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Trump: A Clear and Present Danger

James Preston Allen
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Trump: A Clear and Present Danger

From listening to President Donald Trump’s hateful jeremiads against the US Postal Service, you’d think the constitutionally mandated function of the federal government was anti-American, socialist or perhaps even a communist enterprise. What he doesn’t say, or perhaps more likely doesn’t even know, is that our postal system predates the adoption of the United States Constitution itself. Along with falsely claiming “voter fraud” by mail-in ballots, this is just one more of his many delusional accusations — evidence  he is a clear and present danger to our Republic.

I was reminded recently by one very concerned congressional aid that there are only two businesses enumerated in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights — the first is the Post Office and second, under freedom of the press are newspapers (read news media today). 

His concern comes as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump political appointee, has been disassembling the postal service as a means to constrict and obstruct mail-in voting or to otherwise implode what may be the most beloved part of the federal government — the mail system. 

The term “austerity” has been used to conjure up a veneer of fiscal conservancy that slows the mail by cutting overtime hours to workers and dumping automated sorting equipment.

In response to one of the largest mail protests ever by American citizens, Postmaster DeJoy suspended his orders of removing mailboxes, slowing down deliveries and otherwise corrupting the mail service until after the Nov. 3 election. However, Congress is not satisfied with this reaction, nor should they be.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, (D-47th District), says that he has never received so much mail in all his years in office. 

“The post office is sacred to the American public,” this he says crosses party lines.  He cites that 1.2 billion medical prescriptions are delivered annually and 70% of all small businesses use the USPS. And indeed, so do most independent publications like this one who still use the mail to send hard copy subscriptions.

This of course brings me to complain about how poorly the mail service was before DeJoy went on his joy-ride only making things worse. Back in 2006, the Republican majority in Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which did nothing to “enhance” the mail service. 

What it did was to obligate the USPS to prepay 75 years of pension obligations at approximately $5.5 billion per year — something no other public or private business has ever done. Clearly the effort to destabilize the postal system has been going on a long time in order to take it out of government control and into private hands —first by underfunding it, then by trying to bankrupt it with the 75-year pension prepayment. Now it’s done  by deconstructing many of the standard operations that we all enjoy.

The USPS dates back to the very beginning of our country and it was created by the Second Continental Congress. None other than Benjamin Franklin was appointed the postal system’s first postmaster general — you may recognize him as the face on the $100 bill. It was kind of his idea to create this service in 1775 that was formally adopted with the Constitution in 1792. So the idea that this is some kind of “radical” idea for our government to own the mail system is far fetched.

So in essence, the postal service is older than our government, more popular than our current president and more essential to both our lives and economy than Twitter or Facebook. It actually is a government granted monopoly on first class mail service that as of 1970, was transformed into an “independent agency.”

Whatever you may think about the declining service of your local post office, what you might like to imagine is what it would be like if it didn’t exist at all. Think of it in the same way you might think about public schools, fire departments or public transportation. Now is the moment that Congress needs to act to preserve this public asset from being destroyed by the most dangerous and corrupt president that our nation has ever seen.

Do not, however, think that this is more than another distraction or trick, like sending federal police into Portland, Ore. to enrage demonstrators and take the focus off of his disastrously poor handling of the coronavirus and the resulting economic fallout. The COVID-19 pandemic can’t be bamboozled or lied to. It can only be lied about. And the Liar-in-Chief has been doing that since the beginning, but 175,000 deaths is hard to explain away.

Born Into This: Bukowski at 100

Reporters Desk
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Born Into This: Bukowski at 100

By John Dullaghan, Guest Writer

“Born into this” is the refrain of one of Charles Bukowski’s most enigmatic poems, Dinosauria, We. It is prophetic and dark; it seems like it was written for today by one who saw the future more clearly then than we do now.

— The Editors

Published shortly before his death in 1994, it describes a world where “the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree,” “where the jails are full and the madhouses are closed,” where “fist fights end as shootings and knifings” and “where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes,” all before graphically showing the earth’s final destruction, which today seems more real and probable than when the poem was written.

In Dinosauria, We, Bukowski is descriptive and predictive, sensing numerous rumblings that would become future cataclysms. It is written in the spare, haiku-like style that he had evolved to by the end of his life. It is annihilation and beauty, all at once.

