County Supervisors Call for the Department of Mental Health to Provide School-based Services Countywide | Pasadena California, Hotels,CA Real Estate,Restaurants,City Guide... - Pasadena.com |
| The Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn to create a countywide plan for the provision of school-based mental health services through the Department of Mental Health.
“There are 80 school districts in Los Angeles County and it is important for us to look at this as a countywide effort, as the issue impacts all of our schools,” said Supervisor Barger. “I have met with local schools in my district and they agree there is a critical need for mental health programs and services to support our students.” [Article] |
| by , . 2019-01-16 |
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| During Teachers Strike, Descanso Gardens, L.A. County Arboretum and Other Parks Are Waiving Fees for LAUSD Students | KTLA |
| Several Los Angeles County parks are waiving their fees for L.A. Unified School District students affected by the ongoing teachers strike, authorities announced Tuesday.
Starting Wednesday, students and their custodians won’t have to pay for admission, parking or other fees from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the following facilities: [Article] |
| by , . 2019-01-16 |
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| Pasadena homeless services get $1.33 million boost from county tax dollars – Pasadena Star News |
| Homeless advocates say Pasadena will be able to help more people experiencing homeless after a recent infusion of $1.33 million in Los Angeles County sales tax dollars.
The City Council on Monday divvied up Pasadena’s share of Measure H funds for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years to area service providers. Measure H, approved by county voters in 2017, raised the sales tax by a quarter-cent for 10 years with an expected $355 million in annual revenue targeted for homeless services.
Last year 52,765 homeless people were counted in L.A. County. Pasadena counted 677 homeless individuals living on its streets and in shelters the night of the annual census last year. [Article] |
| by , Pasadena Star News. 2019-01-16 |
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| LA County supervisors OK $10 million for the LAUSD to pay for more mental health counselors – Daily News |
| As the Los Angeles teachers strike continued Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $10 million in funding for the Los Angeles Unified School District to pay for more mental health counselors in schools.
As part of its contract demands, the teachers union has called for smaller class sizes as well as more nurses, counselors and librarians in schools.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who co-authored the motion along with Supervisor Hilda Solis, told reporters the teachers strike cannot be ignored as the funding was approved.
“There’s no denying the fact that time is of the essence,” he said. “It would be less than straightforward if we didn’t acknowledge the context in which this motion comes forward.”
Ridley-Thomas said he hopes the funding is a piece of the intricate puzzle that will move the teachers union and the district closer together in contract talks. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2019-01-16 |
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| E-scooters, dockless bicycles gaining foothold in Southern California as LA County drops orders to remove them – Redlands Daily Facts |
| Like Uber and Lyft before them, the latest Silicon Valley startups also showed up uninvited, dropping electric scooters, battery-powered bicycles and other dockless, micro-mobile rentals onto streets and sidewalks of Southern California.
The guerrilla marketing strategy aimed at busting the monopoly of the single-passenger car created multiple battlefronts in today’s “Scooter Wars,” sending some cities to the courts claiming they are a nuisance and an eyesore, and others writing regulations that keep them off the sidewalks and target public safety and aesthetics.
While some, such as Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, sent in law enforcement and confiscated the scooters, banning them entirely, others, like Santa Ana and the county of Los Angeles have put away the stick and opened up a dialogue of diplomacy.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to draw up regulations for all dockless e-scooters and bicycles using the public right-of-way by early March. [Article] |
| by , Redlands Daily Facts. 2019-01-16 |
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| L.A. County sheriff reinstates deputy fired over domestic abuse and stalking allegations - Los Angeles Times |
| Caren Carl Mandoyan played a special role last month at the swearing-in of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, standing on stage and holding the box of gold pins that would adorn the collars of the top cop and his senior executives.
Mandoyan served as a trusted member of Villanueva’s campaign team, acting as his driver and rallying rank-and-file deputies to lobby their union to endorse his long-shot candidacy.
But Mandoyan didn’t have the typical resume of a campaign worker. He served as a deputy for 10 years until he was fired in 2016 by then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell in connection with allegations of domestic abuse and stalking. A county appeals board heard evidence and upheld the dismissal.
