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Random Letters: 3-4-21

Terelle Jerricks
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Random Letters: 3-4-21

In Responses to “Dark Propaganda Strategy”

I would like to respond to a recent Feb. 18 article, “The Dark Propaganda Strategy…” published by Random Length News about The Epoch Times sample paper.

First of all, The Epoch Times is one of my favorite publications. The paper includes inspiring articles about health, well-being, and traditional culture. They provide balanced and honest reporting, while highlighting world issues rarely reported in any other newspaper.

I believe their articles are well-researched. Therefore, labeling The Epoch Times  as having a “conspiracy theory” or “propaganda” is unfortunate, especially without facts to back up the claim.

The paper reports truthfully about the Chinese Communist Party, whose tyrannical regime has persecuted millions of Chinese people with torture, death, imprisonment, organ harvesting, and more.

Finally, making statements that The Epoch Times is “fake news” or the “arm of Falun Gong” appears to be far reaching, to have little grounds for publishing.

Why find fault with a publication like The Epoch Times trying to spread honest news in the world?

Why label it as a company run by Falun Dafa? The Epoch Times is a business. Falun Dafa is a mediation. They are two totally different things.

As a Canadian who believes in our country’s values of rights and freedoms, I wholeheartedly believe this paper is exactly what Canada needs.

Jesse Nuytten, Surrey, British Columbia

Your recent article, “The Dark Propaganda Strategy of Epoch Times,” is inaccurate in certain respects and seems biased against the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

First, you describe Falun Gong as “a controversial spiritual movement which has been banned in China.” It’s true that Falun Gong is banned in China, but your description is so incomplete as to be misleading. Especially given the negative tone of the rest of your article, it implies that Falun Gong practitioners must have done something to deserve being banned. In fact, Falun Gong is an entirely peaceful spiritual practice, which the Chinese government has brutally persecuted just because it perceived Falun Gong’s popularity as a threat to the ruling regime’s authority. (See generally the Report of the Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China (https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgment-report/).

Also, you inaccurately conflate The Epoch Times with Falun Gong generally. I know that the Epoch Times is controversial, and it is true that some Falun Gong followers run The Epoch Times. But it is wrong to attribute the Epoch Times’ words or conduct to Falun Gong generally, as you do by falsely stating that Falun Gong spreads “fake news” and has “link[ed] arms with far-right groups around the world.” Such a guilt-by-association smear against an entire spiritual practice based on the conduct of some of its individual followers is misleading and unfair. I can assure you there are Falun Gong practitioners who disagree with The Epoch Times’ practices, including pro-Trump activities you mention in the article.

To be clear, support for Trump or “far-right” politics is not part of Falun Gong teachings. To the contrary, Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, has consistently taught that Falun Gong (“Dafa”) should have nothing to do with politics, including in some of the practice’s most important texts. (See, e.g., “No Demonstrations When Saving People and Teaching Fa” (from Zhuan Falun Volume II) available at https://en.falundafa.org/eng/html/zfl2/zfl2.htm#_ftnref2 (“A cultivator will not take an interest in politics, lest he be a politician, not a cultivator”); “Cultivation Practice is Not Political,” (from Essentials for Further Advancement), available at https://en.falundafa.org/eng/jjyz49.htm (“…We should not get involved in politics… a cultivator will not be interested in politics or political power of any sort; failing this, he absolutely isn’t my disciple.”); (https://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/20030215L-full.html) (“… our Dafa as a whole doesn’t get involved in politics, and we can’t do anything political in the name of Dafa … If an individual practitioner wants to support someone, that’s his personal business and it doesn’t represent Dafa … As individual practitioners you can support whoever you’d like. That’s how it works.”).

To conclude, I hope you understand that there is a lot more to Falun Gong than its affiliation with The Epoch Times, and that The Epoch Times’ excesses do not justify bias against Falun Gong generally. It is a peaceful spiritual practice that has given purpose, and improved health and well-being, to millions of people around the world. There are a lot of good people who have endured terrible persecution, who have lost loved ones in many cases, and who have been subjected to decades of hateful propaganda in China. They do not deserve constant negative depictions in the US press too.

John Moran, Portland, Maine

I have no problem with a publication taking an anti-communist stance or one that’s simply opposed the Chinese Communist Party. I have no bias for or against Falun Gong. The movement is relevant because it is connected to The Epoch Times and The Epoch Times and the movement have similar goals. At issue is the nature of reporting on American politics in The Epoch Times. If you’re the sort of person who only reads The Epoch Times to the exclusion of all other mainstream media, particularly traditional media sources i.e. Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, BBC, or Al Jazeera,  then your view of the world is probably warped and is likely as much of a threat to democracy and this republic as the ones who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation’s capitol.  

Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Hit and Run Feb. 20

On Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021 at 7:25 p.m., Babie (my dog) and I were walking down Grand Avenue for a regular evening walk when a white vehicle hit us while we were crossing 16th Street. It happened very fast, whoever was driving tried to brake but it was too late. I was hit on my left side causing me to roll onto the hood and windshield as the vehicle came to a complete stop, I was thrown to the pavement. Babie then ran over to help me when the vehicle ran both of us over, killing her and somehow leaving me alive with scrapes and bruises and with tire tracks across my upper body. Again, this happened on Feb. 20 at 7:25 p.m. on 16th Street and Grand. The Vehicle was traveling west, crossing at Grand Avenue towards Gaffey at high speed where I think it turned right. If anyone has any information about this incident, please call 310-982-5402. 

Patrick Eldred, San Pedro

Death Penalty for the Seditionists?

Although I am not a fan of capital punishment, I would make an exception in this case.

Fewer than 45 GOP senators opposed Trump’s impeachment. The 46th President is here, with 50 senators who represent 41 million more people than the other 50 senators. I pray that the Grim Reaper finds himself in a swamp drowning.

Unity with Nazis, skinheads, Proud Boys, KKK, Lincoln Project and Trumpers, is not an aspiration of mine.

The morning after Angela Davis’ 77th birthday… I want to ask the 700 to 800 folks walking around the Capitol building on Jan. 6,  “hanging or shooting? (Guilt of sedition is the death penalty.)

Murder charges should be realized against all the rioters who barged their way in the Capitol. Guilt of the murder charge should be upon all of the shoulders who reached the doorways by violence.

P.S. Fuck Daniel Bredkenridge. I’m an Okie. 

Mark A. Nelson, San Pedro

Thoughts on Returning to In-Person Instruction

The Long Beach Unified School Board is listening to the business community instead of their teachers and the parents they serve in sending teachers and students back into classrooms while the pandemic continues to rage. Although many doctors question the CDC’s decision that teachers don’t need to be vaccinated before going back, there are still questions based on science that the school board ignores.