The fact that Bukowski recognized horror when he saw it perhaps goes back to the world that he himself was born into: one where he was neither understood nor loved, enduring weekly beatings by a tyrant father, while his mother looked on (for Bukowski’s full account, read Ham on Rye). And what model of reality might this create in the mind of the child, and later, the adult? The kind where you’re comfortable with conflict but not intimacy; where aggression and depression come easily; where you’re wary of others, preferring to be alone; and where, beneath the surface, there churns such a constant, grinding feeling of unease that you’ll opt for anything — booze, sex, gambling — just to feel good again. This was Bukowski’s reality and one that many of his readers also know.

Born like this

Into this

As the chalk faces smile

As Mrs. Death laughs

As the elevators break

As political landscapes dissolve

As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree

As the oily fish spit out their oily prey

As the sun is masked

What Bukowski was born into certainly shaped the writer he became. When I interviewed John Martin, Bukowski’s publisher, he commented that if Bukowski had been raised in a more stable family, he might have become a successful Hollywood comedy writer. For an artist, a brutal childhood might be what can separate the hard-edge of a John Lennon, who was abandoned by both parents, from a more even-tempered Paul McCartney, who grew up in far less turbulent circumstances. If Bukowski’s journey looks like many of our own, his genius was that he could tap into the type of feelings and experiences that most of us keep locked away in our unconscious and hold them up to the light in a way that makes us say, “That’s me!”

Given what Bukowski was born into, it’s also not surprising that throughout his career you see the same pendulum swing — from tremendous compassion for the suffering of people, to disgust for their almost limitless cruelty and ignorance. The same Bukowski who lamented “the proud thin dying” also stated, “People are just not good to each other” and “Humanity, you never had it from the beginning.”

We are

Born like this

Into this

Into these carefully mad wars

Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness

Into bars where people no longer speak to each other

Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings

Born into this

Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die

Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty

Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed

Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes

Bukowski called himself “a photographer.” This means he tried to capture the truth, both horrible and beautiful, as with Bluebird or Roll the Dice, later poems that inspire and touch us so deeply. In today’s society, where the government’s strategy amounts to a combination of magical thinking, corruption and deceit, voices of truth like Bukowski’s are more important than ever.

Bukowski died in 1994. His original readers  from the 1960s are nearing their final days, too. Despite all the hopes and plans of our youth, when we die, even the best of us won’t have changed the world much.

The analogy of pulling your finger out of the water and creating a few ripples, which almost instantly disappear, is probably apt for most of our lives. As an author, Bukowski’s life had a greater impact than most.

So it’s heartening that his words still have so much punch decades later. It’s tempting to think of what he might be doing today if he were alive: working on his ninth novel? Appearing on podcasts? One thing we can pretty confidently say: He would still be telling it like it is, with a combination of salty directness and style that nobody has yet been able to duplicate. He would be disgusted at the powers-that-be, but not surprised. And, every now and then, he might find himself in a rare mood and grace us with another Laughing Heart, which describes a completely different world, where people can be good to each other.

John Dullaghan is the director of Bukowski: Born Into This, the 2005 Bukowski documentary that is widely considered the authoritative biographical document on the author.

The Arc Of History: There’s More to this Election than Defeating Donald Trump

Paul Rosenberg
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The Arc Of History: There’s More to this Election than Defeating Donald Trump

While all eyes in politics are focused on the Democratic National Convention, suburban Dallas may not look like the center of American politics. But in one crucial sense, a slice of it is precisely that: Texas House District 112, centered in Richardson, is the tip of the spear in the battle against gerrymandering nationwide. It’s the most flappable of 11 prime seats, of which only eight are necessary. And those 11 state house districts significantly overlap with nine congressional districts that are also ripe to be flipped, making Texas one of several Southern states where multi-level shifts toward the Democratic Party are underway.

Virginia, which was solid red in 2004, is now solid blue from top to bottom, and now other states, from Texas to North Carolina, seem poised to follow a similar trajectory—if Democrats are smart enough to see the opportunity before them, and seize it.

That’s why a lowly suburban state house district could loom so large in the midst of such national chaos.

If you want to help put an end to gerrymandering in American politics, you’ll get the most bang for the buck by donating to challenger Brandy Chambers in her race to unseat a five-term incumbent whom she came within two points of defeating in 2018.

