On Dec. 12, District 15 Councilman Joe Buscaino hosted his annual State of the District address virtually on Facebook. He spoke of a pressing issue: the spread of COVID-19.
“No one expected that our lives would still be upended this far into the year and that we would lose over 300,000 Americans,” Buscaino said.
He said that the pandemic has created problems that require multiple solutions. The two biggest problems, aside from the spread of COVID-19, are people going hungry and small businesses at risk of closing.
To help feed people, Buscaino highlighted the creation of a $1 million hardship relief fund. It was used to create a meal delivery program for seniors with a design in mind to solve two problems at once — support local restaurants while addressing food insecurity amongst this district’s most vulnerable. Buscaino’s office also gave $750,000 in Vons gift cards to families and $32,000 to nonprofits.
He commended the San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA for serving 160,000 meals to the community since March, with the help of more than 120 volunteers.
For small businesses, Buscaino said the city gave loans and relief funds to them. In total, the Small Business Administration loaned or gave $2.5 million to small businesses.
Buscaino also touched on homelessness in his district. Because of a federal lawsuit, the city and county came to an agreement where the city will create 67 new beds for homeless people, but the county will pay for the social services to help those who use them.
“My district will open two additional safe parking sites, a pallet shelter site, and a Project Homekey that will serve as interim housing, and then transition to permanent supportive housing after three years,” Buscaino said.
These will bring the 15th Council District’s number of temporary beds to 963, and 1,183 units of supportive housing.
“In Council District 15, we’re leading with solutions and an attitude that we must try all of the above when considering solutions,” Buscaino said.
He said he supports clean and accessible sidewalks for everyone — in other words, he is supportive of CARE+ cleanups, which provide services to homeless people, but also throw away their belongings if they do not move them in time. Such cleanups were stopped in March because of the pandemic, but Buscaino has successfully introduced two motions since then to have them resume in specific areas. The CARE+ cleanups also has had the perverse effect of pushing the spread of encampments into other neighborhoods.
Buscaino mentioned the opening of A Bridge Home shelters in San Pedro and Watts, both of which have 100 beds. In addition, the shelter in Watts, opened in 2019, has placed 30 individuals into permanent supportive housing, and 30 are employed. He also said that his office created a navigation center for homeless people to store their belongings, which is used by 160 people.
Buscaino also said that Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore reported that the newly reopened Harbor Division jail will likely close again without major federal funding or cutting other things from the city’s budget, and entire stations could close as well.
This would be the second time the jail has closed after operating for about a year. It originally opened in 2009, but closed after only nine months of operation. It re-opened in February 2020.
“If we decrease our police force, we will continue to see an increase in crime beyond what the pandemic has unveiled,” Buscaino said.
He pointed out that he was one of only two Los Angeles City Council members, out of 15 total, who voted against cutting the budget of the Los Angeles Police Department by $150 million.
“I support additional investment into public safety, not less,” Buscaino said. “I support the expansion of the community safety partnership, a community policing model that we piloted in Watts, which has proven to dramatically reduce violent crime while building harmony between residents and officers.”
He argued that the community safety partnership and senior lead officer programs reduce violence, and build trust between the community and police. He said that there should be more investment into these models.
Buscaino, who is a former police officer, did not mention the reasons why there have been calls to defund the police. He did not talk about the widespread criticism and nationwide protests against police violence that were sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor earlier this year. He also neglected to mention that even with the cuts to its budget, the LAPD will receive roughly $3 billion this fiscal year, about 51% of the city’s discretionary funding. Before the public outcry, the LAPD’s budget was going to increase from the previous year, even though most other city services were going to be cut.
Buscaino also had positive things to say about George Matthews and his group of volunteers, called San Pedro CPR, which stands for caring, proactive residents.
“[They] have continued their tireless efforts to keep our streets and sidewalks clean of trash and debris, using their own time and resources,” Buscaino said.
He briefly touched upon the upgrading of the water system in the San Pedro Community Garden, which finished this year. Buscaino said that it benefits more than 200 gardeners, making it the largest community garden in the city. However, he failed to mention the controversy surrounding the decision to upgrade the water system in 2019. Initially, the city was going to shut down the garden in April 2019 to install new pipes and would not reopen until 2020. The gardeners convinced the city to wait until August 2019, so that summer fruits could be harvested.
Buscaino said that the San Pedro Business District launched the city’s first permanent sidewalk dining pilot this year. It took the business district years of planning with his office prior to the pandemic. He said it will last even after the pandemic is over and he would like to see it expanded to every community in the city.
However, he did not mention that using this was currently illegal, as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a stay-at-home order on Dec. 3, banning outdoor dining for at least three weeks.