latimes--2020-11-19--Black and Latino renters face eviction, exclusion from police crackdowns in California

Three years after his release from prison following a cocaine dealing conviction , Terrance Stewart was accepted to UC Riverside and began searching for a place to live near campus with his wife and 3-month-old daughter .
He couldn ’ t find one .
Facing rejection after rejection , Stewart started to realize that posted around the apartment complexes he visited were gray signs with the stenciled outlines of three homes .
The logos , he later learned , meant those landlords took part in a police program that trains them how to refuse tenants with criminal histories .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Stewart said .
Kept out of Riverside and neighboring cities , Stewart ’ s family rented a room in a Lake Elsinore home , a 90-minute bus ride from campus .
Stewart didn ’ t know it at the time , but he was up against “ crime-free housing , ” a collection of policies that have expanded the power of the police to decide who can and can ’ t live in more than a thousand cities across the country .
The programs approved by cities vary , but are aimed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tenants who have had brushes with law enforcement .
Some cities have taken a strict approach , adopting laws requiring the eviction of tenants accused of breaking the law .
Others provide police training for landlords on criminal background checks and anticrime lease provisions .
The rules draw strong support from police , prosecutors and politicians who contend that they help keep neighborhoods safe , especially in areas with drug- and gang-related problems .
But a Times investigation has found the programs have disproportionately affected Black and Latino residents in California , making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and leaving them at greater risk of eviction .
A map of the programs ’ expansion has left a distinct pattern : As Blacks and Latinos moved to the suburbs in search of safer neighborhoods and cheaper housing , crime-free housing policies often came soon after .
Overall , at least 147 cities and counties in California have enacted a crime-free housing law or advertise crime-free housing training for landlords , The Times found , more than a quarter of all the local governments in the state .
Among the 20 California cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since 1990 , 85 % have approved crime-free housing policies , a Times data analysis found .
Such communities include the fast-growing suburbs of Lancaster , Moreno Valley and Victorville .
For communities that saw the largest increases in Latino population , 75 % have approved the policies , including Fresno , Bakersfield and Ontario .
Black , Latino and other tenants of color also have been more likely to face eviction under crime-free housing than white tenants .
The Times reviewed five years of eviction data for one program that covers four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles , Long Beach , Oakland and Sacramento .
Nearly 80 % of those targeted for eviction from 2015 through 2019 were not white .
In Oakland , Black tenants faced eviction at twice their share of the city ’ s renter population .
Though descriptions of crime-free housing programs do not mention race , some supporters have used disturbing and thinly coded racist language to justify them .
One city councilman in Hesperia , said the purpose of his city ’ s ordinance was “ to correct a demographical problem with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community.
” A resident at one raucous City Council meeting in Hemet cited “ some new elements that have moved into our town ” in pushing for the rules .
Criminals are referred to as “ weeds ” and “ the two-legged urban predator ” in a training manual used by many police departments in California .
Again and again , the specter of rising crime rates has been inaccurately used as justification for the housing policies .
In some suburbs , including Antioch , Hemet and Hesperia , police departments pursued crime-free @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stable or falling .
What was increasing in those communities was their Black and Latino populations .
The programs have continued to flourish despite legal crackdowns .
The U.S. Department of Justice in December sued Hesperia and the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’ s Department , contending that they intentionally singled out Black and Latino tenants for enforcement .
In 2013 , the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale were found to have teamed with the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’ s Department to drive out Black residents living in subsidized housing , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , backers argue the programs can help the community if done right .
In Los Angeles , enforcement of such policies has been concentrated in Black and Latino neighborhoods in South Los Angeles .
City Atty .
Mike Feuer said residents appreciate the effort to address chronic crime problems .
“ The people who live in these communities who are African American and Latino , they deserve safety , too .
Just like people who live in more affluent neighborhoods who are white deserve that safety , ” Feuer said .
Nevertheless , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement in previously private dealings between landlords and tenants is leading to devastating results for communities of color — just as many housing policies have done in the past .
Segregationist-era practices like mortgage redlining and racial covenants in property deeds prevented Black residents from living in certain neighborhoods .
Deborah Archer , a co-director at the Center on Race , Inequality and the Law at New York University , believes the proliferation of crime-free housing programs represent a new form of government-sponsored racism akin to those efforts .
“ We are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ housing policy in a way that is going to allow the racial biases of the policing system to infiltrate housing with really detrimental impacts for Black and brown communities , ” said Archer , who “ It is going to help facilitate and entrench racial segregation in housing.
” The Bay Area suburb of Antioch , in the early 2000s , had housing to spare .
The mortgage foreclosure crisis had turned new developments into ghost towns of suddenly unaffordable homes .
To fill them , homeowners began renting them out to people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many of whom were Black .
The promise of good schools , open spaces and more affordable housing drew so many people from Oakland and other cities that Antioch has experienced a bigger influx of Black residents than any other Northern California community over the past three decades .
But Antioch ’ s existing residents , especially in its whiter , wealthier enclaves , began complaining about violence and blight they said was accompanying the influx of low-income renters — though the city ’ s crime statistics did not bear out those claims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2006 by creating a special police unit that investigated Section 8 households .
Police officers repeatedly warned landlords that they could be held legally responsible for their tenants ’ actions , a tactic that often leads to evictions .
Two years later , civil rights attorneys filed suit , alleging that the Police Department systematically targeted Black renters , including those who reported domestic violence incidents .
To settle the case , Antioch officials pledged to not focus on tenants ’ race or Section 8 status in their policing efforts .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finally resolved and that people will be watching to make sure Antioch doesn ’ t try to push out any other families like mine , ” said Santeya Williams , an Antioch tenant and plaintiff in the case , when the settlement was announced .
Antioch isn ’ t alone .
Crime-free housing policies have spread throughout California , especially in diversifying communities .