That’s according to Sam Wang, a Princeton neuroscientist turned election nerd, turned anti-gerrymandering crusader, who’s taken the “moneyball” approach developed by the Oakland A’s and applied it to politics, developing a metric he calls “voter power.” The A’s lacked the money to compete in high-stakes bidding wars, so they developed new measures to identify undervalued players they could more easily afford.  Unless your last name is “Bill Gates” you’d be wise to at least give some thought to Wang’s innovative metric.

“Voter power is complicated because it depends on the closeness of chamber control, how many voters there are per district, and how close the tipping-point districts are,” Wang told Random Lengths. “It depends most of all on how close a chamber is to the edge of control. In that respect, TX/MN/KS currently appear to be right on the edge.”

For ease of comparison, the race with maximum voter power is set to 100 and other races are set to some fraction of that.  In Texas, there are 11 house races with voting power of 70 or more, while Democrats only need to win 8.

But Texas is also a hotbed of potential Democratic gains in Congress. Rachel Bitecofer, who first predicted the 2018 Blue Wave, has identified nine House seats that could flip in Texas, stretching from the suburbs of Houston to those of Dallas-Fort Worth, and from the outskirts of El Paso to Austin. HD 112 sits largely inside a House seat that already flipped in 2018, but most of the flappable state House and congressional districts overlap. And that, in turn, increases the chances of MJ Hegar, self-described “combat veteran and working mom,” running to replace Senator John Cornyn. Hegar’s race isn’t considered top-tier, but that could easily change in the weeks ahead. Cornyn’s favorability is low—which isn’t likely to change—but so is Hegar’s name recognition, which gives him a chance to try to define her.

Most other Southern Senate races are similarly seen as long-shots, but those on the ground see them as steps on a journey that will ultimately bring them success, if not this cycle, then soon.

But the potential in this cycle is palpable—and reflected in the prominence given to Southern Democrats at the ongoing convention, as noted by Angie Maxwell, co-author of The Long Southern Strategy.

“The number of southern speakers at the DNC shows that the party is not focused solely on recapturing states lost in 2016 (PA, MI, WI). The party is also looking at where it can grow and expand its options in terms of a path to electoral victory,” Maxwell told Random Lengths News. “Southern states who have or have almost elected Democrats to statewide offices, such as LA, VA, and NC (Democratic governors) and TX, FL, and GA (where [Stacey] Abrams, [Beto] O’Rourke, and [Andrew] Gillum made major inroads in 2018) are also some of the states hit hardest by COVID-19, which give Democrats an opening in an election that will take place amid a pandemic that the Trump administration has failed to control.”

This governance crisis vividly underscores profound differences between the parties, not just Trump’s temperamental unfitness. But taking full advantage of it will require a level of sophistication that’s been lacking in the past, but starts to seem possible, as Maxwell went on note:

The Democratic Party and the [Joe]Biden campaign are smart to work to (1) recapture the 2016 states that flipped red (MI, PA, WI); (2) reignite the Obama coalition that handed Democrats 3 southern states in 2008 and 2012 (FL, NC, VA); and (3) invest in southern states that are at the tipping point of turning blue (GA, TX). The party has to have both a short term Blue Southern Strategy and a long-term Blue Southern Strategy—which is exactly how the GOP flipped the South red over the last 50 years.”

One thread in that trajectory can be found by looking at what the Chambers campaign says regarding issues on her website.

“Once again in the 2019 session, the legislature in Austin focused on fringe issues instead of making real progress on critical issues like property tax reform and access to healthcare,” the introduction charges. “Our current representatives continue to put bandaids on issues instead of curing problems. Brandy is a problem solver who will put regular Texans first.”

The site follows with sections on climate change, criminal justice reform, education, fair maps (“Politicians shouldn’t pick their voters”), fighting human trafficking, health care (Medicaid expansion) and jobs (fighting wage theft, passing paid sick leave, and more). Much of what’s there is fairly universal practical common sense. One could find similar positions all across the country in districts that flipped in 2018. But there are also specifically local or statewide references, particularly when it comes to addressing particular shortcomings or shining examples to build upon.

Georgia is another Southern state whose Democratic activists see as inevitably turning blue in the near future—perhaps even this year at the presidential level, and ultimately top-to-bottom, as Virginia is now. This year—like California in 1992—there are two U.S. Senate seats up at the same time, one a special election to fill a partially completed term.  That election pits the Republican appointee, Kelly Loeffler, against the Democratic challenger, Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr.’s former congregation.

