latimes--2020-12-06--L.A. began 2020 with a clean-air streak but ended with its worst smog in decades

The year began with Los Angeles enjoying a 21-day stretch of smog-free days that overlapped with the start of coronavirus stay-at-home orders , fueling hopes that dramatic cuts in driving would at least clean the air .
That turned out to be wishful thinking .
The year 2020 will instead go down as one of Southern California ’ s smoggiest in decades .
Once the air-cleansing March weather went away , the region plunged into a late spring and summer with intense heat waves that contributed to the worst ozone pollution readings and highest number of bad air days since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels throughout the region , from inland areas to the coast .
By fall , the state had experienced the worst and most widespread bout of health-damaging wildfire smoke on record .
In all , this year there were 157 bad air days for ozone pollution — the invisible , lung-searing gas in smog — across the vast , coast-to-mountains basin spanning Los Angeles , Orange , Riverside and San Bernardino counties .
That ’ s the most days above the federal health standard since 1997 .
“ There ’ s no sugarcoating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really bad ozone year , ” said Philip Fine , a deputy executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District .
The region has also had more than 30 bad air days for fine-particle pollution , or soot .
Those numbers were boosted by a pall of smoke from local wildfires and blowing in from conflagrations up and down the West Coast .
More bad air days are likely before the year ’ s end due to cool , pollution-trapping weather that concentrates soot near the ground .
The exceptionally poor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of faltering progress reducing ozone , which triggers asthma attacks and other health problems .
At the same time it has increased pressure on regulators to rein in ports , oil refineries and other big polluters and put the nation ’ s smoggiest region on a path to clean its air to federal health standards .
Scientists are working to understand the influence of climate change , wildfires , vehicle emissions and lesser-known pollution sources such as the fumes released by disinfectants and other consumer products .
They said the pandemic gave them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happens when you drastically curtail one source of pollution .
What became evident is that decades of regulations have cut passenger vehicle emissions so dramatically that they are no longer California ’ s dominant source of smog-forming pollution .
“ We learned unambiguously that if you just take half the cars off the road , that cleans up the CO2 quite a lot , but CO2 doesn ’ t contribute to smog , ” said Ronald Cohen , professor of atmospheric chemistry at UC Berkeley .
“ And that removing half the vehicles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ L..A.
” “ So you can ’ t just cut driving and stop smog , unfortunately , ” Cohen said .
“ It ’ s possible that with cars we ’ ll only be clean enough when we go all electric.
” Extreme temperatures were a big reason why the air was so dirty .
More than any fluctuation in emissions , heat is often what determines whether air quality will be unhealthy on any given day , because it fuels the photochemical reactions that form ozone .
Air quality officials noted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and fall , times of the year in which ozone pollution is typically lower than in the heat of the summer .
The highest ozone pollution level recorded in downtown Los Angeles in 26 years — a reading of 185 parts per billion — occurred during a blistering heat wave on Sept. 6 , the same day L.A. County exceeded 120 degrees for the first time on record .
It is also possible that the response to the pandemic altered the mix of pollutants that generate ozone , which is not emitted directly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other pollutants react in the heat and sunlight .
Reducing ozone requires carefully balanced cuts in two main smog-forming pollutants — combustion gases called nitrogen oxides and chemical vapors and solvents called volatile organic compounds — and regulators have long known that cutting them in the wrong proportion could bring no ozone reductions at all or even increase smog levels .
The South Coast air district estimates that emissions of nitrogen oxides were reduced by about 20 % during stay-at-home orders that drastically reduced driving early in the pandemic , and have since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists are focusing their attention on those other types of ozone-generating pollutants , volatile organic compounds , that can be released by everything from paint , hairspray and other consumer products to trees and plants .
Those non-traffic emissions stayed constant or may have increased during the pandemic , and experts think they are playing a much more dominant role in smog formation than in years past .
“ People expected with that level of traffic reductions , you ’ d have nothing but blue skies and fresh air , and clearly that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael Kleeman , a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis .
“ So it really does force you to think outside the conventional box.
” One theory that air quality regulators have floated is that the pandemic increased use of germ-fighting cleaners and disinfectants , many of which evaporate and release volatile organic compounds that can contribute to smog .
Consumer products are the region ’ s largest single source of volatile organic compounds .
Fine , of the South Coast air district , said that “ we don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the VOC emissions because it could be some drop due to less traffic , less activity .
But also there ’ s just a lot of sales of disinfection equipment , and people are spraying things everywhere.
” Air monitor readings have not shown any significant increase in pollutants generated by cleaning chemicals , he said , but “ people are using more of it , and it has the potential to increase VOC emissions .
Now we don ’ t know whether that increase is negligible or whether that increase is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more work on that.
” The year ’ s dirty air marks the latest setback to efforts to reduce smog in the nation ’ s most polluted region .
Despite dramatic emissions reductions over decades , officials have failed to clean Southern California ’ s ozone pollution to federal air quality standards .
The region still does not meet the health standard for ozone set more than 40 years ago when Jimmy Carter was president , or three stricter standards issued since .
Based on this year ’ s high smog readings alone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it will not be possible to meet the least stringent of those standards by a 2022 deadline .
In October , more than a dozen environmental groups and community organizations filed a petition urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine that the South Coast region has failed to meet that standard and to require the air district to devise a control strategy that will protect public health , citing the harm to millions “ forced to breathe this noxious air.
” Environmentalists said they are more broadly concerned that the region ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking its foot off the gas pedal at a time when smog reductions have stalled .
They point to delays in adopting major rules , including measures targeting oil refineries as well as warehouses and other hubs for diesel truck pollution .
In some cases , the air district has cited the coronavirus as reason for holding off .
But environmentalists say the district ’ s governing board , made up mostly of local politicians , is simply unwilling to take tough action to rein in pollution .
“ We do see a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isn ’ t doing their job , ” said Regina Hsu , an attorney with the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice .
“ This year , as we see one of the worst years for ozone pollution , there ’ s just been more and more delay of the regulations that communities have been asking for for years.
” Wayne Nastri , the South Coast air district ’ s executive officer , said it ’ s hard to say whether the recent increase in smog would motivate swifter action against the biggest polluters .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reduce emissions from refineries and warehouse logistic centers , among other facilities , and was committed to “ doing everything we can , within our authority.
” Health experts said the smog increase couldn ’ t have come at a worse time , attacking people ’ s lungs during a pandemic in which respiratory health is paramount , when there is some evidence that people living in the most polluted areas are more susceptible to COVID-19 .
“ It ’ s one public health challenge on top of another , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health .
Zhu said that air quality regulators need to factor into their decisions the reality that two major drivers of smog — wildfires and extreme temperatures — are getting worse because of climate change .
Hotter temperatures from global warming , in addition to fueling increases in wildfire emissions , make controlling smog more difficult by speeding up the photochemical reactions that form ozone pollution — something that Nastri said he thinks is now being borne out Southern California .
The South Coast air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change but has remained cautious about linking it to recent smog increases .
Under current EPA protocols , pollution-reduction plans required under the Clean Air Act do not account for rising temperatures from climate change .
Doing so would require tougher regulations and steeper emissions cuts , officials acknowledge .
In a presentation last month to its governing board , air district staff discussed the climate ’ s impacts on smog in hypothetical terms , saying that “ if a changing climate causes these extreme weather and wildfire events to continue or get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be even more challenging .
”