Scientists now tell us that the number one way the virus is transmitted is by persons who are asymptomatic themselves. That means that all the district’s efforts to take the temperatures of every student and staff member every day with faulty thermometers do nothing in preventing the spread of the virus. Even if teachers got the vaccine (1500 of the more than 25,000 employees have received at least the first dose), there would be nothing to prevent students and teachers from transmitting the virus back to loved ones.

The district has selectively listened to the CDC. They have not mentioned the fact that the CDC has said that teachers who fall into the more dangerous categories (based upon age, lung compromised health, or immune deficiencies) should be given the option to continue virtual teaching from home. Nor has the district dealt with the fact that many schools have inadequate ventilation systems. The staff of my school, Jackie Robinson, had been slated to go to Butler this year so that our ventilation system could be fixed. Now they want us to go back into Robins with its inadequate system with the youngest children who are least likely to be able to keep their masks on.  

Even without the COVID-19 crisis, moving to another school would have been a costly upheaval, costing taxpayers millions of dollars just for bussing students alone. Why didn’t the district take advantage of this time off to have the construction companies, desperate for work, to fix the situation while we were at home most of this year?

When we return, our students will not have practiced a fire drill in over a year. When students leave my classroom, they walk shoulder to shoulder with students from two or three other classrooms through a narrow passage between a fence and our bungalows.  There is no way that we could possibly meet the time standards the fire department looks for—especially when you realize that even a reduced sized class of 17 would still be more than 100 feet long if the students were able to maintain 6 feet of distance while walking.

By the time a class is able to line up and go to a restroom, two boys and two girls at a time, half an hour of class time will be wasted (but now I give my students five minutes each hour to quickly use their home restrooms).  Each time a student uses a toilet, it will be compromised. Will students be expected to clean the seats after each use themselves?

Much has been said in the last couple years about SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Many students nowadays have suffered from trauma. A nurse in the news recently reported that the most heart-wrenching thing they have witnessed during this pandemic is children apologizing to their dying loved ones for having brought them the disease. Since school will only last 2 1/2 hours, it will be vulnerable grandparents who will often be called upon to pick the children up from school. How will a student’s SEL be affected when they grow up knowing that it was their “I’m done with school today” hug that killed grandma?

Why is it always up to workers to be the grown-ups in the room? What has happened to “leaders” in this country? What ever happened to an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure?

Editor’s Note: On Feb. 24 Random Lengths News received another letter from Mr. Weeks, below, in regard to teachers in the COVID-19 high-risk category.

Just wanted to forward this to you.  When I noted to my principal that the CDC recommended giving teachers in high risk categories the option of doing virtual teaching, I was sent this. It is a packet that I assume was created long before the pandemic, and does not address those identified as “high risk” during the pandemic.

When I mentioned the fact that older Americans who have contracted COVID have 15 times the mortality rate of younger Americans, I was told that the district could not discriminate based upon age. Really? Protecting older teachers because they are more at risk of dying is discriminating against them? It is time to go public with this.

Bill Weeks, Teacher, Robinson Academy, Long Beach Unified School District

The Pedestrian’s Accessing Royal Palms Beach Enter Into Harm’s Way

There is nothing I or anyone else can do. In the matter to convince the Los Angeles Department of Harbors and Beaches (who operate there), we the public must have a 5-foot wide sidewalk adjacent to the roadway. We must get people off the road and onto a safe surface to avoid being struck by motor vehicles.

The once casual and low volume beach playground has become a meeting place for thousands of visitors on weekends. No longer a safe and friendly place, it has become a meeting place for young intoxicated youths who have recklessly driven up the road at high speeds; and a place for young inner-city families with children who have visited the park unsuspectingly the first time; plac(ing) their lives at the hands of speeders! Because there is no sidewalk, no escape from a speeder.

My pleas are for the families, children and older citizens who walk, unsuspecting of the dangers that lurk upon a roadway that (do) not meet Federal or City Safe Road Standards. The county ignores my requests, but these officials obviously have never witnessed the impact upon the human body by a speeding vehicle. I have. The result to (the) victim was catastrophic. It saddened me to the point I vomited. So please use your rhetorical force. Use your ability at persuasion. Get others to listen.

Bruce Bacon, Harbor City

Support for Workers Coops

I’m going to share three quick facts with you: After a 30-year period, the costs of housing rose by 290%, education costs rose by 311%. And there are about 40,000 of our neighbors living on the streets of Los Angeles. Let me explain why I’m telling you this.

To shelter about 75 of our homeless community members, the city government plans to construct a temporary village of tiny homes here in Wilmington. The village will be in a parking lot near the intersection of Figueroa Place and L Street, across from LA Harbor College. The goal is to house people until they get connected with services and housing that will more permanently improve their lives.

To be honest with you, the news of this project brought many thoughts and emotions to my mind. At first I saw this as a cruel and strange juxtaposition: a shanty town of people struggling, next to an institution of bright eyed youths and professors furthering our human knowledge.

But I realized that these two developments being next to each other illustrates a larger problem. The real problem is our exploitive economic system.

Remember, after 30 years housing and education costs basically tripled. So if it cost $10,000 to go to college 30 years ago, it costs $30,000 to go to college now. And if it cost $300,000 to buy a house thirty years ago, it costs $900,000 now.

Meanwhile, the real wages of our workers in the middle class have only risen by 14%. Let me repeat that, housing and education have almost tripled, and wages have not even increased by one fifth. The change in real wages is even worse for our friends and family who are at the bottom 10%. Black women in this group have seen wages increase by less than a dollar. Latino men have seen their wages go down by a couple of dimes.

So it is not really a surprise that nowadays there will be a college next to a temporary village meant to get people off the streets. Many middle class workers can’t send children to college and buy a house without going into debt. And for the bottom 10%, the threat of homelessness is much closer than the dream of owning a house will ever be. This is a shame and a failure.

If you are one of these workers, this is not your fault. You and your family have worked hard, put in overtime or even gotten a second job. Your missing wages, dollars that should be yours, have gone to executives at mega corporations, investment bankers and the more than 600 billionaires in the U.S.

This wage and wealth inequality is the underlying cause of homelessness and there are many potential solutions. The tiny home village proposed here is a very small step in the right direction. It’s better than living totally exposed to the streets. But we can do better than that. And we have done better very recently. 