Loeffler is ahead in the polls, but she’s quickly acquired Trumpian baggage. Shortly after her appointment in January, she got a seat on  the Senate Agriculture Committee, where she became an overseer of the overseers of the company that made her rich—Intercontinental Exchange—which runs a dozen stock exchanges. (She was an executive there first, then later married the CEO.)

Then, in July, players on the WNBA Atlanta Dream came out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, after Loeffler, a team co-owner, criticized the social-justice movement. “Black lives matter,” their joint statement said. “We are the women of the Atlanta Dream. We are women who support a movement. … It is not extreme to demand change after centuries of inequality. This is not a political statement. This is a statement of humanity.”

Then, in early August players for the Atlanta Dream appeared in t-shirts endorsing her opponent: “Vote Warnock.” Pictures of them flooded social media ahead of a nationally televised game with the Phoenix Mercury.

Across the chest of the black T-shirts were two words “Vote Warnock,”

So, it could be called a “volatile race.”

The other Georgia U.S. Senate race is already seen as a toss up. The incumbent is Republican David Perdue, running for a second term. The Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff was the Democratic nominee for Georgia’s 6th Congressional district in a 2017 special election, which gained him national attention. Underlying both races, the massive voter registration work driven by Stacey Abrams prior to and surrounding her 2018 gubernatorial race has continued to shift the electorate, even as GOP voter suppression efforts have continued as well.

In short, Georgia is a microcosm of American politics today. Whatever happens in November, there is no doubt which party stands for the future, and which stands for the past.

China Shipping Saga Continues

Paul Rosenberg
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China Shipping Saga Continues

LA City Council approves SEIR, repeats violation patterns

More than 20 years after the Port and City of Los Angeles first got into the business of breaking the law to build the China Shipping terminal without an environmental impact report, the lawbreaking continued on Aug. 12.  The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-1 to approve POLA’s 2019 supplemental environmental impact report, rejecting formal appeals that warned it was repeating past mistakes by approving a document with fundamental violations of the California Environmental Quality Act: failures of analysis, mitigation and enforceability. District 15 Councilman Joe Buscaino voted with the majority. Only District 11 Councilman Mike Bonin voted against.

In addition to two local homeowner groups and allies represented by the Natural Resources Defense Council, rare appeals were also filed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board.

“This is only the second time we have appealed an approval of a project to you,” SCAQMD Principal Deputy District Counsel Veera Tyagi reminded the council. “The EIR is legally defective for several reasons. First, it fails to ensure that mitigation measures are enforceable; second, it fails to require all feasible mitigation; and third, it fails to analyze the air quality impacts without mitigation.”

NRDC attorney Claire Woods cited two major flaws overlapping with SCAQMD, plus one more.

“The SEIR is unlawful because it fails to show that the 2008 mitigation measures are infeasible and fails to adopt additional mitigation measures that are feasible today,” Woods stated. “To be clear, under CEQA the port can’t delete or modify the mitigation in the 2008 EIR unless it shows that each measure is infeasible.”

There were also further legal flaws encompassed under the broad umbrella of those major flaws.

But, in an Orwellian twist, POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka bizarrely argued that complying with CEQA would violate CEQA.

“If we’re unable to move forward today, this facility will remain out of compliance with CEQA and closure of the terminal is a very real possibility,” Seroka warned.

Appellants vigorously disagreed.

“We do not want to see the China Shipping terminal closed under any circumstance,” said Dr. John Miller, president of the San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition, one of the original plaintiff organizations that initiated litigation 19 years ago. “Mr. Seroka seeks to foment fear of this to justify ignoring CEQA.”

Miller’s prepared remarks were not heard by the city council, due to its flawed (if not illegal) public comment process under COVID-19. But NRDC’s formal appeal explicitly called for a new agreement “that avoids litigation and keeps the terminal open.”

Indeed, the terminal has virtually never been in compliance with CEQA, dating back to when planning first began in the late 1990s, as Woods reminded the council. But the port was operating in a parallel universe.

“Certification of this final EIR is a win-win for both skilled labor and the environment,” Seroka claimed.

While a number of labor leaders appeared to support this contention, no environmental advocates did.

To the contrary, Kathleen Woodfield, an NRDC client representative who did speak, vividly underscored how long residents have been suffering from port lawlessness.

