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Long Beach Plan for Economic Recovery

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Long Beach Plan for Economic Recovery

LONG BEACH — On April 21 the City of Long Beach announced the formation of an economic Recovery Group that will provide recommendations on the economic impact of the COVID-19 health emergency. Former Mayor, Bob Foster has assembled the members and stepped up as chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory group.

The advisory group recommendations will assist Economic Development, the Health and Human Services Department, the Emergency Operations Center and various other city departments as they strategically transition the city back to normal operations once the pandemic allows for a change in the current health orders.

Additionally, the city will create an online forum for businesses and residents to encourage civic engagement and to provide input on what sectors of the economy are most in demand, and ideas on how businesses and operations could safely reengage. This will help the city better understand the needs of the community as it prepares for future changes to the Health Order in alignment with the county and Governor’s “Stay at Home” order.

The Economic Recovery Advisory Group and pending online forum are only the latest in a series of actions that will help businesses and residents impacted financially by the COVID-19 crisis. Other actions include the establishment of the Long Beach Disaster Relief Fund; a comprehensive Economic Relief Package passed by City Council on April 14; and the launch of Pacific Gateway’s Work Long Beach program. The city also has established a hotline for business owners and workers, 562.570.4249, which is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

The membership of the Advisory Group will include the following, consisting of representatives touching numerous sectors in Long Beach:

-Blair Cohn, Economic Development Commissioner and Executive Director, Bixby Knolls -Business Improvement Association

Bob Foster, former Mayor, City of Long Beach

-Caroline Choi, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Southern California Edison

-Griselda Suarez, Executive Director, Arts Council for Long Beach

-Jeremy Harris, Incoming President & CEO, Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce

-Josh La Farga, Planning Commissioner, and Director of Government Affairs, Laborers’ International Union of North American Local 1309

-Josh Lowenthal, President, freeconferencecall.com

-Kerstin Kansteiner, Restaurant/Small Business Owner

-Kraig Kojian, President and CEO, Downtown Long Beach Alliance

-Lou Anne Bynum, Interim Superintendent-President, Long Beach City College

-Luis Navarro, Restaurant/Small Business Owner

-Mario Molina, Doctor/Healthcare Professional

-Randal Hernandez, Chair, Long Beach Economic Partnership

-Ryan Choura, CEO and Founder, Choura, an Experience Company

-Sean Rawson, Co-Founder, President of Residential Division, Waterford Property Company

-Sharleen Higa, President, Long Beach Century Club

-Steve Goodling, President & CEO, Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

-Steve Neal, Harbor Commissioner and Clergy

-Tommy Faavae, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 11

-Vic La Rosa, CEO, President and Co-Founder, Total Transportation Services (TTSI)

Quarantine-Friendly World War I Recipes

Reporters Desk
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Quarantine-Friendly World War I Recipes

Tired of frozen food and want to experiment with the basics you have in the pantry? The National World War I Museum and Memorial has some alternative culinary options for your perusal. Recipes from the World War I era of food conservation and rationed goods, an appropriate project for the age we live in now.

Win the War in the Kitchen, published by the newly created United States Food Administration, promoted conservation of ingredients such as meat, wheat, dairy and sugar, all of which were deemed crucial to sustaining soldiers on the front lines. Messages appealing to citizens’ patriotic duty to support the war effort from home accompanied the recipes.

The Recipes

Potato Bread (Page 62, No. 253)

Ingredients

1 pound potatoes, boiled & mashed

1 quart milk or water

1 ounce sugar

1 ounce salt

1 ounce bacon fat or butter

1/2 ounce dry active yeast

3 pounds flour

Directions

1. Heat liquid to warm. Add yeast to 1/4 cup of warm water.

2. Dissolve sugar, salt and bacon fat/butter in the remainder of the liquid.

3. Add yeast mixture and mashed potatoes to the other liquid mixture. Beat well.

4. Add flour and knead thoroughly. Let rise until it has doubled in bulk.

5. Mold into loaves. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise again.

6. Put loaves on a parchment paper lined sheet, or into a bread loaf pan dusted with flour.

7. Bake in a 350° oven about 45 minutes or until golden on top and hollow-sounding when tapped.

Apricot and Prune Marmalade (Page 56, No. 229)

Ingredients

2 pounds prunes

1 pound dried apricots

juice & rind of 1 orange

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

Directions

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine juice & zest of orange, sugar and corn syrup, begin to heat, do not allow to boil.

2. Dice fruit into small pieces and add to the saucepot with the sugar.

3. Cook on medium low until apricots and prunes are soft.

4. Use a potato masher to roughly break up fruit.

If the mixture is too thick and sticky, thin with either more orange juice or water until it is a spreadable consistency.