There is a program called Project Room Key that temporarily houses formerly homeless people in hotels and motels. On-site service providers work with these brothers and sisters to put them on a path to permanent housing and other supports. Expanding Project Room Key is a much better short-term solution than temporary housing shelters and villages. In either case, more labor and other resources must be focused on accelerating the completion of supportive housing in our communities.

We also need to make housing more affordable in general. A long-term solution to this end is to decrease the wage and wealth gaps. 

We can do this by greatly expanding worker cooperatives. In a worker coop, each worker gets one vote to determine the policies and actions of their business. Instead of a select few executives or boards of directors, the workers decide what to produce, where to produce and how much money the workers get. And I ask you, if you and your coworkers got to determine all your wages, would you allow them to rise only 14%, while housing nearly tripled?

We can encourage the proliferation of worker cooperatives by demanding that our governments give stimulus, bonds, grants and low interest loans to people who want to start worker coops.

In the past our governments have given such benefits to capitalist corporations, and that has gotten us into this mess. The closure of supermarkets run by the Kroger Company just because they don’t want to pay higher wages to at-risk workers, is one concrete example of how corporations exploit our economic system. I assure you that if we start to advocate and demand democracy at our workplaces, we will reduce homelessness in a dignified and respectable way. This will take time and some very tough conversations, but if we maintain our solidarity, we can make housing and a livable wage a democratic guarantee.

Christian Guzman,San Pedro

Life After Mother: Prying Out Power of Attorney

Lyn Jensen
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Life After Mother: Prying Out Power of Attorney

After my mother locked her caregiver out of the house, I entered a twilight zone, looking after her long-distance. This was no dispute that could be settled easily — my mother just stubbornly refused to let me move in, hire someone or move into a facility. No alternatives loomed.

“Just give the caregiver a key,” a guy mansplained.

I didn’t need that explained. The explanation was, I didn’t have a key and I couldn’t get one — if my mother wouldn’t let me move in, and she would lock a caregiver out, she wasn’t about to hand over a key. Without access to my mother’s funds, I couldn’t afford a caregiver, anyway. 

Control over finances and healthcare is complicated enough for a person of sound mind and body. Once dementia or a life-threatening disease sets in, the patient can’t be expected to understand such needs as power of attorney for health care, durable power of attorney for property, a living will, a do-not-resuscitate order, and physician orders for life-sustaining treatment.

There were many possible ways for my mother to put her final wishes on record. Getting her to stop procrastinating, and sign her name — to anything — was the roadblock. I discussed with her an account of a family’s novel solution to the dilemma of life-sustaining treatment. If the person didn’t want to be revived when unconscious or in a coma, at the potential cost of broken ribs and the like, then leave the signed DNR paper in plain view. If the person had a change of heart, stick the paper in a drawer.

My mother finally agreed to sign a paper granting me power of attorney for her healthcare, at least, I think because she finally understood the alternative was worse. She signed a printout from the Internet, an Advance Healthcare Directive California Power of Attorney, appointing me as agent for her healthcare decisions, but not “personal” or financial decisions.

After taking the precaution of making a photocopy, I put the original in a bright blue folder and instructed her to leave it on the kitchen table where it might be seen by emergency responders. She still balked at signing a physician order for life-sustaining treatment, but I put one in the folder, too, thinking we’d return to that subject later. Before I could bring the subject up again, the blue folder and contents disappeared. She denied knowing anything about it.

A year later I found her collapsed on the floor. This time I told the hospital to send her to a dementia-care facility that accepted difficult patients. The care facility insisted on having a power of attorney for healthcare. Figuratively I crossed my fingers and handed over the photocopy. It was accepted. If it hadn’t been, or hadn’t existed, I don’t even want to think of the alternative.

L.A. Region Ranks 6th Most Dependent on Small Businesses for Employment

RLn
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L.A. Region Ranks 6th Most Dependent on Small Businesses for Employment

The metropolitan area composed of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim is the sixth-most dependent on small businesses for employment and therefore is especially hobbled by the limitations on small businesses that have been imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, says an employment report release on Feb. 11 by the trade publication Construction Coverage.

It’s no secret that the majority of American employment is generated by small businesses. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 64% of net private-sector jobs created since 2005. Collectively, small enterprises employ around 60 million Americans, which represents nearly half of the private workforce in the U.S. Construction Coverage noted that compared to larger firms, small businesses are more nimble, which promotes competition and innovation in the economy.

At the same time, small businesses are especially vulnerable during economic turndowns because they have fewer financial resources than larger firms, which can more easily turn to banks or capital markets for an infusion of funding in tough times. Small enterprises are more likely to respond by scaling back operations, letting go of employees, or closing altogether.

It’s why the Joe Biden Administration is trying to funnel more federal assistance towards small businesses.

Some regions have been more affected than others. The following numbers illustrate the impact of small business restrictions in the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim region.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Region

Percentage of employees at small businesses: 51.93%

Total number of small business employees: 2,764,749

Total number of small businesses: 313,657

Percentage of total payroll paid by small businesses: 46.12%

Total small business payroll per employee: $52,115

Total large-firm payroll per employee: $65,764

While the recession of 2008 and the slow recovery that followed were hard on all sectors of the economy, small businesses struggled even more than large firms. Thousands of small businesses failed in the wake of the recession. Many would-be small business owners decided not to take on the financial risk of starting a business during the weak economic recovery, and lenders proved more risk-averse in financing new businesses as well. As a result, industry concentration in large firms has increased over the last decade, and employment growth at large businesses has far outpaced that of small businesses over the same period.

Today, COVID-19 is creating more difficulties for small businesses. Some of the industry sectors that tend to be most densely populated with small firms have also been the sectors most affected by shifts in consumer behavior and government restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus. Notably, accommodation, food services and retail businesses together employ nearly a quarter of all small business employees. But with more people staying at home, these firms — many of which have already been forced to close — face dire circumstances.

The continued success of small business matters more for some locations than others.

Dystopian Gaslighting

James Preston Allen
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Dystopian Gaslighting

Emerging from the orange fog of false conspiracies

I actually know some fairly rational citizens who, because of their diet of social media and fake news sources, are still not quite certain that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election 45 days after he was sworn in. My only advice for them is change your diet because you are being gaslighted. It’s ongoing and persistent. That’s the way the “big lie” persists. If you repeat false information often enough, even the liar himself believes the lie. And so it is with the Loser of the Last Election as evidenced by what he said at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Florida on Feb. 28. Daily Kos reporter David Neiwert reported on this phenomenon recently.

