latimes--2020-11-27--South L.A. medical school receives $7.7-million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies

When Jessica Bodden was accepted into medical school six years ago , she didn ’ t realize the amount of loans she ’ d be saddled with .
The South Los Angeles native completed her undergraduate degree in state with relatively low debt .
But when it was time to pay first-year tuition at her dream medical school , Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science , a private , nonprofit , historically Black institution in L.A. 's Willowbrook district , she began relying heavily on need-based scholarships and loans to pay the bill .
Coming from a household @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and as the mother of a 2-year-old son , Bodden was forced to borrow heavily , sinking her into more than $ 200,000 of student debt .
She also took a two-year break from medical school to get a master ’ s in public health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health .
But as her fourth-year anxieties were creeping up , Bodden ’ s medical school announced in September that it would deduct up to $ 100,000 from each Black and Latino student ’ s debt as part of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is the largest private gift the university has received in its 54-year history , will benefit 82 currently enrolled medical students .
“ I just remember feeling chills all over my body , ” Bodden , 29 , said .
“ Because for a little girl like me , from South L.A. , I didn ’ t go to medical school on scholarships .
I had to fight for every single scholarship that I won after I was admitted .
So , it was just really nice just to have someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is recognized as a historically Black graduate institution , or HBGI — is one of four historically Black medical colleges to be awarded funds as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies ’ $ 100-million commitment to help increase the number of Black doctors in the country by reducing their debt burden .
The other schools are Howard University College of Medicine in Washington , D.C. ; Meharry Medical College in Nashville ; and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta .
The $ 100-million gift was split among the schools based on student population .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bloomberg ’ s Greenwood Initiative , an effort created this year in response to the long-lasting effects of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre .
The initiative strives to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation and address decades of systemic underinvestment in Black communities .
“ COVID-19 has been especially devastating for the Black community , and the scarcity of Black doctors practicing in Black communities is one reason for it , ” said Bloomberg , founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP and three-term mayor of New York City .
“ More @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saved and fewer health problems that limit economic opportunity .
But right now , the burden of student debt and lack of financial aid means that the shortage of Black doctors could get even worse , ” he said in a statement .
Among students with education debt , the average amount is $ 200,000 , according to the Assn .
of American Medical Colleges .
Deborah Prothrow-Stith , Charles R. Drew University dean and professor of medicine , who earned her degree at Harvard Medical School , understands firsthand the financial burden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come from under-resourced families and neighborhoods .
“ It took me like 20 years to pay off my medical school debt .
I wish somebody had taken half of it away , ” Prothrow-Stith said .
“ Medical school is expensive , and you don ’ t want students who come here because they want to serve their community to get so in debt that they then have to choose to do other things to make money , ” Prothrow-Stith added .
“ So this is really a big gift for us.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s students report that they intend to practice and provide care in underserved communities after graduation , which is a figure the university ’ s faculty aims to continue growing .
Charles R. Drew University , which was named after a pioneering Black surgeon who produced seminal work on blood banking , was founded in 1966 in response to inadequate medical facilities within the Watts area during the 1965 riots .
With more than 80 % of students and 71 % of faculty from communities of color , the university has become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a focus on education , training , treatment and care in cancer , diabetes , cardiometabolic conditions and HIV/AIDS .
As the state has been grappling with a surge in COVID-19 patients , Charles R. Drew University also hosted one of the largest testing sites in South L.A. , offering walk-up , drive-in and same-day testing .
Many students volunteered at the site .
For Kalonji Cole , a fourth-year medical student at the university , the Bloomberg grant was good news in an otherwise challenging year .
“ [ With ] all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with and all the kind of havoc COVID-19 has wrecked , I was pretty much in a state where I was just used to getting bad news , and then this came and it was just amazing , ” the 26-year-old said .
“ It just lifted my spirits up so much [ and ] gave me so much less anxiety going forward , ” said Cole , who moved to Los Angeles from Tallahassee , Fla. , to attend the university in 2017 .
Much like Bodden , who is pursuing psychiatry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for school mostly through loans .
But now that he knows nearly half of his tuition will be covered by the Bloomberg grant , he has more time to focus on applying for residency programs for internal medicine .
“ Now , not having to be as stressed about our financial debt just really allows us to kind of breathe easy and to also even further sink our teeth into the mission of [ CDU ] and do right by our patients , and really do our part in helping to alleviate these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Although the university has racked up several distinctions — its website says it ’ s the seventh-highest college in California in median annual earnings of former students one year after graduation — the university is not as well known as the most prominent medical schools .
Prothrow-Stith said recognition from Bloomberg Philanthropies is already changing that .
“ In many ways , CDU is still this hidden gem .
It ’ s not even as well known locally as we hope to see in the future , so one of the important aspects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brings ] visibility , ” she said .
“ That visibility has created more opportunities for us especially in the development and fundraising area.
” The school plans to erect a new medical school building and add a second medical degree that would be awarded solely by Charles R. Drew University .
( The school ’ s current medicine degree is jointly awarded with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA . )
Dr. David M. Carlisle , president and chief executive of Charles R. Drew University , said the new addition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who graduate from the school , which will ultimately “ make a significant impact on the physician workforce in the state of California.
” As more eyes shift to the South L.A.-based university , Prothrow-Stith said , the university plans to continue to train more physicians of color to serve the diverse community .
“ We do well at CDU and we want to do more of that because society needs it , ” she said .
“ We need it for things like a pandemic .
”

When Jessica Bodden was accepted into medical school six years ago, she didn’t realize the amount of loans she’d be saddled with.
The South Los Angeles native completed her undergraduate degree in California with relatively low debt. But when it was time to pay first-year tuition at her dream medical school, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a private, nonprofit, historically Black institution in L.A.’s Willowbrook district, she began relying heavily on need-based scholarships and loans to pay the bill.
Coming from a household that made less than $25,000 annually, and as the mother of a 2-year-old son, Bodden was forced to borrow heavily, sinking her into student debt of more than $200,000. She also took a two-year break from medical school to get a master’s in public health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
But as her fourth-year anxieties were creeping up, Bodden’s medical school announced in September that it would deduct up to $100,000 from each Black and Latino student’s debt as part of a $7.7-million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies . The grant, which is the largest private gift the university has received in its 54-year history, will benefit 82 currently enrolled medical students.
“I just remember feeling chills all over my body,” said Bodden, 29. “Because for a little girl like me, from South L.A., I didn’t go to medical school on scholarships. I had to fight for every single scholarship that I won after I was admitted. So it was just really nice just to have someone give.”
Jessica Bodden is one of 82 medical students eligible for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ financial grant. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Charles R. Drew University — which is recognized as a historically Black graduate institution, or HBGI — is one of four historically Black medical colleges to be awarded funds as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $100-million commitment to help increase the number of Black doctors in the country by reducing their debt burden. The other schools are Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. The $100-million gift was split among the schools based on student population.
The grant is part of founder Michael R. Bloomberg’s Greenwood Initiative, an effort created this year in response to the long-lasting effects of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The initiative strives to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation and address decades of systemic underinvestment in Black communities.
“COVID-19 has been especially devastating for the Black community, and the scarcity of Black doctors practicing in Black communities is one reason for it,” said Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP and former mayor of New York City.
“More Black doctors will mean more Black lives saved and fewer health problems that limit economic opportunity. But right now, the burden of student debt and lack of financial aid means that the shortage of Black doctors could get even worse,” he said in a statement.
Among students with education debt, the average amount is $200,000, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Charles R. Drew University dean and professor of medicine, who earned her degree at Harvard Medical School, understands firsthand the financial burden faced by many of her students who come from under-resourced families and neighborhoods.
“It took me like 20 years to pay off my medical school debt. I wish somebody had taken half of it away,” Prothrow-Stith said.
“Medical school is expensive, and you don’t want students who come here because they want to serve their community to get so in debt that they then have to choose to do other things to make money,” Prothrow-Stith added. “So this is really a big gift for us.”
More than 85% of the school’s students report that they intend to practice and provide care in underserved communities after graduation, which is a figure the university’s faculty aims to continue growing.
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Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science was gifted a $7.7-million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
Charles R. Drew University, which was named after a pioneering Black surgeon who produced seminal work on blood banking, was founded in 1966 in response to inadequate medical facilities within the Watts area during the 1965 riots.
With more than 80% of students and 71% of faculty from communities of color, the university has become a leader in health disparities research with a focus on education, training, treatment and care in cancer, diabetes, cardiometabolic conditions and HIV/AIDS. As the state has been grappling with a surge in COVID-19 patients, Charles R. Drew University also hosted one of the largest testing sites in South L.A., offering walk-up, drive-in and same-day testing. Many students volunteered at the site.
Kalonji Cole is a medical student at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
For Kalonji Cole, a fourth-year medical student at the university, the Bloomberg grant was good news in an otherwise challenging year.
With “all of the craziness that 2020 has come with and all the kind of havoc COVID-19 has wrecked, I was pretty much in a state where I was just used to getting bad news, and then this came and it was just amazing,” the 26-year-old said.
“It just lifted my spirits up so much [and] gave me so much less anxiety going forward,” said Cole, who moved to Los Angeles from Tallahassee, Fla., to attend the university in 2017.
Much like Bodden, who is pursuing psychiatry after graduation, Cole has been paying for school mostly through loans. But now that he knows nearly half of his tuition will be covered by the Bloomberg grant, he has more time to focus on applying for residency programs for internal medicine.
“Now, not having to be as stressed about our financial debt just really allows us to kind of breathe easy and to also even further sink our teeth into the mission of [CDU] and do right by our patients, and really do our part in helping to alleviate these healthcare disparities,” he said.
Although the university has racked up several distinctions — its website says it’s the seventh-highest college in California in median annual earnings of former students one year after graduation — the university is not as well known as the most prominent medical schools. Prothrow-Stith said recognition from Bloomberg Philanthropies is already changing that.
“In many ways, CDU is still this hidden gem. It’s not even as well known locally as we hope to see in the future, so one of the important aspects of the gift is that it [brings] visibility,” she said. “That visibility has created more opportunities for us especially in the development and fundraising area.”
The school plans to erect a new medical school building and add a second medical degree that would be awarded solely by Charles R. Drew University. (The school’s current medicine degree is jointly awarded with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.)
Dr. David M. Carlisle, president and chief executive of Charles R. Drew University, said the new addition will nearly triple the number of students who graduate from the school, which will ultimately “make a significant impact on the physician workforce in the state of California.”
As more eyes shift to the South L.A. university, Prothrow-Stith said, the university plans to continue to train more physicians of color to serve the diverse community.
“We do well at CDU and we want to do more of that because society needs it,” she said. “We need it for things like a pandemic.”