Smoke from a wildfire fouls the air and shrouds the view of the Hollywood sign from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on Sept. 14, 2020.
The year began with Los Angeles enjoying a 21-day stretch of smog-free days that overlapped with the start of coronavirus stay-at-home orders, fueling hopes that dramatic cuts in driving would at least clean the air.
That turned out to be wishful thinking. The year 2020 will instead go down as one of Southern California’s smoggiest in decades.
Once the air-cleansing March weather went away, the region plunged into a late spring and summer with intense heat waves that contributed to the worst ozone pollution readings and highest number of bad air days since the mid-1990s. Smog hit abnormally high levels throughout the region, from inland areas to the coast. By fall, the state had experienced the worst and most widespread bout of health-damaging wildfire smoke on record.
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In all, this year there were 157 bad air days for ozone pollution — the invisible, lung-searing gas in smog — across the vast, coast-to-mountains basin spanning Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. That’s the most days above the federal health standard since 1997.
“There’s no sugarcoating it, this was a really, really bad ozone year,” said Philip Fine, a deputy executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The region has also had more than 30 bad air days for fine-particle pollution, or soot. Those numbers were boosted by a pall of smoke from local wildfires and blowing in from conflagrations up and down the West Coast. More bad air days are likely before the year’s end due to cool, pollution-trapping weather that concentrates soot near the ground.
The exceptionally poor air quality adds to a years-long trend of faltering progress reducing ozone, which triggers asthma attacks and other health problems. At the same time it has increased pressure on regulators to rein in ports, oil refineries and other big polluters and put the nation’s smoggiest region on a path to clean its air to federal health standards.
Scientists are working to understand the influence of climate change, wildfires, vehicle emissions and lesser-known pollution sources such as the fumes released by disinfectants and other consumer products. They said the pandemic gave them an unparalleled natural experiment, showing what happens when you drastically curtail one source of pollution. What became evident is that decades of regulations have cut passenger vehicle emissions so dramatically that they are no longer California’s dominant source of smog-forming pollution.
“We learned unambiguously that if you just take half the cars off the road, that cleans up the CO2 quite a lot, but CO2 doesn’t contribute to smog,” said Ronald Cohen, professor of atmospheric chemistry at UC Berkeley. “And that removing half the vehicles is not enough to control smog in L.A.”
Advertisement
“So you can’t just cut driving and stop smog, unfortunately,” Cohen said. “It’s possible that with cars we’ll only be clean enough when we go all electric.”
Extreme temperatures were a big reason why the air was so dirty. More than any fluctuation in emissions, heat is often what determines whether air quality will be unhealthy on any given day, because it fuels the photochemical reactions that form ozone. Air quality officials noted that temperatures were unusually high in the spring and fall, times of the year in which ozone pollution is typically lower than in the heat of the summer.
The highest ozone pollution level recorded in downtown Los Angeles in 26 years — a reading of 185 parts per billion — occurred during a blistering heat wave on Sept. 6, the same day L.A. County exceeded 120 degrees for the first time on record.
California Los Angeles suffers worst smog in almost 30 years Air quality officials said the high pollution readings were a result of intense heat combined with stagnant weather conditions.
It is also possible that the response to the pandemic altered the mix of pollutants that generate ozone, which is not emitted directly, but forms when tailpipe emissions and other pollutants react in the heat and sunlight.
Reducing ozone requires carefully balanced cuts in two main smog-forming pollutants — combustion gases called nitrogen oxides and chemical vapors and solvents called volatile organic compounds — and regulators have long known that cutting them in the wrong proportion could bring no ozone reductions at all or even increase smog levels.
The South Coast air district estimates that emissions of nitrogen oxides were reduced by about 20% during stay-at-home orders that drastically reduced driving early in the pandemic, and have since mostly rebounded.
Air quality officials and scientists are focusing their attention on those other types of ozone-generating pollutants, volatile organic compounds, that can be released by everything from paint, hairspray and other consumer products to trees and plants. Those non-traffic emissions stayed constant or may have increased during the pandemic, and experts think they are playing a much more dominant role in smog formation than in years past.
“People expected with that level of traffic reductions, you’d have nothing but blue skies and fresh air, and clearly that didn’t happen,” said Michael Kleeman, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. “So it really does force you to think outside the conventional box.”
One theory that air quality regulators have floated is that the pandemic increased use of germ-fighting cleaners and disinfectants, many of which evaporate and release volatile organic compounds that can contribute to smog. Consumer products are the region’s largest single source of volatile organic compounds.
Fine, of the South Coast air district, said that “we don’t know what’s going on with the VOC emissions because it could be some drop due to less traffic, less activity. But also there’s just a lot of sales of disinfection equipment, and people are spraying things everywhere.”
Air monitor readings have not shown any significant increase in pollutants generated by cleaning chemicals, he said, but “people are using more of it, and it has the potential to increase VOC emissions. Now we don’t know whether that increase is negligible or whether that increase is significant. But we need to do more work on that.”
The year’s dirty air marks the latest setback to efforts to reduce smog in the nation’s most polluted region. Despite dramatic emissions reductions over decades, officials have failed to clean Southern California’s ozone pollution to federal air quality standards. The region still does not meet the health standard for ozone set more than 40 years ago when Jimmy Carter was president, or three stricter standards issued since.
Based on this year’s high smog readings alone, the South Coast air district said it will not be possible to meet the least stringent of those standards by a 2022 deadline.
In October, more than a dozen environmental groups and community organizations filed a petition urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine that the South Coast region has failed to meet that standard and to require the air district to devise a control strategy that will protect public health, citing the harm to millions “forced to breathe this noxious air.”
Environmentalists said they are more broadly concerned that the region’s air quality agency seems to be taking its foot off the gas pedal at a time when smog reductions have stalled.
They point to delays in adopting major rules, including measures targeting oil refineries as well as warehouses and other hubs for diesel truck pollution. In some cases, the air district has cited the coronavirus as reason for holding off. But environmentalists say the district’s governing board, made up mostly of local politicians, is simply unwilling to take tough action to rein in pollution.
“We do see a political problem where the air district just isn’t doing their job,” said Regina Hsu, an attorney with the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice. “This year, as we see one of the worst years for ozone pollution, there’s just been more and more delay of the regulations that communities have been asking for for years.”
Wayne Nastri, the South Coast air district’s executive officer, said it’s hard to say whether the recent increase in smog would motivate swifter action against the biggest polluters. He said the agency was moving aggressively to reduce emissions from refineries and warehouse logistic centers, among other facilities, and was committed to “doing everything we can, within our authority.”
Health experts said the smog increase couldn’t have come at a worse time, attacking people’s lungs during a pandemic in which respiratory health is paramount, when there is some evidence that people living in the most polluted areas are more susceptible to COVID-19.
“It’s one public health challenge on top of another,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Zhu said that air quality regulators need to factor into their decisions the reality that two major drivers of smog — wildfires and extreme temperatures — are getting worse because of climate change.
Hotter temperatures from global warming, in addition to fueling increases in wildfire emissions, make controlling smog more difficult by speeding up the photochemical reactions that form ozone pollution — something that Nastri said he thinks is now being borne out Southern California.
The South Coast air district is studying the role of climate change but has remained cautious about linking it to recent smog increases. Under current EPA protocols, pollution-reduction plans required under the Clean Air Act do not account for rising temperatures from climate change. Doing so would require tougher regulations and steeper emissions cuts, officials acknowledge.
In a presentation last month to its governing board, air district staff discussed the climate’s impacts on smog in hypothetical terms, saying that “if a changing climate causes these extreme weather and wildfire events to continue or get worse, attainment of future standards will be even more challenging.”


latimes--2020-12-06--Column: This Mexican nerd's guide to coronavirus lockdown reading

