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RLN Endorses Nithya Raman for Mayor, Marissa Roy for City Attorney

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RLN Endorses Nithya Raman for Mayor, Marissa Roy for City Attorney

In 2022, we endorsed Karen Bass, not just because of who she was running against, but because we believed that something of the legendary community activist she was before first running for office was still alive in her, and would work well with grassroots groups to move the city forward in a progressive direction. Instead, we got an echo of the disappointment that haunted Tom Bradley’s last term.

Although Nithya Raman came from the policy world, rather than the streets, she has proven herself to be much more in the spirit of what we expected of Bass—a leader in pushing for progressive policies that don’t leave anyone behind.

A prime example is homelessness. Under Bass’s “Inside Safe” program street homelessness has increased 8%, but in Raman’s district it’s down 49%. “This problem isn’t unsolvable, it’s mismanaged,” she says. Her goal is to at least halve street homelessness by the 2028 Olympics, and effectively eliminate long-term encampments by the end of her first term. And she has a compassionate, cost-effective plan to get it done.

“My plan uses approaches that cost less, have better outcomes, and give people the dignity of a home,” Raman says. “My plan also increases intensive case management services and medical, mental healthcare, and substance abuse treatment that have been shown to help people stabilize, stay housed, and integrate into their communities.”

She’s also been a leader on climate and environmental justice issues, garnering support from the progressive Sunrise Movement to the establishment LA League of Conservation Voters, which said in its endorsement:

Raman has developed a record on issues that improve the health of LA families and protect valuable habitat. These include: building decarbonization, improving air quality, expanding zero-emission transportation, building climate resilience, curtailing neighborhood oil drilling, protecting our urban forestry, and improvements to native habitat.

Due to her last-minute entry in the race, Bass had already secured endorsements from many elected Democrats, and allied organizations, including labor. But that makes the endorsements she has received all the more telling. She has labor endorsements spanning the city’s major industries, along with endorsements from current and former LA City Controllers and Laura Chick—which is particularly noteworthy since candidates on the left are routinely attacked as fiscally irresponsible.

She has labor endorsements from entertainment (Writers Guild Of America West), tourism (UNITE HERE! Local 11 ), healthcare (SEIU 121RN Nurse Alliance and CIR/SEIU [The Committee of Interns and Residents]), transportation (ILWU’s InlandBoatmen’s Union, Transport Workers Union Of America, and Transportation Communications Union/IAM), and construction (Western States Carpenters), as well as UAW REGION 6 and EAA, which represents more than 5000 public sector professionals in LA city government.

Current controller Kenneth Mejia said that only Raman “will support the Controller’s Office so we can do our job in overseeing $45 billion annually,” explaining that “During her tenure, she was one of the few who: Voted against cutting the Controller’s budget, motioned to get the Controller’s Office more auditors, fought back against eliminating the Controller’s Office, supported an independent protected budget for the Controller’s Office.”

And Chick was even more supportive. “As Mayor Nithya Raman would not be spending billions of dollars on a boondoggle project, the LA visitor and Convention bureau that is wrong, wrong, wrong to be building now. $6 billion worth instead of firefighters, instead of parks, instead of fixing sidewalks, instead of fixing lights, they’re doing a boondoggle project downtown,” Chick said. “Nithya Raman was one of only two people who had the courage to vote against that project, because she’s accountable and she’s responsible, and she’s courageous. Nithya Raman is the mayor Los Angeles has been yearning for for decades.”

Finally, many of the problems LA faces are systemic, and Raman is a systemic thinker, which is one of the reasons she has been a leader on charter reform—updating the city’s constitution for the 21st century, so that city government as a system is best prepared to address both long-term and immediate needs. This stands in sharp contrast to Bass, who did more than anyone else to sabotage charter reform by delaying her appointments to the charter reform commission for almost a year, which resulted in a rushed process that eliminated many popular, much needed reforms.

As charter reform enters a new phase with a committee chaired by Councilman Tim McOsker, there’s a pressing need for a mayor who will champion the process, and see that it is fully implemented.

For all these reasons and more, we endorse Nithya Raman for LA mayor.

 

City Attorney: Marissa Roy 

This has been called one of the easiest choices on the ballot—and for good reason. Marissa Roy is eminently qualified for the job, with a diverse litigation background, which her opponent lacks, she understands the nature of the office, which her opponent seemingly does not, she is backed by a wide range of progressive organizations, including dozens of Democratic clubs and labor unions (including all the regional ILWU locals), while her opponent’s only “labor” endorsements represent the LAPD and the Airport Police, and his real backers are Republican donors. On top of that all, Roy wants to make the office of City Attorney a true public interest law firm that protects workers, tenants, immigrants, and communities from corporate abuse, while her opponent wants to make it a “tough-on-crime” sledgehammer, even though it’s only able to charge people with misdemeanors.

Knock LA sums up, “Marissa Roy is the only candidate in this race who understands the office, who treats it with the seriousness it deserves, and who has a clear vision of how to manage it to the benefit of the city.”

The city attorney provides legal counsel to city officials, represents the city in legal matters, and prosecutes misdemeanor, which gives it a wide range of discretion. Roy previously worked in the office, bringing landmark wage theft cases, including on behalf of undocumented car wash workers paid as little as $4.50 per hour. She is now a consumer protection attorney at the California Department of Justice, where she’s currently suing billion-dollar tech companies like Meta and recovering wages from abusive employers.