“If you watched Republicans on the Sunday news talk shows this weekend, you could be forgiven if you experienced a surreal, out-of-body feeling seeing every Republican official invited on for interviews claim, without a scintilla of evidence, that the November presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden. Even worse, they did so with zero pushback from their network hosts.”

The problem is twofold.  First, conservative media, like Fox News, and its offspring, including  Newsmax and The Epoch Times reiterate the lie of the “stolen election.” This lie picks up momentum when it goes through the echo chamber of social media and then continually referenced by clearly partisan sources. Then the mainstream media, attempting to be “fair” gives Republican defenders of the Lost Cause equal time, with reporters never challenging what they know to be false. This, of course, causes doubt in some people’s minds as to what is and isn’t the truth.

In his analysis, Neiwert explains how conservatives are attempting to whitewash and downplay the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

“In those moments, you could see the various strands of right-wing narrative regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol coming together into a cohesive, up-is-down gas lighting narrative, building an alternative universe that is likely to form the core of Republican politics for the next four years and more. It’s an old rhetorical sleight of hand that has a long history of use by American conservatives: they call it ‘waving the bloody shirt’.”

The problem is that if you thought the Golden Don told some whoppers (close to 30,573 according the Washington Post fact checker) while in office, what he said at the CPAC conference was even worse after his followers raided our national capital attempting to illegally stop the certification of the vote and to steal the election by force of arms. This will be proven to be the last desperate attempt to throw the election.

 We’ve all seen the pictures. Some of you watched it in horror in real time. It’s why the U.S. Congress rushed to impeach a second time as they were right there threatened by the mob, there wasn’t any need to investigate this act of insurrection. The intent of the insurgents was to capture both the Speaker of the House and Vice President Mike Pence, perhaps killing them and thus suspending the certification of the vote. Let’s just be clear, this was treason against our democracy, our Constitution and the only fraud that amounted to anything was the 60 some odd lawsuits filed by Republicans to change the vote after the November election. That’s just not how it’s done — at least not in America, thankfully. 

And yet he continued to boast, “I got more votes — I got more — and which is me — when I say ‘I,’ I’m talking about we. We— we got more votes than any incumbent, any incumbent president in the history of our country, almost 75 million votes.” This, of course, is some convenient B.S. since the former president doesn’t mention the 81,283,361 Biden got. 

He lost in the Electoral College vote by the same margins that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 ­–– 306 to 232, and there was no intelligence report of foreign interference in this election. Even the former president’s claims of election fraud were debunked by Christopher Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who has been one of the most vocal government officials debunking baseless claims about election manipulation, particularly addressing a conspiracy theory centered on Dominion Voting Systems machines that Republicans have pushed. Krebs got fired for doing his job right after the election.

Even FBI director, Christopher Wray, who testified in Congress this week, reported that of the 257 people charged with federal offenses to date, 33 allegedly belonged to anti-government militia groups and other far-right groups, according to a new report released by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

Wray was asked repeatedly whether the FBI had any evidence that the attack was organized by “fake Trump protesters,” left-wing anti-fascists and anarchists.

“We have not, to date, seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to ‘antifa’ in connection with the 6th,” Wray said. “That doesn’t mean we’re not looking and will continue to look. But at the moment, we have not seen that.”

Still, our nation is suffering a kind of Post Trump Stress Disorder after four years of gaslighting, fake news and phony conspiracies. And­ emerging from the orange fog of delusion will take some time. But unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no vaccine against delusional thinking but the cure against fake news is still the truth!

Proposal Would Cut Red Car Line

Hunter Chase
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Proposal Would Cut Red Car Line

Likely Gone for Good if POLA Approves

A proposed park will take away the right of way of the rail used for the Waterfront Red Car line — and while this is not done intentionally to displace it, the Port of Los Angeles has no plans to ever bring the Red Car line back, said Mike Galvin, director of the port’s waterfront and commercial real estate.

The park is part of the One San Pedro project by the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, or HACLA, which will redevelop the Rancho San Pedro public housing. This includes the replacement of 425 units and the creation of 975 new ones. While the housing itself will not be on port land, the park next to it will — and its creation will require the removal of the tracks from the rail between 1st and 3rd streets, as well as the surrounding fencing. It will be an expansion of sorts of the Promenade. Galvin said this will provide better connectivity between Rancho San Pedro and the Los Angeles waterfront.

“Right now there’s not really a seamless way to get from one to the other,” Galvin said.

Galvin said the park is not being put there specifically to eliminate the right of way.

“The port has actually [a] dedicated right of way at that location, as well as through the new West Harbor development, and going down all the way to Berth 46 in the outer harbor,” Galvin said. “That’s really something that we’ve done as part of a long-term planning process to provide for future opportunities for port connectivity, whether it be through light rails or through some other type of mode, which could be a rubber tire trolley system.”

The Red Car line ran from 2003 to 2015 as an attraction in San Pedro, but there were plans to expand it to transportation to other parts of Los Angeles. It was closed down as the San Pedro waterfront was developed, so that the port would have a better idea of how people would move around said waterfront.

“We wanted to take a pause, and allow some of that development to occur, and then to see what the most efficient way would be to move people around the waterfront,” Galvin said.

Even if the park is built, Galvin says the port is maintaining the right of way.

“The project is only required to be in place for 10 years,” Galvin said. “So it is not in any way creating a permanent obstacle to future use of rail in that area or future use of some other mode.”

Galvin said the portion of the right of way that the park will upend is like other portions of the right of way, which are being used for other things. Those purposes include street improvements and parking lot improvements that are being built south of 6th Street.

The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council and the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council both officially opposed the construction of the Rancho San Pedro park, because of how it would affect the right of way. The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council took no formal action against it. However, they did oppose the removal of Red Car tracks in November 2017,  Coastal President Doug Epperhart said.

“We wanted to preserve the infrastructure for the possibility that the Red Car would come back,” Epperhart said.

The tracks previously used for the Red Car south of 6th Street have already been removed, Galvin said.

“All of that rail has been removed because the likeliness that we will build a rail system that is similar to the Red Car is very low because it’s extremely expensive,” Galvin said.

A likely alternative would be a light rail system, which does need as much security as the Red Car needed. The Red Car needed fencing and a crossing guard system because of its weight, as well as a raised platform. A light rail is much lighter, as its name suggests, and does not need them.

“It creates a much more open access type of a feel where people can get on and get off,” Galvin said.

If the port were to build a light rail system, it would have to be built from the ground up, as the rail tracks used for the Red Car are not adaptable to light rails.