latimes--2020-11-27--A short guide to quarantining after holiday travel

If you traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday , it ’ s time to go into quarantine .
Specifically , if you went out of state , California has issued a travel advisory recommending that you quarantine for 14 days .
If you had prolonged exposure to anyone outside of your household or existing pandemic pod , it ’ s a good idea to self-quarantine as well .
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley , a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and former director of the division of communicable disease control and prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of quarantine as the middle position between isolation ( what you do when you know you are infected ) and “ normal ” pandemic life ( where you might venture outdoors while masked and maintaining social distance ) .
Sometimes , when you see or hear a word a lot , it starts to lose its meaning .
Such is the case with “ quarantine.
” Here ’ s a very short FAQ about what you need to be doing to appropriately self-quarantine .
What does it mean to self-quarantine ?
Stay at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going anywhere else or seeing anyone from outside your household , for 14 days .
The whole point of quarantining is to sequester yourself so that if you are infected , you do not infect anyone else .
Take the phrase “ stay at home ” literally .
What if I need something essential , like food or medicine ?
If you absolutely need something , have it delivered .
To avoid potentially infecting the delivery person , have them leave your package outside your closed front door , wait for them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you open your door to pick it up .
Tip well .
What if I really need to leave the house to do something else ?
Kim-Farley said remaining on your property still technically counts , so you can take the dog out back for a bathroom break or take out the trash while you ’ re wearing your mask .
Other than that , the only valid reason to leave the premises is for a doctor ’ s appointment , he said .
The goal here is to avoid any chance of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no visitors , even if they ’ re just stopping by for a few minutes .
No outside exercise beyond your property .
No going places , even if you ’ re just popping by the store for a couple of things or picking up takeout or running a super-quick errand .
What if I have to go to work ?
There is no such thing as “ self-quarantining except for work.
” If you are leaving the house and going to your workplace , you are potentially exposing co-workers and customers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for paid sick leave under the .
What if I take a test ?
Testing does not exempt you from quarantining at any point in those 14 days .
A negative test is not a hall pass to do whatever you want .
You can test negative for the coronavirus , still be incubating it , and then the next day be contagious .
Testing negative a few days into quarantine may indicate that the viral load has not reached detectable levels yet .
The only day you can take a test and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is on Day 14 .
What if I start to feel sick ?
If you start to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 , it ’ s even more important that you avoid others as much as possible .
Contact your doctor and let them know what ’ s going on and ask if they should have a test ordered .
If you test positive , contact anyone you saw when you were traveling and tell them .
If your symptoms are mild , follow your doctor ’ s advice .
Depending on your medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go to the hospital .
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , seek immediate medical attention if you experience any of the following symptoms : trouble breathing , persistent pain or pressure in the chest , new confusion , inability to wake or stay awake , or bluish lips or face .
This all seems really strict .
I ’ m bored .
If you don ’ t want to be restricted to your house for two weeks , don ’ t travel out of state .
Remember , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holiday season only once .
Hope is on the horizon .

If you traveled over the holidays, you need to take steps to reduce the chances of unknowingly infecting people in your community.
The state of California has issued guidance recommending travelers entering or returning to the state self-quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and former director of the division of communicable disease control and prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said people should think of quarantine as the middle position between isolation (what you do when you know you are infected — which includes avoiding immediate family members as well as the outside world) and “normal” pandemic life (where you might venture outdoors while masked and maintaining social distance).
Sometimes, when you see or hear a word a lot, it starts to lose its meaning. Such is the case with “quarantine.” Here’s a very short FAQ about what you need to be doing to appropriately self-quarantine.
Advertisement
What does it mean to self-quarantine? Stay at home, in your home, without going anywhere else or seeing anyone from outside your household, for 10 days..
The whole point of quarantining is to sequester yourself so that, if you are infected, you do not infect anyone else. Take the phrase “stay at home” literally.
Science & Medicine Your questions about COVID-19 vaccines answered COVID-19 vaccines are now being administered to healthcare workers in the U.S. What are your questions about the timeline, the safety or the science?
What if I need something essential, like food or medicine? If you absolutely need something, have it delivered. To avoid potentially infecting the delivery person, have them leave your package outside your closed front door, wait for them to leave, and wear a mask when you open your door to pick it up. Tip well.
What if I really need to leave the house to do something else? Kim-Farley says remaining on your property still technically counts, so you can take the dog out back for a bathroom break or take out the trash while you’re wearing your mask. Other than that, the only valid reason to leave the premises is for a doctor’s appointment, he said.
The goal here is to avoid any chance of being around other people. That means no visitors, even if they’re just stopping by for a few minutes. No outside exercise beyond your property. No going places, even if you’re just popping by the store for a couple of things or picking up takeout or running a super-quick errand.
What if I have to go to work? There is no such thing as “self-quarantining except for work.” If you are leaving the house and going to your workplace, you are potentially exposing co-workers and customers to the virus. You may be eligible for paid sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act .
What if I take a test? Testing does not exempt you from quarantining at any point in those 10 days. A negative test is not a hall pass to do whatever you want. You can test negative for the coronavirus, still be incubating it, and then the next day be contagious. Testing negative a few days into quarantine may indicate that the viral load has not reached detectable levels yet. The only day you can take a test and know you’re negative for sure is on Day 10.
What if I start to feel sick? If you start to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19, it’s even more important that you avoid others as much as possible. Contact your doctor and let them know what’s going on and ask if they should have a test ordered. If you test positive, contact anyone you saw when you were traveling and tell them. If your symptoms are mild, follow your doctor’s advice. Depending on your medical condition, you may not need to go to the hospital. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seek immediate medical attention if you experience any of the following symptoms: trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake, or bluish lips or face.
This all seems really strict. I’m bored. If you don’t want to be restricted to your house, don’t travel out of state. Remember, we have to do this strange and different holiday season only once. Hope is on the horizon.


latimes--2020-11-27--Along the crumbling Sonoma coast, an ambitious project paves the way for 'managed retreat'