“My son was in a stroller when I first testified about China Shipping, he is now in college,” Woodfield told the council. “I am still fighting against the port’s relentless failure to do this right.

“I am asking you to reject the EIR. We want the port to make up for its illegal pollution caused by its failures to implement the measures it promised to adopt in 2008 — a  failure that was actively orchestrated through illegal waivers, and then actively hidden from us for 10 years.”

Seroka illustrated himself as a brave knight setting everything straight — a proactive problem-solver, with decades of real-world experience, spanning the globe. His background may be true, but the fairy tale he told is not.

“When I became executive director here at the Port of Los Angeles in the summer of 2014, staff brought to my attention the languishing compliance with 11 of the 52 mitigations and lease measures in the 2008 China Shipping expansion environmental impact report,” Seroka said. “As a problem-solver, I immediately brought this issue to the public, owning it and stating that I wanted to fix it in order to rebuild trust.”

“Immediately” meant more than a year. On Aug. 5, 2015, Random Lengths News Publisher James Allen requested information on any such “languishing” measures through a Public Records Act request. The port didn’t reply until Sept. 22, more than a month later than the law allows. It was only after Allen’s request that the port went public and began the SEIR process.

However Seroka may see himself, the pattern of the port’s behavior remained fundamentally unchanged on his watch, as was also reflected in the flawed SEIR.

“The port says the mitigation measures will be implemented after a renewed lease with China Shipping,” Woods pointed out. “However, the port fully admits that it is impossible to know when or whether China Shipping will sign a new lease. In fact, the record is replete with evidence China Shipping will not agree to a lease amendment. In the past, China Shipping refused to incorporate the 2008 EIR measures in its lease. Why is now any different?”

Woods’ observation undermines the core premise of Seroka’s “practical problem-solver” narrative, which the council uncritically accepted. It also undermines his claim that approving the SEIR would automatically bring the terminal into compliance with CEQA and thus prevent it from being closed down. As has happened repeatedly, for more than 20 years, the basic logic of the port’s actions regarding China Shipping remain mired in contradiction, as well as disregard for a legal ruling.

The AQMD expressed disappointment with the decision in a statement provided to Random Lengths News.

“The City Council missed an important opportunity to hold China Shipping accountable for reducing the air pollutant emissions from their terminal,” it stated. “AQMD is still considering its options on next steps.”

“We’re considering our options,” NRDC senior attorney Melissa Lin Perrella told Random Lengths News. “Litigation has always been an option.”

In addition to AQMD and CARB joining the appeal, Perrella pointed out that in 2008 there were environmental staff at the port who certified these measures, that are now under dispute, as feasible, as doable and committed to doing them.

“Either the port got it entirely wrong in 2008 and lied to the public then, or they’ve gotten it entirely wrong and are being untruthful with the public now,” Perrella said.

Given that technology has advanced considerably in 12 years, their position is that the measures they adopted in 2008 are feasible.

 “There [are] actually some better things that the port can do now,” she said. “We’ll be making a decision pretty soon … We don’t want another day to go by where folks who are residents are unnecessarily breathing dirty air.”

Two Webinars for Homeowners: Avoiding Foreclosure

Reporters Desk
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Two Webinars for Homeowners: Avoiding Foreclosure

DCBA will be hosting two webinars to help tenants and homeowners learn more about how L.A. County is helping them stay in their homes.

“Know Your Landlord/Tenant Rights” webinar.

Please save the date and time on your calendar.  You are not required to register for the webinar in order to join. Instructions for joining the webinar can be found in our flyer. The DCBA Rent Stabilization team will share information on the Countywide Eviction Moratorium and other rent related topics, 

Time:11a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Aug. 25, Pacific Time 

Details: 833-233-7368; https://tinyurl.com/y2obyzow 

Meeting link: https://lacountydcba.webex.com/lacountydcba/j.php?MTID=ma97d9dae7c9f31128a055c6919651ccd

Meeting number:126 224 5570 Password : RSO1234

And Aug. 26

Join foreclosure prevention counselors and HPP CARES, for a free webinar to learn about some of the options available to save your home. 

Millions of Americans have temporarily suspended their mortgage payments due to COVID-19. Many will soon be asked to repay those past due payments but may not be financially stable to meet their obligation.