As summarized by LA Forward in their endorsement, her “People’s Agenda” includes:

  • Protecting workers and tenants by aggressively enforcing wage and hour laws, cracking down on wage theft, and defending renters from illegal evictions and abusive landlord practices.
  • Taking on corporate and tech abuse by scaling up impact litigation against corporations engaged in unlawful, unfair, or deceptive conduct that harms Angelenos.
  • Making civil rights and immigrants’ rights central to the office’s mandate, including pushing back on racial profiling, unconstitutional policing, and ongoing attacks from the Trump administration.
  • Pursuing smart public safety by prioritizing strategies that actually make communities safer—diversion, prevention, accountability— rather than reflexive criminalization that feeds mass incarceration.

More specifically, La Defensa adds, “On immigration, she would sue ICE, Palantir (for providing surveillance technology that enables mass deportations), and private detention operators GEO Group and CoreCivic for civil rights violations.”

All this and more—laid out in detail on her website—makes Roy the clear choice for city attorney.

 

County Sheriff: Roy Luna

In its not-really-endorsement, La Defensa writes, “Robert Luna is the harm reduction vote for this seat over perennial persona non grata candidate Alex Villanueva. Luna is running on “results:” his campaign points out that violent crime in LASD-patrolled areas has fallen each year under his watch, with homicides down 14% in the past year.”

Similarly, LA Forward writes, “In many ways it seems that the goal of his tenure has been to cut down on scandalous headlines rather than fix underlying issues. Deaths at the county jail, which his department operates, have reached the shocking level of almost one per week, leading to a lawsuit by the state attorney general….

“Lucky for Luna, his opponent in this runoff is neckless fascist Alex Villanueva.”

We concur with both these assessments. Luna isn’t the choice for LA County Sheriff. But unfortunately, he’s the only choice under the circumstances.

Candidate Endorsements

Reporters Desk
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Candidate Endorsements

Governor

Xavier Becerra –Democratic

(Voting Rights Attorney)

 

Lieutenant Governor

Fiona Ma –Democratic

(State Treasurer/CPA)

 

Secretary of State

Shirley N. Weber* –Democratic

(California Secretary of State)

 

Controller

Malia M. Cohen* –Democratic

(State Controller/Mother)

 

Treasurer

Eleni Kounalakis Democratic

(Lieutenant Governor of California)

 

Board of Equalization Member District 3

Mike Gipson –Democratic

(State Assemblymember/Father)

 

Samuel P. Sukaton –Democratic

(Labor Union Organizer)

 

United States Representative District 36

Ted W. Lieu –Democratic

 

United States Representative District 42

Robert Garcia –Democratic

(United States Congressman)

 

United States Representative District 43

Maxine Waters Democratic

(United States Congresswoman)

 

United States Representative District 44

Nanette Diaz Barragan Democratic

(U.S. Representative, 44th District)

 

State Senate District 24

John M. Erickson Democratic

(Councilmember)

 

Brian Goldsmith Democratic

(Small Business Owner)

 

State Senate District 34

Avelino Valencia –Democratic

(California State Assemblymember)

 

State Assembly Member District 61

Tina Simone McKinnor* –Democratic

State Assemblymember

 

State Assembly Member District 65 

Ayanna Davis –Democratic 

(Educator/School Boardmember) 

 

State Assembly Member District 66

Sara Deen –Democratic

(School Boardmember/Businesswoman)

 

Paul Seo–Democratic

(Mayor/Corruption Prosecutor)

 

State Assembly Member District 69

Josh Lowenthal* –Democratic

Business Owner/Assemblymember

 

Court of Appeal – Second Appellate District 

Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

 

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Joshua Groban

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Kelli M. Evans

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 3, Rashida A. Adams

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 4, Helen Zukin

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 5, Brian M. Hoffstadt

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 6, Tari L. Cody:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 7, Gonzalo C. Martinez:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 1, Michelle C. Kim:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 1, Gregory J. Weingart:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 2, Anne Richardson:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 2, Steve Goorvitch:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 3, Mark Hanasono:

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 4, Nicholas Daum

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 4, Audra M. Mori

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 4, Armen Tamzarian

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 6, Kenneth R. Yegan

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 7, Natalie Stone

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 8, John Wiley

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 8, Matthew A. Scherb

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 8, Victor G. Viramontes

RLn’s 2026 BALLOT ENDORSEMENTS

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RLn’s 2026 BALLOT ENDORSEMENTS

 

PROP. 1 — AFFORDABLE HOUSING BONDS
California’s housing crisis demands public investment, not reliance on the private market alone. The $11.25 billion bond would expand affordable housing, preserve existing units and provide assistance to veterans, low-income families and people experiencing homelessness. The long-term borrowing costs are justified by the need for stable, affordable homes.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 2 — STATE RAINY DAY FUND
Building reserves can help protect schools, healthcare and other essential services when revenues fall. But savings must serve the public, not become an excuse for austerity during a downturn. We support safeguards that preserve essential services and prevent working families from bearing the cost of budget shortfalls.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 3 — PERMANENT TAX ON HIGH-INCOME EARNERS
California should not allow a vital revenue source for public education to expire while schools and families face mounting financial pressures. Making the existing tax on high-income earners permanent protects school funding and frees resources for other essential services. Those most able to contribute should help sustain the public institutions on which everyone depends.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 4 — PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTIONS
Democracy should not be reserved for candidates with wealthy donors and corporate backing. Allowing public financing of campaigns gives governments another tool to broaden participation and reduce the influence of big money in politics. Public funds must be administered transparently and protected from misuse.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 5 — CHANGES TO RECALL ELECTIONS
Changing how vacancies are filled after a recall could reduce election costs in some circumstances, but replacing a simultaneous vote with an appointment or later special election could also limit voters’ immediate say. The measure needs closer examination of its effects on democratic accountability before RLN takes a position.
RLN: No position

 