A few winding turns past Bodega Bay , along foggy bluffs and coastal prairie , relentless waves pound a crumbling stretch of coastline in dire need of saving .
Here at Gleason Beach , once referred to as Malibu North , the beach gets drowned during high tide .
Bits of concrete and rebar are all that remain of 11 clifftop homes that have already surrendered to the sea .
A graveyard of seawalls , smashed into pieces , litters the shore .
Highway 1 now hangs inches from what seems like the edge of the world .
For decades @ @ @ @ @ @ @ road from the ocean — pouring millions of tax dollars into a vicious cycle of sudden collapses and emergency repairs .
Last year , this critical lifeline for the region was reduced to one lane .
With the realities of climate change looming ever closer , California transportation officials are now moving a key stretch of highway more than 350 feet inland — one of the first major efforts by the state to relocate , or “ manage retreat , ” critical infrastructure far enough away from the coast to make room for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rise .
The ambitious project — approved this month after more than a decade of planning — comes at a time when city and state leaders across California are waking up to the social and economic disasters of sea level rise .
At least $ 8 billion in property could be underwater by 2050 , according to recent legislative reports , with an additional $ 10 billion at risk during high tides .
Heavier storms and more intense cycles of El Niño could make things even worse .
In a set of targets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s administration , many agencies agreed this year to prepare California for at least 3.5 feet of sea level rise by 2050 .
The painful reimagining of Gleason Beach offers a glimpse into the future for other communities now clashing over the costs and compromises of living by the sea .
At the heart of this $ 73-million project is a reckoning over what is worth saving — and what is worth sacrificing — and whether it ’ s possible to redesign a treasured landscape so that it survives into the future .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a lot of change to cope with , but it ’ s also an opportunity for communities to think about : What are the coastal resources we want to have access to 50 , 100 years from now ?
” said Tami Grove , the California Coastal Commission ’ s statewide transportation program manager .
“ It gets lost , sometimes , when people are worried about everything that we ’ re going to lose to sea level rise — but there are things that we ’ re going to be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the future if we start planning now.
” Maintaining this critical stretch of Highway 1 has been a decades-long saga .
It is the only evacuation route for many residents , as well as the only way to reach many of Sonoma ’ s beaches and sweeping vistas — the economic and cultural soul of the region .
Photos from the 1970s show more than 20 blufftop homes and a wide sandy beach buffering the highway from the sea .
But the particularly unstable cliffs in this area have been eroding about 1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by sea level rise and sudden landslides .
With most of the homes and beach now gone , the highway has struggled to hold the line between land and sea .
Since 2004 , Caltrans has spent about $ 10 million in emergency defenses and failed repairs .
The cliffs and beach today are cluttered with remnants of human engineering .
“ This is what unmanaged retreat looks like , and it is quite frankly a hot mess of septic systems , old house parts and armoring that have fallen into the intertidal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it up , ” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins .
“ If we don ’ t start planning ahead and taking proactive measures , Mother Nature will make the decisions for us.
” In an interagency collaboration that many said was a major coup in government bureaucracy , Caltrans , the coastal commission and county leaders came together and hammered out a plan to relocate 0.7 miles of the highway — largely with a new 850-foot bridge spanning Scotty Creek where it meets the ocean .
Compromise wasn ’ t easy : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tried to balance safety codes , traffic needs , fragile habitats , public access to the coast and other competing requirements that were tricky to meet given the topography — not to mention all the nearby properties and getting a skeptical community on board .
The concrete bridge ( a monstrous overpass or a reasonable compromise , depending on who ’ s talking ) will allow the creek to flow freely into the ocean again — making room for more red-legged frogs , Myrtle ’ s silverspot butterflies and the passage of steelhead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ highway avoids paving over wetlands , officials said , giving these drowning habitats the space to migrate inland as the sea rises .
Caltrans also agreed , as part of the project , to pay $ 5 million to help clean up the mess of abandoned homes and failed road repairs .
Another $ 6.5 million will go toward wetland , creek and prairie restoration .
Some of the old highway will be converted into a coastal trail , and the public will have access to a new parking area and a beach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Officials have also set aside $ 2.7 million to negotiate and acquire land from three private properties , including necessary portions of a nearby ranch that will be most impacted by the realigned highway .
Once completed , much of the open space will be transferred to Sonoma County to manage on behalf of the public .
Philip and Roberta Ballard , the ranch owners , said they ’ ve come to understand the necessity of this project .
The bridge still feels way too big — especially for this rural stretch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 21 years ago — but the Ballards have dedicated their energy over time into making sure Scotty Creek gets restored as part of the deal .
The creek , the largest watershed between Salmon Creek and the Russian River , has needed help for years , they said .
In addition to its flow getting choked by a culvert that was installed in 1952 for the highway , the lower creek has been denuded of its vegetation .
“ A lot of our efforts have gone into trying to make the best out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Roberta Ballard , who is an emeritus professor of pediatrics , along with her husband , at UC San Francisco .
“ But the bridge is pretty ugly.
” Other residents and trail groups said a giant concrete bridge , no matter what color you paint it , would forever alter the majesty of the Sonoma Coast , where much of the coastal protection movement of the 1960s and ’ 70s was born .
Their many suggestions for a less intrusive solution were ignored , they said .
“ Let ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the place itself , ” said Richard Charter , a longtime resident and senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation .
“ This is going to be the largest man-made structure on the Sonoma Coast .
It ’ s going to be visible from everywhere , and it ’ s going to completely obliterate what we thought we had saved on our coast.
” Some environmental groups , such as Surfrider Foundation , supported the managed retreat process but questioned the small seawall included in the deal to protect a driveway and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Galvez-Abadia , Caltrans District Division Chief of Environmental Planning and Engineering , acknowledged these concerns and said that after so many years of seminars and talks about climate change adaptation , turning an abstract concept like managed retreat into reality has been a very complex exercise in compromise .
His team is trying to design a prettier bridge that ’ s more fitting for the rural landscape .
They ’ ve studied the arched columns of Bixby Creek Bridge on the Big Sur coast and other man-made landmarks that have become iconic over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ break ground next summer .
Regarding the more minimal options suggested by concerned residents , many did not meet seismic or safety standards — the bridge needs to be high enough for emergency vehicles to pass under , officials said , as well as for worst-case flood scenarios .
Other suggestions were not enough in size nor distance to outlast coastal erosion into 2100 .
“ You don ’ t have many choices when it comes to sea level rise … whichever way you chose , you ’ re going to have some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ These are the difficult decisions that we will all have to make as a region , as a community for generations to come.
” Gary Griggs , a longtime coastal erosion expert at UC Santa Cruz who has been studying what the future of managed retreat will look like for California , said there have been very few case studies so far and was struck by how much time — and money — it takes to relocate a stretch of highway that isn ’ t even in an area as populated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Each managed retreat project gets more interesting — and a lot more complicated with the tradeoffs , he said .
“ What ’ s happening at Gleason Beach is a good example of what can be done and another step forward.
” Back on Highway 1 , Stavan Cook recalled the blufftop cottage that he grew up in .
Old photos showed the house with a 20-foot yard and stairs that led down to the beach .
His father , an architect , made a few additions over the years as the cliff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting up a seawall .
But after a devastating storm in 1997 , they finally decided to manage their own retreat : jacking up their house and moving it to a new parcel inland .
Now a locksmith at Bodega Coast Lock and Key , Cook relies on this coastal highway that connects his whole community , driving each day past the crumbling lot where his home once overlooked the sea .
“ I ’ ve seen the cliff erode for my entire life , ” he said .
“ We have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bridge is what it takes , well , that ’ s what it takes .
”