The programs first came about in the late 1980s when crime rates were surging , viewed as an effective way to target enforcement on crime-ridden hot spots like specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was first developed in 1992 by a Mesa , Ariz. , police officer who later founded an organization , the International Crime Free Assn.
, to promote the policies .
The guidelines ranged from gardening tips to detailed eviction explainers .
Police instructed landlords to increase lighting and keep trees trimmed .
And officers also showed them how to do criminal background checks and fast-track evictions by inserting anticrime lease terms in rent contracts .
Some cities have enacted laws that go beyond what the manual recommends .
One way has been to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authority to fine landlords and push them to evict tenants — typically following incidents involving drugs or weapons .
Today , nearly 2,000 cities in the United States and elsewhere have crime-free housing policies , according to an estimate from the International Crime Free Assn .
The efforts continued to expand even as crime rates stabilized or dropped over the past three decades .
As in Antioch , some areas with rising Black and Latino populations carried out crime-free housing campaigns marred by veiled racist rhetoric and fear mongering .
In the Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen California ’ s largest increase in Black residents since 1990 , city leaders joined with deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’ s Department to crack down on predominantly Black Section 8 voucher holders .
With guns drawn and decked out in SWAT team armor , deputies would appear at tenants ’ doors for what were supposed to be administrative compliance visits .
In 2008 , Lancaster took further measures , passing a crime-free housing law that threatened landlords with fines if they didn ’ t evict tenants following more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The National Assn .
for the Advancement of Colored People sued over the law and similar practices in Lancaster and neighboring Palmdale , sparking the Justice Department ’ s investigation .
Federal officials concluded that police were motivated by unsubstantiated and racist beliefs that Black tenants on housing assistance were gang members bringing crime into the Antelope Valley .
In another city , a crime-free housing program was promoted on a massive tank-like vehicle at civic events .
Turned into a mobile billboard by police offers in the Riverside County city of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used by the department ’ s SWAT team .
As in Antioch , mortgage foreclosures had hit Hemet hard .
The headline in a 2010 Times article highlighting residents ’ complaints said that the city had turned “ From bucolic bliss to ‘ gated ghetto.
’ ” At the time , violent crime in Hemet was actually lower than it had been five years earlier .
What had changed was Hemet ’ s demographics .
Since 1990 , Hemet ’ s population has more than doubled to 84,000 , with the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to just over 6,000 .
The Latino population has increased by more than 30,000 .
The issues came to a head at City Council meetings in summer 2012 , called in response to Facebook groups spreading inaccurate rumors that officials were dumping probationers in Hemet , according to an account in the Riverside Press-Enterprise .
Outside the meetings , vendors hawked shirts that read “ Take Back Hemet.
” “ We ’ ve kicked this can of tolerance 25 years down the road , ” business owner Don Digby said at one meeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employee ’ s cars had been stolen .
“ And we need to become intolerant .
That ’ s what it ’ s going to take.
” The crowd responded with sustained applause .
The crime-free housing law passed the City Council soon after .
A similar debate occurred a few years later in Hesperia , another Inland Empire suburb that had experienced sharp Black and Latino population increases .
Despite warnings from fair housing , landlord and criminal justice groups that its crime-free housing ordinance was illegal , the city barreled ahead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the law was to weed out criminal outsiders the same way “ you would call an exterminator to kill roaches.
” Enforcement was severe .
In one case , a woman and her three children were evicted from their apartment after she called 911 to report that her husband was beating her with a television cable , a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation found .
Black tenants were almost four times as likely as white renters to be evicted under Hesperia ’ s law , the investigation determined .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ police have denied the Justice Department ’ s allegations of racial discrimination .
Timothy Zehring , the founder of the International Crime Free Assn.
, declined to be interviewed .
Zehring ’ s manual , which is still widely used in California , emphasizes that racial discrimination is illegal .
But it also notes that those with criminal histories do not have special protection under federal law and can legally be turned away .
The manual advises that a strategy for avoiding lawsuits is for landlords to be careful with what they say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are filed when managers say too much !
” the manual says .
The manual also includes the references to criminals as “ weeds ” and “ the two-legged urban predator.
” The association ’ s logo is what Stewart saw on apartment buildings while searching in Riverside .
Stewart ’ s room in Lake Elsinore was so small it didn ’ t have a stove .
When he returned home to cook dinner after classes at UC Riverside , Stewart would fry fish with a waffle iron .
Ultimately , Stewart , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get into student housing .
But five years later , when he graduated with a master ’ s degree in higher education and policy administration , Stewart again found his family blocked from apartments in Riverside because of his then nearly decade-old drug conviction .
By then , Stewart and his wife had an infant son along with their daughter .
They ended up in a rundown apartment outside the city before a work connection found him a better place .
That experience scarred him so much that Stewart still keeps photos on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the old complex .
“ I became a man and started taking care of my family and one of the hardest things has been housing , ” said Stewart , now 40 and working at a criminal justice reform organization .
“ It wasn ’ t because I didn ’ t have the money .
Or I didn ’ t have good credit .
Or I didn ’ t have the education .
It was because I had this past conviction.
” The school dedicated to teaching children about environmental sustainability faced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles ’ Harbor Gateway neighborhood in 2013 .
Across the street from the Environmental Charter Middle School were apartment buildings filled with tenants that often targeted the school .
Tenants threatened the boys with violence and harassed the girls , said Alison Diaz , then the school ’ s executive director .
The tenants also regularly broke into the school .
One time , during school hours , a stray bullet struck the building , pockmarking the exterior .
Diaz turned to the city attorney ’ s office for help .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the apartments ’ sale through one of its crime-free housing programs , and then kept tabs on the new owners .
Within a year , Diaz said , the problems went away , providing immense relief to parents .
“ They wanted their kids to be safe , ” Diaz said .
“ Everybody wants their children to be safe.
