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Trumpism Defeated in the Recall

James Preston Allen
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Trumpism Defeated in the Recall 

No one expected Newsom could fight

Having failed to capture the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and previously failing by 7 million votes to win the 2020 election, and even as Arizona Republicans are still not releasing the results of their Cyber Ninja recount, Trumpism persists. The Trumpsters decided to take on California Gov. Gavin Newsom believing that he was vulnerable and weak. Well, on Sept. 14 this turned out to not be true. Newsom came out swinging and clobbered the pro-recall proponents almost two to one.

RLn predicted months ago in a previous article that, “Trump may have been defeated but Trumpism was still alive.” While the corpse of California’s recall election is fresh, I’d like to pronounce that Trumpism is now dead! Well, maybe just gasping for oxygen on an ICU ventilator like so many of the anti-vaxxers who are now clogging up our nation’s hospitals — some 95% of the patients and 99% of the recent deaths from the delta variant are unvaccinated. There’s a correlation between the two.

The virus doesn’t care about your politics, or if you think masks are an infringement on your personal liberties or cultural biases — viruses do what they do to spread and survive. Actually for all of those science deniers (the ones who don’t believe in evolution) the COVID-19 virus is the perfect example of evolution in real time. This disease will keep morphing once every million or so replications, which happens inside just one infected person and then a variant evolves and is passed on to the next. It only stops when a victim dies before they reinfect someone else — thus the mask mandates — or if we vaccinate enough people to create herd immunity. At this point no one really knows how many variants there actually are.

The curious thing is that the coronavirus may do for the Democrats nationally what they appear less likely to do for themselves — defeat the far right Trumplicans.

However, speaking of politics, the Trump variant that infected California has just been defeated with a vaccine called the “Popular Vote.” And I hope that this infection is actually dead, dead, dead, but we must remain vigilant so that a new variant does not emerge! Like the one candidate Larry Elder attempted to cook up before the polls even opened when he called this election “a fraud,” mimicking the Big Lie of a stolen 2020 election. Luckily the California legislature won’t be calling in the Cyber Ninjas to do a recount on non-existent voter fraud.

What is most impressive is how the golden boy of California politics, Gavin Newsom, has successfully fought this recall and called it out for what it is “the Republican recall.” What democrats here and perhaps across the nation are surprised by is how well articulated Newsom’s counter attack was and how effective the No Recall campaign surged in the final weeks and made common cause with a variety of Liberal to progressive groups. Have the Democrats finally found their unity or was this the self-defense promulgated by a common enemy?

Newsom’s beating the recall by 65 to 34 percentage points will more than likely stop any serious contenders from coming after him in the 2022 regular election. Or at least give Republicans pause in trying to unseat one of the most popular governors ever.

Still, it’s interesting how the recall movement came about and that it is also being used against LA County District Attorney George Gascon and Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin and others throughout the state. These elected officials are being pelted with many of the same wild-eyed grievances that were lobbed at Newsom. In Newsom’s case, the recall elevated him to the national stage as the defender of liberal Democrats — a kind of Saint George who knows how to slay the dragon of Trumpism.

As COVID-19 surges in many red states, what we may well witness is the far right Trumplicans being defeated more by their own stupidity about the virus than by anything else that Democrats might say or do. We should be so lucky if the rest of the nation follows suit in the midterm elections next year.

Public Health to Modify Health Officer Order Adding Vaccination Verification Requirements at Select High-Risk Settings

Reporters Desk
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Public Health to Modify Health Officer Order Adding Vaccination Verification Requirements at Select High-Risk Settings

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health will begin requiring verification of vaccination in select high-risk settings. Customers and employees at bars, breweries, wineries, night clubs and lounges will be required to have at least one dose of the vaccine by Oct. 7 and both doses by Nov. 4.

Public Health will issue a modified Health Officer Order later this week that would align with President Biden and require vaccination verification or a negative test within 72 hours prior to attending outdoor mega events. Attendees at indoor mega events are already required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result prior to entry.

Many mega event venues already established verification systems during the spring in response to previous capacity restrictions, and Public Health is prepared to offer all large venues and organizers of mega events technical assistance to assist with implementation.

Public Health will prepare a toolkit to assist businesses in confirming vaccinations and will provide education and support to those establishments requesting assistance. Vaccine verification at indoor portions of restaurants are also recommended but not required.

There are 1,214 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 30% of these people are in the ICU. This is a decrease of 219 daily hospitalizations over the past week. Testing results are available for nearly 8,400,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Today’s test positivity rate is 1.5%.

The County’s Community Health Worker Outreach Initiative has onboarded a total of 467 community health workers who have reached nearly 1.3 million people between May and September of this year, providing information in multiple languages on available vaccination services, scheduling vaccine appointments, distributing more than 750,000 masks, door knocking, and participating in educational sessions with residents.

This week, there are 1,363 sites offering vaccinations including pharmacies, clinics, community sites, and hospitals and 413 sites where mobile teams are offering vaccinations, which are concentrated in higher-need areas.

Public Health is encouraging everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. Anyone 12 and older living or working in L.A. County can get vaccinated against COVID-19. Many vaccination sites across the county, including all the County-run sites, are also offering third doses of vaccine to eligible immunocompromised people. Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status.

Visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish) to find a vaccination site near you, make an appointment at vaccination sites, and much more. If you don’t have internet access, can’t use a computer, or you’re over 65, you can call 1-833-540-0473 for help.

Details: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

New San Pedro Development Approved, Despite Community Complaints

Hunter Chase
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New San Pedro Development Approved, Despite Community Complaints

By a 6-1 vote, the City Planning Commission has approved development of a 100-unit apartment complex in San Pedro that is controversial because it will be taller and denser with a larger floor-area ratio and 41 fewer parking spaces than are allowed by local building codes. But when the question was called on Sept. 9, Karen Mack was the only commissioner to vote against the project envisioned at 2111-2139 South Pacific Ave.