So ready for the coming lockdowns ?
Of course you ’ re not !
That ’ s why your humble columnist is here to help the best way a nerdy Mexican with glasses can : offer a Christmas reading list .
One of the few good things Southern California saw in 2020 was a bounty of history books on the region .
The ones I ’ m going to recommend all hit issues — protests , politics , representation and the Dodgers — that are ever-present ’ round here but which shared the spotlight with the coronavirus .
What ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote in “ The Tempest , ” and these tomes not only remind us of that but also offer a way forward from our current mess .
So bundle up with some to-go coffee in hand , a mask by your side , and find a moment of distraction from a year with the scope of Tolstoy , the heaviness of Joan Didion , the absurdity of David Foster Wallace and the Gothic horror of Mary Shelley .
Mike Davis and Jon Wiener have long been the Jeremiah and Ezekiel of the Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for their fulminations against corruption national and international .
“ Set the Night on Fire : L.A. in the Sixties ” represents their first major work together , an 800-page beast that benefits from the knowledge of these grizzled prophets that there is nothing new under the activist sun .
Their book offers a semblance of a narrative by patching together chapters on disparate social justice movements from that decade — Black Power , the Chicano Blowouts , feminism , the underground press — that fought for their causes but rarely intersected .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ remind readers of the unlikely roots of local institutions now long past their glory days : KPFK-FM 90.7 before it became an endless fund drive loop , the Archdiocese of Los Angeles when it was a far-right outfit instead of today ’ s open-borders champion .
The stories Davis and Wiener gather aren ’ t exactly new , but few historians ever bothered to gather them together — and none had the institutional knowledge and bomb-throwing mien of the authors .
The story of how Los Angeles officials booted out Latino families from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dodgers has been portrayed in books and documentaries , turned into a play by Culture Clash and even inspired a concept album by Ry Cooder .
So “ Stealing Home : Los Angeles , the Dodgers , and the Lives Caught in Between , ” by Eric Nusbaum , looks superfluous at first glance .
But the sportswriter crafted a quick , elegiac read by focusing on an angle totally relevant today that makes this well-known epic seem ripped from the proverbial headlines : housing .
He highlights the Aréchiga family , nowadays @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dragged away from their home by L.A. County sheriff ’ s deputies as the Dodgers were marching toward a World Series title at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum .
The parallels between 1959 and today — on Thanksgiving eve , California Highway Patrol officers ousted Latino families from long-vacant homes in El Sereno with the Dodgers ’ most recent championship barely a month old — are obvious .
But Nusbaum handles them gracefully , without hammering away at the point like Wally Moon used to launch baseballs into the Coliseum seats so long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s moral reckoning in the wake of George Floyd ’ s killing was a reexamination of our local histories : who gets celebrated , and who gets ignored .
On Instagram , I ’ m now seeing young people make archival photos and newspaper clippings go viral , while others create online projects or tours to document the hidden histories of their communities .
To them , I ’ d recommend the anthology “ East of East : The Making of Greater El Monte.
” It ’ s the culmination of a long-standing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Posse , a collective of artists , authors , urban planners and even swap meet sellers committed to write their too-often overlooked hometown into the Southern California narrative .
Contributors resuscitate heroines like Toypurina , the Tongva medicine woman who tried to lead an uprising in the early days of California ’ s mission system .
They knock down villains like the Monte Boys , whom city fathers long portrayed as just some good ol ’ boys out of “ Gunsmoke ” but were really racist vigilantes .
Locations like Durfee Avenue and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Whittier Boulevard or Sunset .
Best of all , “ East of East ” is both chronicle and challenge to all of us : Know your local history , document it and spread its gospel to the world , no matter how seemingly small .
And though Geraldo Cadava ’ s “ The Hispanic Republican : The Shaping of an American Political Identity , from Nixon to Trump ” is national in scope , California Latinos play an outsize role in the phenomenon .
The Northwestern professor wisely doesn ’ t use academic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ secret history of American politics that became particularly relevant this election cycle .
Cadava shows how , although always the caboose of the GOP train , Latino conservatives from Southern California helped Republican presidential campaigns going back to Eisenhower .
This group arguably found their Zapata in Richard Nixon , whose childhood living and working among blue-collar Mexicans gave him an appreciation for their work ethic and what he felt was their inherent conservatism .
The author profiles Romana Acosta Bañuelos — founder of Ramona ’ s Mexican Foods , and the first-ever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finds a surprising anecdote about how Nixon was so moved by the plight of Latino parishioners at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pomona that he planned to pen the nation ’ s first amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally ( too bad Watergate got in the way ) .
“ The Hispanic Republican ” makes the convincing argument that even more Latinos would be Republican if the party didn ’ t engage so much in xenophobic politics ( pioneered by the California GOP , of course ) .
And Cadava also offers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t dismiss Latino conservatives as sellouts .
You do , and , well , a third of them just might vote for a blowhard like Donald J. Trump .
Any of the above titles would make great gifts , but why not buy all four for friends and also yourself ?
Small bookstores need the revenue now more than ever .
So forget the ugly-sweater parties and shelter in place with great reads : the reason for this pandemic season .

Victoria Angustian stands in the doorway of her family’s trailer after bulldozers destroyed their home in Chavez Ravine. With her are Manuel Angustian; children Ivy (sweeping) and Ira; and family matriarch Abrana Aréchiga.
So ready for the coming lockdowns? Of course you’re not!
That’s why your humble columnist is here to help the best way a nerdy Mexican with glasses can: offer a Christmas reading list.
One of the few good things Southern California saw in 2020 was a bounty of history books on the region. The ones I’m going to recommend all hit issues — protests, politics, representation and the Dodgers — that are ever-present ’round here but which shared the spotlight with the coronavirus.
What’s past is prologue, as Shakespeare wrote in “The Tempest,” and these tomes not only remind us of that but also offer a way forward from our current mess. So bundle up with some to-go coffee in hand, a mask by your side, and find a moment of distraction from a year with the scope of Tolstoy, the heaviness of Joan Didion, the absurdity of David Foster Wallace and the Gothic horror of Mary Shelley.
Mike Davis and Jon Wiener have long been the Jeremiah and Ezekiel of the Los Angeles Left, historians with national acclaim for their fulminations against corruption national and international. “Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties” represents their first major work together, an 800-page beast that benefits from the knowledge of these grizzled prophets that there is nothing new under the activist sun.
Their book offers a semblance of a narrative by patching together chapters on disparate social justice movements from that decade — Black Power, the Chicano Blowouts, feminism, the underground press — that fought for their causes but rarely intersected.
Advertisement
It works best when Davis and Wiener remind readers of the unlikely roots of local institutions now long past their glory days: KPFK-FM 90.7 before it became an endless fund drive loop, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles when it was a far-right outfit instead of today’s open-borders champion.
The stories Davis and Wiener gather aren’t exactly new, but few historians ever bothered to gather them together — and none had the institutional knowledge and bomb-throwing mien of the authors.
The story of how Los Angeles officials booted out Latino families from Chavez Ravine to make way for the Dodgers has been portrayed in books and documentaries, turned into a play by Culture Clash and even inspired a concept album by Ry Cooder. So “Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between,” by Eric Nusbaum, looks superfluous at first glance.
But the sportswriter crafted a quick, elegiac read by focusing on an angle totally relevant today that makes this well-known epic seem ripped from the proverbial headlines: housing.
He highlights the Aréchiga family, nowadays mostly remembered for the members who were dragged away from their home by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies as the Dodgers were marching toward a World Series title at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The parallels between 1959 and today — on Thanksgiving eve, California Highway Patrol officers ousted Latino families from long-vacant homes in El Sereno with the Dodgers’ most recent championship barely a month old — are obvious. But Nusbaum handles them gracefully, without hammering away at the point like Wally Moon used to launch baseballs into the Coliseum seats so long ago.
Part of the nation’s moral reckoning in the wake of George Floyd’s killing was a reexamination of our local histories: who gets celebrated, and who gets ignored. On Instagram, I’m now seeing young people make archival photos and newspaper clippings go viral, while others create online projects or tours to document the hidden histories of their communities.
Advertisement
To them, I’d recommend the anthology “East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte.” It’s the culmination of a long-standing project by the South El Monte Arts Posse, a collective of artists, authors, urban planners and even swap meet sellers committed to write their too-often overlooked hometown into the Southern California narrative.
Contributors resuscitate heroines like Toypurina, the Tongva medicine woman who tried to lead an uprising in the early days of California’s mission system. They knock down villains like the Monte Boys, whom city fathers long portrayed as just some good ol’ boys out of “Gunsmoke” but were really racist vigilantes. Locations like Durfee Avenue and Rush Street get praised as equals to Whittier Boulevard or Sunset.
Best of all, “East of East” is both chronicle and challenge to all of us: Know your local history, document it and spread its gospel to the world, no matter how seemingly small.
And though Geraldo Cadava’s “The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump” is national in scope, California Latinos play an outsize role in the phenomenon. The Northwestern professor wisely doesn’t use academic gobbledygook in what amounts to be a secret history of American politics that became particularly relevant this election cycle.
Cadava shows how, although always the caboose of the GOP train, Latino conservatives from Southern California helped Republican presidential campaigns going back to Eisenhower. This group arguably found their Zapata in Richard Nixon, whose childhood living and working among blue-collar Mexicans gave him an appreciation for their work ethic and what he felt was their inherent conservatism.
The author profiles Romana Acosta Bañuelos — founder of Ramona’s Mexican Foods, and the first-ever Latina U.S. treasurer. And he also finds a surprising anecdote about how Nixon was so moved by the plight of Latino parishioners at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pomona that he planned to pen the nation’s first amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally (too bad Watergate got in the way).
“The Hispanic Republican” makes the convincing argument that even more Latinos would be Republican if the party didn’t engage so much in xenophobic politics (pioneered by the California GOP, of course). And Cadava also offers a warning to Democrats: Don’t dismiss Latino conservatives as sellouts. You do, and, well, a third of them just might vote for a blowhard like Donald J. Trump.
Any of the above titles would make great gifts, but why not buy all four for friends and also yourself? Small bookstores need the revenue now more than ever. So forget the ugly-sweater parties and shelter in place with great reads: the reason for this pandemic season.


latimes--2020-12-06--California bets that civilian oversight can help reform police. But will watchdogs have the power th

California bets that civilian oversight can help reform police. But will watchdogs have the power they need?