Despite this, Villanueva decided to reinstate Mandoyan as a deputy in the Sheriff’s Department, where he is assigned to the South Los Angeles station. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| For moms at a shrinking South L.A. school, the teachers' strike is about survival - Los Angeles Times |
| The last time teachers went on strike, back in 1989, Alejandra Delgadillo was a fifth-grader at Trinity Street Elementary School.
Her sons later attended the school in Historic South-Central too. The youngest moved on to middle school last year.
Still, Delgadillo this week was among the first to join the school’s picket line, and she arrived loaded with paper cups, juice, doughnuts, pretzels and a canopy to guard teachers from the rain.
“This school means so much to me,” she said. “It’s not about the old buildings. It’s about all the people who work so hard every day inside those buildings.”
A Highway 1 road trip through the Central Coast is a vital pilgrimage for our collective sanity as Angelenos. Don't miss these memorable destinations along the way.
Delgadillo, 39, is part of a small band of moms who look after Trinity and dedicated themselves in recent weeks to preparing the school community for the massive strike.
They are close to the teachers and support their demands. But their personal protest goes deeper. They say they are fighting for the school’s survival after years of decline and shrinkage — because in a school in a neighborhood like theirs in the Los Angeles Unified School District, you have to fight hard for anything you get. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| L.A. schools lost $15 million on Day 1; attendance improved slightly on Day 2 of the teachers' strike - Los Angeles Times |
| As the first Los Angeles teachers’ strike in 30 years stretched into its second day, attendance ticked up slightly — about 20,000 more students went to school Tuesday — but remained at about a third of the district’s total enrollment.
The school district’s top official lamented that the walkout already had cost millions in state funding on Day 1; 163,384 students showed up for class — or some semblance of it — on Day 2.
Teachers, meanwhile, returned to the picket line and then converged downtown for a rally to protest the growth of charter schools, which their union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has blamed for draining funds from the district. They remained out even as the week’s second strong storm moved into the region.
Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner, in a morning news conference, said the first day hit hard with only a third of the district’s students showing up for school. That cost the school system about $25 million in state funding tied to enrollment, he said. Subtract unpaid wages for the strikers of $10 million, he said, and that amounts to an estimated one-day, net loss of $15 million. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| Amid LAUSD teachers’ strike, L.A. County supervisors vow more funding for schools - Los Angeles Times |
| Los Angeles County supervisors inserted themselves into the LAUSD teachers’ strike on Tuesday, approving a vague, nonbinding plan to provide $10 million for healthcare at schools and to create programs for the thousands of students who are missing class during the impasse.
The Board of Supervisors, which doesn’t have control over the Los Angeles Unified School District, but does fund some student health centers, approved a measure to seek the additional funds to help pay for more nurses — one sticking point in the negotiations between the school district and striking teachers.
The county already provides some funding for school-based wellness centers in middle and high schools. The new plan would expand that to elementary schools, county officials said.
Proposed by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Hilda Solis, the measure instructs the county’s Department of Mental Health to find $10 million for enhanced mental health care and other wellness programs at LAUSD. It also directs county officials to work with schools to hire more health professionals. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| Teachers strike at L.A. charter schools too, a first for California - Los Angeles Times |
| Teachers at three charter schools in South Los Angeles walked off the job Tuesday, marking the first time ever that a charter school organization in California went on strike, according to the teachers union.
The strikers joined thousands of other L.A. educators who began a strike a day earlier against the L.A. Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school system.
Charter schools are publicly funded, but can be privately operated. They are also exempt from union contracts affecting school districts.
Although it’s rare, teachers at charter schools may organize and seek representation from a union, just as the teachers at the Accelerated Schools did. This is said to be only the second time nationally that instructors at a charter school organization went on strike. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| LAPD deploys controversial drone for the first time - Los Angeles Times |
| The SWAT officers thought the armed robbery suspect might be in a second-floor apartment.
To find out without risking their lives, they deployed a new tool: a small drone that hovered outside the window transmitting live video.