” Supporters of crime-free housing point to situations like these as evidence that the programs work .
The policies , they say , ensure that all residents no matter their racial background can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Greg Jones , who runs the program for the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’ s Department , tells the story of one complex in the city of San Bernardino that upgraded its security system , cut hedges and redid lighting .
“ It ’ s more family friendly , ” Jones said .
“ They ’ ve had more individuals requesting to become tenants because it ’ s a safe environment.
” Jones called the program an example of community-oriented policing that helps identify circumstances that lead to crime and disorder .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 local governments in California , including Fremont , Davis and San Diego , advertise crime-free housing training for landlords .
An additional 112 cities and counties in the state , according to the Times review of municipal codes , have passed versions of crime-free housing laws that allow police and code enforcement to sanction landlords and often urge them to evict tenants — usually following drug or gang incidents .
In the Bay Area suburb of Fairfield , the city can fine landlords up to $ 1,000 per incident if they allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of prostitution in an apartment .
In Los Angeles , the programs target properties that are known havens for those committing crimes , prosecutors say , like the ones outside the middle school in Harbor Gateway .
The city ’ s enforcement of crime-free housing efforts , however , is concentrated in certain neighborhoods .
Of the nearly 100 cases filed by the city between 2013 and 2018 under one program , three-quarters were in South L.A. , according to research by The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project , Los Angeles .
Feuer , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases in South L.A. reflects its acute dangers of drug and gang violence .
If the city attorney ’ s office was not taking action , he said , it could be rightfully accused of abandoning those neighborhoods .
The San Bernardino County Sheriff ’ s Department and the L.A. city attorney ’ s office provided anecdotal evidence that their policies had led to fewer police calls at properties where they took action .
Neither has done an analysis to determine the overall effectiveness of the programs nor whether they are racially biased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 , Adelanto City Councilwoman Stevevonna Evans came across the city ’ s crime-free housing law .
She couldn ’ t believe it .
“ The verbiage is very clear , ” Evans said .
“ If you are accused of a crime you have to be evicted.
” Fearing Adelanto residents would fall prey to the kind of prejudicial practices that plagued nearby Hesperia , Evans spearheaded a campaign to get rid of the policy .
The law was repealed by the City Council earlier this year .
“ I would hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Evans said .
“ It ’ s just so discriminatory.
” Increasingly , elected officials and regulatory agencies are coming to similar conclusions .
But efforts to roll back crime-free housing policies aren ’ t always resulting in meaningful changes .
In 2016 , HUD recommended that cities repeal their crime-free housing programs to avoid running afoul of fair housing laws .
Two years ago , California legislators banned police response to domestic violence or emergency medical calls as a basis for evictions .
In January , the California Department of Fair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evictions for broad-based criminal or nuisance activity .
The new regulations also target laws that stop landlords from renting to people with criminal histories .
So far , the department has not taken action against any city ’ s crime-free housing program .
Hesperia ’ s rules were revamped prior to the Justice Department ’ s lawsuit .
Last month , under pressure from HUD , the Hemet City Council repealed its crime-free housing law .
Council members were upset that the federal government was forcing their hand , but also expressed alarm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I were to do some of the things that were listed in these ordinances , I would lose my license and potentially go to prison , ” said Hemet Councilman Michael Perciful , who is also a real estate broker .
Nevertheless , the policies continue to spread .
One of the most recent is in Canyon Lake , an Inland Empire suburb and , with 11,000 people , one of the largest gated communities in the country .
Canyon Lake ’ s law , passed in January , requires landlords to include @ @ @ @ @ @ @ activity — on or off the property — is grounds for an eviction .
Evans , the councilwoman in Adelanto , said another reason she pressed so hard to repeal the city ’ s law was that she knew the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’ s Department would still offer voluntary training for landlords who wanted it .
The changes , however , don ’ t go far enough for some whose criminal records have made it difficult to find decent housing .
Three years ago , Domingo Nuñez was released from jail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in and out for felony car theft and other crimes .
He found work repairing appliances and now has enough money for housing for himself , his partner and their three children — the two youngest with autism .
But his search for housing in Hesperia , Adelanto and neighboring communities has been fraught with rejection .
“ When you get to these places they ’ re like , ‘ Crime-free , crime-free , crime-free , ’ ” said Nuñez , 43 .
“ I ’ m like , ‘ What the hell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re like , ‘ If you have a criminal background , we can ’ t rent to you.
’ ” Nuñez ended up at a duplex in Adelanto .
But the place is filled with mold , and he ’ s had to throw out sets of living room and bedroom furniture because of bedbugs .
Occasionally , the septic tank overflows , forcing Nuñez ’ s family to bounce around hotels for weeks at a time .
He ’ s not giving up his search for a new home .
“ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Nuñez , who is Mexican American .
“ My kids deserve more .
These little ones with special needs .
They deserve a better place and I can ’ t give them a better place .
”

Terrance Stewart, left, with his children Terrance III, 4, and Taylor, 10, and wife, Tiffane, live in Colton.
Three years after his release from prison following a cocaine dealing conviction, Terrance Stewart was accepted to UC Riverside and began searching for a place to live near campus with his wife and 3-month-old daughter.
He couldn’t find one. Facing rejection after rejection, Stewart started to realize that posted around the apartment complexes he visited were gray signs with the stenciled outlines of three homes. The logos, he later learned, meant those landlords took part in a police program that trains them how to refuse tenants with criminal histories.
“It just made my world shrink,” Stewart said.
Kept out of Riverside and neighboring cities, Stewart’s family rented a room in a Lake Elsinore home, a 90-minute bus ride from campus.
Stewart didn’t know it at the time, but he was up against “crime-free housing,” a collection of policies that have expanded the power of the police to decide who can and can’t live in more than a thousand cities across the country.