Civilian watchdog agencies marked an early effort at police reform , with decidedly mixed results .
While such oversight efforts have provided an outside check on policing , they have faced criticism for not having enough power to force real changes in a state where the laws offer an array of protections for officers .
But in the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , a growing number of California cities are turning to civilian review as the public demands action .
This fall voters across the state , from Sonoma County to San @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these overseers , often called civilian oversight commissions , giving some the power to investigate police shootings or to subpoena key documents and testimony .
California has already emerged as a laboratory for criminal justice reform , from reducing tough sentencing laws to the recent election of George Gascón as Los Angeles County district attorney .
And the strengthening of civilian oversight will test whether it can bring results .
Los Angeles County has become a flashpoint , with the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission taking the unprecedented step of calling for Sheriff Alex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two subpoenas it authorized .
“ People will be watching to see what happens in California , ” said Sharon Fairley , a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who formerly led the civilian oversight agency for Chicago ’ s Police Department .
“ What these measures have done is try to make civilian oversight as effective as it can be.
” Supporters hope the local ballot measures bring more trust , legitimacy and accountability to police and sheriff ’ s departments .
But some caution that even robust oversight entities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement .
Civilian oversight commissions are among various tools for police reform — not mutually exclusive from calls to defund the police , increase anti-bias training , or for law enforcement to shift away from mental health calls .
But oversight has come to the forefront .
Liana Perez , director of operations for the National Assn .
for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement , said the organization has heard from more than 100 jurisdictions in the last six months or so .
Previously , it ’ s been about 20 annually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities interested in creating new agencies , it ’ s also agencies that already exist are reevaluating what level of authority and jurisdiction they have , ” she said .
Even backers say civilian oversight boards have often lacked the authority to be effective .
Some boards may not have the power to implement recommendations .
Others can ’ t access important records for investigations .
“ They ’ re either not given the necessary authority to do it , the necessary funding to do it , they are staffed by people unwilling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or they are undermined by other policies or actions of the department or the police union , ” said Melanie Ochoa , an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who specializes in police practices .
In Long Beach , for example , the findings of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission are often disputed by the city manager because the group isn ’ t privy to statements officers provide in administrative investigations .
Last year , the commission sustained 52 claims of misconduct , but the city manager — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ five .
“ It is frustrating for us to see those decisions overturned , ” said Christian Cooper , the commission ’ s chair .
“ We ’ re doing the best we can with information that we have.
” And in Inglewood , the city ’ s police oversight commission exists only “ on paper , ” according to Mayor James T. Butts .
He said there was no official decision to end the meetings but that the commission had lacked a quorum and it “ just fell apart.
” It could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have investigatory authority .
“ It was given perfunctory force , ” Butts said , adding that he feels the Police Department has ” excellent oversight ” by its chief and City Council members .
But oversight entities have seen success .
After the 2014 death of Eric Garner in New York , San Jose ’ s independent police auditor ’ s recommendation to ban chokeholds as a method of restraint was implemented .
And California has opened the door for more civilian oversight with the recent passage of Assembly Bill 1185 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers .
Sonoma County voters last month approved a ballot measure that would allow its civilian oversight body for the Sheriff ’ s Office to access all sources of investigative evidence .
Jerry Threet , the former director of the oversight body who helped spearhead the measure , alleges his access to personnel files was cut off in 2018 for about a month shortly after he submitted an annual report that criticized the Sheriff ’ s Office ’ s probes of potential deputy misconduct .
In a statement , a spokesman for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost access after then-Sheriff Rob Giordano learned Threet had interns without background checks .
( Threet says he was told the issue had been with one temporary assistant . )
Karlene Navarro , the current director , said new subpoena powers will allow her to obtain evidence — such as surveillance footage of protests — without delays .
“ I ’ m hoping that the increased transparency will increase trust , ” she said , noting the measure authorizes her office to post on its website body-worn camera video that shows the use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the measure , which sets the oversight agency ’ s annual budget to a minimum of 1 % of the total budget for the sheriff-coroner .
Mike Vail , the president of the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriffs ’ Assn.
, said in a statement that it would mean fewer street patrols .
In other counties , residents increased the scope of what oversight agencies can review .
“ It ’ s pretty groundbreaking for us , ” said Shivaun Nurre , San Jose ’ s independent police auditor , who will now be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police officers that stem from residents ’ complaints but those initiated internally .
“ We ’ re there to provide a level of review to make sure that the investigation is fair , objective and complete… That standard should apply to all investigations , both internal and external.
” San Diego voters replaced a civilian board that reviews complaints against police with a commission that can investigate , subpoena , and recommend policies and discipline .
It must investigate all deaths in police custody and those resulting from interactions with police , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Case , a member of the existing board , said the new commission ’ s ability to conduct investigations should increase community trust .
He referred to the high-profile 2015 shooting of Fridoon Nehad , a man killed by a San Diego police officer responding to a call that mistakenly reported Nehad was carrying a knife .
( He was holding a pen . )
The district attorney ’ s office declined to press charges .
“ There ’ s a lot of questions in people ’ s minds about whether it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Having someone other than the police department and the D.A .
answer that question I think would be helpful.
” In San Francisco , voters approved the creation of a Sheriff ’ s Department office of inspector general and an oversight board .
Oakland will create an independent inspector general ’ s office , and its police oversight commission will be able to hire its own attorneys .
Meanwhile , smaller cities across California are discussing creating their own commissions .
In Vallejo in Solano County , residents during house meetings have shared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Similar conversations have happened in Marina in Monterey County , and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County .
“ Regardless of the model , it really opens up a mode of communication between the community and the police department , ” Watsonville police Chief David Honda said .
But there can also be tension between commissioners and law enforcement .
Ed Obayashi , a Plumas County deputy sheriff who advises law enforcement agencies , contends that commissioners typically lack training to conduct use-of-force investigations and that they ’ re better served facilitating community-police dialogue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be effectively trained .
“ Most departments do not want to have oversight , ” he said .
“ It ’ s cumbersome .
It frequently results in interference.
” In L.A. County , the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission has called for the resignation of Villanueva .
“ Until the COC can impose real consequences for flouting subpoenas and ignoring recommendations , we are all just spinning our wheels , ” said Sean Kennedy , a member of the commission .
Inspector General Max Huntsman said that he ’ s had access to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In June 2019 , he said , the Sheriff ’ s Department sharply curtailed his office ’ s access to computer terminals with deputy personnel records after he shared a draft report that questioned the sheriff ’ s rehiring of a deputy accused of misconduct .
Since then , Huntsman said his staff has accessed the system only while being monitored by department officials .
“ They didn ’ t prevent us completely the ability to access that information but throttled it way back and under their supervision , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of security concerns , the inspector general ’ s staff was required to go to a department bureau in Commerce to access the system .
“ His public allegations the ‘ LASD abruptly shut down ’ OIG ’ s access and ‘ repeatedly refused to allow OIG to fulfill a critical part of its mission ’ is factually incorrect , ” the department said in a statement .
In late October , dozens of Black clergy members and congregants met with public officials in Long Beach , Compton and downtown L.A. , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oversight commissions that can investigate and issue subpoenas .
Pastor Michael Fisher of Greater Zion Church Family in Compton , who led the initiative , said communication between law enforcement and the community often feels like “ an iron curtain.
” “ We no longer trust their systems , we no longer trust anything they have in place to tell us the truth , ” he said .
An incident the pastor experienced this year reinforced the need he sees for oversight commissions .
He was driving with his church ’ s deacon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deputies pulled them over .
They drew their guns and began asking questions about the vehicle without immediately giving a reason for the stop , Fisher said .
The pastor met shortly afterward with the deputies and their supervisors .
They apologized , having told him that the vehicle had matched the description of one involved in a burglary .
“ Those two deputies were held accountable in that moment , ” Fisher said .
“ That is the reason why this is something that needs to be put in place on a @ @ @ @