Scalloped Cabbage (Page 49, No. 193)

Directions

1. Boil cabbage in large pot of salted water until cooked.

2. Make white sauce:

  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • Mix flour with a small amount of milk, heat in a small saucepan.
  • Add remainder of the milk and cook until it boils, stirring constantly.
  • Add 1 – 2 tablespoons bacon or butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3. Grease a baking dish. Put a layer of cooked cabbage in and cover with a layer of white sauce, about a 1/2 cup. Repeat, making three layers of each. Cover with breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated 350° oven.

Optional: add grated cheese to the white sauce and/or underneath the breadcrumb layer.

Corn Bread (Page 65, No. 269)

Ingredients

2 cups white flour

1 cup cornmeal

6 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon shortening

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup finely chopped dates

Directions

1. Sift dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Add dates and mix well.

3. Add butter/shortening and cut with a knife or pastry cutter.

4. Add milk and stir until just mixed.

5. Place in a well-greased pan and let rise 20 minutes.

6. Turn oven on to 350°. Bake for 45 minutes.

Bean and Tomato Stew (Page 26, No. 78)

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup stewed white beans (1 cup uncooked)

2 cups tomato juice

1/2 sliced onion

2 tablespoons drippings (bacon fat, meat drippings or butter)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions

If using uncooked beans follow these directions: soak overnight. In the morning, rinse beans, fill a medium pot with beans and water and bring to a boil; skim off and discard any foam on the surface. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, gently stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Drain beans.

1. Stew onion in tomato juice in a skillet over low heat until tender.

2. Add beans, seasoning and fat.

3. Cook until thick enough to serve on a dinner plate.

4. Garnish with grated parmesan and parsley.

Savory Rice (Page 50, No. 200)

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked rice, rinsed

1 small onion

1 green pepper

3 tablespoons fat (bacon fat, butter, oil)

1 cup boiling water

1 quart fresh tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Brown chopped onion in fat until translucent, add rice.

2. Keep stirring and when rice is brown, add boiling water and chopped green pepper.

3. When water has been absorbed, add tomatoes and salt.

4. Cook until rice is tender (add more boiling water if necessary).

5. Turn off burner, cover rice and let steam for 10 minutes.

Poultry with Peas (gluten free) (Page 21, No. 46)

Ingredients

1 cup cold chicken, duck or turkey, leftover from a roast

1 cup canned peas, or frozen

2 tablespoons fat (bacon fat, butter or drippings from poultry roast)

2 tablespoons rice flour

1 1/2 cups milk

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Melt fat in a saucepan, add the flour and whisk until brown.

2. Whisk in the milk gradually, cook until thick.

3. Add the chicken, peas and seasoning.

4. Serve over savory rice or biscuits.

Buckwheat Chocolate Cake
(can be gluten free) (Page 69, No. 304)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

3/4 cup ap flour (or gluten free flour blend)

2 ounces chocolate, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°.

2. Cream butter, and add sugar gradually.

3. Beat yolks and add to mixture slowly.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.

5. Add milk, flour and baking powder to butter mixture and beat thoroughly.

6. Add chocolate and vanilla, mix in, then fold in the egg whites gently.

7. Grease and flour cake pan or muffin tins.

8. 40 minutes in a shallow cake pan or 20 minutes in mini cupcake tins.

9. Let cool on a rack and drizzle with chocolate fudge frosting, or icing of your choice.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting (Page 42, No. 168)

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup unsweetened powdered cocoa

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon gelatin powder

1/4 cup corn syrup

few grains salt

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Soak 1 teaspoon gelatin powder in 1 tablespoon water.

2. Melt butter; add cocoa, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, milk and gelatin mixture.

3. Heat to boiling point and boil from 3-5 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 235°.

4. Remove from the fire and beat until creamy.

5. Add vanilla and pour/drizzle over cake.

LADOT Transit Announces New Social Distancing Measures on Buses

Reporters Desk
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LADOT Transit Announces New Social Distancing Measures on Buses

Effective Wednesday, April 22, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, LADOT Transit will begin to limit the number of passengers that are allowed on board DASH buses at any one time. Moving forward, 30-foot buses will be restricted to 10 passengers each and 35-foot buses will be limited to transporting 12 passengers each. LADOT is committed to the safety and protection of transit drivers and users, and will be instituting this policy to ensure that proper social distancing practices are maintained while transit services continue to operate. LADOT will continue to closely monitor all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that may apply to its transit services. 

In addition, LADOT Transit continues to provide fare-free, backdoor boarding on all DASH buses while observing a temporarily modified service schedule for all DASH and Commuter Express routes. For up-to-date information on routes and schedule, please visit ladottransit.com.