PROP. 37 — MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE FOR MIDDLE-INCOME BUYERS
Helping middle-income Californians become homeowners could ease barriers to homeownership, particularly for first-time buyers priced out of the market. The proposed loan program is repaid through borrowers’ mortgage payments rather than general state revenues. However, assistance tied to newly constructed homes must be evaluated alongside the need for deeply affordable housing for low-income residents.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 38 — IMMUNOLOGY RESEARCH BONDS
Medical research can lead to important advances, but borrowing $8.4 billion commits taxpayers to decades of repayment and directs a substantial share to a single UC-affiliated nonprofit institute. Public investment in research should serve broad public needs, with transparent oversight and equitable access to resulting treatments.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 39 — GOVERNMENT-ISSUED VOTER IDENTIFICATION
Eligible voters should not face unnecessary barriers to exercising their constitutional rights. Requiring government identification for in-person voting and additional identifying information on mail ballots risks burdening people who lack ready access to documents, including low-income voters and people who have recently moved or changed their names. Election security should not come at the expense of access.
RLN: NO

 

PROP. 40 — ONE-TIME TAX ON BILLIONAIRES
Extreme concentrations of wealth exist alongside unmet needs in healthcare, education and basic social services. A one-time tax on billionaires would require some of the wealthiest people to contribute toward public needs and help offset cuts to essential programs. Working families should not be expected to absorb the consequences of reductions in public support while billionaire fortunes remain largely untouched.
RLN: YES

 

PROP. 41 — RESTRICTIONS ON STATE TAXES AND SPENDING LIMITS
Government accountability and independent audits are important, but this measure also restricts how certain new tax revenues can be treated under the state spending limit. California must retain the flexibility to raise and direct revenue toward public needs. Fiscal rules should not become barriers to adequately funding essential services.
RLN: NO

 

PROP. 42 — PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN NEW STATE TAXES
Preventing future taxes on personal property and retroactive taxation would limit the state’s options for responding to changing economic conditions and addressing inequality. California needs a fair, flexible tax system capable of asking those with the greatest resources to contribute to public services. Broad restrictions on future revenue tools work against that goal.
RLN: NO

 

PROP. 43 — TWO-THIRDS VOTE FOR CERTAIN LOCAL TAXES
Local governments need the ability to fund schools, emergency services, affordable housing and other community priorities. Raising the approval threshold for certain local taxes from a majority to two-thirds gives a minority of voters greater power to block public investment. Communities should be able to decide local funding questions through majority rule.
RLN: NO

 

PROP. 44 — 90% REVENUE REQUIREMENT FOR COMMUNITY CLINICS
Community health centers do more than provide direct medical treatment. They also need staff and resources for translation, patient transportation, enrollment assistance and quality improvement. A rigid requirement to spend 90% of revenue on narrowly defined program services could undermine those functions and make care less accessible to underserved communities.
RLN: NO

 

PROP. 45 — CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Speeding up development should not mean weakening environmental safeguards or reducing communities’ ability to challenge harmful projects. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color often bear disproportionate pollution burdens. Environmental review must preserve meaningful public participation and accountability, particularly when projects threaten residents’ health and local ecosystems.
RLN: NO

 

CITY OF LOS ANGELES MEASURES

MEASURE A— BINDING ARBITRATION FOR PUBLIC SAFETY LABOR DISPUTES
Public safety workers deserve a fair, impartial process for resolving labor disputes. By requiring good-faith negotiations and binding arbitration, the measure provides a path to resolving conflicts while maintaining essential public services. Workers deserve a meaningful voice at the bargaining table.
RLN: Yes

 

MEASURE LA — INFRASTRUCTURE, BUDGET, FINANCE AND CONTRACTING
Los Angeles needs long-term infrastructure planning and a budget process capable of addressing aging public facilities and neighborhood needs. But expanding administrative authority and changing contracting rules must come with strong transparency, independent oversight and protections for public assets. Infrastructure reform should improve service delivery without weakening public accountability.
RLN: Yes

 

MEASURE PL — CITY PLANNING DEPARTMENT
Planning reform should make decisions more consistent, transparent and responsive to neighborhood needs. Reorganizing appeals and expanding the Planning Department’s authority could improve processing, but residents must retain meaningful opportunities to challenge decisions affecting housing, land use and neighborhood character. Reforms should advance equitable development rather than simply accelerate approvals.
RLN: YES

 

MEASURE EE — CITY ETHICS, ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE
Stronger penalties for campaign finance violations and improved oversight can help restore public confidence in city government. However, reducing the City Council’s required meeting frequency and raising referendum petition signature requirements could make elected officials less accessible and direct democracy harder to exercise. Accountability reforms should expand public participation, not restrict it.
RLN: No

 

MEASURE PRK — RECREATION AND PARKS FUNDING
Parks, playgrounds, pools and recreation centers are essential public resources, especially for working families and neighborhoods with limited private recreational options. A guaranteed increase in parks funding over 10 years would help address deferred maintenance, restore programming and improve access to safe, welcoming public spaces. Investing in parks is an investment in public health and community life.
RLN: YES

 

MEASURE PRT — HARBOR, AIRPORTS, WATER AND POWER DEPARTMENTS
Publicly owned infrastructure must serve the communities that live and work alongside it. Requiring waterfront public-access funding and disclosure of workforce impacts from certain Harbor Department agreements can strengthen accountability to local residents and workers. Changes to departmental governance and lease terms should preserve public oversight and ensure that economic development benefits the broader community.
RLN: YES

 

MEASURE FD — HALF-CENT SALES TAX FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Los Angeles needs adequate staffing, functioning equipment, well-maintained fire stations and effective brush clearance, particularly as communities face increasingly serious wildfire risks. Dedicated funding and public oversight could strengthen emergency response. However, a sales tax places a proportionally greater burden on lower-income households, so the city should ensure the revenue is spent transparently and explore fairer long-term funding options.
RLN: NO