Pastor Michael Fisher of Greater Zion Church Family in Compton, center, addresses Compton city officials and local leaders in October in an effort to create and strengthen civilian police oversight commissions.
Civilian watchdog agencies marked an early effort at police reform, with decidedly mixed results.
While such oversight efforts have provided an outside check on policing, they have faced criticism for not having enough power to force real changes in a state where the laws offer an array of protections for officers. But in the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a growing number of California cities are turning to civilian review as the public demands action.
This fall voters across the state, from Sonoma County to San Diego, overwhelmingly granted more authority to these overseers, often called civilian oversight commissions, giving some the power to investigate police shootings or to subpoena key documents and testimony.
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California has already emerged as a laboratory for criminal justice reform, from reducing tough sentencing laws to the recent election of George Gascón as Los Angeles County district attorney. And the strengthening of civilian oversight will test whether it can bring results.
Los Angeles County has become a flashpoint, with the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission taking the unprecedented step of calling for Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s resignation after he defied two subpoenas it authorized.
“People will be watching to see what happens in California,” said Sharon Fairley, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who formerly led the civilian oversight agency for Chicago’s Police Department. “What these measures have done is try to make civilian oversight as effective as it can be.”
Supporters hope the local ballot measures bring more trust, legitimacy and accountability to police and sheriff’s departments. But some caution that even robust oversight entities can face internal issues or resistance from law enforcement.
Civilian oversight commissions are among various tools for police reform — not mutually exclusive from calls to defund the police, increase anti-bias training, or for law enforcement to shift away from mental health calls.
But oversight has come to the forefront. Liana Perez, director of operations for the National Assn. for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, said the organization has heard from more than 100 jurisdictions in the last six months or so. Previously, it’s been about 20 annually.
“It’s not just communities interested in creating new agencies, it’s also agencies that already exist are reevaluating what level of authority and jurisdiction they have,” she said.
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Even backers say civilian oversight boards have often lacked the authority to be effective. Some boards may not have the power to implement recommendations. Others can’t access important records for investigations.
“They’re either not given the necessary authority to do it, the necessary funding to do it, they are staffed by people unwilling to do the work or have conflicts, or they are undermined by other policies or actions of the department or the police union,” said Melanie Ochoa, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who specializes in police practices.
In Long Beach, for example, the findings of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission are often disputed by the city manager because the group isn’t privy to statements officers provide in administrative investigations. Last year, the commission sustained 52 claims of misconduct, but the city manager — who has final say — sustained only five.
“It is frustrating for us to see those decisions overturned,” said Christian Cooper, the commission’s chair. “We’re doing the best we can with information that we have.”
And in Inglewood, the city’s police oversight commission exists only “on paper,” according to Mayor James T. Butts.
He said there was no official decision to end the meetings but that the commission had lacked a quorum and it “just fell apart.” It could make discipline recommendations but didn’t have investigatory authority.
“It was given perfunctory force,” Butts said, adding that he feels the Police Department has ”excellent oversight” by its chief and City Council members.
But oversight entities have seen success. After the 2014 death of Eric Garner in New York, San Jose’s independent police auditor’s recommendation to ban chokeholds as a method of restraint was implemented. And California has opened the door for more civilian oversight with the recent passage of Assembly Bill 1185, which authorizes sheriff oversight boards with subpoena powers.
Sonoma County voters last month approved a ballot measure that would allow its civilian oversight body for the Sheriff’s Office to access all sources of investigative evidence.
Jerry Threet, the former director of the oversight body who helped spearhead the measure, alleges his access to personnel files was cut off in 2018 for about a month shortly after he submitted an annual report that criticized the Sheriff’s Office’s probes of potential deputy misconduct.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office said that Threet lost access after then-Sheriff Rob Giordano learned Threet had interns without background checks. (Threet says he was told the issue had been with one temporary assistant.)
Karlene Navarro, the current director, said new subpoena powers will allow her to obtain evidence — such as surveillance footage of protests — without delays.
“I’m hoping that the increased transparency will increase trust,” she said, noting the measure authorizes her office to post on its website body-worn camera video that shows the use of force.
The sheriff had opposed the measure, which sets the oversight agency’s annual budget to a minimum of 1% of the total budget for the sheriff-coroner. Mike Vail, the president of the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn., said in a statement that it would mean fewer street patrols.
In other counties, residents increased the scope of what oversight agencies can review.
“It’s pretty groundbreaking for us,” said Shivaun Nurre, San Jose’s independent police auditor, who will now be able to review not only investigations against police officers that stem from residents’ complaints but those initiated internally. “We’re there to provide a level of review to make sure that the investigation is fair, objective and complete… That standard should apply to all investigations, both internal and external.”
San Diego voters replaced a civilian board that reviews complaints against police with a commission that can investigate, subpoena, and recommend policies and discipline. It must investigate all deaths in police custody and those resulting from interactions with police, as well as all police shootings.
Doug Case, a member of the existing board, said the new commission’s ability to conduct investigations should increase community trust.
He referred to the high-profile 2015 shooting of Fridoon Nehad, a man killed by a San Diego police officer responding to a call that mistakenly reported Nehad was carrying a knife. (He was holding a pen.) The district attorney’s office declined to press charges.
“There’s a lot of questions in people’s minds about whether it was justified,” Case said. “Having someone other than the police department and the D.A. answer that question I think would be helpful.”
In San Francisco, voters approved the creation of a Sheriff’s Department office of inspector general and an oversight board. Oakland will create an independent inspector general’s office, and its police oversight commission will be able to hire its own attorneys.
Meanwhile, smaller cities across California are discussing creating their own commissions.
In Vallejo in Solano County, residents during house meetings have shared police encounters and discussed civilian oversight. Similar conversations have happened in Marina in Monterey County, and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County.
“Regardless of the model, it really opens up a mode of communication between the community and the police department,” Watsonville police Chief David Honda said.
But there can also be tension between commissioners and law enforcement.
Ed Obayashi, a Plumas County deputy sheriff who advises law enforcement agencies, contends that commissioners typically lack training to conduct use-of-force investigations and that they’re better served facilitating community-police dialogue. Other experts argue that commissioners can be effectively trained.
“Most departments do not want to have oversight,” he said. “It’s cumbersome. It frequently results in interference.”
In L.A. County, the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission has called for the resignation of Villanueva.
“Until the COC can impose real consequences for flouting subpoenas and ignoring recommendations, we are all just spinning our wheels,” said Sean Kennedy, a member of the commission.
Inspector General Max Huntsman said that he’s had access to “a strangled flow of information.” In June 2019, he said, the Sheriff’s Department sharply curtailed his office’s access to computer terminals with deputy personnel records after he shared a draft report that questioned the sheriff’s rehiring of a deputy accused of misconduct.
Since then, Huntsman said his staff has accessed the system only while being monitored by department officials. “They didn’t prevent us completely the ability to access that information but throttled it way back and under their supervision,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Department said that because of security concerns, the inspector general’s staff was required to go to a department bureau in Commerce to access the system.
“His public allegations the ‘LASD abruptly shut down’ OIG’s access and ‘repeatedly refused to allow OIG to fulfill a critical part of its mission’ is factually incorrect,” the department said in a statement.
In late October, dozens of Black clergy members and congregants met with public officials in Long Beach, Compton and downtown L.A., asking them to support the creation of oversight commissions that can investigate and issue subpoenas.
Pastor Michael Fisher of Greater Zion Church Family in Compton, who led the initiative, said communication between law enforcement and the community often feels like “an iron curtain.”
“We no longer trust their systems, we no longer trust anything they have in place to tell us the truth,” he said.
An incident the pastor experienced this year reinforced the need he sees for oversight commissions.
He was driving with his church’s deacon in South L.A. one night when two deputies pulled them over. They drew their guns and began asking questions about the vehicle without immediately giving a reason for the stop, Fisher said.
The pastor met shortly afterward with the deputies and their supervisors. They apologized, having told him that the vehicle had matched the description of one involved in a burglary.
“Those two deputies were held accountable in that moment,” Fisher said. “That is the reason why this is something that needs to be put in place on a large scale.”


latimes--2020-12-07--Many aren't buying public officials' 'stay-at-home' message. Experts say there's a better way