At Gleason Beach, remnants of homes and piles of broken seawalls clutter the coastline next to Highway 1.
A few winding turns past Bodega Bay, along foggy bluffs and coastal prairie, relentless waves pound a crumbling stretch of coastline in dire need of saving.
Here at Gleason Beach, once referred to as Malibu North, the beach gets drowned during high tide. Bits of concrete and rebar are all that remain of 11 cliff-top homes that have already surrendered to the sea. A graveyard of seawalls, smashed into pieces, litters the shore.
Highway 1 now hangs inches from what seems like the edge of the world. For decades, officials have scrambled to save the road from the ocean — pouring millions of tax dollars into a vicious cycle of sudden collapses and emergency repairs. Last year, this critical lifeline for the region was reduced to one lane.
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With the realities of climate change looming ever closer, California transportation officials are now moving a key stretch of highway more than 350 feet inland — one of the first major efforts by the state to relocate, or “manage retreat,” critical infrastructure far enough from the coast to make room for the next 100 years of sea level rise.
The ambitious project — approved this month after more than a decade of planning — comes at a time when city and state leaders across California are waking up to the social and economic disasters of sea level rise. At least $8 billion in property could be underwater by 2050, according to recent legislative reports, with an additional $10 billion at risk during high tides. Heavier storms and more intense cycles of El Niño could make things even worse.
In a set of targets guided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, many agencies agreed this year to prepare California for at least 3.5 feet of sea level rise by 2050.
The painful reimagining of Gleason Beach offers a glimpse into the future for other communities now clashing over the costs and compromises of living by the sea. At the heart of this $73-million project is a reckoning over what is worth saving — and what is worth sacrificing — and whether it’s possible to redesign a treasured landscape so that it survives into the future.
“It seems daunting; it’s a lot of change to cope with, but it’s also an opportunity for communities to think about: What are the coastal resources we want to have access to 50, 100 years from now?” said Tami Grove, the California Coastal Commission’s statewide transportation program manager. “It gets lost, sometimes, when people are worried about everything that we’re going to lose to sea level rise — but there are things that we’re going to be able to choose and enhance and design into the future if we start planning now.”
Maintaining this critical stretch of Highway 1 has been a decades-long saga. It is the only evacuation route for many residents, as well as the only way to reach many of Sonoma’s beaches and sweeping vistas — the economic and cultural soul of the region.
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Photos from the 1970s show more than 20 bluff-top homes and a wide sandy beach buffering the highway from the sea. But the particularly unstable cliffs in this area have been eroding about 1 foot a year on average, exacerbated by sea level rise and sudden landslides.
With most of the homes and beach now gone, the highway has struggled to hold the line between land and sea. Since 2004, Caltrans has spent about $10 million in emergency defenses and failed repairs. The cliffs and beach today are cluttered with remnants of human engineering.
As part of the highway realignment project, Caltrans agreed to pay $5 million to help clean up all the shattered homes and seawalls on the beach. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
“This is what unmanaged retreat looks like, and it is quite frankly a hot mess of septic systems, old house parts and armoring that have fallen into the intertidal zone with no real mechanism for cleaning it up,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins. “If we don’t start planning ahead and taking proactive measures, Mother Nature will make the decisions for us.”
In an interagency collaboration that many said was a major coup in government bureaucracy, the California Department of Transportation, the Coastal Commission and county leaders came together and hammered out a plan to relocate 0.7 miles of the highway — largely with a new 850-foot-long bridge spanning Scotty Creek where it meets the ocean.
Compromise wasn’t easy: Officials studied more than 20 alternatives that tried to balance safety codes, traffic needs, fragile habitats, public access to the coast and other competing requirements that were tricky to meet given the topography — not to mention all the nearby properties and getting a skeptical community on board.
The concrete bridge (a monstrous overpass or a reasonable compromise, depending on who’s talking) will allow the creek to flow freely into the ocean again — making room for more red-legged frogs, Myrtle’s silverspot butterflies and the passage of steelhead trout and coho salmon. Elevating the highway avoids paving over wetlands, officials said, giving these drowning habitats the space to migrate inland as the sea rises.
A rendering of the proposed bridge over Scotty Creek, which elevates and realigns Highway 1 further inland to account for the next 100 years of sea level rise. (California Department of Transportation)
Caltrans also agreed, as part of the project, to pay $5 million to help clean up the mess of abandoned homes and failed road repairs. An additional $6.5 million will go toward wetland, creek and prairie restoration. Some of the old highway will be converted into a coastal trail, and the public will have access to a new parking area and a beach that was once limited by private property.
Officials have also set aside $2.7 million to negotiate and acquire land from three private properties, including necessary portions of a nearby ranch that will be most impacted by the realigned highway. Once completed, much of the open space will be transferred to Sonoma County to manage on behalf of the public.
Philip and Roberta Ballard, the ranch owners, said they’ve come to understand the necessity of this project. The bridge still feels way too big — especially for this rural stretch of paradise that first captured their hearts 21 years ago — but the Ballards have dedicated their energy over time into making sure Scotty Creek gets restored as part of the deal.
The creek, the largest watershed between Salmon Creek and the Russian River, has needed help for years, they said. In addition to its flow getting choked by a culvert that was installed in 1952 for the highway, the lower creek has been denuded of its vegetation.
“A lot of our efforts have gone into trying to make the best out of something that is necessary,” said Roberta Ballard, who is a professor emeritus of pediatrics, along with her husband, at UC San Francisco. “But the bridge is pretty ugly.”
Other residents and trail groups said a giant concrete bridge, no matter what color you paint it, would forever alter the majesty of the Sonoma Coast, where much of the coastal protection movement of the 1960s and ’70s was born. Their many suggestions for a less intrusive solution were ignored, they said.
“Let’s fix the road without destroying so much of the place itself,” said Richard Charter, a longtime resident and senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation. “This is going to be the largest man-made structure on the Sonoma Coast. It’s going to be visible from everywhere, and it’s going to completely obliterate what we thought we had saved on our coast.”
Some environmental groups, such as the Surfrider Foundation, supported the managed retreat process but questioned the small seawall included in the deal to protect a driveway and a portion of the coastal trail.
Stefan Galvez-Abadia, Caltrans district division chief of environmental planning and engineering, acknowledged these concerns and said that after so many years of seminars and talks about climate change adaptation, turning an abstract concept like managed retreat into reality has been a very complex exercise in compromise.
His team is trying to design a prettier bridge that’s more fitting for the rural landscape. They’ve studied the arched columns of Bixby Creek Bridge on the Big Sur coast and other man-made landmarks that have become iconic over time. The project is expected to break ground next summer.
Regarding the more minimal options suggested by concerned residents, many did not meet seismic or safety standards — the bridge needs to be high enough for emergency vehicles to pass under, officials said, as well as for worst-case flood scenarios. Other suggestions were not enough in size nor distance to outlast coastal erosion into 2100.
“You don’t have many choices when it comes to sea level rise … whichever way you chose, you’re going to have some kind of impact,” Galvez-Abadia said. “These are the difficult decisions that we will all have to make as a region, as a community for generations to come.”
Gary Griggs, a longtime coastal erosion expert at UC Santa Cruz who has been studying what the future of managed retreat will look like for California, said there have been very few case studies so far and was struck by how much time — and money — it takes to relocate a stretch of highway that isn’t even in an area as populated as Malibu or the Bay Area.
Each managed retreat project gets more interesting — and a lot more complicated with the trade-offs, he said. “What’s happening at Gleason Beach is a good example of what can be done and another step forward.”
Back on Highway 1, Stavan Cook recalled the bluff-top cottage he grew up in. Old photos showed the house with a 20-foot yard and stairs that led down to the beach.
His father, an architect, made a few additions over the years as the cliff continued to erode. His family tried putting up a seawall. But after a devastating storm in 1997, they finally decided to manage their own retreat: jacking up their house and moving it to a new parcel inland.
Now a locksmith at Bodega Coast Lock and Key, Cook relies on this coastal highway that connects his whole community, driving each day past the crumbling lot where his home once overlooked the sea.
“I’ve seen the cliff erode for my entire life,” he said. “We have to do something, and if putting in a bridge is what it takes, well, that’s what it takes.”


latimes--2020-11-27--Who has it harder than the homeless when the pandemic closes indoor spaces?