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“That thing I did in my twenties is not who I am. I bring something positive for the community,” Terrance Stewart says. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
The programs approved by cities vary, but are aimed at empowering landlords to evict or exclude tenants who have had brushes with law enforcement.
Some cities have taken a strict approach, adopting laws requiring the eviction of tenants accused of breaking the law. Others provide police training for landlords on criminal background checks and anticrime lease provisions.
The rules draw strong support from police, prosecutors and politicians who contend that they help keep neighborhoods safe, especially in areas with drug- and gang-related problems.
But a Times investigation has found the programs have disproportionately affected Black and Latino residents in California, making it harder for them to rent apartments and leaving them at greater risk of eviction.
A map of the programs’ expansion has left a distinct pattern: As Black and Latino people moved to the suburbs in search of safer neighborhoods and cheaper housing, crime-free housing policies often came soon after.
Overall, at least 147 cities and counties in California have enacted a crime-free housing law or advertise crime-free housing training for landlords, The Times found, more than a quarter of all the local governments in the state.
Among the 20 California cities with the largest increases in Black residents since 1990, 85% have approved crime-free housing policies, a Times data analysis found. Such communities include the fast-growing suburbs of Lancaster, Moreno Valley and Victorville. For communities that saw the largest increases in Latino population, 75% have approved the policies, including Fresno, Bakersfield and Ontario.
Terrance Stewart helps his daughter, Taylor, with a math problem in their living room in Colton. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Black, Latino and other tenants of color also have been more likely to face eviction under crime-free housing than white tenants.
The Times reviewed five years of eviction data for one program that covers four of California’s largest cities: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Sacramento. Nearly 80% of those targeted for eviction from 2015 through 2019 were not white. In Oakland, Black tenants faced eviction at twice their share of the city’s renter population.
Though descriptions of crime-free housing programs do not mention race, some supporters have used disturbing and thinly coded racist language to justify them. One city councilman in Hesperia said the purpose of his city’s ordinance was “to correct a demographical problem with people that are committing crimes in this community.”
A resident at one raucous City Council meeting in Hemet cited “some new elements that have moved into our town” in pushing for the rules.
Criminals are referred to as “weeds” and “the two-legged urban predator” in a training manual used by many police departments in California.
Again and again, the specter of rising crime rates has been inaccurately used as justification for the housing policies. In some suburbs, including Antioch, Hemet and Hesperia, police departments pursued crime-free housing efforts when crime rates were actually stable or falling. What was increasing in those communities was their Black and Latino populations.
The programs have continued to flourish despite legal crackdowns.
The U.S. Department of Justice in December sued Hesperia and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, contending that they intentionally singled out Black and Latino tenants for enforcement.
In 2013, the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale were found to have teamed with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to drive out Black residents living in subsidized housing, according to a Justice Department investigation.
Still, backers argue the programs can help the community if done right.
In Los Angeles, enforcement of such policies has been concentrated in Black and Latino neighborhoods in South Los Angeles. City Atty. Mike Feuer said residents appreciate the effort to address chronic crime problems.
“The people who live in these communities who are African American and Latino, they deserve safety, too. Just like people who live in more affluent neighborhoods who are white deserve that safety,” Feuer said.
Nevertheless, some experts say the increasing involvement of law enforcement in previously private dealings between landlords and tenants is leading to devastating results for communities of color — just as many housing policies have done in the past.
Segregationist-era practices like mortgage redlining and racial covenants in property deeds prevented Black residents from living in certain neighborhoods.
Deborah Archer, a co-director at the Center on Race, Inequality and the Law at New York University, believes the proliferation of crime-free housing programs represents a new form of government-sponsored racism akin to those efforts.
“We are seeing an increasing meshing of policing and housing policy in a way that is going to allow the racial biases of the policing system to infiltrate housing with really detrimental impacts for Black and brown communities,” said Archer, who has studied crime-free housing programs. “It is going to help facilitate and entrench racial segregation in housing.”
A foreclosure sale sign stands in front of a home in Antioch, Calif., in 2007. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
The Bay Area suburb of Antioch, in the early 2000s, had housing to spare. The mortgage foreclosure crisis had turned new developments into ghost towns of suddenly unaffordable homes. To fill them, homeowners began renting them out to people receiving federal Section 8 housing assistance, many of whom were Black.
The promise of good schools, open spaces and more affordable housing drew so many people from Oakland and other cities that Antioch has experienced a bigger influx of Black residents than any other Northern California community over the past three decades.
But Antioch’s existing residents, especially in its whiter, wealthier enclaves, began complaining about violence and blight they said was accompanying the influx of low-income renters — though the city’s crime statistics did not bear out those claims.
Nevertheless, the city responded in 2006 by creating a special police unit that investigated Section 8 households. Police officers repeatedly warned landlords that they could be held legally responsible for their tenants’ actions, a tactic that often leads to evictions.
Two years later, civil rights attorneys filed suit, alleging that the Police Department systematically targeted Black renters, including those who reported domestic violence incidents. To settle the case, Antioch officials pledged to not focus on tenants’ race or Section 8 status in their policing efforts.
Weeds grow in the driveway of a foreclosed home in Antioch in 2009. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
“It’s a relief that this is finally resolved and that people will be watching to make sure Antioch doesn’t try to push out any other families like mine,” said Santeya Williams, an Antioch tenant and plaintiff in the case, when the settlement was announced.
Antioch isn’t alone. Crime-free housing policies have spread throughout California, especially in diversifying communities. The programs first came about in the late 1980s when crime rates were surging, viewed as an effective way to target enforcement on crime-ridden hot spots like specific apartment complexes.
A go-to training manual was first developed in 1992 by a Mesa, Ariz., police officer who later founded an organization, the International Crime Free Assn., to promote the policies. The guidelines ranged from gardening tips to detailed eviction explainers. Police instructed landlords to increase lighting and keep trees trimmed. And officers also showed them how to do criminal background checks and fast-track evictions by inserting anticrime lease terms in rent contracts.
