Letters to the Editor: As the Earth Warms, Carson Reflections Mini Park, and California’s 911 calls from ICE Detention Centers

As the Earth Warms 

Those who continue to deny our assault on the climate are complicit in the rising death toll. For Trump and his minions, add it to genocide in Gaza, loss of USAID funding to desperate areas, war in Iran, war in general, and Gestapo tactics in our streets. Trump himself is a crime against humanity.

Global study reveals how heat stress is intensifying worldwide, Copernicus 

https://tinyurl.com/Heat-Stress-Intensifying 

John Barbieri

San Francisco

Re: Opposing Consent Item 20, Resolution 26-067, Declaring Reflections Mini

Park Surplus Land.

Dear  Mayor Davis-Holmes and Councilmembers,

On behalf of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional Group of the Sierra Club, we

write to oppose, in no uncertain terms, consent item 20, which will declare

Reflections Mini Park surplus land.

There are myriad reasons this item should be voted down. And frankly it

is shocking the way this item is being proposed in the first place. Some of the

issues we have identified with this item include, but are not limited to:

The precedent of turning public open space into land for private residential

development, without thorough public discussion of infrastructure impacts,

fiscal impacts, environmental impacts, and quality of life impacts to

adjacent and nearby residents. To our knowledge, none of this has

happened.

We also find it concerning that the city staff’s report fails to identify the

other mini park that will supposedly be expanded to make up for the open

space that will be lost by the development of Reflections Mini Park. And why

is there no concurrent resolution committing the city to the other park’s

expansion?

It is also very concerning that the city is working on this issue with the

adjacent property owner. The mere fact that a property owner wishes to

develop an adjacent lot is not an adequate reason to dispose of a city

park. The private property owner should not expect special treatment.

Although California’s Surplus Land Act and Carson’s Municipal Code

apparently do not require a second City Council reading of this resolution, a

second reading should be called for by the Council so that community

members will have time to be informed what is being proposed and have

the opportunity to state their positions on the issue.

With nearly 3,000 members in our region, the Palos Verdes-South Bay Regional

Group of the Sierra Club is committed to protecting parks and open spaces for

everyone to enjoy, especially communities living on the frontlines of refinery

pollution and risk. We have advocated for over a century for the creation and

expansion of parks. And we unequivocally urge you to vote against this agenda

item.

Environmentally Yours,

Joseph Luis Piñoni 

Carson

Californians have a right to know about 911 calls from ICE detention centers

The number of people held in privately-run immigration detention centers in California has more than doubled since last year, leading to widespread reports of unsafe and overcrowded conditions. 

Since September, six people have died at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, both in Southern California. Given the stakes, Californians have a vital interest in knowing what is happening in these facilities, which are run by private, for-profit companies. 

Instead, the centers are shrouded in secrecy, leading detainees to stage hunger strikes and sit-ins and to throw notes over barbed-wire fences to draw attention to their treatment. It’s unlikely the federal government will increase transparency at the centers anytime soon. 

But California could shed light on what is happening inside by making a targeted change to its open records law to require local agencies to disclose any 911 calls and related records about the detention centers.

Earlier this year, CalMatters reported that in 2025 the San Diego County sheriff received reports of several alleged sexual assaults at the Otay Mesa immigration detention center. 

The sheriff’s department didn’t investigate the allegations. Rather, it has an agreement with the center that gives the warden the power to decide if an investigation should be conducted. 

Paloma Esquivel 

A journalist and press education specialist at the First Amendment Coalition.

Long Beach