Time: 2 p.m. Aug. 26

Cost: Free

Details:RSVP www.dcba.lacounty.gov/foreclosure-prevention

City of Carson Offers Emergency Rental Assistance To Residents

Reporters Desk
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City of Carson Offers Emergency Rental Assistance To Residents

The City of Carson is offering a one-time Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) to individuals and families renting in Carson and financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This Emergency Rental Assistance is available to Carson renters who (1) meet the income qualification (less than $63,100 for individuals and up to $92,950.00 for a family of 4) and (2) demonstrate financial hardship due to COVID-19, such as loss of employment, reduction of work hours, or reduced wages.  The financial assistance is available for up to a maximum of $1,000 per month for up to three months and based on actual need for monthly rent payment, and does not have to be repaid.  This Emergency Rental Assistance is made possible from a small Community Development Block Supplemental Grant (CDBG), a federally funded grant under the CARES Act.  While the small CDBG supplemental grant could have been used for other purposes, the Carson City Council unanimously decided to dedicate $264,819.00 of the supplemental CDBG funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance program.

“These are unprecedented times, and Carson continues to find responsible ways to assist our residents during this pandemic. This grant program provides critical relief to our qualified Carson residents.” said Carson Mayor Albert Robles. “City of Carson is stepping up to help our residents where we can because we really are all in this together.  The health and safety of our neighbors helps secure the health and safety for everyone.”

For additional information on qualification requirements and for how to apply please refer to: http://ci.carson.ca.us/CommunityDevelopment/housing_cdbg.aspx.  This link includes the application and the application checklist specifying the information that needs to be submitted with the application. Funds are limited; therefore, not all applications will receive funding.  Applications are now available and will be accepted only through Sept. 10, 2020 at 5 p.m.  Applications are only accepted by appointment by calling 310 233-4829.  

In addition, qualified Carson residents may apply for assistance through the County of Los Angeles Rent Relief Program.  You may access the application and on how to apply by visiting https://211la.org/lacounty/rentrelief.   The County of Los Angeles Rent Relief Program is accepting applications up to Aug. 31, 2020.  For questions on the County’s program, please call 2-1-1 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day.  

Garcetti’s Tone-Deaf Policies Leave Angelenos Struggling

Reporters Desk
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Garcetti’s Tone-Deaf Policies Leave Angelenos Struggling

When Mayor Eric Garcetti was first elected, he promised a brighter future for Angelenos and a transparent government dedicated to alleviating the city’s homelessness crisis and bringing true progress to the city. He sold the city on a forward-looking vision that would set Los Angeles on a path toward a more prosperous future. The grim reality, however, is that his time in office has been exactly the opposite.

Instead of living up to the city’s progressive values, Mayor Garcetti has continuously favored the Democratic Party’s pro-corporate stances that foster gentrification and amplify the already deep- seated financial and socioeconomic inequality in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, things will only get worse until real change is put into motion.

Homelessness, which is one of the city’s most urgent crises, is just one example of a problem that has gotten far worse under Mayor Garcetti’s purview. Between 2013 — the year he took office — and 2018, the number of deaths among the city’s homeless population doubled. Meanwhile, a report last summer showed homelessness in the city had jumped 16 percent in the prior year alone. Of course, rather than take serious action to help, Mayor Garcetti has stood idly by as the city experiences increased calls for affordable housing amid ceaselessly rising rent prices.

Even in this time of crisis, Mayor Garcetti has miserably failed to help the city’s most vulnerable citizens. “Project Roomkey,” which was an ambitious statewide project aimed at providing hotel rooms for high-risk homeless individuals, has fallen woefully short in the City of Angels. As of late June, Project Roomkey had only secured slightly more than 3,601 rooms in Los Angeles, well short of what was needed to meet its goal of housing 15,000 homeless residents. Well- intentioned as the initiative may be, it has been an abject failure in Los Angeles, no doubt in large part due to Mayor Garcetti’s failed leadership. Garcetti’s failures associated with the homelessness crisis in LA have actually led activists to start a petition to recall him, an effort that is gaining steam.

The city’s homelessness crisis is not helped by the fact that income inequality has only grown during Mayor Garcetti’s tenure. In fact, data provided by the Federal Reserve shows that income inequality has been on the rise in Los Angeles ever since he took office in 2013. With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing and more than one in five Angelenos struggling to find work, inequality is sure to rise further in the coming weeks and months.