“My challenge with this project is that it has such a big community voice against it,” said Mack. “Our ability to respond to that is very limited. So, what I really want to address in my remarks is this imbalance of power in the deliberation process. Neighborhood councils get three minutes, I don’t understand why there is that limitation when there is no limitation for the [city] council office to speak.”

Objections to the project largely come from San Pedro residents. Robin Rudisill, chairwoman of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Transportation Committee, pointed out that the planning commission’s decision was just the first step in approvals. A document called a determination, which outlines the decision, will be released in the next week or so, after which the community can appeal the decision. Rudisill said the appeal will first be heard by the Los Angeles City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and then by the city council itself.

The development will have 100 units, including 11 affordable units. It will be 45 feet and 5 inches tall and have 1,800 square feet of ground retail space.

The property is owned by RKD 2111 Pacific, LLC. It is represented by Burns & Bouchard, Inc., which also represented the development at 1309-1331 South Pacific Ave., a project approved by the city council in June, despite strong objections by local residents.

Parking was the issue that generated some of the biggest complaints at the Sept. 9 planning commission hearing on the new development. Plans allot only 80 spaces for the project’s 100 units — 67% of the 120 slots required in the building code. Interestingly, there will be 75 permanent parking spaces for bikes.

“I’ve reviewed hundreds of projects in my career,” said Denis Bilodeau, a licensed civil and traffic engineer. “And I must tell you this is the most under-parked project I have ever seen considered by a public body.”

San Pedro resident Danial Nord argued that the parking, which includes tandem parking spaces, violates municipal parking codes.

“To qualify for tandem parking, one parking stall per dwelling must be individually and easily accessible,” Nord said. “There are 100 units, and only 59 stalls are individually accessible.”

Floyd Bryan, who lives two blocks away from the project, questioned the safety of the parking arrangements.

“How would you like to have to walk a block or two in the dark?” Bryan said. “That’s not uncommon for people who already live here. Not in my unit, but the people that live around here are walking two to three blocks because there is absolutely no parking.”

As for the bicycle parking, Bryan argued that anyone who can afford to live in the project’s market-rate housing will not be able to ride bikes to work; they will need to drive.

Rudisill said that the commissioners did not address the parking and that there was a reason for this.

“I’ve been to enough of these hearings to feel that when an item is especially egregious, is when none of the commissioners even respond,” Rudisill said. “The commissioners made no mention of the parking issues other than one silly thing about future technologies.”

Rudisill was referring to comments by Commissioner Dana Perlman, who expressed concern that specific areas for car sharing and electronic scooters would be useless if other technologies made them obsolete. Perlman made the motion to approve the project, but also to modify the uses of said spaces if future technologies replace them.

Commission President Samantha Millman said the board could only vote on whether the project qualified for an off-menu density bonus and conditional use. An off-menu density bonus means relaxing certain codes because of the affordable housing that the project includes. In this case, this would mean that only 80 parking spaces would be included, instead of the required 121 spaces. In addition, it will also be taller, have a larger floor-area-ratio and be denser than the codes currently allow.

“In order to deny an off-menu density bonus, we either have to make the findings that were alluded to during the neighborhood council presentation, or we have to make a finding that are some measurable, specific, significant impacts and that the only way to address or remediate those impacts is to not build the project,” Millman said.

The conditional use is similar, in that zoning regulations are relaxed if a certain condition is met. In this case, this includes eight additional units, because it includes three additional units of affordable housing. The board could use its own discretion on whether to allow it or not, but if they rejected the conditional use, the project would have 92 units, with only eight units of affordable housing.

However, Rudisill said that the developers do not qualify for the off-menu bonuses.

“If you look at the density bonus law, in a situation like this where you only have 11% affordable units out of a total, but they want a FAR, floor-area-ratio, of a 115% more than the normal code, it should be obvious that they have to look into whether the additional FAR is really needed,” Rudisill said.

Rudisill said that the code requires the commission to approve the project unless they find that the bonuses do not result in cost reduction for the affordable housing cost.

“It’s impossible to make that finding because there’s no evidence,” Rudisill said. “The applicant isn’t providing the city with anything about the cost of the project and why they need that additional FAR and size for these 11 units.”

The project did have supporters, such as Elise Swanson, president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, who is also a San Pedro resident living near the project.

“Our board of directors voted to support the project after working with the developers over the course of months to address concerns regarding the project and the parking issue that were raised today,” Swanson said. “Our chamber is on record supporting housing solutions at all income levels for our community.”

Aksel Palacios, planning deputy for Councilman Joe Buscaino, also voiced his support for the project.

“This project addresses the shortage of affordable housing units in the city, as well as addressing the need for housing units for residents at all income levels,” Palacios said.

Palacios said that while many in the community had concerns about the project, it is permitted under the state’s bonus program.

“The point and spirit behind these state density bonus laws is to create incentives for developers in the private sector to create both affordable and market rate housing,” Palacios said.

However, Noel Gould, board member of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, argued that more market rate housing was not needed.

Gould compared the project to the other project Burns & Bouchard, Inc. represented, 1309-1331 S. Pacific Avenue, which is about half a mile away.

“Both the 1309-1331 S. Pacific, which you approved, and this 2111 Pacific were projects which the applicant’s business model is to acquire the maximum number of entitlements, and then sell the entitled project to a builder, neither of whom have any stake in the community except to extract massive profits at our expense,” Gould said.

LA County to Develop Oil Well Clean-up Pilot Program

Reporters Desk
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LA County to Develop Oil Well Clean-up Pilot Program

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Sept. 15, voted to develop an oil well clean-up program proposed by Supervisor Janice Hahn. This comes in addition to votes the board took today to begin phasing out oil and gas drilling in unincorporated LA County and to develop a strategy to ensure workers can transition to new, good-paying jobs in clean energy.