 

MEASURE SC — CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES FOR SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS
School board elections should be transparent and accountable to the communities public schools serve. Clarifying campaign finance rules can help voters understand who is financing candidates and whose interests may influence education policy. Changes made by ordinance should preserve meaningful disclosure and strong safeguards against the undue influence of wealthy donors.
RLN: YES

 

MEASURE TE — TRANSFER TAX EXEMPTION FOR FIRE-DAMAGED HOMES
Homeowners whose properties were damaged or destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire face difficult decisions about rebuilding, retaining or selling their homes. A limited exemption from the city’s transfer tax may provide relief to affected property owners. The exemption should remain narrowly targeted to disaster recovery and should not undermine the broader public purposes of Measure ULA’s affordable housing and homelessness funding.
RLN: YES

Teamsters Organize Amazon Drivers in Fight for Security and Dignity

Terelle Jerricks
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Teamsters Organize Amazon Drivers in Fight for Security and Dignity

 

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor and Bridget Alicia Ramirez, Columnist

Last week, we met two of the more than 500 Amazon drivers who participated in pickets demanding union recognition and respect for the workers who deliver its packages. Their demands go beyond pay to include safer working conditions, predictable schedules, and the security needed to make a living.

Laurie Taylor, 62, who has worked in Amazon’s delivery network for five years, and Reilley Smith, 23, a driver for a year and a half, are both employed by Accelerated Logistics, an Amazon delivery service provider (DSP). Their experiences illustrate how Amazon controls much of the delivery process while maintaining that drivers work for independent contractors.

Amazon shapes routes, workloads, and the branded uniforms and vans drivers use. Yet when problems arise, workers can find themselves caught between Amazon and the subcontractor that pays them.

Drivers must load their vans and deliver assigned packages within tightly controlled shifts. Smith, who typically works Sunday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., said he often scrambles for additional hours when business slows early in the year. Work generally increases during the Christmas season.

Although his schedule includes a 30-minute lunch and two 15-minute rest breaks, taking them all can be difficult.

“We’re expected to finish a 10-hour workload in less time, so taking all those breaks can be difficult,” Smith said.

Even restroom breaks can be a challenge. When asked about them, Smith held up a water bottle, suggesting drivers sometimes resort to improvised solutions rather than risk falling behind.

Large boxes overflow in an Amazon truck. Photo courtesy of the Teamsters Amazon Division.

Taylor averages 350 to 400 packages per shift. Heavy totes and poorly organized overflow packages make the workload harder to manage.

“The totes are so heavy that they increased things so much that the overflow size has increased. It doesn’t fit on the shelves. Large boxes don’t fit on the shelves,” Taylor said.

Smaller packages that once fit neatly on shelves are sometimes placed in large shipping bags. Pulling out one package can disrupt the others, making deliveries harder to locate and routes more difficult to complete on time.

The vans present additional problems. Smith said some are poorly maintained, with broken air conditioning and ants that have gotten into his lunch.

“Some vans, you know, people don’t have AC working,” he said. “I’ve had many vans with just ants all over the van. They’ve gotten in my lunch.”

Taylor noted that the strong El Niño coming to Southern California is going to impact drivers. 

“The rainy season is approaching, and they are telling us, ‘Go buy yourself a raincoat.’ I don’t want to spend $45 on a raincoat my job should provide. I don’t have $45 to spend on a raincoat. I don’t make enough money.”

For Taylor, the problem is a widening gap between the demands placed on workers and the compensation they receive.

“They just keep wanting more from us, yet they don’t give anything in return. We have made trillions of dollars of profits for this company, and they don’t reflect that to us,” Taylor said.

“While they are off making huge amounts of money, here we are working for the same wages, but we can’t support our children, support our parents, so many things we have to take care of, mothers to take care of. How am I supposed to pay for this?”

The financial strain follows workers home, turning ordinary household decisions into difficult trade-offs.

“Having to decide what’s getting paid — is it food or is it going to be gas? Am I going to buy the healthy food I choose to eat or do I have to lower my standards to get cheap food?” Taylor said.

Unpredictable scheduling compounds those pressures. Drivers placed on “standby” must remain available but may receive no route or only a shortened shift. Some drivers believe the system can be used to punish workers whom management dislikes, Smith said, adding to concerns about their control over their hours and income.

Taylor said organizing with Teamsters Local 396 was a long time coming. After watching the union support Amazon workers during the previous holiday season, she decided it was time for drivers at her facility to join the effort.

Their priorities include predictable schedules, job security, safe working conditions and fair, livable wages.

Building a movement

Max Amberger, an organizer with the Teamsters Amazon Division in Southern California and a former Amazon worker, said the union is combining workplace organizing with legislative efforts to hold Amazon accountable across its delivery network.

The immediate goal is to build a nationwide movement that pressures Amazon to recognize the union and negotiate with drivers.

“As the movement grows, we can build the pressure needed to bring Amazon to the table,” Amberger said.

The Torrance-area pickets are part of that broader campaign. Amberger emphasized that support from other unions and the community will be essential.

“The more solidarity we build between our organizations, the stronger we’ll be,” he said. “The ILWU represents port workers, and the Teamsters represent logistics workers in inland areas. We’re two pieces of the same puzzle.”

That connection is especially important in the Los Angeles Harbor Area, where port workers and delivery drivers occupy different links in the same supply chain. Amberger said he hopes to strengthen ties among Amazon Teamsters, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and other South Bay unions.