“The systems are not interchangeable,” Galvin said. “None of that’s been built yet, and the investment in that would be very significant going forward, and it wouldn’t be made until we have a much better idea of how people will move around the waterfront.”

While there were plans at one point to expand the Red Car line to take riders to other parts of Los Angeles, any light rail made by the port would not go that far.

“The Red Car, in the early days, there was much discussion about actually using it as a real transportation system connecting it to other places, extending it out to Cabrillo Beach, stuff like that,” Epperhart said. “That slowly disappeared over the years.”

Epperhart said the port does not have any interest in maintaining that kind of infrastructure, partially because of the cost.

“That plus the fact that, you know, the port is not interested in being in the people moving business,” Epperhart said.

Epperhart said that building and operating rail lines is so expensive, the port would probably never see a return on its investment.

Another possible alternative would be a rubber tire system, which does not use tracks, so it could use the street, or its own dedicated right of way.

The local business improvement district is currently using rubber tire trolleys, and they recently acquired more, Galvin said.

“That is an existing program that we are pulling data out of, to understand where the most people are getting on and off, where people are going to and from, so we can better understand how to build out future modalities of connectivity that are other than people walking around the waterfront,” Galvin said.

Epperhart said the light rail is probably not necessary yet.

“I don’t think we’re going to have any real … need for it for a while, until we get the cruise terminal down at the other end of town, until we get the amphitheater and some other things,” Epperhart said.  

The Rancho San Pedro park has not yet been approved by the port. HACLA is still going through public input, so the project will come before the Board of Harbor Commissioners in two months at the earliest.

There is another proposed park that if approved, will be built on port property. It will be built by the Battleship USS Iowa Museum, and will be next to it. However, this park requires funding from the state of California, and the Iowa is in the process of applying for a grant for it.

This park will be close to the Rancho San Pedro park, but neither are big.

“These parks are not large parks by any means,” Galvin said. “So, I don’t think it’s unnatural within a waterfront area that we have, which is 400 acres of waterfront property along with about 8 miles of coastline, that she would have small open space areas as amenities.”

In addition, the Iowa might move to a different location within the next few years, and if it does, the park might be built at the new location.

Frank Anderson, chair of the Port Relations Committee of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said he was disappointed to hear that the port does not plan to bring the Red Car back. He argued that the port would need connectivity to other parts of the city in some way, perhaps through Metro lines.

“I personally would love to see the Red Car come back,” Anderson said. “I’m willing to fight for it and I think there are others that feel the same way.”

California’s Climate Gap

Paul Rosenberg
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California’s Climate Gap

Port problems are anything but local

The mid-February winter storm stretched across most of the continental United States, but hit the state of Texas especially hard. It left more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without power, and more than 70 dead, as the state’s power grid came within minutes of  “a catastrophic and complete failure,” according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

The state’s climate denialism, free market deregulation and lack of infrastructure investment all contributed significantly to the singular catastrophe that struck Texas. California, in contrast, is seen as a beacon of climate enlightenment, but that image is highly misleading, according to the just-released “Environmental Scorecard” from the California League of Conservation Voters, and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach vividly illustrate the problems involved.

The state’s overall score was just 74%. “It barely passed this year,” the league’s Political and Organizing Director Mike Young told Random Lengths News. 

“The only reason it passed … was actually because the governor passed two really huge executive orders,” he said. But even with that, “We are missing a climate plan.” 

He pointed to John Kerry’s recent press conference in contrast. 

“It’s very clear that the federal government, that the White House now has a climate plan,” he said. “It’s thinking about how climate can impact every sector and the different decisions that it’s making.” 

It’s precisely that kind of whole-of-government, every-facet-of-policy approach that’s needed in California as well.

Locally, State Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell is symptomatic of California’s problem, earning a place on the league five-member “polluter caucus,” the worst of the worst from among the 22 senators and 52 assembly members who take money from oil companies or their political action committees, whose power and influence significantly cripple California’s climate and environmental justice policies. This past April, he circulated a sign-on letter to Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, calling for it to halt its regulatory rulemaking process because of COVID-19. 

“It’s in those moments of crises where you depend on your elected leaders,” Young said, “And, it was clear that he was deciding to serve the interests of industry, as opposed to the health of his constituents.”

The problem isn’t limited to climate change alone. 

“When it comes to air pollution, California has been operating in a state of denial about its failure to meet state and federal air quality standards,” said Joe Lyou, president and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air. “The plans to achieve these standards rely on investing billions of dollars per year in clean vehicles and equipment with no viable means of raising that kind of money.”

Thus, neither climate policy (involving carbon dioxide and methane, primarily) nor air quality policy (ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide and volatile organic compounds) are comprehensively addressed, much less is there an integrated plan dealing with both. Zero-emissions technology addresses both of them — when combined with renewable energy generation and grid development — but is commercially less advanced. Near-zero reduces air pollutants dramatically, but may pose climate risks due to methane. The clock is ticking on both, but in different timeframes. Coordination is essential — and lacking.

Lyou is ideally situated to explain California’s faltering policies, combining local, regional and statewide experience. Statewide, he serves as a member of California Transportation Commission, and locally he’s a member of the ports’ Sustainable Freight Advisory Committee, where stakeholder representatives for business, labor, the community and the environment develop consensus recommendations to advance the ports’ Clean Air Action Plan, known as CAAP — recommendations “the ports have basically ignored,” Lyou stated. He also served 12 years on the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

“The port truck situation is a tragedy in the making,” Lyou said. “In 2023, California regulations will require all trucks to have 2010 or newer engines. Approximately 4,685 (36%) of the trucks in service at the ports will have to be replaced,” he explained. “The ports are allowing them to be replaced with 2014 or newer trucks and completely missing out on the opportunity to reduce emissions by 90% or more by requiring all replacements to be either zero or near-zero emission vehicles. Once those 2014 trucks get into the registry, they’ll be used for many years. It’s a huge issue that will have real public health consequences and no one seems to care about.”

As to why, “I think it’s part and parcel of a bigger problem at the ports in terms of accountability and with regard to air pollution,” Lyou said. “I think that the ports believe that they’ve done a lot, which they have done a lot, but they haven’t done enough.” At the same time, public pressure has waned, “in part because there are other issues and crises to deal with, in part because of turnover, in part because of a lack of institutional memory.”

The Port of Los Angeles disputes this characterization.

“The 4,600 San Pedro Bay drayage trucks that remain pre-2010 technology have the focus of the ports and regional and state agencies,” POLA spokesman Arley Baker told Random Lengths. However, he went on to say, “There is currently no consensus regarding how to incentivize the transition of these trucks to cleaner technologies. Some would like to see them transition to low NOx [nitrogen oxide] trucks right away, while others would rather see them make the transition to ZE [zero emission] trucks when they start to become available in the next three to five years.”