I have a roof over my head .
I have heat .
I have electricity .
I have more than one bathroom to choose from .
I have a kitchen full of food .
This past week , I set out to check up on people living on the streets of my Hollywood neighborhood because I couldn ’ t stop thinking about the extent of that privilege .
I couldn ’ t stop thinking in this time of Thanksgiving about how thankful I should be for my warm home , even if the COVID-19 pandemic sometimes makes me feel stir-crazy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us chafe right now at the inability because of pandemic restrictions to eat inside a restaurant or sip a coffee in a cafe or go browse the shelves of a public library .
But I couldn ’ t stop thinking about how much harder having such communal indoor spaces closed is on those of us who don ’ t have any indoors to call our own .
The people living on our streets used to be able to go inside public libraries and coffee shops to use bathrooms , to charge cellphones and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ respite from the harshness of living outside .
Some got cheap gym memberships for ready access to showers , especially helpful when you have a job but no home .
Now temperatures are dropping and rainy days are ahead , and most of those options are unavailable — while shelter , as well as public toilets and hand-washing stations , remain in far too short supply .
P.J .
Butters , 44 , whose tent is clustered with others in a tight community on a block perpendicular to Vine Street , said he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outlets to charge his phone and uses a bucket to clean up as best he can at a spigot he found in a nearby alley .
Tom Ponzo , 51 , camping on a side street just north of Hollywood Boulevard , said nearby restaurants that are still open won ’ t let homeless people come inside to use their facilities .
He can book appointments for showers at a local church a few blocks away .
But because there aren ’ t any public toilets close at hand , he and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bags and buckets when they need to go to the bathroom .
“ Hopefully no one ’ s around when we do it .
It ’ s embarrassing , ” he told me .
These are people who also have to worry , as all of us do , about staying well in a deadly pandemic .
But unlike many of us , they often can ’ t even easily wash their hands , and they have at best a thin membrane of tent to protect them from everyone else .
My neighborhood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because it has more services available to them .
Naturally , it ’ s helpful to camp near where you can get a helping hand .
But the already sizable number of people living on my neighborhood ’ s streets before the pandemic appears to my eye to have been growing steadily .
It ’ s a challenge for the rest of the neighborhood — the other residents , the business owners — who often vent their frustration when trash piles up at encampments and sidewalks are blocked by tents .
And there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas , they stretch , one after another , down the sidewalks of whole blocks and then around the corners onto other ones .
What I ’ ve come to understand though is that seeing more tents right now may be a good sign — because a lot of them have been handed out by outreach teams working as hard as they can to try to keep those who lack housing well .
These teams are out daily checking on people , testing them , handing out sanitizer and masks , and distributing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Safer at Home sequestering even when home is the street .
If there is no bed or room available for someone who tests positive for the virus , “ at least they can isolate in a tent , ” said Nathan Sheets , director of the Center at Blessed Sacrament , a Hollywood nonprofit with the aim of ending isolation and homelessness , which has been running one of the outreach teams with medical staff from the Saban Community Clinic .
Obviously , isolating in a tent is not ideal , he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that L.A. mercifully has not had the high number of COVID cases in the homeless population that many people feared at the start of the pandemic .
Some of those who live on the streets of my neighborhood don ’ t even have tents .
They stretch out on hard sidewalk under thin sheets or blankets .
They build lean-tos out of cardboard boxes and black garbage bags and tarps .
Right under the 101 , a few blocks from my home , on a crumbly dirt slope that will turn to mud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together a little privacy out of palm fronds and scraps of wood .
I find it awkward sometimes , by the way , to approach such a dwelling , to call out “ hello ” to a zipped-up tent or a shelter of strung-together tarps .
Often I have to steel myself to so abruptly invade the space of someone who has few means to fend off that invasion .
I feel that vulnerability deeply when I see a padlocked tent because a padlock on the zipper of a mesh tent door clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s why you have to find yourself a good community out here , ” said Ruben A. Colon , 37 , whose immaculate encampment — with great views of the Hollywood sign and the Capitol Records building — I found a half-dozen blocks from my home .
Colon prefers to refer to himself not as a homeless person but as an “ urban pilgrim , ” he told me .
And he loves to read and learn and used to spend whole days , especially the rainy ones , in various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go online , read a book , charge up , hang out with some friends , keep it low , ” he said .
Now he walks the neighborhood , bundles up on colder days and picks up books to read at the Little Free Libraries he finds on residential streets .
I was expecting when I went out on the streets to ask people about how it feels to be unhoused during this time to hear that they felt more isolated than ever .
Because this year , it ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sit in a Starbucks or a McDonald ’ s or spend a day in a library .
Even the usual turkey dinners were to-go this week because the organizations that are dedicated to helping them often can ’ t easily welcome them safely inside .
The Center , for instance , normally would invite all comers onto its patio most weekdays for Coffee Hour .
It ’ s meant to be a time for those living on the streets to be able to connect with others , to relax and feel a sense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get help if that ’ s what they want .
These days , Sheets told me , more and more people are “ showing up at our gates with complicated and complex needs .
Some have lost their incomes and are living out of their cars or maybe they ’ re still precariously housed but they don ’ t have enough money for food.
” There ’ s no easy way though to set up the patio safely during the pandemic , when the staff is trying to serve a large number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the gate , blocked by a table , where gloved and masked staff use a box to pass them cups of coffee , food and their mail if they ’ re using the Center as a mailing address , and take in their devices for an hour of charging .
I met Adam Montas , 31 , outside the Center one morning and he told me that the charging at the Center helped because otherwise he had to take the bus to Beverly Hills where ’ s he found some outdoor outlets hidden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ met a man who didn ’ t want to give his name but told me he was a union plumber without work for months and was struggling to make ends meet and hold on to his housing .
They seemed grateful enough for Coffee Hour in its current form , even if it ’ s not quite the communal experience it used to be .
And as I wandered the streets of the neighborhood stopping at little clumps of tents to talk to people , I heard something else I wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Butters told me that there ’ s less harassment now with fewer of us out competing for use of the sidewalks and that more people who live in apartments and houses nearby are stopping by to offer food and water and check up on him and his friends .
One of those friends , Cece McNeil , 28 , wheeled up on a bike as we were talking about that — and said she thought the pandemic experience might have softened people .
She ’ s been on and off the streets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bad family situation in Compton when she was 14 .
“ Before , they wasn ’ t worried about us .
They see us out here every day and they think , ‘ they ’ re making it , they know what to do.
’ A lot of people , they didn ’ t have hearts like that before , ” she said .
“ Now a lot of people are bringing us stuff , and they ’ re doing it out of the goodness of their hearts , not even looking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Because soon it could be them , you never know.
” I heard comments like that again and again as I talked to people .
And I also took in other things that made me feel a little more thankful .
Sheets told me that people who live near the Center have been “ coming out of the woodwork , ” offering to volunteer .
Some have more time available because they ’ re not commuting .
Others may be seeing their surroundings more clearly as they spend more time confined to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appetite to help is there , and I think people are seeking something to fill the void or the isolation that they ’ re feeling , to do something more , ” he said .
“ Their eyes have been opened that there ’ s an immense need on the streets in their neighborhood.
” I sense that , too , in my neighborhood chat rooms , where those angry at the large homeless presence often have shouted down those who dared to speak about helping them .
Now more people seem to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ join in .
Because we ’ re all struggling in our own ways right now .
And we all know there are more people on the streets than we have places to put them .
And jobs and affordable housing are hard to find , even when you have all your ducks in a row — which for a myriad of reasons a lot of people on the streets don ’ t .
And there ’ s the pandemic , which still rages on .
I ’ d like to think we all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the membrane between any of us and danger is thin , but thinner still if you are living on the street in a tent .