Gov. Gavin Newsom Launches #CaliforniansForAll Service Initiative

Reporters Desk
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Gov. Gavin Newsom Launches #CaliforniansForAll Service Initiative

SACRAMENTO – With COVID-19 creating a critical need for community support and volunteers across the state, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced California Volunteers’ #CaliforniansForAll service initiative to connect Californians with safe volunteer opportunities and encourage those unable to physically volunteer to think creatively about ways to make a difference in their communities.

#CaliforniansForAll unites organizations in desperate need of volunteers with Californians looking to serve their neighbors, while ensuring stay-at-home and physical distancing protocols are met. The initiative will focus on recruiting younger Californians to help the most vulnerable throughout the state, including the elderly who are at higher risk of infection.

Californians are encouraged to join #CaliforniansForAll by signing up at californiansforall.ca.gov. Participants will receive an email from California Volunteers with information on what they can do in real time to help out, and those who opt in to volunteer will be contacted by local nonprofit partners when opportunities open up in their area.

The initiative by California Volunteers will partner with a coalition of nonprofit organizations – including the California Association of Food Banks, United Ways of California, the American Red Cross, media platforms, businesses such as LinkedIn, and leading entertainment companies like United Talent Agency (UTA), Westbrook Media and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) – to offer a variety of volunteer opportunities.

From donating to food banks, checking on neighbors, reinforcing the need for physical distancing, assembling hygiene kits, providing online tutoring, and creating neighborhood chalk art competitions, Californians are uniting to help support each other like never before

For more information on the state’s response to COVID-19, please visit: covid19.ca.gov

Rolling on Meal Deliveries: San Pedro Meals on Wheels Provides Real Service

Reporters Desk
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Rolling on Meal Deliveries: San Pedro Meals on Wheels Provides Real Service

By Katrina Guevara, Contributor

Is San Pedro on lockdown? You wouldn’t be able to tell from the volunteers at San Pedro Meals on Wheels, who are still rocking the kitchen and rolling the results to hungry mouths five days a week, serving an average of 40 clients with 80 meals a day.

If anything, the arrival of COVID-19 has pushed the pace and the unpredictability of the well-known nonprofit by spurring a wave of new donors, said Sue Speth, president of the board of San Pedro Meals on Wheels. Local bakeries, restaurants and hotels have jostled the rhythm of the regular order and delivery from the restaurant supply company, U.S. Foods.

Speth recounted the weekend in March when Babouch, the Morrocan restaurant, donated a carton of eggplant, which switched Monday’s hot meal from meatballs to baked eggplant parmesan. And, how the arrival of a car full of produce and dairy products — an unexpected donation from the DoubleTree Marina Hotel — inspired Chef Mike Caccavalla to create a delicious vegetable frittata, accompanied by wilted greens, fresh green beans and a country roll.

Now, San Pedro Meals on Wheels, which has prepared and delivered more than one million meals since its founding in 1972, appears to be on the verge of a significant expansion funded by several private grants and donations. Additionally, San Pedro Meals on Wheels is in discussions with Los Angeles County to respond to COVID-19 by quadrupling its current production-and-delivery numbers.

The need is there, said Speth, and while nourishment is a very basic need, the volunteers at San Pedro Meals on Wheels — six on-site and four in the kitchen — have seen how often it is overlooked.

San Pedro Meals on Wheels volunteers said that for the most part their clients are unable to take care of their nutrition needs alone. The organization assists them with that basic necessity. In addition, it provides peace of mind to family members who know their loved one is being looked in on.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve received several calls per day to receive free meals,” Speth said. “Our service is $7.50 a day. Therefore, regardless of whether the county program kicks in, we are beginning a donation campaign so people can help feed someone in need. For example, $150 will feed someone for one month and $450 will feed someone for three months.”

The majority of the clients are seniors ages 70 to 100 years old, but San Pedro Meals on Wheels serves anyone from those who are recovering at home from surgery to those who are temporarily infirmed.

One of their longest clients has been Della, who is 104 years-old and has been receiving meals for decades.

Meals on Wheels volunteer, Carol Covey, is a retiree who joined the nonprofit organization six months ago. Covey said she always wanted to give back to her community by helping older people.

When asked if her work has taken on more urgency since Safe at Home restrictions due to the novel coronavirus, she said “not more than usual.”

Fellow volunteer and retiree, Mike Bodlovich, agreed.

“It makes me feel really good to provide something that people really need and appreciate,” Bodlovich said. Bodlovich has been volunteering with Meals on Wheels for the past two years.

Bodlovich noted that the work has taken on more significance due to COVID-19.

“I definitely think this is a service that people really need and that people really appreciate right now under these conditions,” Bodlovich said.

Covey noted that Meals on Wheels has always rendered an important service.