Thousands of oil wells sit across LA County that are no longer in operation and many of them have yet to be properly plugged and capped to prevent them from leaking.

“So far, we have identified 637 idle oil wells across the County and 128 of them are considered ‘high priority’ which means they are close to homes or at risk of leaking,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Many of these wells have been sitting idle for years. As we move to phase out oil and gas drilling in our unincorporated communities, we also need to make sure the abandoned and idle wells that already exist in our county are properly plugged and capped so they don’t pose a threat to our communities.”

Proper well abandonment is expensive with costs ranging from $150,000 to $1,000,000 per well, depending on environmental conditions. California state law holds operators responsible for properly abandoning idle wells and in the case of insolvent or unknown operators, CalGEM must step in and plug orphan wells and charge costs to oil and gas producers. Additionally, recent state legislation has increased bonding requirements, idle well fees and use of idle well management plans.

The Hahn motion passed today directs the County to develop a framework within 180 days for an Oil Well Clean-Up Pilot Program which will plug and abandon idle oil wells across the county, prioritizing oil wells that pose health and safety risks to residents. The motion also instructs the county’s chief executive officer to explore options to increase revenue dedicated to oil and gas oversight efforts, such as updating the utility franchise fees and redirecting any marginal revenue accruals to the Office of Oil and Gas, and report back to the board within 90 days.

Details:www.Oil-Well-Cleanup-Pilot-Program

Mitoma Returns—Eldest Candidate In Carson Special Election Believes He Still Has What It Takes To Serve

Terelle Jerricks
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Mitoma Returns—Eldest Candidate In Carson Special Election Believes He Still Has What It Takes To Serve

Thirty years ago, Michael Mitoma ran for the council seat left vacant by Councilman Walter J. Egan, who was convicted of receiving cash payments and political contributions from convicted political corruption figure, W. Patrick Moriarty, in exchange for supporting a plan to build a mobile home park in Carson. Mitoma won handily to finish the remaining 13 months of Egan’s term.

Mitoma was re-elected and he served a full term in 1988, then was re-elected a second time in 1992, and then became the city’s first directly elected mayor in 1994. He’s now back running in this year’s special election in Carson, to address the same problems he fixed then: year-after-year budget deficits and protect the bedroom community quality of Carson residents living in single family unit homes.

In the late 1980s it’s safe to say Mitoma wasn’t a mobile home park resident ally. Case and point — when the owners of the Imperial Avalon tried to close the park, the conservative faction of the board, who were in the minority, skipped the vote leaving a 3-0 council majority to block the sale.

When Mitoma’s term ended in 1998, he ran for city council a couple more times but failed. He turned his attention away from politics for a while and pursued various business ventures and got married. He started getting back into the thick things when he joined the planning commission in 2018.

Still, in 1980s Carson, the political divisions of Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative meant something a bit different than what they do in today’s hyper-polarized world. The political shorthand of Republican = pro-business, low taxes and fiscal responsibility and Democrat = pro-labor and government muscle in support of egalitarian ideas. At the time Mitoma was considered part of the conservative faction of Carson’s city council, which included Councilwomen Vera DeWitt and Kay Calas — DeWitt is one five candidates running for City Clerk this year.

The biggest difference about his candidacy today is that Mitoma is running as conservative or a liberal, but as an independent. And as if to make a statement, he has not accepted donations from anyone, unlike his main rivals for the seat Arleen Rojas backed by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dear and Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes respectively.

First Foray into Politics

Mitoma’s entry into Carson’s politics began when he founded Pacific Business Bank and attempted to get approval to build a Frank Lloyed Wright designed headquarters from the city planning department. Mitoma described the building as ahead of its time in terms of reducing its carbon footprint through use of skylights to light the interior and the use of tall landscaping and low slung roof to keep temperatures inside at a comfortable 72 degrees.

In Mitoma’s recounting of events, when he went to the city planning commission, his plans were rejected. When he asked why, he was told the city plan was to have Carson Street and all its buildings to be Spanish style, just like Newport.

“I said, ‘hey lady, this is Carson, not Newport Beach,” Mitoma said, recalling the moment.

“[The building was] environmentally way ahead of any building in the city. Anyway, Calas said, Well, you’re a bachelor, right? Yeah. Well then if you want change, why don’t you run for city council? And I go, ‘Yeah, right.’ The last thing I wanted was to go into politics.

‘I run a business. It’s called Pacific Business bank. You’re not very business-friendly the way your planning department is treating people.’

“I thought, if they were treating me this way, there are probably other companies that are being given a hard time.”

Mitoma recounted telling his board about his conversation with Calas and was taken aback by the board when it told him to do just that… Run for office.

Actually, the board said he had to do it.

“You can change the city, make it a business friendly city, instead of the way it’s currently run.”

Mitoma moved and rented an apartment in Carson and the board put up the money for him to run. “I actually enjoy being in politics because you could make the changes that you think are necessary in the city.”

The former mayor of Carson said one of the reasons he is running for city council is because of the half million dollars being spent on the special election.

“They had 40 people apply for the open seat that Davis-Holmes vacated when she became mayor… She lives in the northern part of the city and they gerrymandered it.”

Mitoma was referring to the odd shape of the 4th district that randomly juts northward to group Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes’ residence with the rest of the district in South Carson.

“[The mayor] would have been representing Southern Carson if she had not won the mayor’s seat. That irritates the hell out of me,” Mitoma said.

“She gerrymandered it because she didn’t want to run against Hicks and the two African-American candidates running, because they all live close to each other. I was the last elected person from southern Carson for 25 years. Southern Carson should be represented by people who live in southern Carson,” Mitoma said.