But,  “There is a consensus that the people breathing smog and diesel particulate matter that lead to everything from asthma attacks to heart attacks to premature death all want cleaner trucks,” Lyou responded. “The port is using the debate over zero and near-zero emissions to do nothing, which leaves us with dirty diesel trucks moving freight in and out of the port. They know that it would be impossible to replace all of those pre-2010 trucks with zero emission trucks by 2023. They should replace as many as they can with zero emission but the rest should be near-zero emission.”

In June 2017, the advisory committee Lyou sits on advised that “‘front loading’ the deployment of zero and near-zero emission trucks as part of the Clean Truck Program will provide significant air quality and public health benefits,” but that “it will be important that this transition be implemented in an even and measured manner between the commencement of the new Clean Truck Program (expected in 2018) and the July 1, 2023 target date.” This would “allow for the establishment of program milestones and measurement in order to best ensure the success of the program,” and provide greater certainty for all parties involved.  Significantly, the 2023 federal ozone deadline will rely on a 2022 date, so “significant deployments of zero and near —zero emission technology must occur in the years leading up to 2022.”

None of that has happened. Take the simple matter of a contained fee to help fund the transition. This could help supply some of the more than $1 billion in incentive funding needed for California to meet its federal air quality targets, AQMD spokesperson Nahal Mogharabi noted. “However, the ports have not yet implemented this fee,” even though it was approved in principle early last year. 

POLA is still working to finalize a contract with the rate collection vendor, and hopes to bring it to the board within the next month or two, spokesman Phillip Sanfield said. After that, “It will take six months to set up the collection system.” So 2022 — the year federal air quality data is to be collected — will be the first full year in which fees are collected to help fund a transition that should have been planned as a five-year process.

The situation with ships and rail is even more daunting. 

“They’re both a big problem — a lot of emissions, a lot of old technologies,” Lyou said. “It’s very complicated, if not impossible to retrofit the ships, so they need to be built clean to begin.” 

And, they’ve built up a huge supply before new international standards went into effect in 2016. 

“So that created a problem and that problem will persist for decades, because those ships don’t turn over quickly,” Lyou said.

Rail faces a similar situation, due to the fracking boom. 

“The coal industry was the biggest user of locomotives in the United States,” Lyou explained. “When the coal industry started tanking because of the low cost of natural gas, the natural turnover of these locomotives quit happening, and the industry started just relying on what they had in stock and they have a lot of locomotives that aren’t even being used.”

Additional questions remain. Richard Havenick, the first prominent advocate for low-sulfur ship fuel, has raised serious concerns about methane in natural gas. He had been passionate to get ships off diesel and onto natural gas, until he read a 2019 study from the U.S. Maritime Administration, which found that “LNG offers significant benefits within local communities by reducing criteria pollutants and improving health outlook. However, global impacts are dominated by releases of the short-lived climate pollutant, methane.” 

But in California, “We always insist that near-zero trucks be fueled with renewable natural gas,” Lyou notes. “It might not be an ideal situation,” he notes, but “In the end, there are no perfect solutions.”

Jesse Marquez, founder and president of Communities for Safe Environment, points to zero-emission trucks already available that can service the Los Angeles Basin.

“There are a minimum of eight ZE Class VIII Drayage Trucks that can all travel a minimum of 100 miles in a day,” he said. 

They can service UP’s ICTF railyard within 5 miles of the port, as well as rail yards in East Los Angeles and Commerce 20 miles north on the I-710.  They can’t do everything diesel trucks can do. But they can do much of what needs to be done, if there was a proactive plan to make use of them. 

The questions raised by Marquez and Havenick could be answered if California had the kind of leadership and planning approach that the Joe Biden Administration seems to promise. But that’s simply not the state that the State of California is in.

Note: Random Lengths News will take a statewide view of the problem as part of its Earth Day coverage in April.

The Dark Side of Carson’s New Developments

RL Intern
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The Dark Side of Carson’s New Developments

By Iracema Navarro, Editorial Intern

With the continued developments in Carson, mobile home park residents are on the edge of uncertainty. Within a mile from each other, mobile home parks are overshadowed by the 32,000-square-feet apartment building of Union South Bay. 

Carson is changing the dynamic and losing the root to homeownership. Private owners are selling their land to developers to build tenant-occupied structures.

Low-income and affordable housing are at stake with the new developments. 

Patricia Gray, an Imperial Avalon mobile home owner emailed the Carson Planning Commission, voicing her fear if the park closes. 

“Just in case the rest of you are unaware of rent comps, I will not be able to rent anything; I don’t make the basic required move-in fee of three times that of my monthly income,” Gray said. “So by moving from the house that is fully paid for, in the community where I have bonded with my fictive kin for 27 years, I will be lonely and homeless.”

Although single-family homes are real estate investments, families also need access to lower-cost structures. With the cost of living ranging in the minimum limit of $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom condominium, seniors and low income families are in fear.

Carson’s Councilman Jawane Hilton said mobile homes and mobile home parks are a necessity for the city.

“We are definitely looking at the mobile home parks, there’s new legislation that we are trying to follow in line with,” Hilton said. “We want to make sure that [mobile homeowners] are safe and protected.”

The protections for residents discussed by the city and developers are for financial and relocation assistance along with prioritizing seniors in affordable housing. 

“That is what we are asking our developers that are coming to the city, to allocate a certain percentage for affordable workforce housing,” Carson’s Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes said.

 Seven existing affordable housing sites are all rental types and mostly provided only for seniors. With the economic potential of attracting developers in the City of Carson, voted members in the council will have the opportunity to establish more affordable housing for low-income families.

 Including funds from the federal, state and local levels, Carson Housing Authority provides affordable housing options such as senior housing, multi-family housing and sale housing.

 With more than five approved projects, three under review and three housing projects under construction, most of the developments are apartments and condominiums. 

“We don’t have a lot of housing that is being built, we have a lot of apartments but I’m looking for more single-family homes to be built and we have to partner with the right developer,” Hilton said.

The city council has no say in the selling of mobile home parks because they are privately owned.

The city council of Carson and the mayor decide what developers come to the city after a presentation is done by the community development managers that have an interest in building in Carson. 

Now residents and future residents drive the streets of Carson amazed by the already established apartment buildings, anxious to see in place the under construction developments, but dismissing the abandoned one level mobile home parks. 