Covey expressed that she’s surprised that they hadn’t got more new clients. She was expecting more of a surge than the several more clients Speth talked about.

Covey suspected that this was due to more people cooking for themselves at home, fearful of coming into contact with the infections from persons outside the home.

“It’s also a scary time for us,” said Covey as she motioned to Bodlovich, highlighting the risk they face as members of a vulnerable population to the coronavirus. “Sometimes I wonder if I should stop doing this because I’m over 65 and so is he.”

Speth is conscious of the dilemma the coronavirus poses to the Meals on Wheels operations.

“This could become an issue in the near future, but right now it is not,” Speth said.

What is absolutely clear is that the needs remain, therefore the work continues.

Details: sanpedromealsonwheels.org

How to Get Meals on Wheels

RLn staff has compiled a listing of the Harbor area Meals on Wheels locations to help you find a location close to you and those you may know who are in need of food security.

San Pedro Meals On Wheels

731 S Averill Ave, San Pedro

310-832-7335

sanpedromealsonwheels.org

Harbor Interfaith Services

670 W. 9th St., San Pedro

310-831-0603

harborinterfaith.org

Volunteers of America Los Angeles

3600 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1500, Los Angeles

213-389-1500 | TDD: 213-388-8280

info@voala.org; voala.org

Torrance-Lomita Meals On Wheels

3525 Maricopa St, Torrance

310-542-3434

tlmow.org

Wilmington Jaycees Foundation

1371 Eubank Ave, Wilmington

310-518-4533

wilmingtonjayceesfoundation.yolasite.com

Houghton Park – HSA

6301 Myrtle Ave, Long Beach

562-428-6538

longbeach.gov/park/park-and-facilities/directory/houghton-park/

Long Beach Senior Center – HSA

1150 E. 4th St, Long Beach

562-570-3520

longbeach.gov/park/park-and-facilities/directory/long-beach-senior-center/

El Dorado Park – HSA

2800 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach

562-429-4283

longbeach.gov/park/park-and-facilities/directory/el-dorado-park-west

Meals on Wheels of Long Beach, Inc.

PO Box 15688, Long Beach, CA 90815

562-439-5000

mowlb.org

Save the Food

Reporters Desk
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Save the Food

Reducing Food Waste

While food plays a key role in shaping our identities and it is highly celebrated in American society, each year up to 40% of food in the United States never gets eaten, translating to $218 billion lost, which includes the cost of food wasted on the consumer level, retail, wasted water, energy, fertilizers, cropland and production costs. In addition to wasting precious resources, nearly all of the food waste ends up in landfills, where it decomposes and releases methane, a form of climate pollution that is up to 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In fact, food is the single largest contributor to U.S. landfills today. All this while one in eight Americans don’t have a steady supply of food to their tables. Consumers are responsible for more wasted food than grocery stores and restaurants combined, so changing household behavior is key to reducing the problem of food waste. The average American family of four spends at least $1,500 per year on food that they don’t eat and each individual toss over 20 pounds of food per month.

DID YOU KNOW?
• Across the entire food production and consumption chain, up to 40% of all food in the United States never gets eaten. This translates to $218 billion lost.
• From farm to fridge, more food is wasted in our homes than any other part of the supply chain.
• Across the supply chain, an average of 1,250 calories a day is wasted for every American, adding up to more than 400 pounds of wasted food a year per person.
• Each year, the average family of four wastes an average of 1,000 pounds of food at home, resulting at least $1,500 lost.

CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
To raise awareness about the economic and environmental impacts of wasted food and encourage Americans to take easy and actionable steps
to reduce food waste in their homes. The PSAs drive to SaveTheFood.com, where Americans can learn how to better plan, store, and cook their food.

CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION
In effort to spread awareness about the importance of reducing wasted food, NRDC created a PSA campaign encouraging Americans to make simple lifestyle changes like making shopping lists, repurposing leftovers, and learning how to properly store a wide variety of foods to help “Save the Food.” The campaign launched its first round of work in April 2016, which includes TV, online video, radio, print, out of home, digital and mobile assets.

Learn more at SaveTheFood.com.