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Mitoma believes the city budget has been a disaster. The former banker noted despite having passed two tax increases, the city still hasn’t balanced the budget.

“During the 10 years I was in office, we balanced our budget every year and we had a surplus. We were probably one of the most financially sound cities in the county because I have a degree in finance,” Mitoma said.

Mitoma pointed to his stewardship as mayor as proof of knowing how to manage the city’s budget. The former mayor accused the recent administrations of Carson of not meeting with department heads on a regular basis to determine whether they are running a deficit.

“They don’t do that anymore,” Mitoma said. “They’re just handed all the budget and whatever happens happens. They don’t really study the direction of the city or where the money is being spent.”

Developments and Unmitigated Costs — Who Pays

Mitoma was never a fan of the multiple-use sports complex Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly known as the Home Depot Center and StubHub Center located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills).

“No, I wasn’t and I’ll tell you why,” Mitomas said. “I was on the board foundation [for CSUDH after he left office in 1998] when they were going through the approval of this.” He recounted asking his fellow members to understand how much land they were giving away to Anschultz. Mitoma noted that the original lease was only half a million dollars a year.

“Holy cow!” Mitoma said. “That’s the best deal in town. As a university, we never got any of that money. The city would probably get some money because of the sales tax, due to the purchasing of materials given that the point of sale is in Carson so we get sales tax.”

At a minimum, Mitoma believed the city or the school should have asked for 10% of the parking fees, the same deal Los Angeles got with the Staples center. He recounted the reply he got when he suggested the idea.

“The answer was, ‘No. We don’t want to irritate him.’” Mitoma said. “This is crazy.” He said he left the board as a result. Looking back on it, Mitoma still doesn’t think the city or the school benefitted much from the sports center.

“From a prestige standpoint, it was good when we had two football teams, but the City of Carson doesn’t get anything out of it.”

But the city does bear the cost of such a stadium, just like it bears the unmitigated cost of warehouses and industrial parks with big rig trucks tearing up city streets and increased air pollution.

Mitoma points to the Watson Land Company as the biggest culprit behind the costs.

“They’re the largest warehouse owner and largest landholder in the city,” Mitoma said. “They have millions of trucks that are pounding on our streets. They pay virtually nothing because they are a land grant. So their property tax is significantly less than everybody else that’s comparable, but yet they’re using more infrastructure than anybody in the city.”

Mitoma noted that the giant landowning company has backed one of his rivals with donations.

“Watson Land Company just gave one of the candidates like $35, $40, almost $60,000,” Mitoma said. “They don’t support me because I don’t play that game. They and another group that has built all these apartments [complexes] and are trying to close down all our mobile home parks, they’ve donated, I think, $50 or 60,000 to Freddie Gomez [Mayor Davis-Holmes’ endorsed candidate].”

Mitoma noted that other major donor money went to Arleen Rojas [Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dear endorsed candidate].

“And you know what?” Mitoma said. “One of the reasons I’m running is that we’ve got to quit having these major companies influence the city council and ask them for favors and pass legislation that’s only in their favor.”

Mitoma noted that while he has been on the planning commission, the commission had been approving the permits for these new apartments because they’re supposed to be affordable housing.

“But when we find out after the fact, is that, guess what? Yeah, in the initial rents, they’re affordable, but they keep raising them up.”

Mitoma offered the Union South Bay apartments, which is across the street from Carson’s City Hall, as an example.

“A studio apartment goes for $3,300 a month. That’s crazy,” Mitoma said. “Those were supposed to be affordable housing initially. Now they require you to be making like $90,000 a year to be able to afford that kind of rent.”

[On the high, a studio apartment at the Union South Bay runs $2,225, while a two bedroom and two bathroom apartment runs as high as $3,475.]

Mitoma says that new developments going forward need to be scrutinized and monitored.

“One of the reasons I’m running is that we need to monitor all these new projects that claim they’re affordable housing,” Mitoma said. “As soon as you give them the permit and they build the thing, they then keep jacking up the rents to where it’s not affordable anymore.”

Mitoma noted that the developer behind the Union South Bay apartments is the same one behind the closing of Imperial Avalon park.

“[They] want to build apartment houses there [at Imperial Avalon]. Then he bought three out of four of the major lots at 157 acres to build apartment houses there too,” Mitoma said. “These mobile home park people have no place to go. You can give them money for what they paid for their mobile home. Blah blah blah, but there’s no place to put them. They’re going to have to go out to the desert in Arizona, but locally, they have no place to live. They’re like you and I. They love living in this area because this is the best place in the world to live climate-wise.”

Mitoma believes the key to affordable housing in Carson is accessory dwelling units (colloquially called “granny units”).

“For the City of Carson, we have got too many apartment houses now. It’s getting to be ridiculous and the apartment houses are not all affordable. They start out to be affordable, but the greedy landowners and the greedy apartment owners are jacking up the rents to whatever the market will bear. And that’s what they’re getting from people. Carson is still a bedroom community and I want it to stay that way.”

Despite his issues with the lack of housing affordability amongst the spread of new apartment buildings, he admits to having a permanent solution to mobile home park closures. He did suggest that the city could build a Relocation Park for a limited number of mobile home units and there’s still available land to do this. Mitoma also favored setting strict standards for the new buyers of the mobile home parks.

“Right now, they can go and build huge apartment complexes, just like the one on the corner of Carson and Avalon,” Mitoma said.

“There are a few parcels that if we accumulate the parcels, especially in the industrial areas that we can, we could probably do a relocation park.”

On the assertion that the city is overpaying for county services, Mitoma notes that when it comes to the contract services of the sheriffs and fire department, the city is probably getting the reasonable cost you can have acrost county services.

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“Sheriff and County Fire is still the cheapest by far because we don’t have the pension plans and we don’t have the health insurance and all that. We pay a flat rate. They have to deal with the cost of health plans and pensions. Other cities who have their own police and fire departments don’t know exactly what it’s going to cost them with the pension and the health and all the other costs that they have to absorb,” Mitoma said.