The proposed project to consider the relocation impact report related to the closure of Park Avalon Mobile Estates park was adjourned to April 13, 2021.

Park Avalon Mobile Estates has more than 100 mobile home residents who are awaiting the decision if they will have to look for another mobile home park, sell their home or look for another place to live. 

With mobile home parks closing in Carson, such as Imperial Avalon Mobile Estates set to officially close in 2022, residents will have an option to return after three to four years, once the senior village is built. 

“They have the option of coming back with the same amount of money that they are paying right now, if it is $600 or $400, they can come back and live in them,” Davis-Holmes said.

Imperial Avalon Mobile Estates has more than 400 seniors who live on a fixed income but now have less than 12 months to relocate after real estate company Faring Capital bought the land to build a mixed-use development. 

The decision to close the park was made shortly before the State Assembly Bill 2782 passed. The bill, also known as Mobile Home Rent Control, changes the Mobile Home Residency Law from giving homeowners at least 15 days’ written notice to 60 days, allowing rent control on leases that are more than one year long and more protections for residents.

With requirements established in the proposal, the city is affirming new buyers in assisting mobile home residents in relocation fees and the opportunity to return to the new development. 

“What we do want in closing, like in Imperial Avalon, we made sure they [mobile home owners] get a fair market value and many of them can return to the site once it is developed, that is what we are requiring the developer, Faring Capital,” Davis-Holmes said. “They’ll be buying those coaches, the cheapest coaches will be bought at $86,000 regardless if they only paid the 35 for it.”

Senior citizens, who own and live in the park, voiced their concerns on the streets in front of city hall shortly after the news broke out of the proposed development.

“The park owners are going above and beyond state law to accommodate residents and help find them their next homes. Although not required by state law, ownership has delayed the park closure and is providing early disbursement of funds to help residents with down payments on their future homes,” said Darren Embry, Imperial Avalon Community Development Director. “Over 30 households and counting have already taken advantage of the direct benefits being provided to them. The relocation benefits package provided to residents is over $22 million, making it one of the largest — if not the largest —benefits package ever paid for a private closure in California history.”

With the Imperial Carson Mobile Homes park set to close, a submitted application for Carson Lofts of two, three-story apartment buildings of 19 units are under review and an approved 300 multi-family residential units of Evolve South Bay/MBK Homes Apartments is set to begin construction.

Two months after the purchase, Faring Capital hired an appraiser to appraise each mobile home. Claire Condon Anderson, mobile home owner since 1983, expressed the insult she felt about the appraisal in a 2020 letter to the city. 

“To add insult to injury, he and his associate grossly undervalued my home at $37,000 when I have records of similar homes selling recently for $150,000 to $200,000 locally and some were even in this same park,” Condon Anderson said. “If this park must be closed, we want the fair market value for our homes and not just the value of a scrap pile.”

The LA Harbor International Film Festival Goes Virtual

Melina Paris
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The LA Harbor International Film Festival Goes Virtual

The arts have an important place in the San Pedro Harbor Area, whether from artists who live and work here, the San Pedro Art walk or the many murals located throughout downtown. Now, it’s once again time for the Harbor Area’s annual celebration of film artistry. On February 18, festival director and founder Stephanie Mardesich announced the launch of the 18th annual LA Harbor International Film Festival, or LAHIFF, in front of epicurean sponsor The Whale & Ale in downtown San Pedro.

In the time of COVID-19, this year’s festival is going virtual. Mardesich, noted that LAHIFF commemorates the 90th anniversary of the opening of the vintage art deco Warner Grand Theatre in historic downtown San Pedro that has been the main venue for the LAHIFF since 2004. The film festival also continues its partnership with NewFilmmakers Los Angeles featuring a Sunday afternoon matinee of 10 film shorts.

Mardesich also unveiled the official LAHIFF poster titled “Surfing the Cinematic Bridge,” with artistry inspired by LAHIFF’s closing documentary film, Endless Summer.

Virtual features on LAHIFF’s 2021 lineup include three classic films, a webinar and Q&A, all listed below with links.

March 11 Prog. A:  10:30 a.m. Read The Book, See The Movie selection is the classic American novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, and the 1960 Disney film of the same name. LAHIFF will offer a real time webinar presentation at http://bit.ly/rtbstmpollyanna. RBSM promotes literacy and a more thoughtful way to view a film. It is the most successful motivating aspect of the LAHIFF, nearly 17,000 books have been distributed to students and community members since 2004. 

March 12, 7 p.m. Prog. B: Opening Night “Mangia Italiano 4” Il Postino https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110877/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

March 13 Prog. C: New Filmmakers LA lahiff.eventive.org. Pre-register at this link to view and for Q&A March 13, 7 p.m. 

Prog. D:  HNT Phantom Of The Opera,  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036261/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_45

March 14, 1 p.m. Prog. E: DocSunday John Van Hamersveld’s Crazy World Ain’t It, about artist John Van Hamersveld, who grew up in Palos Verdes Peninsula at Lunada Bay, and created the iconic poster for The Endless Summer, https://vimeo.com/480561807   Password: CWAI

March 14, 1 p.m. Prog. F  DocSunday The Endless Summer, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060371/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

On March 13 Sunday’s matinee features NewFilmmakers Los Angeles or, NFMLA, to showcase a selection of short films made in Los Angeles. Unlock all of the films and filmmaker Q&A at www.watch.eventive.org/lahiff/play/shorts-program-and-q-a

Founded in 2007, NFMLA is a strong advocate and gathering place for independent cinema. In addition to fostering the advancement of new filmmakers and its members in Los Angeles County, NFMLA is a vital organization with screenings and events programmed throughout the year fulfilling their objective to promote the economic, educational, social, and cultural advancement of filmmaking, arts and culture in the community.

Selections:

Misdirection, directed by Carly Usdin, 14 minutes 

Camila is your average college freshman with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a big, gay crush on her roommate. After both situations come to a head in a near car crash, Cam is stuck trying to find a distraction. A chance encounter with a street magician teaches her to channel her misguided energy into a new hobby, and to open her heart to new possibilities.

Hyper Active, directed by Cory Reede, 6 minutes 

All his life Cory knew he was different, it just took him a little longer to figure out why. As he faces his recent adult ADHD diagnosis, he embarks on a quest to learn how several friends with disabilities continue to cope and how their journeys might impact his own.

The Disease, directed by Dara Safvatnia & Joan Joan Paül, 9 minutes 

A couple of siblings meet in front of the Hollywood sign after he has had a terrible audition.