Beyond this, Mayor Garcetti’s policies have only worsened widespread racial inequity. At a time when people across the United States have been reevaluating policing, both police brutality and exorbitant police negligence settlements have been ongoing in Los Angeles. While Mayor Garcetti has in recent months embraced some proposed cuts to the Los Angeles Police Department, that cannot undo the fact that increasing the police budget had long been the norm, with Garcetti himself proposing a seven percent spending increase for the department as recently as April.

To make matters even worse, Los Angeles has dedicated hundreds of millions in public resources to settle legal disputes over police misconduct. In just the 2018-19 fiscal year, the city budgeted just shy of $150 million to resolve lawsuits filed against the police department. These are valuable funds that could be dedicated to addressing our city’s most pressing problems.

Instead, we are using them to quietly settle these cases and in turn enable the problem to persist.

What this amounts to is the simple fact that Mayor Garcetti has failed the working-class people of Los Angeles. He made lofty promises of progress and has nothing to show for it seven years later. Instead, the city’s most vulnerable residents are reeling from the failures his policies have wrought, and it is past time for change. Los Angeles both needs and deserves leadership that reflects its values and sees its potential. That is leadership Eric Garcetti cannot provide.

Maria Estrada is the Council President of LULAC de Los Angeles and former chair of Compton for Bernie Sanders.

“Romeo & Juliet; Virtually”

Greggory Moore
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“Romeo & Juliet; Virtually”

Before there was internet, before television, before the telephone and telegraph, there was Romeo and Juliet, the oft-told tale of star-crossed lovers and the warring families that are the death of them. Needless to say, Shakespeare couldn’t have conceived of a performance where his characters never come face-to-face. But these are pandemic times, and pandemic times call for inventive measures.

That much can certainly be said for Romeo & Juliet; Virtually, which has the Montagues and Capulets in quarantine, where they meet and love and clash and die on Zoom. How well it works depends largely on what you’re looking for, but there’s no denying that a lot of work has gone into this re-imagined classic.

First off, let’s be frank: if you’re unfamiliar with Romeo and Juliet, this is not the way to get your first taste. In the interests of briskness so as to avoid trying your online attention span, director Miles Berman and adapter Steven Vlasak have cut their source material by half ― losing, for example, all Montagues save Romeo and Mercutio. (Mercutio’s not actually a Montague in the original, but here he’s combined with some of Romeo’s kinsmen.) More importantly, by removing the section referring to the fact that Romeo is head-over-heels in love with someone else before he ever meets Juliet and instantly transfers his affections to her, this RAJ pivots away from one of the play’s central themes: the fickleness of young love. (Remember: Shakespeare’s Juliet is just 13 years old.)

Instead, Berman and Vlasak load their thematic eggs in the intolerance/hatred-of-the-Other” basket. We don’t know wherefore the Montagues and Capulets began their feud, but it’s clear that now their beef is based on otherness. (Tybalt: “[…P]eace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.”)

But is that really what Romeo & Juliet; Virtually is about? Probably not. More than anything, this show seems to be a simple entertainment and perhaps this is where it most succeeds. For starters, it’s good fun watching how Berman and co. move the action forward without ever (well, almost ever) bringing the characters face-to-face. The screen (a YouTube live stream) is an ever-shifting array of rectangles whose size and orientation vary from scene to scene, as the characters Zoom in pairs and groups, on laptops and smartphones, stock still or in motion. This show is not a staged reading: it’s a fully blocked theatrical event. Yes, it’s loose, but it’s anything but random.

Despite the above-mentioned loss of the fickleness theme, Romeo & Juliet; Virtually maintains the self-important immaturity of Shakespeare’s characters in the form of everyone’s need to broadcast their lives online. More than the COVID-19 pandemic (a bit of backdrop made explicit by an opening newscast and the Capulet Family’s Zoom Masquerade Quarantine Party), it’s the new normal of 21st-century online living that frames why these characters are looking at each other on screen rather than eye-to-eye. (Frames it, but doesn’t always explain it. Don’t go looking for logical consistency ― just make room under the suspension-of-disbelief umbrella that is status quo in theatre.)