With the coronavirus running rampant in Los Angeles and hospitals projected to overflow by Christmas , officials have fallen back on a familiar refrain : Stay home .
“ My message couldn ’ t be simpler : It ’ s time to hunker down .
It ’ s time to cancel everything , ” last week .
“ If you ’ re able to stay home , stay home.
” Some 33 million Californians are now under a new regional stay-at-home order that began Sunday night , a last-ditch effort to turn the corner on an alarming rise in coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to bend the curve in the spring , when fear of the novel virus and the insidious ways it might spread kept many indoors .
But nine months later , the words seem to have lost their meaning .
The percentage of Angelenos staying home except for essential activities has remained unchanged since mid-June — around 55 % — despite pleas from health officials in recent weeks for people to cut down on their activities , according to a survey conducted by USC .
A similar story has played out nationwide , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to visit family over the Thanksgiving holiday , flouting the advice of health officials .
“ It ’ s not because the public is irresponsible ; it ’ s because they are losing trust in public health officials who put out arbitrary restrictions , ” said Dr. Monica Gandhi , an infectious-disease specialist at UC San Francisco .
“ We are failing in our public health messaging.
” Health officials are up against a fatigued public , as well as a number of people who don ’ t believe in the danger of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she is also part of a growing number of experts who think there ’ s a better way to engage those who do want to take the pandemic seriously — by taking a lesson from the public health strategy known as harm reduction .
Typically used to describe sex-education programs and needle exchanges for drug users , harm reduction aims to mitigate the risks of dangerous behaviors instead of trying to get people to cease altogether .
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic , a harm-reduction approach would encourage masking and social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no contact at all with friends or family they don ’ t live with .
In other words , even during a pandemic , abstinence-only isn ’ t effective .
L.A. , however , has adopted more of a “ just say no ” attitude .
Last week the county became one of the only places in the nation to halt all outdoor gatherings among people who aren ’ t in the same household , prohibiting two friends from meeting up in a park or going on a hike with masks on .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ included the ban in his regional stay-at-home order .
California officials are desperate to reverse an unprecedented flood of new coronavirus cases up and down the state , and even their critics acknowledge the impossibility of the situation .
But banning relatively safe outdoor activities risks alienating people who want to follow the rules but feel exhausted , disregarded and sometimes confused by them , Brown University health economist Emily Oster said .
“ Some of the things they ’ re telling you not to do are incredibly low-risk , ” Oster said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about what people can do , they stop listening.
” Aggressive shutdowns and widespread closures of businesses can persuade people to stay home and ultimately turn the tide on a major surge , as has happened in other parts of the world , experts say .
And it is possible that the increasingly urgent pleas of officials in recent days may indeed push large numbers of people to start staying home again .
But in L.A. County , the latest measures have already sparked unprecedented backlash , particularly because of what many see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in other countries that keep people inside by closing almost all businesses , officials here are reluctant to close shops without federal aid to ease financial losses .
So in in L.A. ’ s current version of a shutdown , people are asked to shelter in place while big-box stores and malls welcome customers for holiday shopping .
“ It says it ’ s not safe to even leave your house , stay home as much as you can , but I ’ m forced to go to work , ” said L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an autoimmune condition that makes her especially vulnerable to COVID-19 .
“ They ’ re just contradicting themselves with everything that they say.
” The concept of harm reduction originally came into use in the 1980s when doctors and activists struggled to reduce HIV transmission among people injecting drugs .
Instead of stopping them from using drugs altogether , they opted to provide clean needles that would at least make the behavior safer .
The philosophy now applies to any public health issue for which mitigating risk has been found to be more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ providing condoms to teenagers to promote safer sex or slowly weaning patients off junk food to improve their diet , said Dr. Eric Kutscher , an internal medicine physician at New York University .
Kutscher , who recently wrote about harm reduction and COVID-19 , said it acknowledges an uncomfortable truth : that people are going to socialize whether they are allowed to or not .
He added that he thinks health officials ’ rhetoric lacks nuance in part because they were initially trying to drown out President Trump ’ s downplaying the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a front-line physician , Kutscher fears that the current messaging shames people and doesn ’ t consider their needs — that they may still have to go into work , that they may be lonely and depressed .
“ Clearly what we ’ re doing is not working , ” Kutscher said .
“ The idea of people gathering on Thanksgiving , it ’ s terrifying .
It really upsets me , but I think we need to figure out how to get beyond that visceral response to instead focus on an actual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by harm reduction would explain the risk levels of different activities and let people decide their comfort levels , with perhaps the most dangerous settings prohibited altogether .
Public health research has found that this strategy makes people feel empowered to make their own choices and that , ultimately , they don ’ t take more risks than they would have otherwise .
Following the harm-reduction model , New York City ’ s health department has released guidance that helps people navigate both socializing with friends as well as sexual encounters during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parts of the Bay Area , officials acknowledged that socializing can boost mental health and provided advice on creating social bubbles and safely sharing a meal outdoors with friends .
But not in Los Angeles .
Here , outdoor gatherings of any kind were not officially permitted until mid-October , so any Angelenos seeing friends before that were left to determine their own precautions .
And now , as part of a three-week emergency order that also closed playgrounds and outdoor dining , such meet-ups are prohibited again .
“ It just seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Kate Stanwick , 32 .
After several lonely months of staying home , Stanwick began going on masked , distanced jogs with a friend in the mornings , which she feels remains a low-risk option despite the latest crackdown .
“ It forces me into a position where I am breaking the rules , ” she said .
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that with such high prevalence of COVID-19 throughout the county , even outdoor gatherings can become unsafe if people spend a long time together , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their masks on .
The new measures are an attempt to quickly drive down case rates to prevent hospitals from overflowing , she said .
“ We don ’ t really have any choice but to use all tools on hand to stop the surge , ” Ferrer said .
“ This is not forever.
” When asked why the county does not try borrowing some principles of harm reduction , Ferrer said that attempts to give more control to people and businesses have failed in L.A. County .
It only works if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distance , and that isn ’ t happening , she said .
If people “ are fatigued and don ’ t really want to continue to take these basic precautionary steps , then this approach doesn ’ t work as well as it ought to , ” she said .
If even a small fraction of people don ’ t comply with the safety measures , that can still lead to thousands of cases and even deaths , she said .
Still , banning small outdoor hangouts does little to stem the spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Julia Marcus , an infectious-disease researcher at Harvard University .
Most coronavirus transmission occurs indoors , especially in poorly ventilated environments , studies have found .
“ Outdoor gatherings that are masked and distanced — that is a place where we can give people a break so they can avoid the situations we really want them to avoid , like crowds and indoor dinner parties , ” Marcus said .
“ The thing that can save L.A. right now is getting people outdoors , and instead there are these policies that may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 30 , enjoyed masked bike rides with friends to break up the monotony of living alone during the pandemic .
But he feels let down by the latest policies , which seem unnecessarily punitive and not aligned with the available science , he said .
“ The numbers continue to rise , ” he said .
“ It ’ s like , ‘ Is this really working ?
’ ”