The video showed that the man did not appear to be in the room. The officers could enter knowing he was not behind the door waiting to ambush them.
The Jan. 9 standoff in Koreatown, which lasted nine hours before the suspect was safely arrested, was the first time the Los Angeles Police Department has used a drone, joining hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country that have acquired them to provide a set of eyes in dangerous situations. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| Reform of controversial pension program approved by L.A. City Council - Los Angeles Times |
| The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to reform a controversial retirement program that allowed hundreds of veteran police and firefighters to take extended leaves from work at essentially twice their usual pay.
The Deferred Retirement Option Plan pays city cops and firefighters their salaries and early pension payments for the last five years of their careers. Under the new measure — which will apply only to new participants and not those already in the program — pension checks will be withheld from those who miss significant time due to injury or illness in any given month. Those employees will still receive their full salary for the time off.
The change of policy comes in response to a Los Angeles Times investigative series that found nearly half of the cops and firefighters who had joined the program — which has paid out more than $1.7 billion in early extra pension checks since its inception in 2002 — have subsequently taken injury leaves, typically for bad backs, sore knees and other conditions that afflict aging bodies regardless of profession. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| New storm triggers evacuations across Southern California - Los Angeles Times |
| Authorities in several Southern California communities issued evacuation orders Tuesday as a new round of rain soaked the region, causing minor roadway floods and downed trees.
The third in a series of storms triggered the mandatory evacuation of about 300 homes nestled in the steep Malibu canyons amid the Woolsey fire burn area, but didn’t bring as much rain as expected.
“We didn’t get as much rain today as we thought we would,” said Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “The evacuations were for today’s storm that didn’t pan out.”
Although the Malibu evacuation order was in place overnight, authorities said they would reassess the forecast early Wednesday. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the tech industry to help pay for new housing. But not for the neediest Californians - Los Angeles Times |
| California’s housing affordability crisis over the past decade has coincided with a boom in tech-fueled job growth. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on Silicon Valley companies to make an unprecedented contribution to help build new homes — but his idea is drawing concern from some budget watchers and government ethics advocates who worry about the political influence the tech industry could gain.
Newsom said his administration is asking corporations to provide developers with low-interest loans to build housing for teachers, nurses and other middle-class Californians. Newsom indicated the companies’ total fundraising for the program would match the $500 million in public money he’s proposed in the state budget for the development of middle-income housing.
“The workforce housing issues have been exacerbated by the success of a lot of these companies,” Newsom said when presenting the budget last week. “I do not begrudge other people's success. But that success is creating burdens and stress.”
Millions of jobs have been created in California’s strong economy since the recession, but there is not enough housing in the state to accommodate the influx of workers.
The Bay Area alone over the past eight years has added 750,000 jobs and only 167,000 new homes, according to construction industry statistics, prompting calls for Silicon Valley companies to do more to offset the impact on the housing market. A fall USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found that Bay Area respondents believed the rising influence of the tech industry was the primary contributor to the state’s housing affordability woes among eight options provided in the poll. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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| PG&E’s bankruptcy could slow California’s fight against climate change - Los Angeles Times |
| Climate change helped fuel the deadly fires that prompted California’s largest power company to announce Monday that it would file for bankruptcy in the face of $30 billion in potential liabilities.
In a grim twist, the bankruptcy of PG&E Corp. could now slow California’s efforts to fight climate change.
The Golden State has dramatically reduced planet-warming emissions from the electricity sector, largely by requiring utilities to increase their use of solar and wind power and fund energy efficiency upgrades for homes and businesses. Lawmakers recently set a target of 100% climate-friendly electricity by 2045.
But those government mandates have depended on PG&E’s Pacific Gas & Electric unit and other utilities being able to invest tens of billions of dollars in clean energy technologies.
PG&E’s ability to keep making those investments could be in serious jeopardy once it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, some energy experts say. Even before the company said it would file for bankruptcy, the looming threat of wildfire liabilities had decimated its credit rating, which raises the cost of borrowing capital. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-01-16 |
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