Mitoma agrees that the city’s mounting legal costs are out of control. He says the City Attorney and the law firm upon which the office relies has become rich off the City of Carson.

Mitoma reference a failed attempt to reign in the cost of City Attorney services during his prior time in office

“My plan was to have two kinds of attorneys. You have a City Attorney and one for litigation. Totally separate. If the City Attorney makes a bad decision, we have a litigator to correct the problem, or fight the problem.”

Mitoma said his idea never gained traction because of the strong personal relationship between former Mayor Kay Calas and Glenn R. Watson.

“The legal fees now are just outrageous. I mean it’s several millions of dollars because every time you turn around they want to sue somebody or they want to litigate something. There’s no control over litigation costs,” Mitoma said.

“What was once a small firm has now turned into a major firm based on what the city is paying them. Now everyone there is driving a Tesla,” Mitoma quipped.

Mitoma agrees with the city’s decision to settle the lawsuit brought by the Southwest Voting Rights Group over the city’s conversion to districts.

“I think districting is necessary in the city of Carson. For me to run again in the whole city for a city council seat, you’re talking about big bucks because it’s not cheap to run anymore. Especially when you get companies like Watson Land Company and some of these other companies that are putting in tens of thousands of dollars. So having districts makes it economically more feasible for people to run for office.”

Mitoma noted that the city settling the Southwest Voting Rights Group suit was’t a matter of being a good or bad decision. The city just didn’t have a choice. He said if the city hadn’t settled, Carson would have joined a number of other cities that chose litigation and ended up paying millions of dollars in fees and other costs.

Mitoma says he wants to stop the bickering on the council. But he couldn’t accomplish that the last time he was on the city council. He believes his past experience in Carson’s city government and background in finance makes him the best choice for the open seat on the city council. However, his argument that the 4th District seat needs to be filled by an independent is an attractive one. Freddie Gomez, who leads the money race in this special election, raised $73,000 from five sources. Twenty-three-thousand dollars are donations from himself and his mother, Faith Gomez. The other $50,000 are from developers. Arleen Rojas’ $46,000 come from transportation companies, real estate developers and Watson Land Company. When housing affordability, mobile home park closures, quality of life and infrastructure degradation are the primary issues residents are concerned about, a representative not pulled in one direction or the other by monied interests is an attractive option.

Recall Rejected At Polls ― Biden Visit Delivers Final Punch

Paul Rosenberg
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Recall Rejected At Polls ― Biden Visit Delivers Final Punch

After a serious mid-summer scare, Gov. Gavin Newsom handily survived only the second gubernatorial recall election in California history, with a margin so resounding that his Trumpian lead opponent, Larry Elder, conceded the election 26 hours in advance — claiming the election was stolen ― of course! Networks called the results barely 30 minutes after the polls had closed. The recall was getting a shellacking by almost 64 percent as of press time, Wednesday morning.

The scare came via a trio of polls — two showing the recall virtually tied, one showing it well ahead — but it seemed to be just what was needed to wake Democrats up, as epitomized by an election eve rally at Long Beach City College, headlined by President Joe Biden, who praised Newsom for his leadership in fighting COVID, fighting global warming, and defending women and workers, while attacking Elder as “a clone of Donald Trump.”

“You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you’ll get Donald Trump,” Biden said.

“It’s not a joke. A Republican governor blocking progress on COVID-19 who is also anti-woman, anti-worker, a climate [change] denier who doesn’t believe in choice… The choice should be absolutely clear — Gavin Newsom. You have a governor who has the courage to lead.”

Newsom himself had a similar message.

“We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism,” he warned. “Trumpism is still on the ballot in California.”

Elder’s premature, evidence-free voter fraud claim only seemed to underscore the Democrats’ argument.

But Newsom also stressed the positive side of what Trumpism threatened.

“We’re also celebrating the fact that we’re in Long Beach, one of the most diverse cities, in the most diverse county, L.A. County, in the most diverse state, California, in the world’s most diverse democracy, the United States of America.”

While anti-immigrant racism was the fuel that drove the recall — as reflected in both the petitions and the ballot arguments—this was, above all, a COVID election. In the beginning, COVID made it all possible: Newsom’s violation of his own stringent lockdown measures gave signature-gatherers the boost they needed, aided by a 90-day extension also due to COVID. But in the end, COVID made it not even close.

“Eighty percent of the people who vote in California are going to be vaccinated,” Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, said on MSNBC’s, The Last Word. “I think you’re looking at ‘22… It shows that Democrats can make an appeal ― not just to their base… but to independents and Republicans that are vaccinated ― that Republicans have been irresponsible, [and that] you cannot trust them.”

And the exit polls bore him out. A plurality thought that Newsom’s COVID policies had been “about right,” while 17 percent thought they weren’t strict enough. Only about a third — the size of Trump’s base — thought Newsom’s policies were too strict.

And COVID was the very first thing that Biden focused on in Long Beach.

“There’s too much at stake,” Biden said. “First, voting no will be protecting California from Trump Republicans trying to block us from beating this pandemic.”

While Biden naturally drew national attention, it was the whole structure of the rally that embodied what Democrats were fighting to protect against the recall, both including and going beyond the immediate grave threat of COVID. It began with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by a dreamer from Long Beach and the National Anthem, sung by a critical care nurse from San Diego. It was followed by three labor leaders declaring their readiness to fight. Then a string of local political leaders leading up to the full slate of statewide elected leaders whose racial and gender diversity epitomized the constituency they represent, and culminating with Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, his appointee, Newsom himself, and President Biden.