Some cities have enacted laws that go beyond what the manual recommends. One way has been to grant police and code enforcement officers the authority to fine landlords and push them to evict tenants — typically following incidents involving drugs or weapons. Today, nearly 2,000 cities in the United States and elsewhere have crime-free housing policies, according to an estimate from the International Crime Free Assn.
The efforts continued to expand even as crime rates stabilized or dropped over the past three decades. As in Antioch, some areas with rising Black and Latino populations carried out crime-free housing campaigns marred by veiled racist rhetoric and fear mongering.
In the Los Angeles suburb of Lancaster, which has seen California’s largest increase in Black residents since 1990, city leaders joined with deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to crack down on predominantly Black Section 8 voucher holders.
With guns drawn and decked out in SWAT team armor, deputies would appear at tenants’ doors for what were supposed to be administrative compliance visits.
Lancaster city workers inspect a home in the Piute neighborhood in 2008. (Los Angeles Times)
In 2008, Lancaster took further measures, passing a crime-free housing law that threatened landlords with fines if they didn’t evict tenants following more than five police calls to an apartment complex.
The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People sued over the law and similar practices in Lancaster and neighboring Palmdale, sparking the Justice Department’s investigation.
Federal officials concluded that police were motivated by unsubstantiated and racist beliefs that Black tenants on housing assistance were gang members bringing crime into the Antelope Valley.
In another city, a crime-free housing program was promoted on a massive tank-like vehicle at civic events. Turned into a mobile billboard by police offers in the Riverside County city of Hemet, the vehicle had been previously used by the department’s SWAT team.
As in Antioch, mortgage foreclosures had hit Hemet hard. The headline in a 2010 Times article highlighting residents’ complaints said that the city had turned “From bucolic bliss to ‘gated ghetto.’”
At the time, violent crime in Hemet was actually lower than it had been five years earlier.
A vehicle that had been previously used by the Hemet Police Department’s SWAT team serves as a mobile billboard to promote the city’s Restoring Our Community Strategy program. (City of Hemet)
What had changed was Hemet’s demographics. Since 1990, Hemet’s population has more than doubled to 84,000, with the number of Black residents increasing from fewer than 300 to just over 6,000. The Latino population has increased by more than 30,000.
The issues came to a head at City Council meetings in summer 2012, called in response to Facebook groups spreading inaccurate rumors that officials were dumping probationers in Hemet, according to an account in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Outside the meetings, vendors hawked shirts that read “Take Back Hemet.”
“We’ve kicked this can of tolerance 25 years down the road,” business owner Don Digby said at one meeting, after noting that one of his employee’s cars had been stolen. “And we need to become intolerant. That’s what it’s going to take.” The crowd responded with sustained applause.
The crime-free housing law passed the City Council soon after.
A similar debate occurred a few years later in Hesperia, another high desert suburb that had experienced sharp Black and Latino population increases. Despite warnings from fair housing, landlord and criminal justice groups that its crime-free housing ordinance was illegal, the city barreled ahead.
Councilman Bill Holland said the purpose of the law was to weed out criminal outsiders the same way “you would call an exterminator to kill roaches.”
Enforcement was severe. In one case, a woman and her three children were evicted from their apartment after she called 911 to report that her husband was beating her with a television cable, a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation found.
Black tenants were almost four times as likely as white renters to be evicted under Hesperia’s law, the investigation determined.
In court filings, the city and police have denied the Justice Department’s allegations of racial discrimination.
Timothy Zehring, the founder of the International Crime Free Assn., declined to be interviewed.
Zehring’s manual, which is still widely used in California, emphasizes that racial discrimination is illegal. But it also notes that those with criminal histories do not have special protection under federal law and can legally be turned away. The manual advises that a strategy for avoiding lawsuits is for landlords to be careful with what they say when screening tenants.
“Discrimination suits are filed when managers say too much!” the manual says.
The manual also includes the references to criminals as “weeds” and “the two-legged urban predator.” The association’s logo is what Stewart saw on apartment buildings while searching in Riverside.
Terrance Stewart washes the dishes with his wife, Tiffane, in the apartment where they have lived since 2019 in Colton. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Stewart’s room in Lake Elsinore was so small it didn’t have a stove. When he returned home to cook dinner after classes at UC Riverside, Stewart would fry fish with a waffle iron.
Ultimately, Stewart, who is Black, was able to get into student housing. But five years later, when he graduated with a master’s degree in higher education and policy administration, Stewart again found his family blocked from apartments in Riverside because of his then nearly decade-old drug conviction.
By then, Stewart and his wife had an infant son along with their daughter. They ended up in a rundown apartment outside the city before a work connection found him a better place. That experience scarred him so much that Stewart still keeps photos on his cellphone of giant rats he trapped in the old complex.
“I became a man and started taking care of my family and one of the hardest things has been housing,” said Stewart, now 40 and working at Californians for Safety and Justice, a criminal justice reform organization. “It wasn’t because I didn’t have the money. Or I didn’t have good credit. Or I didn’t have the education. It was because I had this past conviction.”
The school dedicated to teaching children about environmental sustainability faced crime problems soon after it opened in Los Angeles’ Harbor Gateway neighborhood in 2013.
Across the street from the Environmental Charter Middle School were apartment buildings filled with tenants who often targeted the school.
Tenants threatened the boys with violence and harassed the girls, said Alison Diaz, then the school’s executive director. The tenants also regularly broke into the school. One time, during school hours, a stray bullet struck the building, pockmarking the exterior.
Diaz turned to the city attorney’s office for help. And in 2015, the city helped engineer the apartments’ sale through one of its crime-free housing programs, and then kept tabs on the new owners. Within a year, Diaz said, the problems went away, providing immense relief to parents.