Nurses Continue Nationwide Protests for Safety Equipment

Reporters Desk
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Nurses Continue Nationwide Protests for Safety Equipment

From Washington to Boston, especially in those cities hard-hit by the coronavirus, the National Nurses Union
(150,000 members) has been demonstrating in front of hospitals demanding adequate safety equipment to protect
them and physicians from infection. In Los Angeles there is been a series of rolling demonstrations from different
locations.
Random Lengths was at the combined protest and press conference at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica
on April 13. Some 50 nurses and physicians participated in the action on the steps in front of the UCLA hospital as
well as circling the block in cars with signs and blasting horns.
RN Valerie Ewald complained of the inadequacy of the protective equipment afforded them. “You can still be
exposed using simple masks. We need the higher grade of N95 masks. When you go into a room you don’t know if
you will be exposed. This is especially true if there is an intubation going on and patients’ fluids can contaminate a
wide area. We want to be allowed to use the better and more effective N95 masks all the time.”
Eleanor Escado added that, “We also want the government to ramp up production of the equipment. We want at
least CDC guidelines at all facilities. We do have an open dialogue with the hospital however they are asking us to
reuse and 95 masks after decontamination.”
Asked about the process during intake, Ms. Ewald responded “Patients are screened at the entrance and
quarantined appropriately. They are isolated if needed.”
Another nurse, Andrea Peregrin further noted “We are not fearful for our lives but we want to be; protected we
would not have taken these jobs if we did not want to help people, but we do not feel safe with UV sterilized
masks.”
Victory for Nurses at St. Johns
The registered nurses of Providence Saint John’s Health Center are declaring victory after hospital management
announced that health care workers throughout the Providence system will be issued N95 respirator masks to wear
when caring for COVID positive or potentially COVID positive patients, announced the California Nurses
Association/National Nurses United.

Over this past week, at least 15 nurses have refused to take patient assignments unless provided with N95 or
higher-standard personal protective equipment (PPE) and 10 of those nurses were suspended and sent home. The
nurses have been issued flimsy surgical-type masks that do not offer airborne protection as required by California’s
Cal-OSHA aerosol transmissible diseases standard. The hospital has N95 masks in its possession, but denied
nurses working on the assigned COVID unit access to them unless they were performing certain procedures. Even
doctors had advised the nurses not to enter patient rooms without wearing an N95. A number of nurses on the unit
have begun to test positive for COVID.

More than 50 nurses on Saturday held a socially-distanced demonstration outside the facility to protest the
hospital’s faulty infection control policies.

“It’s a victory,” said Chelsea Halmy, a medical-surgical RN who works on the COVID unit and is one of the
suspended nurses. “They’re finally doing what they should have been doing in the first place. We are glad, but it’s
upsetting that it had to come to this point and that our safety wasn’t their first priority. We still have so much more
work to do.”
At the same time at scores of factories, airports and workplaces, from meat and poultry packing plants to Amazon
warehouses and local groceries, workers have taken the initiative to demand adequate safety protection mandated
by the CDC to protect the millions of frontline workers.

The Fight for Workers Safety on the Job Deepens

Reporters Desk
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The Fight for Workers Safety on the Job Deepens

By Mark Friedman, RLn Reporter

There are literally hundreds of battles going on across the country of working people fighting for personal protection equipment (PPE) in order to perform their job safely. From Walmart workers walk outs, nurses demonstrating around the country in front of hospitals, gig workers
protesting, GE workers marching 6 feet apart demanding the rehiring of 600 laid-off workers to make ventilators, with similar fights going on around the world.
This represents a new wave of worker activism given the failure of governments and corporations to provide necessary safety equipment and regulations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. New forms of protest for workers’ rights are being developed daily. This will have a profound impact on the labor movement as a whole in the future.
Neither the National Labor Relations Board, OSHA, or EPA has shown any willingness to take any action but rather just the opposite, they are deeply involved in eliminating previous safety rules on the job and in the environment. In fact, the EPA, has taken advantage of the coronavirus to roll back decades of environmental protections.
Below you will find a letter just sent by 100 unions and organizations to Washington demanding immediate action to provide massive quantities of safety and health equipment.

President Donald Trump
Vice-President Mike Pence
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
April 7, 2020
President Trump and Vice-President Pence,
We are writing to you as representatives of unions and organizations from the environmental, environmental justice, business and scientific community. We write on behalf of millions of frontline workers—healthcare workers, food service and hospitality workers, transit operators,
educators, public employees, flight attendants, telecom workers and many more – whose lives are at immediate risk in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. We share a deep concern for the health and well-being of our front-line workers, their families and our communities.
We implore you to immediately exercise the full powers of the government available to you, at the scale and speed necessary, to protect these workers and confront the coronavirus crisis.
Only the federal government has the tools available to maximize protections for these workers, yet you are failing to provide the leadership that this moment demands.
Nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals are treating patients without the basic protection and equipment they need to do their jobs. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that we have just 1 percent of the N-95 respirators and surgical masks needed. A US Conference of Mayors survey found that an alarming 91% of cities lack the N-95
respirators needed for first responders and medical personnel, and 88% lack other necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The desperate need for PPE goes far beyond healthcare workers. Janitors are deep cleaning
buildings, teachers’ aides are delivering meals to children at home, warehouse and
manufacturing workers are making and distributing essential goods, home care providers are caring for the most vulnerable, public service workers are maintaining essential services, bus operators are taking essential workers to their jobs, telecom workers are entering homes to repair vital internet services, childcare workers are caring for our children and cashiers are scanning groceries—all at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus without enough PPE to lessen exposure.
States, cities, school districts and government agencies are competing to access limited supplies and manufacturers are seeking guidance on distribution priorities. As Governors Larry Hogan of Maryland and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan point out, “Right now, there is not a
single authority tracking where every spare ventilator is or where there are shortages. The lack of any centralized coordination is creating counterproductive competition between states and the federal government to secure limited supplies, driving up prices and exacerbating existing
shortages.”