With the coronavirus running rampant in Los Angeles and hospitals projected to overflow by Christmas, officials have fallen back on a familiar refrain: Stay home.
“My message couldn’t be simpler: It’s time to hunker down. It’s time to cancel everything,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said last week. “If you’re able to stay home, stay home.”
Some 33 million Californians are now under a new regional stay-at-home order that began Sunday night, a last-ditch effort to turn the corner on an alarming rise in coronavirus cases statewide. The blunt messaging worked to bend the curve in the spring, when fear of the novel virus and the insidious ways it might spread kept many indoors. But nine months later, the words seem to have lost their meaning.
A coronavirus testing center at Union Station. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
The percentage of Angelenos staying home except for essential activities has remained unchanged since mid-June — around 55% — despite pleas from health officials in recent weeks for people to cut down on their activities, according to a survey conducted by USC.
A similar story has played out nationwide, as millions of Americans zigzagged across the country to visit family over the Thanksgiving holiday, flouting the advice of health officials.
“It’s not because the public is irresponsible; it’s because they are losing trust in public health officials who put out arbitrary restrictions,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease specialist at UC San Francisco. “We are failing in our public health messaging.”
Health officials are up against a fatigued public, as well as a number of people who don’t believe in the danger of the virus, Gandhi said. But she is also part of a growing number of experts who think there’s a better way to engage those who do want to take the pandemic seriously — by taking a lesson from the public health strategy known as harm reduction.
Typically used to describe sex-education programs and needle exchanges for drug users, harm reduction aims to mitigate the risks of dangerous behaviors instead of trying to get people to cease altogether.
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, a harm-reduction approach would encourage masking and social distancing instead of demanding that people have no contact at all with friends or family they don’t live with. In other words, even during a pandemic, abstinence-only isn’t effective.
Advertisement
L.A., however, has adopted more of a “just say no” attitude. Last week the county became one of the only places in the nation to halt all outdoor gatherings among people who aren’t in the same household, prohibiting two friends from meeting up in a park or going on a hike with masks on. Gov. Gavin Newsom followed suit and included the ban in his regional stay-at-home order.
California California and L.A. County are breaking coronavirus records faster than projected As a new stay-at-home order came for much of California, daily new coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County are increasing at an even faster pace than officials had forecast earlier in the week.
California officials are desperate to reverse an unprecedented flood of new coronavirus cases up and down the state, and even their critics acknowledge the impossibility of the situation. But banning relatively safe outdoor activities risks alienating people who want to follow the rules but feel exhausted, disregarded and sometimes confused by them, Brown University health economist Emily Oster said.
“Some of the things they’re telling you not to do are incredibly low-risk,” Oster said. “When you are so strict about what people can do, they stop listening.”
Aggressive shutdowns and widespread closures of businesses can persuade people to stay home and ultimately turn the tide on a major surge, as has happened in other parts of the world, experts say. And it is possible that the increasingly urgent pleas of officials in recent days may indeed push large numbers of people to start staying home again.
But in L.A. County, the latest measures have already sparked unprecedented backlash, particularly because of what many see as inconsistent policies. Unlike successful lockdowns in other countries that keep people inside by closing almost all businesses, officials here are reluctant to close shops without federal aid to ease financial losses.
So in L.A.’s current version of a shutdown, people are asked to shelter in place while big-box stores and malls welcome customers for holiday shopping.
Pedestrians walk along South Alvarado Street in the MacArthur Park area on Nov. 19. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
“It says it’s not safe to even leave your house, stay home as much as you can, but I’m forced to go to work,” said L.A. retail employee Toby Thomas, who has an autoimmune condition that makes her especially vulnerable to COVID-19. “They’re just contradicting themselves with everything that they say.”
The concept of harm reduction originally came into use in the 1980s when doctors and activists struggled to reduce HIV transmission among people injecting drugs. Instead of stopping them from using drugs altogether, they opted to provide clean needles that would at least make the behavior safer.
The philosophy now applies to any public health issue for which mitigating risk has been found to be more effective than an all-or-nothing approach, including providing condoms to teenagers to promote safer sex or slowly weaning patients off junk food to improve their diet, said Dr. Eric Kutscher, an internal medicine physician at New York University.
Kutscher, who recently wrote about harm reduction and COVID-19, said it acknowledges an uncomfortable truth: that people are going to socialize whether they are allowed to or not.
He added that he thinks health officials’ rhetoric lacks nuance in part because they were initially trying to drown out President Trump’s downplaying the threat of the virus. But as a front-line physician, Kutscher fears that the current messaging shames people and doesn’t consider their needs — that they may still have to go into work, that they may be lonely and depressed.
“Clearly what we’re doing is not working,” Kutscher said. “The idea of people gathering on Thanksgiving, it’s terrifying. It really upsets me, but I think we need to figure out how to get beyond that visceral response to instead focus on an actual productive conversation.”
A pandemic response guided by harm reduction would explain the risk levels of different activities and let people decide their comfort levels, with perhaps the most dangerous settings prohibited altogether. Public health research has found that this strategy makes people feel empowered to make their own choices and that, ultimately, they don’t take more risks than they would have otherwise.
Following the harm-reduction model, New York City’s health department has released guidance that helps people navigate both socializing with friends as well as sexual encounters during the pandemic. In San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area, officials acknowledged that socializing can boost mental health and provided advice on creating social bubbles and safely sharing a meal outdoors with friends.
But not in Los Angeles. Here, outdoor gatherings of any kind were not officially permitted until mid-October, so any Angelenos seeing friends before that were left to determine their own precautions. And now, as part of a three-week emergency order that also closed playgrounds and outdoor dining, such meet-ups are prohibited again.
“It just seems like a slap in the face,” said Kate Stanwick, 32.
After several lonely months of staying home, Stanwick began going on masked, distanced jogs with a friend in the mornings, which she feels remains a low-risk option despite the latest crackdown. “It forces me into a position where I am breaking the rules,” she said.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that with such high prevalence of COVID-19 throughout the county, even outdoor gatherings can become unsafe if people spend a long time together, especially if they don’t keep their masks on. The new measures are an attempt to quickly drive down case rates to prevent hospitals from overflowing, she said.
“We don’t really have any choice but to use all tools on hand to stop the surge,” Ferrer said. “This is not forever.”
When asked why the county does not try borrowing some principles of harm reduction, Ferrer said that attempts to give more control to people and businesses have failed in L.A. County. It only works if people keep their masks on and properly distance, and that isn’t happening, she said.
If people “are fatigued and don’t really want to continue to take these basic precautionary steps, then this approach doesn’t work as well as it ought to,” she said. If even a small fraction of people don’t comply with the safety measures, that can still lead to thousands of cases and even deaths, she said.
Still, banning small outdoor hangouts does little to stem the spread of the virus and could backfire, said Julia Marcus, an infectious-disease researcher at Harvard University. Most coronavirus transmission occurs indoors, especially in poorly ventilated environments, studies have found.
“Outdoor gatherings that are masked and distanced — that is a place where we can give people a break so they can avoid the situations we really want them to avoid, like crowds and indoor dinner parties,” Marcus said. “The thing that can save L.A. right now is getting people outdoors, and instead there are these policies that may actually do the opposite.”
Rabi Abonour, 30, enjoyed masked bike rides with friends to break up the monotony of living alone during the pandemic. But he feels let down by the latest policies, which seem unnecessarily punitive and not aligned with the available science, he said.
“The numbers continue to rise,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Is this really working?’”


latimes--2020-12-07--As George Gascón takes office, campaign promises will be put to the test

Changes are coming to the Los Angeles County district attorney ’ s office .
And if recent weeks are any indication , they will not come gradually .
Since he defeated incumbent Los Angeles County Dist .
Atty .
Jackie Lacey in November , George Gascón has left little doubt that when he is sworn in Monday he will set to work fulfilling campaign promises to overhaul an office he has criticized as being part of an unfair criminal justice system .
When it was time for his first major meeting after being elected , he did away with expectations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office ’ s 1,200 prosecutors and met instead with Black Lives Matter organizers , who were some of Lacey ’ s harshest critics .
And when Gascón announced his transition team days later , the list featured civil rights lawyers , bail reform activists and a man who was once wrongfully convicted by L.A. County prosecutors .
The only law enforcement official on the roster is a young deputy district attorney who announced a run against Lacey last year before dropping out to become part of Gascón ’ s campaign team .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorney were in line with the promises he made on the campaign trail but nonetheless made for a jarring departure from the traditional , tough-on-crime approach Lacey and her predecessor Steve Cooley brought to the job for the last two decades .
In recent weeks , Gascón has also doubled down on promises to enact sweeping policy changes when he takes office .
Prosecutors will be barred from seeking the death penalty , trying juveniles as adults or pursuing sentencing enhancements for gang-related crimes .
At least four shootings by police that Lacey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reexamined for potential prosecution , and more could come up for consideration .
As Gascón ascends to one of the most powerful law enforcement posts in California , his early policy initiatives have drawn a range of reactions : praise from criminal justice reformers as well as concern that has sometimes bordered on panic from some of the prosecutors in the office he is about to inherit , wary of the changes he ’ s pursuing .
“ What you ’ re going to see , and I ’ m sure you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ progressive prosecutors do stuff , it ’ s an outrage and it ’ s a scandal .
Because their opposition wants something to scream about , ” said Philadelphia Dist .
Atty .
Larry Krasner , who ran on ideas similar to Gascón ’ s .
“ George will get that .
He will also smile , because he ’ s been here before.
” In a recent interview , Gascón downplayed the idea that he would face tense opposition from prosecutors , noting that many who were critical of Lacey had reached @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead , he said , he ’ s choosing to focus on long-term cultural shifts he plans to bring to the nation ’ s largest prosecutor ’ s office .
An early signal of Gascón ’ s plans to prioritize rehabilitation of defendants over punishment was the team he assembled to carry out his transition into the office .
The roster includes a former federal public defender , one of the architects of a major bail reform effort , and a number of civil rights attorneys and lawyers who specialize in reviewing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elected by the people and this community will have a seat at the table as we work to modernize our criminal justice system , ” he said when announcing his team .
“ Those that have been directly impacted by the work of this office have unique insights that are integral to an effective administration.
” The combination of Gascón breaking bread with Black Lives Matter and building a transition team that includes just one prosecutor unnerved several deputy district attorneys , who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worried his plans to seek life in prison instead of the death penalty in capital murder cases will seriously upset victims ’ families .
Others fear his broader policy initiatives will warp the mission of the office .
“ I think a lot of people are worried about becoming social workers when they ’ ve spent their lives being lawyers , ” one deputy district attorney said .
“ A lot us are in the position that we ’ re not just seeing a change in the administration , but we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of what we ’ ve chosen as our career.
” Another veteran prosecutor said that though they weren ’ t overly concerned about Gascón ’ s promised shake-ups , they would urge the new district attorney to slow the implementation of some of his broader policy changes , such as those involving juvenile defendants and sentencing enhancements .
“ Everyone is kind of taking a wait-and-see approach because there ’ s going to be a lot of ramifications for unilaterally doing any big policy changes without doing a full review of all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Some are easier to do than others.
” After an election cycle that saw law enforcement unions spend millions to try and defeat him , Gascón ’ s relationship with rank-and-file officers also is likely to be strained by his pledge to reexamine a number of fatal shootings by police that Lacey found to be within the law .
Ruben Hernandez was stunned to hear that Gascón would take a second look at the shooting death of his 19-year-old brother , Hector Morejon , who was unarmed when he was gunned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t file charges in the case , her prosecutors excoriated Long Beach Police Officer Jeffrey Meyer in a 17-page memo for poor tactics that led to the shooting .
“ Everything was presented and the evidence was there , ” Hernandez said .
“ If that was any other civilian , he would have been charged and found guilty.
” After winning an election largely framed around questions of how police use force against people of color , Gascón ’ s decision to meet with Black Lives Matter organizers and family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after he won served as a potent signal of his plans as district attorney .
Although some prosecutors have privately complained about the meeting with Black Lives Matter demonstrators , Gascón said he felt it was important to acknowledge the group after Lacey refused to speak with them for years .
“ Frankly , for me , it was very symbolic that that was my first public meeting… .
These are groups that have endured a great deal of personal pain and suffering , ” he said .
The meeting proved tense and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ referencing Gascón ’ s record of not prosecuting police in fatal shootings in San Francisco and promising to protest him if he did the same in L.A .
But Gascón said he was pleased with the overall tenor of the discussion .
He hoped his relationship with activists could remain cordial , but he said that if he is to truly function as an independent prosecutor , he would probably clash with groups on all sides of the political spectrum .
“ Are we going to sometimes disagree ?
Of course .
Just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the police sometimes too , ” he said .
“ The job is calling balls , balls , and strikes , strikes.
” Gascón is also planning to significantly alter the way the office reviews questionable convictions .
Though Lacey often touted her Conviction Review Unit , the division lagged far behind other large prosecutor ’ s offices in the U.S. , in part because of a policy set by Lacey that limited the types of cases the unit could review .
“ I think if we review a case and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wrongful conviction , or procedurally we are unlikely to succeed , then dragging the case for years and having somebody in custody … is frankly amoral , ” he said .
No matter what criticisms and opposition Gascón has to weather from inside the office or elsewhere , Krasner said the new top prosecutor needs to remember who elected him , and why .
“ There ’ s no doubt in my mind that the people are with him .
What he ’ s up against are the institutions and the old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ Over time , especially as we are able to change culture within our offices … in the long run we win .
”