A Burial, directed by Kevan Tucker, 11 minutes 

A young boy confronts his fears and ventures into the mysterious woods at night to find his lost dog.

Weep Not, directed by Lenore Thomas Douglas, 13 minutes

A tale of one woman’s will to heal from an early childhood trauma after the passing of her best friend and confidant, her grandmother. In her attempt to rise above, Journey must make one critical life-altering choice, but can she decide before it’s too late?

Turtle, directed by Matt Kenchington, 10 minutes 

It was a blistering hot day, and, as a chubby kid on summer break, Bruno’s only goals were to avoid his chores and stay cool while awaiting the sweet jingle of the ice cream truck. After emerging victorious in his quest for frozen delights, things didn’t go as planned, and the sugar high only lasted so long. Whether it was the heat, the sugar crash or serendipity, he won’t ever know, but what happened next turned that day into one he could never forget.

Auxiliary Man, directed by Max Roux, 16 minutes 

An inept hitman has a chance to prove himself on the night of his first big hit, but nothing goes as planned.

Black Moon, directed by Ryan Graff, 8 minutes 

On her walk home, a young mother is lured into a tunnel, unaware of what has been awoken inside on the night of a black moon.

The Shabbos Goy, directed by Talia Osteen, 7 minutes 

God literally forbids her to turn off a vibrator gone rogue, so an Orthodox Jew sets out on a quest to find someone who can.

Since the programs are being presented virtually, there is no box office ticket charge, but only what fees might be required at online links. Donations to the LAHIFF are welcome.

Time: March 11 to 14

Details: www.laharborfilmfest.com

Public Health Statement Regarding Favorable Court of Appeal Restaurant Ruling

Reporters Desk
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Public Health Statement Regarding Favorable Court of Appeal Restaurant Ruling

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health March 3, announced that the Court of Appeal recognized that during a pandemic, it is vitally important for public health officials to quickly take affirmative measures to reduce transmission of COVID-19, in order to combat an ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. The Court acknowledged that Public Health recognized that while temporarily restricting outdoor dining at restaurants would have an economic impact, the restriction was an appropriate exercise of public health discretion because dining with others creates a circumstance where non-household members are gathering in close proximity with each other without COVID-19 infection control precautions, such as face mask, thereby increasing the risk of transmission. Importantly, the Court of Appeal found that the trial court stepped outside of a court’s appropriate role by “mandating a nebulous risk-benefit requirement” on public health decision-making. This ruling will help public health officials continue to protect the health and safety of all Californians.

COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Decline; Public Health Planning for Additional School Re-openings and Increases Access to Vaccine

Reporters Desk
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COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Decline; Public Health Planning for Additional School Re-openings and Increases Access to Vaccine

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health has confirmed 116 new deaths and 1,759 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health identified 1,195,913 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 21,669 deaths.

The seven-day average number of cases by episode date has decreased to less than 900 per day as of February 23.

There are 1,476 people with COVID-19 hospitalized and 31% of these people are in the ICU.   As cases decline, the average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 decline, though the County is not back to pre-surge levels. In Early November before the surge, there were around 800 daily hospitalizations and now daily hospitalizations are averaging 1,500. 

The seven-day average number of daily deaths continues to decline yet remains far too high. On January 13, the average peaked to 254 daily deaths, and today, as with far too many days during the week, over 100 deaths are reported. 

Testing results are available for nearly 5,860,000 individuals with 19% of people testing positive.  Today’s daily test positivity rate is 2.6%. 

L.A. County is very close to meeting the metric thresholds for the less restrictive red tier in the State’s Blueprint for a Safety Economy. This week, L.A. County’s adjusted case rate dropped to 7.2 new cases per 100,000 people and the test positivity rate is 3.5%. Our case rate needs to remain at or below 7 new cases per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks to move to the less restrictive red tier. If L.A. County moves into the red tier next week and stays in that tier for two consecutive weeks, schools will then be eligible to reopen in-person learning for students in grades 7 through 12.  

Currently, schools throughout the county have reopened for high needs students and for grades TK through 6. As of March 1, 1,799 schools are providing on-campus services for high needs students.  

Public Health is working in partnership with Los Angeles County school districts to establish the Public Health Ambassador Program for students and parents. This program will actively engage school communities in preventing and reducing the spread of COVID-19 by empowering students and parents as essential partners in each school’s prevention effort. For parents, the program offers a one-time 90-minute virtual session that covers proven safety practices for home and in the broader community.  Student Ambassadors meet weekly and learn about the impact of COVID-19 on wellbeing, and about social determinants of health and how the pandemic has impacted some groups more than others.    

The Public Health Lab has tested 679 specimens of COVID-19 virus in L.A. County to assess the presence of mutations —  with more than 400 of these sequences performed since Jan. 1 of this year. To date, Public Health has confirmed a total of 27 cases of COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 U.K. variant and one case of the P.2 Brazil variant in Los Angeles County. All of the U.K. variant cases have been identified since January 15, and the first case of the P.2 variant from Brazil was identified late last week. In addition, there have been 239 California variant cases with the vast majority of these cases identified since Dec. 1 of last year. In the most recent run of 55 specimens in the Public Health laboratory, 31 (56%) included the 5-mutations characteristic of the California variant, so this strain continues to be widely circulating in Los Angeles County. There have been no cases identified in L.A. County with the South African variant.   

Los Angeles County continues work mitigating barriers and increasing access to vaccine to eligible residents and workers in the hardest hit communities. Because navigating an online registration system is a major barrier for many people, Public Health is working with a number of community leaders and organizations who are handling the registration process for those who are eligible and are not able to easily use online registration. In addition, the Public Health call center is also able to register people without requiring individuals to go through the online interface. Approximately 3,000 appointments this week at the county run sites are being filled through these efforts. Many community vaccination partners are also eliminating on-line registration requirements for their patients, and helping individuals register on site.

Mobility limitations and transportation are a challenge to many people. Public Health is continuing to send mobile teams, with its partners Curative, to senior residential communities, especially in areas that have had low vaccination rates. The county is coordinating with rideshare companies to provide additional transportation options for people eligible to be vaccinated. 

For many people, needing to provide a government-issued ID is a barrier to being vaccinated. There are many options for verifying your age, where you live and where you work when you come to a vaccine appointment that do not require government issued ID. Vaccinations are always free and available to all immigrants. Getting vaccinated doesn’t impact current or future immigration status and doesn’t affect green card eligibility. It is not considered in a public charge test. As a reminder, medical information, including information about vaccinations, is private and not shared with immigration officials.

Details: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish).

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