Shortages of COVID-19 Emergency Equipment in U.S. Cities

The same dynamic is at play with all personal protective equipment.
The Administration must immediately assess the medical equipment needs, inventory supplies in the public and private sectors, prioritize and distribute those supplies fairly and accelerate the production of needed supplies where gaps exist. Current laws, including the Defense Production
Act whose provisions have been only partially invoked and unevenly executed, allow the President to take these actions. The enormous loss of life that your advisors project over the next few months should compel you to do so.
Every minute that you do not take decisive action places lives at risk and our nation and the people of the world in even greater peril. How is it that the wealthiest nation on the planet now has the highest number of documented COVID-19 cases with no clear end in sight? The answer
lies in your hands.
We urge you to act urgently to implement the following measures:
– Immediately distribute the respirators and other personal protective equipment held in the Strategic National Stockpile,
– Use all powers of the federal government to more aggressively and broadly deploy the Defense Production Act, to speed immediate production of new protective equipment and ensure it is routed to states for distribution across acute care, home care and long term care settings, as well as other industries whose workers confront the risk of exposure on a daily basis in their workplace. We ask you to do this while fully enforcing
environmental protections and ensuring that communities near sterilization facilities do not face additional public health threats,
– Identify reserves of respirators, including N95s and PAPRs, and other PPE equipment in other industries, such as construction, and redistribute them to healthcare providers and other frontline workers,
– Immediately direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Health and Human Services to instruct the Pentagon where to send the 2,000 ventilators it says it has in its military stocks,
– Direct FEMA to work directly with manufacturers and distributors to purchase PPE and other equipment and stop forcing states to compete with the federal government and each other. FEMA should institute a transparent process to allocate PPE, ventilators and other equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile based on state population need,
– Require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to institute the emergency temporary standard for infectious disease and health protections related to COVID-19 and prevent any further erosion of health and safety guidelines throughout the federal government and across the economy.

Sincerely,
Amalgamated Transit Union International
American Federation of Teachers
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
Communications Workers of America
National Nurses United
Service Employees International Union
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America
UNITE HERE
350.org
BlueGreen Alliance
Climate Justice Alliance
Environmental Defense Fund
Friends of the Earth US
Greenpeace USA
Indivisible
Jobs with Justice
League of Conservation Voters
MoveOn
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Resources Defense Council
Peoples Action
Public Citizen
Sierra Club
Sunrise Movement
Union of Concerned Scientists
Labor Network for Sustainability
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
350 Philadelphia
350 Triangle
ActionAid USA
Agricultural Missions, Inc
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704
American Federation of Teachers Vermont
American Sustainable Business Council
Anthropocene Alliance
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Avazz
Berkshire County Branch NAACP
Best Friends of Low Country Transit – South Carolina
Breast Cancer Action
Brighter Green
Call to Action-CO
CatholicNetwork.US
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Environmental Health
Center for International Environmental Law
Center for Sustainable Economy
Climate Parents
Connecticut Roundtable on Climate & Jobs

Earth Ethics, Inc.
Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light
Earthjustice
Earthworks
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
EcoEquity, USA
Ecology Center
Endangered Species Coalition
Energy Justice Network
Environmental Health Strategy Center
Fire Drill Fridays
Former EPA Regional Administrator
Fossil Free California
FracTracker Alliance
FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio
Georgia Stand-Up
GreenFaith
Green Latinos
Health Care Without Harm
Heirs To Our Oceans
Hispanic Federation
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Policy Studies Climate Policy Program
Jobs to Move America
Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Maine AFL-CIO
Maine Labor Group on Health
Maine State Nurses Association
Mothers Out Front
NextGen America
North Carolina Climate Justice Collective
North Carolina League of Conservation Voters Fund
North Carolina WARN
NextGen America
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Employees, AFSCME District 1199NM
Ohio Interfaith Power & Light
Oil Change International
Oregon Environmental Council
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Partnership Project
Peoples Climate Movement
Philly Transit Riders Union
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Presente.org
Rachel Carson Council
Railroad Workers United
Rainforest Action Network
RapidShift.net
Riverkeeper