I have a roof over my head. I have heat. I have electricity. I have more than one bathroom to choose from. I have a kitchen full of food.
This past week, I set out to check up on people living on the streets of my Hollywood neighborhood because I couldn’t stop thinking about the extent of that privilege.
I couldn’t stop thinking in this time of Thanksgiving about how thankful I should be for my warm home, even if the COVID-19 pandemic sometimes makes me feel stir-crazy inside of it.
So many of us chafe right now at the inability because of pandemic restrictions to eat inside a restaurant or sip a coffee in a cafe or go browse the shelves of a public library.
Advertisement
But I couldn’t stop thinking about how much harder having such communal indoor spaces closed is on those of us who don’t have any indoors to call our own.
The people living on our streets used to be able to go inside public libraries and coffee shops to use bathrooms, to charge cellphones and hop on Wi-Fi, to find some respite from the harshness of living outside. Some got cheap gym memberships for ready access to showers, especially helpful when you have a job but no home.
Now temperatures are dropping and rainy days are ahead, and most of those options are unavailable — while shelter, as well as public toilets and hand-washing stations, remains in far too short supply.
P.J. Butters, 44, whose tent is clustered with others in a tight community on a block perpendicular to Vine Street, said he now sneaks into parking lots that have outlets to charge his phone and uses a bucket to clean up as best he can at a spigot he found in a nearby alley.
People who live in tents have found a quiet spot among residential developments on Homewood Avenue in Hollywood. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Tom Ponzo, 51, camping on a side street just north of Hollywood Boulevard, said nearby restaurants that are still open won’t let homeless people come inside to use their facilities. He can book appointments for showers at a church a few blocks away. But because there aren’t any public toilets close at hand, he and his unhoused neighbors often have to resort to bags and buckets when they need to go to the bathroom.
“Hopefully no one’s around when we do it. It’s embarrassing,” he told me.
These are people who also have to worry, as all of us do, about staying well in a deadly pandemic. But unlike many of us, they often can’t even easily wash their hands, and they have at best a thin membrane of tent to protect them from everyone else.
Advertisement
My neighborhood always has more homeless people than most because it has more services available to them. Naturally, it’s helpful to camp near where you can get a helping hand.
But the already sizable number of people living on my neighborhood’s streets before the pandemic appears to my eye to have been growing steadily.
It’s a challenge for the rest of the neighborhood — the other residents, the business owners — who often vent their frustration when trash piles up at encampments and sidewalks are blocked by tents.
And there certainly are more tents. In some areas, they stretch, one after another, down the sidewalks of whole blocks and then around the corners onto other ones.
What I’ve come to understand though is that seeing more tents right now may be a good sign — because a lot of them have been handed out by outreach teams working as hard as they can to try to keep those who lack housing well. These teams are out daily checking on people, testing them, handing out sanitizer and masks, and distributing tents to allow for some semblance of Safer at Home sequestering even when home is the street.
If there is no bed or room available for someone who tests positive for the virus, “at least they can isolate in a tent,” said Nathan Sheets, director of the Center in Hollywood, a nonprofit with the aim of ending isolation and homelessness, which has been running one of the outreach teams with medical staff from the Saban Community Clinic.
Obviously, isolating in a tent is not ideal, he said, but it’s worth noting that L.A. mercifully has not had the high number of coronavirus cases in the homeless population that many people feared at the start of the pandemic.
Some of those who live on the streets of my neighborhood don’t even have tents. They stretch out on hard sidewalk under thin sheets or blankets. They build lean-tos out of cardboard boxes and black garbage bags and tarps. Right under the 101, a few blocks from my home, on a crumbly dirt slope that will turn to mud when it rains, someone has patched together a little privacy out of palm fronds and scraps of wood.
I find it awkward sometimes, by the way, to approach such a dwelling, to call out “hello” to a zipped-up tent or a shelter of strung-together tarps. Often I have to steel myself to so abruptly invade the space of someone who has few means to fend off that invasion.
I feel that vulnerability deeply when I see a padlocked tent because a padlock on the zipper of a mesh tent door clearly offers so little real protection.
Ruben A. Colon, who lives in a tent on Carlos Avenue in Hollywood and describes himself as an “urban pilgrim,” said he misses reading and spending time with friends in libraries. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
“That’s why you have to find yourself a good community out here,” said Ruben A. Colon, 37, whose immaculate encampment — with great views of the Hollywood sign and the Capitol Records building — I found a half-dozen blocks from my home. Colon prefers to refer to himself not as a homeless person but as an “urban pilgrim,” he told me. And he loves to read and learn and used to spend whole days, especially the rainy ones, in various libraries.
“I’d usually go online, read a book, charge up, hang out with some friends, keep it low,” he said. Now he walks the neighborhood, bundles up on colder days and picks up books to read at the Little Free Libraries he finds on residential streets.
I was expecting when I went out on the streets to ask people about how it feels to be unhoused during this time to hear that they felt more isolated than ever. Because this year, it’s not just that they can’t go sit in a Starbucks or a McDonald’s or spend a day in a library. Even the usual turkey dinners were to-go this week because the organizations that are dedicated to helping them often can’t easily welcome them safely inside.
The Center, for instance, normally would invite all comers onto its patio most weekdays for Coffee Hour. It’s meant to be a time for those living on the streets to be able to connect with others, to relax and feel a sense of community — and to start to get help if that’s what they want. These days, Sheets told me, more and more people are “showing up at our gates with complicated and complex needs. Some have lost their incomes and are living out of their cars or maybe they’re still precariously housed but they don’t have enough money for food.”
There’s no easy way, though, to set up the patio safely during the pandemic, when the staff is trying to serve a large number of people. So people line up outside the gate, blocked by a table, where gloved and masked staffers use a box to pass them cups of coffee, food and their mail if they’re using the Center as a mailing address, and take in their devices for an hour of charging.
I met Adam Montas, 31, outside the Center one morning and he told me that the charging at the Center helped because otherwise he had to take the bus to Beverly Hills where’s he found some outdoor outlets hidden away in parks. I also met a man who didn’t want to give his name but told me he was a union plumber without work for months and was struggling to make ends meet and hold on to his housing.
They seemed grateful enough for Coffee Hour in its current form, even if it’s not quite the communal experience it used to be.
And as I wandered the streets of the neighborhood stopping at little clumps of tents to talk to people, I heard something else I wasn’t quite expecting. Off Vine Street, Butters told me, there’s less harassment now with fewer people competing for use of the sidewalks, and more people who live in apartments and houses nearby are stopping to offer food and water and check up on him and his friends.
One of those friends, Cece McNeil, 28, wheeled up on a bike as we were talking about that — and said she thought the pandemic experience might have softened people. She’s been on and off the streets, she told me, since she left a bad family situation in Compton when she was 14.
“Before, they wasn’t worried about us. They see us out here every day and they think, ‘they’re making it, they know what to do.’ A lot of people, they didn’t have hearts like that before,” she said. “Now a lot of people are bringing us stuff, and they’re doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, not even looking for pretty much anything in return. Because soon it could be them, you never know.”
I heard comments like that again and again as I talked to people. And I also took in other things that made me feel a little more thankful.
Sheets told me that people who live near the Center have been “coming out of the woodwork,” offering to volunteer. Some have more time available because they’re not commuting. Others may be seeing their surroundings more clearly as they spend more time confined to a small area.
“I think that appetite to help is there, and I think people are seeking something to fill the void or the isolation that they’re feeling, to do something more,” he said. “Their eyes have been opened that there’s an immense need on the streets in their neighborhood.”
I sense that, too, in my neighborhood chat rooms, where those angry at the large homeless presence often have shouted down those who dared to speak about helping them. Now more people seem to be asking what they can do to join in.
Because we’re all struggling in our own ways right now. And we all know there are more people on the streets than we have places to put them. And jobs and affordable housing are hard to find, even when you have all your ducks in a row — which, for myriad reasons, a lot of people on the streets don’t.
And there’s the pandemic, which still rages on.
I’d like to think we all understand a bit better, living through it, that the membrane between any of us and danger is thin, but thinner still if you are living on the street in a tent.


latimes--2020-11-28--A more sweeping stay-at-home order is likely if L.A. County can't slow COVID-19 spike

Los Angeles County officials said they are hoping a new set of restrictions can help slow the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases but warned that a tougher stay-at-home measure will be necessary if cases keep spiking .
Barbara Ferrer , the L.A. County health director , on Saturday said officials hope the more narrowly tailored restrictions will be sufficient to slow the spread of the coronavirus without reverting to stricter stay-at-home orders like those put in place in March .
She said the county is “ at a different place now than we were in March and April , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around masking and distancing .
“ Now that we do , it offers us a slightly different path forward , ” she said .
“ But I ’ ll be honest : It only offers us a different path forward if everyone ’ s doing it.
” The risk of allowing more people to be out , she said , is that the efforts to slow the spread will work only if people choose to observe safety precautions .
If they don ’ t , the county could find itself back where it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If this doesn ’ t work , and two to three weeks from now we find ourselves in a worse place than we are , we ’ re going to have to go back and look at what else do we have as options , because we can not continue to risk overwhelming the healthcare system , ” Ferrer said .
“ I don ’ t think there ’ s any disagreement about that — that ’ s a disaster that we have to avoid at all costs.
” Her comments came a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 pandemic order that prohibits most gatherings and discourages crowds , the latest in a series of desperate moves aimed at slowing coronavirus infections .
Gatherings — apart from outdoor church services and outdoor political protests — will be banned for three weeks starting Monday .
Retail stores will remain open , albeit at a more limited capacity .
The new order comes as L.A. County faces its worst crisis of the pandemic .
Both statewide and in L.A. County , average daily coronavirus cases have quadrupled in recent weeks , and hospitalizations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are also significantly up — tripling in L.A. County and close to doubling statewide in recent weeks .
As a region , Southern California has one of the highest average daily coronavirus rates in the state .
Over a seven-day period before Thanksgiving , Southern California counties reported an average of 40 daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents , the highest on record so far in the pandemic .
That ’ s more than twice as many as in the Bay Area , which reported an average of 17 daily coronavirus cases per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been rising so dramatically that officials across the state are warning that hospital beds could run short in a matter of weeks .
Should staffing at intensive care units be stretched beyond capacity , the mortality rate is sure to climb .
An run by the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says that without major changes in current policies or behavior , California is on track to double its cumulative death toll by the spring — from the current tally of more than 19,000 to more than 37,000 by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the last month in California and in Los Angeles County .
On Friday , statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations were nearly 7,000 , perilously close to the all-time high of 7,170 set in July .
A month ago , on Oct. 28 , there were about 2,400 COVID-19 patients in the state ’ s hospitals .
In L.A. County on Friday , more than 2,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 , according to state data released Saturday .
A month ago , the figure was 750 .
L.A. County is nearing its all-time high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ July .

Los Angeles County officials said they are hoping a new set of restrictions can help slow the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases but warned that a tougher stay-at-home measure will be necessary if cases keep spiking.
Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. County health director, on Saturday said officials hope the more narrowly tailored restrictions will be sufficient to slow the spread of the coronavirus without reverting to stricter stay-at-home orders like those put in place in March.
She said the county is “at a different place now than we were in March and April, when we didn’t have the science around masking and distancing.
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“Now that we do, it offers us a slightly different path forward,” she said. “But I’ll be honest: It only offers us a different path forward if everyone’s doing it.”
The risk of allowing more people to be out, she said, is that the efforts to slow the spread will work only if people choose to observe safety precautions. If they don’t, the county could find itself back where it was in the early spring.
“If this doesn’t work, and two to three weeks from now we find ourselves in a worse place than we are, we’re going to have to go back and look at what else do we have as options, because we cannot continue to risk overwhelming the healthcare system,” Ferrer said. “I don’t think there’s any disagreement about that — that’s a disaster that we have to avoid at all costs.”
Her comments came a day after the county issued a new COVID-19 pandemic order that prohibits most gatherings and discourages crowds, the latest in a series of desperate moves aimed at slowing coronavirus infections. Gatherings — apart from outdoor church services and outdoor political protests — will be banned for three weeks starting Monday. Retail stores will remain open, albeit at a more limited capacity.
Earlier this week, the county suspended outdoor restaurant dining.
The new order comes as L.A. County faces its worst crisis of the pandemic.
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Both statewide and in L.A. County, average daily coronavirus cases have quadrupled in recent weeks, and hospitalizations have tripled. COVID-19 deaths per day are also significantly up — tripling in L.A. County and close to doubling statewide in recent weeks.
As a region, Southern California has one of the highest average daily coronavirus rates in the state. Over a seven-day period before Thanksgiving, Southern California counties reported an average of 40 daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, the highest on record so far in the pandemic. That’s more than twice as many as in the Bay Area, which reported an average of 17 daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents.
The case rate has been rising so dramatically that officials across the state are warning that hospital beds could run short in a matter of weeks. Should staffing at intensive care units be stretched beyond capacity, the mortality rate is sure to climb.
An influential model run by the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says that without major changes in current policies or behavior, California is on track to double its cumulative death toll by the spring — from the current tally of more than 19,000 to more than 37,000 by March 1.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have tripled in the last month in California and in Los Angeles County. On Friday, statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations were nearly 7,000, perilously close to the all-time high of 7,170 set in July. A month ago, on Oct. 28, there were about 2,400 COVID-19 patients in the state’s hospitals.
In L.A. County on Friday, more than 2,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to state data released Saturday. A month ago, the figure was 750. L.A. County is nearing its all-time high of 2,232 COVID-19 hospitalizations, seen in July.