Speaking to Newsom on behalf of labor, Ron Herrera, President of the LA County Federation of Labor, set the tone at the start. “We’ve turned out thousands of boots on the ground to fight this anti-union, anti-labor, Republican recall,” Herrera said, “We have your back, just like you have ours.”

Supervisor Janice Hahn kicked off a parade of local political leaders.

“Governor Newsom has championed more progressive policies than any governor in the history of California,” Hahn said.

Calling the election “A big test for our nation,” State Senator Lena Gonzalez first struck the rally’s dominant theme.

“We defeated Trump in 2020, but we didn’t defeat the extremist rightwing forces that Trump empowered. They’re back at the ballot box tomorrow in California,” she warned. “This Teamster truck driver daughter is going to vote no!”

“This recall is just another attack on our democracy,” Congressman Alan Lowenthal echoed.

On the positive side, Lt Gov. Eleni Kounalakis introduced the statewide officers—three of whom are women, and none of whom — aside from Newsom — are white men.

“You may look up here and see a lot of diversity,” Kounalakis said, “But I will tell you there are many things that we all have in common: Number one, every single one of your elected statewide officials in the state of California is a Democrat. We all fight for progressive democratic values. We all believe in a woman’s right to choose. We all stand with our brothers and sisters in labor. We all believe that healthcare is a human right. And we believe climate change is real. And of course we all believe in a science-based approach to dealing with the covid crisis, unlike every single one of those republicans who are trying to replace our fantastic governor, Gavin Newsom.”

“We celebrate our diversity in this city. We celebrate our diversity in this state. And at our best we celebrate our diversity in the United States of America,” Newsom said. “What makes California great is that we can live together and advance together and prosper together across every conceivable difference. It’s a remarkable thing. It really is.”

And I want you to all know that that issue, the issue of diversity, of pluralism, the issue that defines so much of our politics ― it’s all on the ballot tomorrow night. Racial justice is on the ballot tomorrow night. Economic justice is on the ballot tomorrow night. Social justice is on the ballot tomorrow night. Long Beach environmental justice is on the ballot tomorrow night.”

Perhaps most importantly, Newsom reminded us, “The future doesn’t just happen, you have to make it so. It’s our decisions, not our conditions that determine our fate and future.”

Isais Pulido — The Face of Carson’s Emerging Leaders

Joseph Baroud
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Isais Pulido — The Face of Carson’s Emerging Leaders

There are less than two months left before Carson residents decide who will fill the city council seat left vacant when its former occupant, Lula Davis-Holmes, was elected mayor. There are five candidates, and all but one are new to Carson politics. Twenty-six year old Isais Pulido is one of the youngest candidates running for the seat and has at minimum, face and name recognition among Carson’s political insiders due to his stint as city hall staffer and serving as a youth commissioner from 2009 to 2013. Being the son of Ricardo Pulido, a recognized community activist and civic leader, adds to his name recognition.

Both the elder and the younger Pulido came to Random Lengths News for a sit down interview in which we had a wide ranging discussion ranging from the plight of mobile home residents, the housing affordability crisis and homelessness, infrastructure and development and taxes.

While Pulido is his father’s son, his politics are notably independent of those of the elder Pulido who is associated with environmental justice and pro-labor causes. The young Pulido is more concerned about helping more Carson residents of color attain homeownership, financial literacy and generational wealth. As a result, his views on issues ranging from housing affordability, policing, taxes, environmental justice issues and road repair sound centrist.

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Pulido’s ambition is apparent from his policy goals, which include changing the zoning rules for mobile home parks to slow down the pace of mobile home park closures (Councilman Jim Dear had already announced months ago he was working on such a zoning rule change). In addition, he would impose a moratorium on mobile home closings (the city’s last imposed moratorium ended in 2019).

When confronted with those inconvenient facts, Pulido said he’s very supportive of elected officials when they’re trying to do right for the community, before going on to praise Dear’s efforts and expressing hope for the council’s support if he’s elected.

On housing affordability, Pulido said he agrees that there is a housing affordability problem, but then says that new developments in Carson were creating low income housing in Carson. He discussed his desire to help Carson residents build generational wealth and his dislike of the term, “low income housing.”

Pulido doesn’t share the vision of Carson as a bedroom community. He sees it as an emerging destination city where residents can work, play, live and retire.

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“I think Carson is a great developing city that would need more single-family homes being built so that we can attract more wealth and global development wealth for our residents,” Pulido said.

Pulido said subsidies may be needed to address housing affordability, “to help those single moms or single dads who don’t have the same support and financial stability to pay for those homes.”

The young upstart says he wants to help residents of color create generational wealth, an aspiration frequently heard amongst members of Generation X frustrated by the narrowed pathways of social and economic mobility.

“Why do we have to move to Palos Verdes to be a millionaire? Why can’t we move to Carson?” Pulido asked rhetorically.

Pulido suggested the city push for the development of single family homes and additional dwelling units in Carson as a way to address housing affordability in the city.

“I really feel that we should increase our development with single family homes,” Pulido said. “I want to create a single family homes project in Carson.”

Pulido went on to say he wants to make it so that people in his income range would be able to purchase a home.

“I really personally feel that every resident in Carson should have the opportunity to buy a home. And I mean a single family residence,” Pulido said.

When asked if he favors changing zoning rules to favor single family homes over multi-unit housing projects, he said he needs to examine any proposed measure on the issue to answer the question.
In alignment with his thoughts on how to help more Carson residents join the ownership class, Pulido spoke of partnering with the Los Angeles Unified School District, local schools and the County Supervisors in establishing “bridge programs” to help K-12 transition to college and adulthood while teaching financial literacy and the steps to homeownership in the process.

On taxes, Pulido suggests Carson’s warehouses and big corporations are being taxed too much.

“I want to create tax revenue that is not going to tax these big businesses in a harmful way,” Pulido said. “I want to do something environmentally friendly and eco-friendly. Like for example … warehouses. They’re taxing these companies a lot of money.”