Legislatively, Amberger pointed to New York City’s proposed Delivery Protection Act, which would restrict the use of subcontractors for last-mile delivery and establish health and safety requirements, including vehicle-maintenance provisions. The Teamsters support the measure as part of a broader effort to hold companies accountable for the workers who deliver their goods.

Amberger also described California legislation intended to let the state’s Public Employment Relations Board provide relief when the National Labor Relations Board cannot act quickly enough in a labor dispute. He said federal lawsuits have stalled the measure and predicted further legislative efforts in 2027, including initiatives in Southern California.

The campaign also seeks public support. Amberger encouraged people to talk with their Amazon drivers about organizing. Yard signs featuring a message of support and a QR code have helped demonstrate that the workers’ fight extends beyond the delivery station.

Workers are not cogs in a machine

Publisher James Preston Allen’s book, The Past Is Not Even the Past Anymore, offers a fitting frame for the struggle. Amazon’s delivery model reflects a longstanding conflict between businesses seeking greater productivity and workers seeking control over their time, safety and economic security.

Drivers wear Amazon-branded uniforms, deliver its packages and work within a system shaped by its demands, yet are employed by subcontractors. For Taylor and Smith, the consequences include uncertain hours, punishing workloads, poorly maintained vehicles and the struggle to make ends meet.

Their union campaign seeks to change that imbalance. Its success will depend on workers building enough solidarity to bring Amazon to the bargaining table, lawmakers establishing stronger protections, and the public recognizing the people behind the packages at its door.

The packages may carry Amazon’s name, but the labor that moves them belongs to the workers. They deserve a voice in how the job is done — and a fair share of the security and dignity their work should provide.

Champions: Wilmington PONY League All-Stars Carry Forward a Legacy of Mentorship

Terelle Jerricks
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Champions: Wilmington PONY League All-Stars Carry Forward a Legacy of Mentorship

Last month, Wilmington’s 11U and 13U PONY League All-Stars swept the district, sectional and regional championships, winning more than trophies and bragging rights. Their 2026 championship run represents generations of community investment, mentorship, resilience and volunteerism in a working-class neighborhood where youth sports offer opportunities for personal growth and belonging.

These young players earned something less tangible but just as enduring: community pride. It is the stuff of which local legends are made and stories are recounted for decades.

Resilience, however, is not something easily taught. It is a hard-earned durability forged through setbacks and adversity.

Coach Joe Hernandez knows that firsthand. His son Joe, the team’s pitcher, broke his arm before the All-Star season, seemingly ending his chances of playing.

“We weren’t expecting him to pitch when he came back,” Hernandez said. “But then the doctors cleared him sooner than expected. He completely took over hitting, pitching and fielding. He just completely came back focused.”

Joe had broken his arm the previous year, too, forcing him to miss that season’s All-Star run.

“We were like a game or two short of what we accomplished this year,” Hernandez recalled. “We were right there.”

This year, Joe and his teammates found a way to go further.

Hernandez readily identified the players whose contributions helped propel the team through the championship run. He singled out PJ DeLeon as a standout pitcher and catcher, praised Ary Guzman’s steady play at shortstop and Ziggy Cardenas’ work at second base, and highlighted the youngest player, Jax Chavez, as a fixture in the Wilmington All-Stars’ infield and an ace left-handed hitter.

“We just had a really good core of kids,” Hernandez said.

From Four Losses to a Championship Run

Coach Eddie Guzman instructs his players during practice. Photo by Chris Villanueva.

The All-Star season began in spring 2026, and its opening chapter looked nothing like the ending. Drawing top players from teams across the Los Angeles Harbor Area, the All-Stars lost their first four games as the players worked through the growing pains of learning to play together.

By the midpoint of the season, however, the team was beginning to turn a corner. Players developed stronger chemistry and confidence, and their teamwork, discipline and perseverance helped reverse the early losses. Hernandez credits the turnaround to collective effort rather than individual talent alone.

“What we’re really working on is the mentality,” he said. “I think that’s what they need to overcome. We’re trying to teach them to stay calm even though things are going wrong. Just stay calm and overcome.”

That composure became one of the team’s defining strengths.

“When we fell behind, they didn’t lose it,” Hernandez said. “They kept it together. They knew their opponents were about to rally, but the Wilmington All-Stars showed patience and kept working hard. And then we always prevailed in the end.”

Teaching that kind of resilience requires preparation, repetition and reflection. Hernandez encourages his players to think through their decisions before the action unfolds, rather than waiting until the ball is hit to decide what to do.

“We were constantly teaching them to prepare before they have to do the work,” he said. “Like telling yourself, ‘If I get this ball, this is what I’m doing.’ Instead of deciding after you get the ball.”

The same principle applies at the plate, where each at-bat offers another chance to learn and improve.

“Every ball is a brand-new opportunity to do right, to do better,” Hernandez said.

Coaches reinforce those lessons by asking players to examine their decisions: What were you thinking on that play? How could you have done it differently? The questions are repeated throughout practices and games, turning individual experiences into lessons the entire team can carry forward.

Add those small lessons together, Hernandez suggested, and they become something larger: resilience.

A Family Tradition on the Field

Hernandez’s connection to Wilmington baseball spans decades. He played at the park from the mid-1980s through 1990, and all three of his sons have participated in PONY League baseball there. His oldest son is about 30, his middle son is 26, and his youngest, Joe Jr., is 13.

His family’s history reflects a pattern familiar throughout the program. Many players have fathers, uncles, brothers or other relatives who once played at the same park. Former players return as coaches, passing along athletic skills and the values they learned from the adults who guided them.

The result is an intergenerational tradition of participation, teaching and mentorship. The players may change, but the relationships and responsibilities connecting them remain.