Changes are coming to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. And if recent weeks are any indication, they will not come gradually.
Since he defeated incumbent Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey in November, George Gascón has left little doubt that when he is sworn in Monday he will set to work fulfilling campaign promises to overhaul an office he has criticized as being part of an unfair criminal justice system.
When it was time for his first major meeting after being elected, he did away with expectations that he would turn first to the office’s 1,200 prosecutors and met instead with Black Lives Matter organizers, who were some of Lacey’s harshest critics.
And when Gascón announced his transition team days later, the list featured civil rights lawyers, bail reform activists and a man who was once wrongfully convicted by L.A. County prosecutors. The only law enforcement official on the roster is a young deputy district attorney who announced a run against Lacey last year before dropping out to become part of Gascón’s campaign team.
The moves by the former San Francisco district attorney were in line with the promises he made on the campaign trail but nonetheless made for a jarring departure from the traditional, tough-on-crime approach Lacey and her predecessor Steve Cooley brought to the job for the last two decades.
In recent weeks, Gascón has also doubled down on promises to enact sweeping policy changes when he takes office. Prosecutors will be barred from seeking the death penalty, trying juveniles as adults or pursuing sentencing enhancements for gang-related crimes. At least four shootings by police that Lacey declined to file charges on will be reexamined for potential prosecution, and more could come up for consideration.
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As Gascón ascends to one of the most powerful law enforcement posts in California, his early policy initiatives have drawn a range of reactions: praise from criminal justice reformers as well as concern that has sometimes bordered on panic from some of the prosecutors in the office he is about to inherit, wary of the changes he’s pursuing.
“What you’re going to see, and I’m sure you’ve seen before, is that when progressive prosecutors do stuff, it’s an outrage and it’s a scandal. Because their opposition wants something to scream about,” said Philadelphia Dist. Atty. Larry Krasner, who ran on ideas similar to Gascón’s. “George will get that. He will also smile, because he’s been here before.”
In a recent interview, Gascón downplayed the idea that he would face tense opposition from prosecutors, noting that many who were critical of Lacey had reached out to him during the campaign. Instead, he said, he’s choosing to focus on long-term cultural shifts he plans to bring to the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office.
An early signal of Gascón’s plans to prioritize rehabilitation of defendants over punishment was the team he assembled to carry out his transition into the office. The roster includes a former federal public defender, one of the architects of a major bail reform effort, and a number of civil rights attorneys and lawyers who specialize in reviewing the integrity of convictions.
“I was elected by the people and this community will have a seat at the table as we work to modernize our criminal justice system,” he said when announcing his team. “Those that have been directly impacted by the work of this office have unique insights that are integral to an effective administration.”
The combination of Gascón breaking bread with Black Lives Matter and building a transition team that includes just one prosecutor unnerved several deputy district attorneys, who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Some said they worried his plans to seek life in prison instead of the death penalty in capital murder cases will seriously upset victims’ families. Others fear his broader policy initiatives will warp the mission of the office.
“I think a lot of people are worried about becoming social workers when they’ve spent their lives being lawyers,” one deputy district attorney said. “A lot us are in the position that we’re not just seeing a change in the administration, but we’re seeing a change in the core function of what we’ve chosen as our career.”
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Another veteran prosecutor said that though they weren’t overly concerned about Gascón’s promised shake-ups, they would urge the new district attorney to slow the implementation of some of his broader policy changes, such as those involving juvenile defendants and sentencing enhancements.
“Everyone is kind of taking a wait-and-see approach because there’s going to be a lot of ramifications for unilaterally doing any big policy changes without doing a full review of all of those cases,” the prosecutor said. “Some are easier to do than others.”
After an election cycle that saw law enforcement unions spend millions to try and defeat him, Gascón’s relationship with rank-and-file officers also is likely to be strained by his pledge to reexamine a number of fatal shootings by police that Lacey found to be within the law.
Ruben Hernandez was stunned to hear that Gascón would take a second look at the shooting death of his 19-year-old brother, Hector Morejon, who was unarmed when he was gunned down in April 2015. Although Lacey didn’t file charges in the case, her prosecutors excoriated Long Beach Police Officer Jeffrey Meyer in a 17-page memo for poor tactics that led to the shooting.
“Everything was presented and the evidence was there,” Hernandez said. “If that was any other civilian, he would have been charged and found guilty.”
After winning an election largely framed around questions of how police use force against people of color, Gascón’s decision to meet with Black Lives Matter organizers and family members of people killed by police shortly after he won served as a potent signal of his plans as district attorney. Although some prosecutors have privately complained about the meeting with Black Lives Matter demonstrators, Gascón said he felt it was important to acknowledge the group after Lacey refused to speak with them for years.
“Frankly, for me, it was very symbolic that that was my first public meeting…. These are groups that have endured a great deal of personal pain and suffering,” he said.
The meeting proved tense and emotional at times, with some people referencing Gascón’s record of not prosecuting police in fatal shootings in San Francisco and promising to protest him if he did the same in L.A.
But Gascón said he was pleased with the overall tenor of the discussion. He hoped his relationship with activists could remain cordial, but he said that if he is to truly function as an independent prosecutor, he would probably clash with groups on all sides of the political spectrum.
“Are we going to sometimes disagree? Of course. Just like I’m going to disagree with the police sometimes too,” he said. “The job is calling balls, balls, and strikes, strikes.”
Gascón is also planning to significantly alter the way the office reviews questionable convictions. Though Lacey often touted her Conviction Review Unit, the division lagged far behind other large prosecutor’s offices in the U.S., in part because of a policy set by Lacey that limited the types of cases the unit could review.
“I think if we review a case and we come to the conclusion it was either a wrongful conviction, or procedurally we are unlikely to succeed, then dragging the case for years and having somebody in custody … is frankly amoral,” he said.
No matter what criticisms and opposition Gascón has to weather from inside the office or elsewhere, Krasner said the new top prosecutor needs to remember who elected him, and why.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the people are with him. What he’s up against are the institutions and the old ways of doing things,” he said. “Over time, especially as we are able to change culture within our offices … in the long run we win.”