“They wanted their kids to be safe,” Diaz said. “Everybody wants their children to be safe.”
Supporters of crime-free housing point to situations like these as evidence that the programs work. The policies, they say, ensure that all residents no matter their racial background can live without fear of drugs or violence.
A San Bernardino apartment complex on Pumalo Street displays a crime-free housing sign on its gate. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Greg Jones, who runs the program for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, tells the story of one complex in the city of San Bernardino that upgraded its security system, cut hedges and redid lighting.
“It’s more family friendly,” Jones said. “They’ve had more individuals requesting to become tenants because it’s a safe environment.”
Jones called the program an example of community-oriented policing that helps identify circumstances that lead to crime and disorder.
Currently, police departments in at least 35 local governments in California, including Fremont, Davis and San Diego, advertise crime-free housing training for landlords.
An additional 112 cities and counties in the state, according to the Times review of municipal codes, have passed versions of crime-free housing laws that allow police and code enforcement to sanction landlords and often urge them to evict tenants — usually following drug or gang incidents. In the Bay Area suburb of Fairfield, the city can fine landlords up to $1,000 per incident if they allow tenants to use drugs or commit acts of prostitution in an apartment.
In Los Angeles, the programs target properties that are known havens for those committing crimes, prosecutors say, like the ones outside the middle school in Harbor Gateway. The city’s enforcement of crime-free housing efforts, however, is concentrated in certain neighborhoods.
Of the nearly 100 cases filed by the city between 2013 and 2018 under one program, three-quarters were in South L.A., according to research by The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, Los Angeles.
Feuer, the city attorney, said the number of cases in South L.A. reflects its acute dangers of drug and gang violence. If the city attorney’s office was not taking action, he said, it could be rightfully accused of abandoning those neighborhoods.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the L.A. city attorney’s office provided anecdotal evidence that their policies had led to fewer police calls at properties where they took action. Neither has done an analysis to determine the overall effectiveness of the programs or whether they are racially biased.
Domingo Nuñez, who was released from jail three years ago, says that finding housing has been extremely challenging because of crime-free housing policies. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Not long after taking office in 2018, Adelanto City Councilwoman Stevevonna Evans came across the city’s crime-free housing law. She couldn’t believe it.
“The verbiage is very clear,” Evans said. “If you are accused of a crime, you have to be evicted.”
Fearing Adelanto residents would fall prey to the kind of prejudicial practices that plagued nearby Hesperia, Evans spearheaded a campaign to get rid of the policy. The law was repealed by the City Council earlier this year.
“I would hope that more cities would follow suit,” Evans said. “It’s just so discriminatory.”
Increasingly, elected officials and regulatory agencies are coming to similar conclusions. But efforts to roll back crime-free housing policies aren’t always resulting in meaningful changes.
In 2016, HUD recommended that cities repeal their crime-free housing programs to avoid running afoul of fair housing laws. Two years ago, California legislators banned police response to domestic violence or emergency medical calls as a basis for evictions.
In January, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing prohibited policies that mandate evictions for broad-based criminal or nuisance activity. The new regulations also target laws that stop landlords from renting to people with criminal histories.
So far, the department has not taken action against any city’s crime-free housing program.
Hesperia’s rules were revamped prior to the Justice Department’s lawsuit. Last month, under pressure from HUD, the Hemet City Council repealed its crime-free housing law. Council members were upset that the federal government was forcing their hand, but also expressed alarm when reviewing the policy.
“If I were to do some of the things that were listed in these ordinances, I would lose my license and potentially go to prison,” said Hemet Councilman Michael Perciful, who is also a real estate broker.
Nevertheless, the policies continue to spread. One of the most recent is in Canyon Lake, an Inland Empire suburb and, with 11,000 people, one of the largest gated communities in the country. Canyon Lake’s law, passed in January, requires landlords to include a lease provision that states any criminal activity — on or off the property — is grounds for an eviction.
Evans, the councilwoman in Adelanto, said another reason she pressed so hard to repeal the city’s law was that she knew the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department would still offer voluntary training for landlords who wanted it.
The changes, however, don’t go far enough for some whose criminal records have made it difficult to find decent housing.
Domingo Nuñez speaks to his therapist in Adelanto. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Three years ago, Domingo Nuñez was released from jail, following a couple decades of going in and out for felony car theft and other crimes. He found work repairing appliances and now has enough money for housing for himself, his partner and their three children — the two youngest with autism. But his search for housing in Hesperia, Adelanto and neighboring communities has been fraught with rejection.
“When you get to these places they’re like, ‘Crime-free, crime-free, crime-free,’” said Nuñez, 43. “I’m like, ‘What the hell is crime-free?’ And they’re like, ‘If you have a criminal background, we can’t rent to you.’”
Nuñez ended up at a duplex in Adelanto. But the place is filled with mold, and he’s had to throw out sets of living room and bedroom furniture because of bedbugs.
Occasionally, the septic tank overflows, forcing Nuñez’s family to bounce around hotels for weeks at a time. He’s not giving up his search for a new home.
“There has to be something else,” said Nuñez, who is Mexican American. “My kids deserve more. These little ones with special needs. They deserve a better place and I can’t give them a better place.”


latimes--2020-11-19--Courts will decide if Newsom exceeded his executive power. Californians are judging his hypocrisy

Judges will decide whether Gov .
Gavin Newsom has the legal right to dictate public activity during the pandemic .
But the public will judge whether he has the moral right after committing a hypocritical blunder .
A lawsuit brought by two Republican legislators challenges the governor ’ s legal authority to unilaterally make decisions about fighting COVID-19 without the Legislature participating .
It ’ s an important academic question about the constitutional separation of powers that affects the ability of this and future governors to act quickly in an emergency .
The question of moral authority involves the governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state .