latimes--2020-11-28--Bay Area tightens COVID-19 restrictions; Santa Clara County orders travel quarantine

As the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly worsens across California , San Francisco and San Mateo counties on Saturday were moved into the state ’ s most restrictive tier , which forces the closure of indoor gyms and movie theaters .
At the same time , Santa Clara County issued its own tightened COVID-19 rules that in some ways are stricter than the ones issued by Los Angeles County on Friday .
Under Santa Clara County ‘ s directive , people must quarantine for 14 days upon return from travel of more than 150 miles , hotels will be open for only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and nonessential retail establishments will be limited to 10 % of capacity indoors , down from the current cap of 25 % .
The backward steps come as statewide hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have tripled in the last month , coming perilously close to exceeding their summer peak .
According to data released Saturday by the state Department of Public Health , on Friday there were 6,972 people infected with the coronavirus in hospitals statewide .
On Oct. 25 , that number was 2,254 .
The all-time high for hospitalizations is 7,170 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 1.18 million people have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 19,000 have died in California .
San Francisco had been able to avoid the state ’ s most restrictive “ purple ” tier , but the rate of new coronavirus cases in the Bay Area has continued to explode up in recent days .
In just the last six weeks , weekly coronavirus cases have more than quadrupled , from about 200 a week in mid-October to about 900 a week now .
A Times analysis published Friday found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their worst daily new coronavirus case rates of the pandemic , surpassing even the summer surge that forced officials to roll back the state ’ s first reopening .
The state Department of Public Health announced Saturday that six counties had fallen into the most restrictive tier of the state ’ s reopening framework : San Francisco , San Mateo , Plumas , Lake , Modoc and Calaveras counties .
Three counties fell into the red tier : Mariposa , Inyo and Alpine .
The changes mean that 51 of California ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tier , accounting for 99 % of the state ’ s population , or 38.8 million people out of California ’ s 39.1 million residents .
Purple tier counties are required to shut indoor operations of restaurants , gyms and houses of worship .
Counties in the purple tier are subject to the state ’ s limited overnight stay-at-home order , which prohibits all gatherings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and all nonessential activities outside the home during those hours , with exceptions such as to get groceries , take walks with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ takeout food and work in essential industries such as meal preparation .
The only counties not in the purple tier are Marin , Amador , Plumas , Inyo , Mariposa , Mono and Alpine , which are in the red , or second-most restrictive tier , and Sierra , which is the orange tier , the third-most restrictive tier .
San Francisco had already ordered the shutdown of indoor restaurant dining rooms starting Nov. 14 .
Beginning Sunday at noon , indoor operations of houses of worship , movie theaters , gyms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forbidden .
Outdoor carousels and Ferris wheels must close , and nonessential retail will be capped at 25 % of capacity .
Schools already open for instruction may continue to offer indoor learning , and elementary schools that have not yet opened may continue applying for waivers to reopen for indoor operations , San Francisco officials said .
Middle and high schools that haven ’ t opened may not open for indoor instruction but may apply to provide outdoor-only learning , officials said .
San Mateo County will order the suspension of indoor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an 85 % surge in coronavirus cases from October to November .
“ We have not seen numbers like this in quite a while and we really need to reverse this incredibly troubling trend , ” County Manager Mike Callagy said in a statement .
“ What ’ s important to remember is that we can reverse the trend as long as we follow common-sense health and safety practices.
” Santa Clara County , the home of Silicon Valley , on Saturday issued its own mandatory directive on travel that “ strongly discourages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persons entering the county to quarantine for 14 days upon return from travel of more than 150 miles.
” Those new directives will take effect on Monday and last until at least Dec. 21 .
“ I am gravely concerned by the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations , ” Santa Clara County health officer Dr. Sara Cody said in a statement .
“ The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in our county has doubled in just the past couple of weeks , and we are at risk of exceeding our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue , ” Cody said .
“ During this critical time of surging COVID-19 transmission in our community , I urge every resident to exercise caution and to the greatest extent possible , minimize contact with anyone outside of your immediate household.
” Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Santa Clara County have tripled in the last month and now exceed the record set in the summertime .
Officials say they are worried about hospitals reaching capacity .
Santa Clara County issued new orders Saturday that will even further limit indoor nonessential retail establishments to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stricter limit than the one required under the state ’ s purple tier , which limits those venues to at 25 % of capacity .
Essential retail in Santa Clara County , like grocery stores and pharmacies , will be capped at 25 % of capacity , also stricter than the 50 % that the state allows .
Among the other changes in Santa Clara County , according to a statement : • All facilities open to the public must establish a “ metering system ” to ensure that capacity limits are not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the entrance tracking people inside .
• Outdoor gatherings for religious services and political demonstrations are now capped to a maximum of 100 people .
• All recreational activities that involve physical contact or close proximity to people outside of one ’ s household are prohibited .
• Cardrooms are closed .
• Hotels and other lodging facilities will be open only for essential travel and for use to facilitate isolation or quarantine .
Health officers from San Francisco , Alameda , Contra Costa and Marin counties and the city of Berkeley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s stringent new rules .
The health officers in the other Bay Area counties said that while they haven ’ t yet reached the same point of crisis as Santa Clara County , “ they may also have to take similar actions soon in order to preserve remaining regional hospital capacity , ” they said in a joint statement late Saturday .
Hospitalizations among those with COVID-19 have tripled in the last month , from 262 to 759 as of Friday , the officials said .
“ What we see in the South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the whole Bay Area .
These actions will help slow the spread of COVID in Santa Clara County and beyond , ” Dr. Nicholas Moss , the Alameda County health officer , said in the statement .
Los Angeles County on Friday also announced stricter coronavirus rules .
Starting Monday , essential retail stores are to be limited to 35 % of capacity , down from the current cap of 50 % .
Nonessential retail stores , malls , libraries and personal care establishments such as hair salons , barbershops , nail salons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ massage therapy are to be limited to 20 % of capacity ; currently , they can operate at 25 % of capacity .