San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper
SanDiego350
Sustainable Energy & Economy Network
The Climate Center
The Climate Mobilization
The Climate Reality Project
The Imani Group Inc
The Post-Landfill Action Network
The Rusty Anvil
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 21
United We Dream
Women’s Environment and Development Organization.
York University Canada
CC:
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives
Representative Nita Lowey, Chair, Appropriations Committee
Representative Bobby Scott, Chair, Labor and Education Committee
Representative Carolyn Maloney, Chair, Oversight and Reform
Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. Chair, Energy and Commerce Committee
Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader
Senator Richard Shelby, Chair, Appropriations Committee
Senator Lamar Alexander, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Senator Ron Johnson, Chair, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

EPA Slap To Our Face On Earth Day

Mark Friedman
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EPA Slap To Our Face On Earth Day 

Using COVID-19 as excuse, rescinds environmental regulations

By Mark Friedman, Environmental Writer

Not to be outdone by Trump’s call for reducing whatever environmental regulations have been instituted since the first Earth Day 40 years ago, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler gutted a ruling on Earth Day, nonetheless, that compelled the country’s coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards.

While environmental organizations and humanity in general calls for more environmental regulations, Wheeler a former coal lobbyist (i.e. paid by the coal companies to fight any and all restrictions on pollution that hinder profits) said that “we have put in place an honest accounting method” that balances the cost utilities with public safety. Sorry Andrew it’s one of the other prophets or safety and you have decided to put utility profits over the health especially of children who are severely impacted by mercury emissions.

Citing a threat from the virus, the EPA suspended enforcement of a wide range of health and environmental protections on March 30. The EPA (A.K.A. Employer Profitability Assurance) waived enforcement of a range of legally mandated protections over water, air and land saying that industries would have trouble complying with them during the pandemic.

Of course, the energy companies topped the list, seeking relaxation of environmental and public health enforcement so they could continue to pollute at will the air, water and land in our communities. The EPA’s decision also eliminated fines or other civil penalties for companies that “failed to monitor, report or meet other requirements for releasing hazardous pollutants”.(… or as working people interpret it, dump whatever you want wherever you want, no matter how toxic, in whatever quantity and the government will look the other way. Profits first, while the energy companies rake in billions and fail to clean up even when court-ordered and fined (which they never seem to pay) toxic sites within even their own refineries in Torrance and Wilmington.

Environmentalists, of course, sounded the alarm. “No one has ever seen anything like this. This is a complete pass for every industry, said Gina McCarthy, president of the natural resources Defense Council. She called the announcement “an open license to pollute” she told the Los Angeles Times.

And from the affordable clean energy rule from the EPA website. I will leave you to read between the lines” On June 19, 2019, EPA issued the final Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE) – replacing the prior administration’s overreaching Clean Power Plan with a rule that restores rule of law, empowers states, and supports energy diversity.”

In case you need help, “overreaching” means too many rules for cleaner air. (take that Communities for a Better Environment in Wilmington—more breathing problems for you!). “Rule of law” means whatever big polluting businesses and refineries can get away with by circumventing regulations and buying politicians (including Newsome and Garcetti) and judges. And last, “energy diversity,” a code for expanding fracking, offshore drilling, national forest and arctic oil drilling and mining and general expansion of highly profitable energy resources. (We would hope it would be wind and solar power, but don’t hold your breath).

In addition, the Trump administration announced its final rule to rollback automobile fuel efficiency standards, relaxing efforts to limit climate-warming tailpipe pollution and virtually undoing the government’s biggest effort to combat climate change.

The new rule, written by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, would allow cars on American roads to emit nearly a billion tons more carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the vehicles and hundreds of millions of tons more than will be emitted under standards being implemented in Europe and Asia.

President Trump is expected to extol the rule, which will stand as one of the most consequential regulatory rollbacks of his administration, as a needed salve for an economy crippled by the pandemic.

This completes the rollback of prior climate change policy, a three-year effort to weaken or undonearly 100 rules and regulations that had limited industrial pollutionof smog, toxic chemicals, greenhouse gases and water contaminants.

How should we as working people, victims of corporate pollution and health care crises respond?

First of all, we should realize that all the lobbying (including paying millions to big business politicians) and legislation mean nothing when the government run by and for big business wants to thw them out under whatever phony excuse they can conjure up and make us believe.

Health and safety of all workers and working people must be at the top of our list as shown by the nationwide protests of nurses, doctors, Amazon, airport and factory workers demanding better protective equipment than the CDC says is necessary (So why are these health professional getting the virus and dying then?) Since the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC has prioritized maintaining profitability of businesses like the cruise lines, factories, gun shops and more is concerned about the stock market and the economy than our health.