That tradition is especially visible at the team’s baseball field at the corner of Opp Street and Banning Boulevard, where a bust of John Mendez Jr. watches over the park.

Mendez, a Wilmington community leader whose work touched generations of local young people, served as director of Wilmington Teen Post 108 from 1966 to 1973. His legacy offers a historical lens through which to understand the community investment that continues to sustain youth programs like PONY League baseball.

A Wilmington native and Phineas Banning High School graduate, Mendez attended the U.S. Jaycees Leadership School before entering the Army in 1948. He served for four years, attaining the rank of sergeant first class and serving as a field first sergeant before his discharge in 1952.

After returning to the Los Angeles Harbor Area, Mendez held several jobs before becoming director of Wilmington Teen Post 108 in 1966. The multiservice community teen center offered young people opportunities that extended well beyond recreation.

During the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, federal Great Society initiatives directed resources toward urban communities and programs serving disadvantaged young people. Wilmington Teen Post 108 used that broader environment of public investment to help connect local teenagers with organized activities and opportunities for advancement.

Young people could participate in sports ranging from boxing to baseball, pursue summer employment and, for a time, publish a newspaper. The Teen Post became a place where young people could develop skills, find adult guidance and build relationships that might shape the rest of their lives.

Mendez left the Teen Post in 1973 to join the staff of Los Angeles City Councilman John S. Gibson Jr. As Gibson’s field deputy, he was responsible for the operation of the councilman’s district office. He later served under Gibson’s successor, Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.

His public service was only part of his contribution. A biographical account of Mendez’s career credited him with founding at least 13 community organizations and programs, securing grants for at least 24 programs and serving on the boards of at least eight organizations. He also co-chaired the Wilmington Parade and Fiesta del Grito.

Mendez was called the voice of the Pilots, not just because he was the official game announcer for Banning High School. His influence, however, cannot be measured by an organizational tally alone. It is also reflected in the lives of people who found direction and purpose through their relationships with him.

The Lessons That Outlast the Game

Roger Sanchez, a former Wilmington gang member who became assistant director of the Wilmington Teen Center in 1986, credited Mendez with helping him change his life.

“I had no father when I moved to Wilmington, so I looked to John Mendez as my father figure,” Sanchez told the San Pedro News-Pilot. “He taught me a lot.”

Sanchez described how he followed Mendez around the center, helping wherever he could.

“I became Mr. Mendez’ shadow, following him, helping him wherever I could at the center. I grew up there.”

Before becoming assistant director, Sanchez volunteered at the center for years. He worked mornings and gave his evenings to young people, taking them on field trips and to tournaments and sporting events.

The work echoed the mission Mendez had helped establish: creating safe, supportive spaces where young people could find encouragement, learn responsibility and discover possibilities beyond their immediate circumstances.

That same spirit lives on in community programs where former players become coaches, families return to the same fields across generations, and volunteers invest their time in children who may someday do the same for others.

The Wilmington PONY League All-Stars’ 2026 championship is a story of athletic achievement. It is also a story about what happens when young people have teammates who believe in them, coaches who teach them to persevere and a community willing to invest in their future.

The trophies will mark the season. The lessons — and the relationships that made it possible — can last a lifetime.

Statement from Dean Logan Regarding U.S. Department of Justice Correspondence

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Statement from Dean Logan Regarding U.S. Department of Justice Correspondence

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) Dean C. Logan issued the following statement regarding correspondence received from the U.S. Department of Justice concerning voter eligibility and citizenship:

 

“Our office received correspondence and information from the U.S. Department of Justice the afternoon of October 13, 2026 (21 days prior to Election Day) concerning assertions related to voter eligibility and citizenship. We are reviewing the information in coordination with the California Secretary of State and Attorney General to determine the next appropriate steps.

The letter included a USB drive purportedly containing the referenced records, along with a handwritten note providing a password. We have not accessed the drive because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols. We do not consider the device a secure medium. Additionally, the letter does not specify the number of individuals involved or describe the information contained in the records.

Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office. Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established – and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.

With the 2026 General Election underway, we remain focused on administering a safe, secure, accurate, and transparent election. We will continue following established legal requirements and verification procedures while protecting the rights of every eligible voter.”

A copy of the October 13, 2026, letter from the U.S. Department of Justice, along with the accompanying handwritten note, is available below.

Link: https://rrcc.box.com/s/jwladrl77dwd9ud2hexcw2yeuvm1gnic

Update Murder Investigation and Arrest – 6800 Block of Coachella Avenue, LB

Reporters Desk
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Update Murder Investigation and Arrest – 6800 Block of Coachella Avenue, LB

 

Updated Oct. 13, 2026

Homicide detectives have made an arrest related to the Jan. 18, 2025, murder of 55-year-old Tyrant Otee Walker.

Through their investigation, Homicide detectives identified Will Moses Palmer, a 54-year-old resident of Long Beach, as the suspect responsible for the murder.

The case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and an arrest warrant was issued.

On Oct. 13, 2026, Special Investigations Division detectives located and arrested Palmer in the 3100 block of East Willow Street. Palmer was booked for murder, and his bail was set at $4,000,000.

The motive of this incident is being investigated as possibly gang related.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact homicide detectives Leticia Gamboa and Oscar Valenzuela at 562-570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted through “LA Crime Stoppers” by calling 800-222-8477, or anonymously at www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Originally published Jan. 19, 2025

Homicide detectives are investigating the murder of a male adult victim that occurred on Jan. 18, 2025 in the 6800 block of Coachella Avenue.