Will people follow Newsom ’ s guidelines for protecting themselves against the coronavirus after he ignored his own advice — and didn ’ t come completely clean about it ?
Newsom ’ s attendance with his wife , Jennifer Siebel Newsom , at a 50th birthday party for a longtime lobbyist friend at a fancy wine country restaurant was a blockhead move .
The soiree on Nov. 6 at the Michelin-starred French Laundry in the Napa Valley didn ’ t violate any local pandemic restrictions then in place .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persistent nagging at Californians about the risks of gathering in groups of people from more than three households .
And the opulent dinner party at a restaurant where the average meal costs hundreds of dollars had a bad smell .
It ’ s a stressful time financially for many Californians , after all , as businesses fail and workers are laid off because of restrictions ordered by Newsom — and most governors — to protect people from virus exposure .
Newsom apologized after the San Francisco Chronicle broke the story .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor told a news conference Monday .
“ As soon as I sat down … I realized it was a little larger group than I had anticipated .
And I made a bad mistake… .
I should have stood up and walked back down to my car and drove back to my house.
” Newsom acknowledged that “ the spirit of what I ’ m preaching all the time was contradicted.
” “ I need to preach and practice , not just preach and not practice.
” OK , but what about that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are supposed to be safer outside .
But Fox 11 Los Angeles ran pictures Tuesday night that undercut the governor ’ s characterization of an outdoor party .
The photos showed a private dining room with a roof , three walls and another wall with sliding glass doors opening outside .
Fox 11 quoted a patron who said the party was loud and at one point the sliding doors were closed .
The restaurant apparently considered it outside dining .
Look , I may be in the minority , but the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his friend — lobbyist or not , big group or small , inside or outside — doesn ’ t bother me .
They ’ re all grown-ups , know the virus risk and can decide for themselves .
What is bothersome is the governor constantly telling me and other Californians that we shouldn ’ t do what he did .
It ’ s hypocritical , and the governor admitted it .
It ’ s also a really bad look politically .
It ’ s the epitome of elitism , the kind of thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ despise in what they consider limousine liberal politicians who can ’ t relate to their struggles .
The birthday boy , Jason Kinney , is more than a lobbyist and friend of Newsom .
He ’ s one of the governor ’ s most trusted political advisors .
In this case , inviting Newsom to such a problematic event was political malpractice .
Now about the separation of powers .
For most of 2020 , California has been under one-man rule in California in dealing with the pandemic — not one-party rule .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Newsom has been operating under the state Emergency Services Act , which gives a governor immense power to act independently of the Legislature in a crisis .
Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman of Sutter County — a bastion of Republicanism — ruled that Newsom overstepped his authority in June when he ordered mail ballots to be sent to all registered voters .
The Legislature later passed a bill giving him that authority without question .
But the judge said that didn ’ t make the case moot .
The governor has routinely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by not just suspending law , which he is empowered to do , but creating it .
Making law is the Legislature ’ s sole right , she said .
Heckman ordered Newsom to stop changing existing law .
The governor appealed .
The appellate court granted a temporary stay Tuesday .
The two Republican plaintiffs — Assemblymen James Gallagher of Yuba City and Kevin Kiley of Rocklin — say they didn ’ t object to sending mail ballots to all voters .
They just believed only the Legislature could order it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other pandemic issues .
“ The governor has turned California into an autocracy , ” Kiley says .
“ He does not get to rule as an autocrat just because we ’ re in a state of emergency.
” I called some professors and asked whether they thought a governor could act unilaterally indefinitely .
“ You can stretch executive orders too far .
They ’ re not supposed to be an end run around the Legislature , ” said Jessica Levinson , a Loyola Law School professor who focuses on political law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feels somewhat oppressive to have him take a lot of power .
But it doesn ’ t mean he ’ s doing it illegally .
By and large , the governor ’ s actions have been legal and as a result we ’ re better off.
” Claremont McKenna College political science professor Jack Pitney says he thinks it ’ s “ possible the Superior Court decision is correct .
But the problem is [ Newsom ] doesn ’ t seem to be getting tremendous pushback from the Legislature and it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the governor decides has the potential to blow up .
If it ’ s too restrictive , a lot of people lose jobs and businesses .
If it ’ s too weak , people get sick and die .
It ’ s understandable that legislators don ’ t want to be part of either decision.
” Fred Smoller , a Chapman University political science professor , says : “ The executive is the crisis manager .
We have one governor , not a team of governors.
” We ’ re fortunate we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quick decisions , whether or not we agreed with them .
Besides , the Legislature was crippled by the pandemic and is normally pokey when it ’ s healthy .
But Newsom needs someone else to decide for him which birthday parties to attend .

Gov. Gavin Newsom, pictured in June, has apologized for attending a recent dinner with a group of people at the Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry. Photos threw into question his characterization of the event as being held outdoors.
Judges will decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom has the legal right to dictate public activity during the pandemic. But the public will judge whether he has the moral right after committing a hypocritical blunder.
A lawsuit brought by two Republican legislators challenges the governor’s legal authority to unilaterally make decisions about fighting COVID-19 without the Legislature participating.
It’s an important academic question about the constitutional separation of powers that affects the ability of this and future governors to act quickly in an emergency.
Advertisement
The question of moral authority involves the governor’s credibility and ability to lead the state. Will people follow Newsom’s guidelines for protecting themselves against the coronavirus after he ignored his own advice — and didn’t come completely clean about it?
Newsom’s attendance with his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, at a 50th birthday party for a longtime lobbyist friend at a fancy wine country restaurant was a blockhead move.
The soiree on Nov. 6 at the Michelin-starred French Laundry in the Napa Valley didn’t violate any local pandemic restrictions then in place. But it did counter the governor’s persistent nagging at Californians about the risks of gathering in groups of people from more than three households.