Pulido then suggested that to mitigate the alleged high taxes paid by the warehouse industry, they should be made to install solar panels. It wasn’t clear if he was suggesting helping warehouse owners reduce their energy consumption to reduce their tax obligation under Measure C.

Pulido asked if he supported road repair in the City of Carson. He said he does. But when asked if the warehousing and transportation industry had any obligation to pay for the unmitigated impacts their industries are having on Carson’s roads and infrastructure, he suggested stakeholders comprising transportation companies, warehouses owners, and residents should work out an agreement.

“Road repair needs to be done and we need to come to an agreement,” Pulido said. “We need a sit-down, only scheduled agreement. We from the city and from the business need to come to an agreement at a Round Table conference to sit down with [industry] owners.

Pulido said we need to come to an agreement and say, “‘Hey (to the transportation industry), you see these roads? Little Sally can’t bike there anymore. You see, Johnny running every morning down 223rd Street? He fell into a pothole.’”

Pulido said the potholes continued, asserting that the city of Carson’s whole infrastructure needs revamping and truck-only roadways.

Rhetorically, Pulido says he wants to represent the interest of all of Carson, residents and industry, homeowners and mobile home park residents and every ethinic demographic in Carson. To that end, he speaks of close collaboration with Carson representatives at every level of government to reduce emissions and increase public safety.

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The field of candidates running for the open city council seat have made the cost of county services a campaign issue. Such services would include policing from the LA County Sheriff’s department. Pulido made it clear he was pro-police and advocated for greater police presence to deter crime in Carson and foot patrols to strengthen community ties with the Carson Sheriff’s Station.

“If [a] person is walking down the street and they see a police officer, there’s a very high chance that they won’t commit a crime. I think we should increase our police safety.”

Pulido suggested that a greater sheriff’s department presence in Carson would have prevented the hit and run death of Jada Sanchez.

“I think we should have more patrols. Jada was killed in a hit-and-run accident. She was eight years old. If sheriff’s deputies were patrolling in that area at that hour at night. [Her death] may have prevented it.

Pulido says he will be highly accessible as a councilmember, with open-door policies giving anyone the chance to reach him. He wants to give every resident a fair opportunity to live in a city that they love to call home. He feels like he can do a good job because he comes from the same places and circumstances as the constituents he will be serving.

“To be a young Hispanic entrepreneur, a young public servant, a young professional, college graduate,” Pulido said. “It’s my duty and job to make sure that I make time for Carson residents.”

Terelle Jerricks contributed to this story.

Finding the Farmers Market

Hunter Chase
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Finding the Farmers Market

Not everyone is happy that the SP Farmers Market has been moved, some are still wondering where it is

The San Pedro Farmers Market has been held at 639 S. Beacon Street in Little Italy every Friday since September 2020. Prior to that, it was on 6th Street between Pacific and Mesa for as long as most remember. It was still on 6th Street when COVID-19 hit, forcing it to close down in March 2020. Some San Pedro residents have been unhappy with the new location, but others are pleased.

“We believe the new market location is safer for vendors and guests because it takes the market off a busy street,” said Elise Swanson, president and CEO of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, which financially supports the market and has been a partner with it for more than 20 years. “The vendor stalls, portable restrooms and handwashing sinks do not block the view of businesses on 6th Street or take parking spaces in front of local businesses. The new location and partnership have allowed us to bring additional resources and an experienced management team to the market.”

Danielle Sandoval, former president of Harbor City Neighborhood Council and candidate for Council District 15, said she has heard complaints from vendors at the market when she attended the night market hosted by Little Italy and the San Pedro Art Association on Aug. 21. Sandoval said that vendors told her they were not making as much as they did at the previous location.

“These are people’s livelihoods,” Sandoval said. “This is how they’re making their money. I feel that there’s a … disregard for … why they’re there. And the lack of reaching out from the decision makers who made the decision to move on … they should have asked or … been more accommodable to the vendors.”

Christian Guzman, president of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council candidate for Council District 15, used to work for the chamber of commerce. He is the former manager of the market. He said that he took over because sales were declining.

“The farm stand sales had really stagnated,” Guzman said. “Really the only way it was surviving was from the hot food. The barbeque people and the pupusa people, they were just bringing in up to $1,000 dollars per market on their own.”

However, the farmers were only bringing in $250 — and that was on a good day. Because of this, the chamber took over the market completely.

“We put in some of our own budget, tried to revamp things, tried to increase the sales,” Guzman said.

Guzman made some changes with the Chamber’s approval, such as changing the live music and some of the hot food vendors. Then the pandemic came along, only three months after Guzman took over.

“We were closed for a long time,” Guzman said. “Little Italy was interested in doing a farmers market, that might allow for the marketing budget to increase.”

Guzman oversaw the transition from the market’s previous location to its current one. He said the idea was to bring the market into the Little Italy brand, as well as get new customers from a new apartment building and the San Pedro City Hall building.

Guzman said it’s difficult to go to other farmers markets to try and recruit vendors, who tend to be loyal to their current manager.

“Being a small farmer is hard,” Guzman said. “You only have so many resources, you only have so many employees, you only have so many miles on your vehicle that you can drive before that thing breaks down.”

Guzman said that many farmers have to be strategic about which markets they attend and can drive up to six hours to get to them.

Guzman was the manager for the market for about six months before he left. Afterwards, Little Italy hired a contract manager company named Venaver.

“They manage other farmers markets,” Guzman said. “So, they were able to bring in other vendors very quickly and very easily.”

Most of the vendors currently in the San Pedro Farmers Market at its new location were not at its previous location. Guzman says this is because the pandemic destroyed some businesses; but allowed others to flourish.

The chamber did not take official public comment on moving the market, Swanson said.