At approximately 9:15 p.m., officers responded to 6800 block of Coachella Avenue regarding a shots call, later determined to be a hit shooting. Upon arrival, officers contacted three male adult victims with gunshot wounds. Officers rendered medical aid until being relieved by Long Beach Fire Department personnel, who transported the victims to local hospitals, where one of the victims succumbed to his injuries.

Homicide detectives responded to the scene. The motive for the shooting and circumstances of the incident are currently under investigation.

The decedent has been identified as Tyrant Otee Walker, a 55-year-old resident of Compton. The second victim remains in critical but stable condition, and the third victim was treated at a hospital and released.

This incident is being investigated as possibly gang related.

Caltrans Plans Changes to the I-110 Harbor Freeway – PUBLIC COMMENT

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Caltrans Plans Changes to the I-110 Harbor Freeway – PUBLIC COMMENT

Caltrans District 7 is updating the Interstate-110 or I-110 comprehensive multimodal corridor plan or CMCP. The I-110 Harbor Freeway exists as a critical facility in Southern California that moves both goods and people in Los Angeles County. This corridor connects the cities in the South Bay and Harbor Gateway region to Downtown Los Angeles, spanning an approximate distance of 20 miles. The CMCP aims to address new traffic volumes, climate change, and overall corridor updates.

Caltrans District 7 is developing the I-110 CMCP to analyze transportation conditions and identify potential improvements along the I‑110 corridor – from the State Route‑47 interchange near the Port of Los Angeles (LA) in San Pedro to the I‑5 interchange near Downtown LA.

I-110, also known as the Harbor Freeway, is one of Southern California’s busiest and most important travel corridors, supporting tens of thousands of travelers daily for commuting, goods movement, or interregional travel. The corridor provides access to several high‑density employment centers and major regional destinations, including Downtown Los Angeles, Exposition Park, the LA Memorial Coliseum, the University of Southern California, the LA Convention Center, LA Live, Crypto.com Arena, and the Port of Los Angeles.

With the I-110 corridor serving such an essential role in the region’s economic and social fabric, it is critical to ensure that it continues to function effectively in the future while addressing the challenges it faces, such as persistent traffic congestion, ongoing safety concerns, and the impacts of noise and vehicle emissions on nearby communities.

To address these challenges, the I‑110 CMCP will study current and future corridor conditions and work with partner agencies, stakeholders, and local communities. Public and stakeholder input will guide this effort by identifying priorities, transportation needs, and opportunities for multimodal improvements along the corridor. The planning process also prioritizes equity and inclusive engagement to ensure underserved and historically impacted communities can meaningfully participate. Once complete, the I-110 CMCP will establish a shared vision for the corridor’s future by identifying strategies and multimodal improvements that enhance safety, mobility, accessibility, connectivity, and sustainability for all travelers and communities along the route.

Take the survey to make your thoughts known on creating more dedicated lanes, creation of a rail line down the median, improvements to J Line bus stops along the route, improvements for bike riders and vehicle drivers, etc.

For more information, visit the Caltrans comprehensive multimodal corridor website where you will find videos of in-person presentations.

Details: Caltrans Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan

Board of Supervisors Appoints Michael K. Woo to Los Angeles County’s First Ethics Commission

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Board of Supervisors Appoints Michael K. Woo to Los Angeles County’s First Ethics Commission

 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week appointed Michael K. Woo, the Governance Reform task force’s nominee, to the county’s first independent Ethics Commission. Woo joins Wilma A. Franco, Ed.D., and Amanda Susskind, whom the board appointed on Sept. 15. With three of its seven members seated, the initial commissioners can now nominate the four remaining members. 

“This commission could represent a new era of accountable, transparent, and honest government in Los Angeles County, and set a high standard for other California counties,” said Woo. 

Woo served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1985 to 1993, representing the 13th District, including Hollywood, Silver Lake and Los Feliz, and was the first Asian American elected to the Council. As chair of the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Governmental Ethics, he steered the 1990 ethics reform ordinance approved by city voters, which established the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

He later served on the Los Angeles City Planning Commission from 2005 to 2012 and as dean of the College of Environmental Design at Cal Poly Pomona from 2009 to 2019, where he is now dean emeritus. 

“When the new Ethics Commission begins its work, earning the public’s trust will come down to the people who serve on it,” said Nancy Yap, chair of the Governance Reform Task Force. “Michael Woo’s experience across public service, higher education, and civic leadership has given him the thoughtful judgment to help the Commission earn the public’s trust from its very first meeting.” 

The Task Force selected Woo on September 16 after a public recruitment that opened July 6 and drew more than 370 eligible applicants from across the County. Its Ethics Ad Hoc Subcommittee reviewed the applications and interviewed approximately 20 semifinalists before advancing six finalists to public interviews, and Task Force members deliberated for six hours before making their selection. 

The Labor and History of Snow Peas

David Bacon
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The Labor and History of Snow Peas

Specialty crops now require a greater labor force than ever.

David Bacon, Oct. 7

https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2026/10/photos-from-edge-45-labor-history-of.html 

Not long ago I pulled my car to the side of the highway when I saw a crew almost hidden in tall rows of vines, harvesting snow peas. It was a small group, working for a small grower, Bautista Farms, in a field along that part of State Route 166 that begins as East Main Street in Santa Maria, and ends as West Main Street eight miles later in Guadalupe.

Berto Bautista, owner of Bautista Farms, puts a bin of snow peas onto the scale to be weighed. Workers are paid by the amount they pick, measured by weight.

 

Marco Bautista and his father Berto Bautista, the owners of Bautista Farms, planted the field. Unlike many growers, though, they don’t actually own the land under the vines. Marco explained that the family rents three fields next to each other, each planted at slightly different times. As one ripens, the workers go in to pick. By the time they finish that field, the next one is ready. And when workers have come to the last row in the last field, more snow peas are ready in the first field and the cycle starts again.