Although no-one’s going to confuse her with a 13-year-old, Stephanie Kutty imbues Juliet with an appropriate TikTokish callowness. Her life is drama, and she’s the star, living nothing but the highest highs and the lowest lows  ―  and always into the camera. Hopefully Paris Moletti can better join her in that juvenile space by bringing more animation to his Romeo during the show’s short run. (I caught a press preview, so expect a bit more polish by then.)

On the whole the acting is more than adequate. This is not a Shakespearean troupe, yet they manage the dialog just fine. As Pops Capulet, John DiDonna is exceptional, the kind of guy I always want with my Shakespeare. And the entire cast manages to contemporize their characters, sometimes to the point of fully naturalizing them (e.g., Myles McGee’s Mercutio).

Essential to the entertainment value of this project are the laughs, almost all of which emanate from the performers rather than the Bard. (R&J is not one of his wittiest.) The standout here is Amber Stepp as Nurse Nan. The dialog between Stepp and Kutty is some of the play’s best stuff (it helps that Juliet and Nan’s being constantly in touch is one place where the internal logic of why they’re online works perfectly); and Stepp slays as a verklempt wedding guest.

Although Romeo & Juliet; Virtually is not a proper introduction to what may be Shakespeare’s most famous work, it’s certainly a look at what can be done to keep theatre (a)live during the current plague on all our houses. And hey, you just might be entertained in the process.
Romeo & Juliet; Virtually by Miles Beyond Entertainment

Times: Friday–Saturday 6:00 p.m. (log-on/preshow begins at 5:30 p.m.)
The show runs through August 29
Cost: $7-$9
Details: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6970
Venue: Hollywood Fringe Festival Online

POLA To Work With California Manufacturers and Technology Association Under New Agreement

Reporters Desk
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POLA To Work With California Manufacturers and Technology Association Under New Agreement

LOS ANGELES – The Port of Los Angeles and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association or CMTA have formed a partnership to help support both organizations’ efforts to manage and further streamline the supply and provision of personal protective equipment or PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Memorandum of Understanding or MOU also calls for greater cooperation between CMTA and the Port of Los Angeles on promoting the exports of manufactured goods made here in California by CMTA members.  

The MOU is being undertaken as part of Logistics Victory Los Angeles or LoVLA, the initiative launched in April to get much-needed PPE to the region’s healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newly signed MOU will focus on integration and reciprocal website information between LoVLA and CMTA’s ‘Safely Making California” Marketplace, an online portal created by CMTA and the State of California in June to help fill a critical need for non-medical grade PPE. 

Also under the MOU, both entities agreed over the next year to collaboratively explore opportunities to promote export growth through the Port of Los Angeles and support CMTA’s efforts to grow the state’s manufacturing sector and export base. The Port and CMTA will also look at possibilities for joint advocacy on public policy issues that help California manufacturers compete in a global market.

Mayor Garcetti Unveils Public Art Encouraging Mask Use

Reporters Desk
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Mayor Garcetti Unveils Public Art Encouraging Mask Use

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled new artwork by L.A.- based Estudio Zavala as part of the L.A. Mask Print Project, a grassroots initiative to remind Angelenos to wear a mask through publicly available art. The free posters and designs are available in English and Spanish on the City’s COVID-19 website for Angelenos to download, print, and post in their storefronts and windows.

“Angelenos cannot let up in our fight against COVID-19 — we have to stay vigilant, follow the data, and take every step possible to stop the spread of this virus,” said Mayor Garcetti. “Wearing a mask can save lives, and whether you’re driving down Wilshire Boulevard or visiting the carniceria down the street, this new artwork taps into our city’s boundless creativity to urge all of us to do our part to protect one another in the face of this pandemic.”  

“Mask-wearing is a sign of solidarity and respect for your neighbors and community,” said Florencio Zavala, artist and founder of Estudio Zavala. “The science doesn’t lie – you’re safer with a mask on against COVID-19. I wanted to create posters that any Angeleno can enjoy and feel part of the greater effort to stay safe. I also wanted to speak directly to the Latinx community. This campaign is for us too and we can make a difference. Mascarillas salvan vidas.”

After launching last month with three commissioned posters produced pro-bono by Studio Number One, the L.A. Mask Print Project has drawn more than 18,000 people to the City’s COVID-19 website. The L.A. Mask Print Project initiative will continue to grow in the weeks ahead, with more artist collaborations becoming available for download. 

Angelenos interested in participating in this campaign to use public art for the public good can reach out to garcetti.reply@lacity.org for more information.

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