“However, I have been at the chamber for over seven years and have received verbal and written input on issues related to the market from vendors, visitors, [and] impacted businesses over the seven years that factored into the decision to move the market,” Swanson said.

The chamber had already made the decision to move the market from its 6th Street location, but it just hadn’t decided where it would go until Little Italy contacted it.

“I was approached by members of the community involved in Little Italy and we determined we could create a better market by partnering, and the market would stay in downtown San Pedro,” Swanson said.

Swanson said that others are welcome to bring their own farmers markets to San Pedro and put them in a different location.

The San Pedro Art Association put out a poll on its Facebook page in late August 2021 asking if people like the current location of the market, or if they would like it moved back. The poll has since been deleted. The San Pedro Art Association declined to comment on this story.

Pupusa Salvadoreñas is one of the vendors that was at the previous location and the current one. Elviz Gonzalez is an employee of the vendor, and said the new location is not being promoted as much as it could be. He said that most people don’t know that it’s moved, the only people that are aware know because of its promotion on social media. People being scared of COVID-19 has slowed business as well. The farmers market hasn’t bought any advertising in this publication for over 20 years.

Laurel Martin works for A Bite of Good, which has only been at the market since September 2020, when it reopened.

“I love this location,” Martin said. “I love the trees. I think in general it’s more visible to people driving down Harbor. I think especially once the waterfront gets open, we’re going to get a lot more business here than we would at the top of 6th Street.”

When the market ran along 6th Street, it was in front of businesses — and its departure has affected those businesses, mostly for the worse.

Stacey Jackson, owner of Nuda Juice & Wellness Shop, said that Fridays used to be her busiest days, and that she would like it to move back in front of her business. However, she didn’t like when the market had vendors that sold similar products to the stores along 6th Street.

Erving Johnson, owner of P.M. Sounds, also said he preferred when the market was in front of his store. People came in more often during that time.

Zoe Silva, an employee of JDC Record Store, said there was a lot more foot traffic on Fridays beforehand.

However, not every business in that location has been negatively affected. Jared De La Cruz, an employee of Nice Device, said the market’s departure hasn’t had much of an impact. There has been more parking available. He still sees people come in on Fridays asking where the farmers market has gone.

Lou Lee, owner of JD Hobbies, said he is glad the market is no longer in front of his business. Vendors would take away parking from his customers.

Sandoval pointed out that the current location of the farmers market is not going to impact local businesses at all. She previously pointed out that the neighborhood council was never consulted about the change of venue nor does it appear that the chamber of commerce reached out to the merchants before deciding on the move.

“There are no businesses down there,” Sandoval said. “The nearest business would be the Green Onion. [The] Green Onion’s been there for a really long time, so you know, they have their own following

Motions Passed to Phase Out Oil Drilling and Protect Frontline Workers and Communities

Reporters Desk
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Motions Passed to Phase Out Oil Drilling and Protect Frontline Workers and Communities

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Sept. 15, unanimously approved two landmark companion motions that set LA County on path to becoming the first in the nation to ban existing oil drilling — and transition fossil fuel workers to family sustaining careers in clean energy and other climate-friendly industries.

The motions were led by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell with co-authorship from Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn.

Tens of thousands of county residents live in close proximity to an oil well and nearly 73% of those residents are people of color. Within unincorporated communities of LA County, there are approximately 1,600 active and idle oil wells. Over half of those wells are within the Inglewood Oil Field alone, making it the largest urban oil field in the nation, located in Los Angeles County’s Second Supervisorial District.

Mitchell’s motion titled Protecting Communities Near Oil and Gas Drilling Operations in Los Angeles County was co-authored by Supervisor Kuehl. It updates the Department of Regional Planning’s or DRP Draft Oil Well Ordinance for unincorporated LA County to prohibit all new oil and gas extraction wells in all zones and designates all existing oil and gas extraction activities as nonconforming uses in all zones. This motion also requests a report back from DRP in 120 days on the financial cost to phasing out oil operations with actionable steps the county can take, read the full motion here.

Phasing out oil drilling requires a plan for transitioning workers on these sites into jobs and industries that are safe and provide family sustaining wages. This is the focus of Supervisor Mitchell’s motion: Developing a Comprehensive Strategy for a Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn. This motion helps put into operation recommendations from the county’s Just Transition to Clean Energy Task Force. The task force, in part, focuses on workers and frontline communities in workforce transition strategies that include all sectors of the fossil fuel industry. To read the full motion click here.

In 2019, the Board adopted the Our County Sustainability Plan, which included a comprehensive strategy for a more equitable LA County, and two key directives for protecting communities from oil wells: (1) addressing the proximity between oil and gas operations and sensitive land uses and (2) developing a sunset strategy for oil and gas operations. The motions passed today build on the County’s progress over the recent years to better regulate oil drilling and prioritize the public health and safety of its residents living near oil wells.

“Ending oil drilling in our communities is possible, and for the sake of our health and our climate, we must do so immediately. We look forward to working with the County to follow through on this vote by phasing out existing drilling as soon as possible, and we urge the rest of Los Angeles to follow suit,” Sierra Club Campaign Representative, Nicole Levin said.

Governor Gavin Newsom Announces Appointments

Reporters Desk
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Governor Gavin Newsom Announces Appointments

RANCHO Palos Verdes – Craig R. Cooning, 70, of Rancho Palos Verdes, has been appointed to the Governor’s Military Council. Cooning was president of network and space systems at Boeing Defense, Space and Security from 2014 to 2016. He was vice president and general manager at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems from 2005 to 2014. Cooning served in the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 2005, reaching the rank of major general. He earned a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Alabama. Cooning is an associate fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was a member of the Draper Labs Board of Directors, Aquarium of the Pacific and the president advisory group at the Palos Verdes Conservancy. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cooning is a Republican.

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