Ivan Gallardo’s hands have to work fast, grabbing a bunch of peas at a time, without damaging them.

Ivan Gallardo reaches into the vine to grab snow peas.

His bucket full, Pedro Gallardo slings it over his shoulder and carries it down the row to the weighing station.

A good snow pea field can yield as much as 10,000 pounds per acre.

In the season between April and October, Marco said, the crew will pick each field as many at least eight times. ​Mark Gaskell,​ farm advisor for the University of California Extension, explains, “The best fields may be picked 15 to 20 times, with 3 to 5 days between pickings.” A good snow pea field can yield as much as 10,000 pounds per acre. In 2008 snow peas earned California growers ​$35 million​.

According to Ann Lopez, author of ​The Farmworkers’ Journey​, “The protracted growing season requires an ever-greater labor force to grow and harvest specialty crops effectively. California agriculture has thus become more dependent on migrant labor over the past few decades.” The crew of Mexican migrant workers in the Bautista field bore her observation out.

Pedro Gallardo passes his cousin Ivan, who is still picking, as he carries his full bucket down the row.

 

Snow peas are a rare crop in Santa Maria, among the miles of fields devoted to broccoli and lettuce on California’s Central Coast. Each crop demands from growers its own cycle and system for planting and cultivation, but for workers the labor makes a constant demand — speed. They are paid at a piece rate, and to make any money a person must work so fast that the movement of hands becomes a blur.

Pedro Gallardo empties his bucket into a bill so that it can be weighed.

Lopez argues that labor costs are not only up to half the cost of crops like snow peas, but that “they are critical as components of the process over which the grower has some control.” Their answer is often to implement a piece rate system, in which workers are paid according to the amount they pick. “Approximately 30 percent of California farmworkers,” she writes, “are paid on a piece-rate basis, which may be the source of increased injury because attention is focused on maximizing production.”

Photographing these farmworkers, therefore, required creating images that get close enough to see the blur of hands or the determined expression on a face — images that that allow the viewer to imagine the weight of the filled bucket. As a way of educating me, farmworkers are helping me take the photographs.

My education about farm labor began along this same Route 166 decades ago. My teachers were workers like Luis Ayala and Paulino Pacheco. Both were older men born in Mexico, who’d spent their lifetimes as farmworkers on this side of the border. In Santa Maria they’d organized the big lettuce and row crop strikes of 1969 and 1970, and I met them just after I joined the United Farm Workers a few years later.

Sofia, a picker in the crew, stops for a moment with her full bucket.

Sofia manhandles the bin she’s filled so that it can be weighed.

Luis and Paulino knew that workers often carry a big load of anger into the fields. Paulino remembered going to Delano, in the Central Valley, at the beginning of the great grape strike, and then coming home to Santa Maria determined to start the farmworker movement there. He collected a few dead cockroaches (not hard in farmworker housing) and took them to work in his shirt pocket the next day. As the morning grew hot he went to the water cooler, put his mouth under the spigot (no paper cups in those days) and then pretended to spit them out. He yelled at the foreman that the water had bugs in it. People began shouting, and the strike in that crew was on.

Both men got blacklisted for their union activity, and worked in the union’s campaigns in the valley for many years afterwards. They and the small group of Santa Maria Chavistas (so called because they followed Cesar Chavez) were unreconstructed radicals. On my first visit to the house of one family I saw a huge picture of Che Guevara on the living room wall. I felt I was home.

When I met Luis and Paulino I was a legal worker in the UFW office, my Spanish still too primitive to be effective as an organizer. The education they offered began with correcting my bad Spanish. In the mornings they’d take me with them to visit crews working on the ten-mile stretch of fields between Santa Maria and Guadalupe.

After weighing a bin, Berto Bautista carries it to the truck for sorting.

As a city boy from Oakland, seeing the labor close up was a revelation.

I learned something about organizing, but even more, about work. As a city boy from Oakland, seeing the labor close up was a revelation. I’d been a printer, so the repetitive motions of work in a factory were familiar. But the pace demanded by work on the piece rate cutting lettuce or stripping snow peas from vines was something else again.

That road, where I found the snow pea harvesters, continues to be a school for me. Marco Bautista and the workers explained not just the cycle of work, but the impact of the plants on the soil, and on the people who will eat them. At the end of the season these snow pea vines will be plowed under. Snow peas concentrate nitrogen in their root nodules, so their fields can be rotated with other crops that will use what the peas put back into the earth. Growers like them also because they’re hardy, and can survive the fall’s first frosts, hence their name.

Jorge Ariza sorts and checks the harvested snow peas. He fills shallow boxes that won’t crush or damage them, which are then stacked onto the truck taking them from the field.

Picking snow peas benefits humans as well. One cup fulfills the daily requirement for Vitamin C, so they’re healthy both for consumers and the land. And snow peas are delicious. They can be eaten whole, and in fact are called “mange tout” in French, meaning eat-it-all. In Chinese they’re called “he lan do”, or Holland pea. We think of them as a common ingredient in Chinese dishes, but the fruit (because peas are fruits rather than vegetables) was first cultivated around the Mediterranean, and later adopted with enthusiasm by Chinese cooks in the 1800s. From China the peas made their way to Santa Maria, where Mexican hands pull them from vines and pack them into boxes for restaurants, food co-ops, and even Safeway.

David Bacon is a California-based writer and photographer, who was a factory worker and union organizer for two decades with the ​​United Farm Workers​​ and other unions. Today he documents the changing conditions in the workforce, the impact of the global economy, war and migration, and the struggle for human rights.

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