Meanwhile, workers in other countries, especially Italy, have demonstrated and gone on strike for safety equipment if they are mandated to continue working. This also happened by LAX airport and airline cleaners, food delivery companies, etc.

Articles in the New York Times (3.30) and elsewhere have shown the corruption and ineptness of the CDC, and Washington, under Democrats and Republicans, in failing to procure and store enough emergency equipment even after seeing the impact of the H1N1 and SARS epidemics. They paid companies and received zero.

Labor, organized in our unions, needs to wage a fight to halt the destruction of the environment internationally, and to protect ourselves during this pandemic. We have the biggest stake in protecting the environment, as an integral part of defending our health, safety, and working and living conditions. To the hundreds of environmental organizations out there I say what are you doing? We can organize protests staying 6 feet apart as nurses, factory workers other have done. We may have missed Earth Day for such public protest actions… But they are desperately needed

As long as businesses and the government are run for profits, they will try to get away with as much as they can in their profit quest. We should demand:

  1. Make corporations pay for their pollution. Give unions control of health and safety; giving employers the bill. 2. Create jobs for all by shortening the work week to 30 hours but keeping the same pay, thus hiring enough workers to do jobs safely and cleanly. And full pay for all laid-off workers during current business shutdowns
  2. Import Interferon Alpha2b, a Cuban medicine that reduces symptoms, duration and mortality of CoVid-19. End the blockade of Cuba

Resources and Services Available For People With Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Concerns During COVID-19 Crisis

Reporters Desk
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Resources and Services Available For People With Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Concerns During COVID-19 Crisis

LOS ANGELES—Staying home is not always a safe option for victims experiencing domestic violence during the COVID-19 crisis. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reports from 2019 to 2020, domestic violence calls for services have risen in LA County from 863 to 933, an 8.11 percent increase. For people experiencing domestic violence amid the Safer at Home Order, there are services and resources available 24/7 for those who need it. You are not alone. 

L.A. County’s Domestic Violence Services remain available. Shelters are open and accepting people. If you are a victim of domestic violence and need help, resources include the  Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-978-3600, or you can also dial 2-1-1 any time to get connected with services and support in your area or visit 211la.org/domestic-violence and domestic violence legal services, https://tinyurl.com/programsandservices. And dial 9-1-1. Law enforcement is still responding to domestic violence calls, and Emergency Protective Orders are still being issued.

The Violence Against Women Act allows certain non-citizens who are in abusive situations to petition without the assistance of the abusive spouse or parent, for lawful permanent residency. These persons may include:

-The spouse of a US citizen or legal permanent resident when the abuser is the US citizen, legal resident spouse or a member of his/her family living in the home.

-The child of a US citizen or legal permanent resident when the abuser is the parent/parent’s spouse or a family member of the parent or parent’s spouse living in the home.

-The child of the battered spouse.

-The parent of the battered child.

More information is available at the Department of Public Social Services website,  https://tinyurl.com/supportiveservices

Many victims of domestic violence do not leave abusive situations because domestic violence shelters do not accept pets, and they and their pets are forced to endure abuse. To find safe animal centers near you, DACC has provided a map of their locations. https://tinyurl.com/animalcaremap.

The consequencs of the COVID-19 pandemic has created the conditions that allow for child abuse to go undetected. Educators are the primary source of reports (20 percent) to child protective services nationwide. However, teachers and those who usually serve as lifelines for vulnerable children are no longer in a daily position to witness and report suspected abuse.

Here are ways everyone can do their part to protect children:

-People who are concerned about a particular family can help by doing small things to ease the stress that comes with this time. Whether in the form of food, toilet paper, coloring books or just an empathetic ear, these acts of support while keeping social distancing can make a difference and ease parents’ stress. 

-Make use of technology for virtual check-ins. Look for signs of distress and be a supportive presence.

-Form parent groups to conduct remote learning for children under 5, because those younger children are at highest risk for abuse.

-How to report child abuse in LA County: The LA County Office of Child Protection is a policy-making body and does not handle any direct cases. All inquiries or reporting of specific cases should be made to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). To report child abuse in LA County, CA, please contact the Child Protection Hotline at 1-800-540-4000 or visit the DCFS website, https://tinyurl.com/dcfssite

-If you have an immediate emergency, call 911 or your local police department; otherwise, call DFCS Child Protective Services to report child abuse and/or neglect.https://tinyurl.com/y73kn7mb

-For parents and caregivers: Find the Community-Based Organization offering preventive and support services in your Service Planning Area, https://tinyurl.com/serviceplanning to call them directly, https://tinyurl.com/Childprotectionhotline

Details: 213-336-2854 to speak to DCFS Preventive and Support Services staff.

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