As the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly worsens across California, San Francisco and San Mateo counties on Saturday were moved into the state’s most restrictive tier, which forces the closure of indoor gyms and movie theaters.
At the same time, Santa Clara County issued its own tightened COVID-19 rules that in some ways are stricter than the ones issued by Los Angeles County on Friday. Under Santa Clara County’s directive, people must quarantine for 14 days after returning from travel of more than 150 miles, hotels will be open for only essential travel or isolation and quarantine, and nonessential retail establishments will be limited to 10% of capacity indoors, down from the current cap of 25%.
The backward steps come as statewide hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have tripled in the last month, exceeding their summer peak.
According to data released Sunday by the state Department of Public Health, 7,415 people infected with the coronavirus were in hospitals statewide Saturday, breaking the all-time high of 7,170 set in July. The number of COVID-19 patients in California’s hospitals has tripled since Halloween, when it was about 2,500.
In all, more than 1.2 million people have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 19,100 have died in California.
San Francisco had been able to avoid the most restrictive, purple tier of the state’s color-coded reopening framework, but the rate of new coronavirus cases there has continued to surge in recent days. In just the last six weeks, weekly coronavirus cases have more than quadrupled, from about 200 a week in mid-October to about 900 a week now.
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A Times analysis published Friday found that most California counties are now suffering their worst daily new coronavirus case rates of the pandemic, surpassing even the summer surge that forced officials to roll back the state’s first reopening.
The state Department of Public Health announced Saturday that six counties had fallen into the most restrictive tier: San Francisco, San Mateo, Plumas, Lake, Modoc and Calaveras. Three counties fell into the red tier: Mariposa, Inyo and Alpine.
The changes mean that 51 of California’s 58 counties are now in the purple tier, accounting for 99% of the state’s population, or 38.8 million of California’s 39.1 million residents. Those counties are required to shut indoor operations of restaurants, gyms and houses of worship.
Counties in the purple tier are subject to the state’s limited overnight stay-at-home order, which prohibits all gatherings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and all nonessential activities outside the home during those hours, with exceptions such as to get groceries, take walks with household members, pick up takeout food and work in essential industries such as meal preparation.
The only counties not in the purple tier are Marin, Amador, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono and Alpine, which are in the red, or second-most restrictive tier, and Sierra, which is in the orange tier, the third-most restrictive.
San Francisco had already ordered the shutdown of indoor restaurant dining rooms starting Nov. 14. Beginning Sunday at noon, indoor operations at houses of worship, movie theaters, gyms, museums, aquariums and zoos were forbidden. Outdoor carousels and Ferris wheels were ordered closed and nonessential retail capped at 25% of capacity.
Schools already open for instruction may continue to offer indoor learning, and elementary schools that have not yet opened may continue applying for waivers to reopen for indoor operations, San Francisco officials said. Middle and high schools that haven’t opened may not open for indoor instruction but may apply to provide outdoor-only learning, officials said.
San Mateo County ordered the suspension of indoor dining effective Sunday after officials there reported an 85% increase in coronavirus cases from October to November.
“We have not seen numbers like this in quite a while, and we really need to reverse this incredibly troubling trend,” County Manager Mike Callagy said in a statement. “What’s important to remember is that we can reverse the trend as long as we follow common-sense health and safety practices.”
Santa Clara County, the home of Silicon Valley, on Saturday issued its own mandatory directive on travel that “strongly discourages leisure and nonessential travel, and requires persons entering the county to quarantine for 14 days upon return from travel of more than 150 miles.” Those new directives take effect Monday and last until at least Dec. 21.
“I am gravely concerned by the continuing surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations,” Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s health officer, said in a statement.
“The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in our county has doubled in just the past couple of weeks, and we are at risk of exceeding our hospital capacity very soon if current trends continue,” Cody said. “During this critical time of surging COVID-19 transmission in our community, I urge every resident to exercise caution and to the greatest extent possible, minimize contact with anyone outside of your immediate household.”
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Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Santa Clara County have tripled in the last month and now exceed the record set in the summertime. Officials say they are worried about hospitals reaching capacity.
Santa Clara County’s new Saturday order even further limits indoor nonessential retail establishments to 10% of capacity, a far stricter limit than the one required under the state’s restrictions for counties in the purple tier, which limits those venues to 25% of capacity.
Essential retail in Santa Clara County, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, is capped at 25% of capacity, also stricter than the 50% that the state allows.
Among the other changes in Santa Clara County, according to a statement:
All facilities open to the public must establish a “metering system” to ensure that capacity limits are not exceeded, such as by a worker at the entrance tracking people inside.
Outdoor gatherings for religious services and political demonstrations are now capped to a maximum of 100 people.
All recreational activities that involve physical contact or close proximity to people outside of one’s household are prohibited.
Card rooms are closed.
Hotels and other lodging facilities will be open only for essential travel and for use to facilitate isolation or quarantine.
Health officers from San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties and the city of Berkeley expressed support for Santa Clara County’s stringent new rules.
The health officers in the other Bay Area counties said that although they haven’t yet reached the same point of crisis as Santa Clara County, “they may also have to take similar actions soon in order to preserve remaining regional hospital capacity,” they said in a joint statement late Saturday.
Hospitalizations among those with COVID-19 have tripled in the last month, from 262 to 759 as of Friday, the officials said.
“What we see in the South Bay today we may soon see across the whole Bay Area. These actions will help slow the spread of COVID in Santa Clara County and beyond,” Dr. Nicholas Moss, the Alameda County health officer, said in the statement.
Los Angeles County on Friday also announced stricter coronavirus rules. Starting Monday, essential retail stores are to be limited to 35% of capacity, down from the current cap of 50%.
Nonessential retail stores, malls, libraries and personal care establishments such as hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, piercing shops, tanning services and massage therapists are to be limited to 20% of capacity; currently, they can operate at 25% of capacity.


latimes--2020-11-28--Pasadena stepping up enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions and may consider new rules

After agreeing to continue allowing outdoor dining , Pasadena is stepping up enforcement of coronavirus rules and may consider new restrictions amid a statewide surge in new cases and hospitalizations .
The city , which is one of two in Los Angeles County with its own health department , decided not to follow the countywide ban on in-person dining at restaurants .
Its city council opted this week to permit restaurants to remain open for outdoor service , provided they take the proper precautions .
The council did not vote on the move , which came after an extensive discussion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reassess the situation on a daily basis , said Pasadena city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian .
“ The city has invested a lot of money and the restaurants have invested a lot of money in their heaters and their tents so we are trying very hard to work with them , ” Derderian said .
But compliance has been mixed .
Health inspectors conducted about 60 site visits Wednesday and Thursday , and the majority of restaurants — more than 40 — were violating the rules , she said .
“ The most common @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not properly distanced and enclosed dining areas , ” she said .
On Friday , follow-up inspections found that five of the restaurants had not taken basic steps to correct the violations , and those locations were shut down for in-person dining and takeout and delivery services , Derderian said .
The restaurants must go through a hearing and re-inspection before they can reopen , a process that is expected to take several days , she said .
“ Each restaurant probably has 30 to 40 employees that are now affected by this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abiding by the simple regulations , ” Derderian said .
The city ’ s management team plans to meet with its health officer and hospital officials Monday to decide whether it ’ s necessary to modify existing health orders , including by ending outdoor dining .
“ I hope we don ’ t get to that point but that is a possibility , ” Derderian said .
“ This is where we need everybody to really be cognizant of their day-to-day activities and looking out for each other because it ’ s going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.
” Still , she said , city officials believe that restaurants “ are a small percentage of the bigger picture when it comes to the COVID numbers.
” Large gatherings continue to pose a problem , particularly at the city ’ s numerous parks and outdoor areas , Derderian said .
This weekend , the city is dispatching enforcement teams consisting of health inspectors and code compliance officers to parks and the Rose Bowl loop to break up gatherings and write citations if needed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get involved only as a last resort “ if it turns into noncompliance or any type of confrontation , ” she said .
“ We want people to get out for their mental and physical well-being but where we see these softball and soccer games going on , families cheering on their kids while they ’ re playing , not wearing masks , that ’ s prohibited , ” Derderian said .
“ So unfortunately we ’ ll be breaking up those activities .
”

After agreeing to continue allowing outdoor dining, Pasadena is stepping up enforcement of coronavirus rules and may consider new restrictions amid a statewide surge in new cases and hospitalizations.
The city, which is one of two in Los Angeles County with its own health department, decided not to follow the countywide ban on in-person dining at restaurants. Its city council opted this week to permit restaurants to remain open for outdoor service, provided they take the proper precautions. The council did not vote on the move, which came after an extensive discussion and public comment, but decided to reassess the situation on a daily basis, said Pasadena city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian.
For the record: An earlier version of this article said the Pasadena City Council voted this week to permit restaurants to remain open for outdoor service. It did not vote on the matter.
“The city has invested a lot of money and the restaurants have invested a lot of money in their heaters and their tents so we are trying very hard to work with them,” Derderian said.
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But compliance has been mixed. Health inspectors conducted about 60 site visits Wednesday and Thursday, and the majority of restaurants — more than 40 — were violating the rules, she said.
“The most common violations included no face shields, tables not properly distanced and enclosed dining areas,” she said.
On Friday, follow-up inspections found that five of the restaurants had not taken basic steps to correct the violations, and those locations were shut down for in-person dining and takeout and delivery services, Derderian said. The restaurants must go through a hearing and re-inspection before they can reopen, a process that is expected to take several days, she said.
“Each restaurant probably has 30 to 40 employees that are now affected by this, so it impacts many by not abiding by the simple regulations,” Derderian said.
The city’s management team plans to meet with its health officer and hospital officials Monday to decide whether it’s necessary to modify existing health orders, including by ending outdoor dining.
“I hope we don’t get to that point but that is a possibility,” Derderian said. “This is where we need everybody to really be cognizant of their day-to-day activities and looking out for each other because it’s going to affect a much bigger audience if just a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.”
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Still, she said, city officials believe that restaurants “are a small percentage of the bigger picture when it comes to the COVID numbers.”
Large gatherings continue to pose a problem, particularly at the city’s numerous parks and outdoor areas, Derderian said.
This weekend, the city is dispatching enforcement teams consisting of health inspectors and code compliance officers to parks and the Rose Bowl loop to break up gatherings and write citations if needed, she said.
Police officers will get involved only as a last resort “if it turns into noncompliance or any type of confrontation,” she said.
“We want people to get out for their mental and physical well-being but where we see these softball and soccer games going on, families cheering on their kids while they’re playing, not wearing masks, that’s prohibited,” Derderian said. “So unfortunately we’ll be breaking up those activities.”