And the opulent dinner party at a restaurant where the average meal costs hundreds of dollars had a bad smell. It’s a stressful time financially for many Californians, after all, as businesses fail and workers are laid off because of restrictions ordered by Newsom — and most governors — to protect people from virus exposure.
Newsom apologized after the San Francisco Chronicle broke the story.
“It was an outdoor restaurant,” the governor told a news conference Monday. “As soon as I sat down … I realized it was a little larger group than I had anticipated. And I made a bad mistake…. I should have stood up and walked back down to my car and drove back to my house.”
Advertisement
Newsom acknowledged that “the spirit of what I’m preaching all the time was contradicted.”
“I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice.”
OK, but what about that “outdoor restaurant” bit? People are supposed to be safer outside. But Fox 11 Los Angeles ran pictures Tuesday night that undercut the governor’s characterization of an outdoor party. The photos showed a private dining room with a roof, three walls and another wall with sliding glass doors opening outside.
Fox 11 quoted a patron who said the party was loud and at one point the sliding doors were closed.
The restaurant apparently considered it outside dining.
Look, I may be in the minority, but the fact that the governor attended a birthday party for his friend — lobbyist or not, big group or small, inside or outside — doesn’t bother me. They’re all grown-ups, know the virus risk and can decide for themselves.
What is bothersome is the governor constantly telling me and other Californians that we shouldn’t do what he did. It’s hypocritical, and the governor admitted it.
It’s also a really bad look politically. It’s the epitome of elitism, the kind of thing many voters — especially Trump supporters — despise in what they consider limousine liberal politicians who can’t relate to their struggles.
The birthday boy, Jason Kinney, is more than a lobbyist and friend of Newsom. He’s one of the governor’s most trusted political advisors. In this case, inviting Newsom to such a problematic event was political malpractice.
Now about the separation of powers.
For most of 2020, California has been under one-man rule in California in dealing with the pandemic — not one-party rule. Courts will decide how legal that is.
Newsom has been operating under the state Emergency Services Act, which gives a governor immense power to act independently of the Legislature in a crisis.
Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman of Sutter County — a bastion of Republicanism — ruled that Newsom overstepped his authority in June when he ordered mail ballots to be sent to all registered voters. The Legislature later passed a bill giving him that authority without question.
California Newsom, legislators face anger over party and Hawaii trip Their choices strike many as if they believe they are immune to COVID-19, by ignoring the safety precautions they have asked Californians to take.
But the judge said that didn’t make the case moot. The governor has routinely violated the state Constitution, she wrote, by not just suspending law, which he is empowered to do, but creating it. Making law is the Legislature’s sole right, she said.
Heckman ordered Newsom to stop changing existing law. The governor appealed. The appellate court granted a temporary stay Tuesday.
The two Republican plaintiffs — Assemblymen James Gallagher of Yuba City and Kevin Kiley of Rocklin — say they didn’t object to sending mail ballots to all voters. They just believed only the Legislature could order it — and that applies to lots of other pandemic issues.
“The governor has turned California into an autocracy,” Kiley says. “He does not get to rule as an autocrat just because we’re in a state of emergency.”
I called some professors and asked whether they thought a governor could act unilaterally indefinitely.
“You can stretch executive orders too far. They’re not supposed to be an end run around the Legislature,” said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who focuses on political law.
“I get it. It feels somewhat oppressive to have him take a lot of power. But it doesn’t mean he’s doing it illegally. By and large, the governor’s actions have been legal and as a result we’re better off.”
Claremont McKenna College political science professor Jack Pitney says he thinks it’s “possible the Superior Court decision is correct. But the problem is [Newsom] doesn’t seem to be getting tremendous pushback from the Legislature and it’s easy to understand why.
“Whatever the governor decides has the potential to blow up. If it’s too restrictive, a lot of people lose jobs and businesses. If it’s too weak, people get sick and die. It’s understandable that legislators don’t want to be part of either decision.”
Fred Smoller, a Chapman University political science professor, says: “The executive is the crisis manager. We have one governor, not a team of governors.”
We’re fortunate we have a governor willing to make hard, quick decisions, whether or not we agreed with them. Besides, the Legislature was crippled by the pandemic and is normally pokey when it’s healthy.
But Newsom needs someone else to decide for him which birthday parties to attend.


latimes--2020-11-19--Singer Bobby Brown's son dead at 28, LAPD says

Bobby Brown Jr. , the 28-year-old son of singer Bobby Brown , was found dead at a Los Angeles home on Wednesday , the Los Angeles Police Department said .
The LAPD gave few details about the circumstances surrounding the death .
Officer Jeff Lee , a spokesman for the police department , said officers responded to a medical emergency at about 1:50 p.m. on the 5200 block of White Oak Avenue in Encino .
“ Upon officers ’ arrival , there was a person down at the location , ” Lee said .
Brown was pronounced dead at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believe foul play was involved , police said .
The death is the latest in a string of tragedies for Brown .
Bobbi Kristina Brown , a daughter he had with legendary singer Whitney Houston , died in 2015 after being found unresponsive in a bathtub .
An autopsy of the 22-year-old found several narcotics and prescription drugs in her body , including marijuana , alcohol and medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety .
The underlying cause of death was “ immersion associated with drug intoxication.
” And a few years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Brown for many years and struggled with drug and alcohol abuse , was found dead after accidentally drowning in a Beverly Hills hotel room bathtub the night before the Grammy Awards .
The coroner said the singer ’ s use of cocaine exacerbated her heart disease and played a role in her death .

Bobby Brown, left, and Bobby Brown Jr. appear at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2016. Brown was found dead at a Los Angeles home. He was 28.
Bobby Brown Jr., the 28-year-old son of singer Bobby Brown, was found dead at a Los Angeles home on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
The LAPD gave few details about the circumstances surrounding the death. Officer Jeff Lee, a spokesman for the police department, said officers responded to a medical emergency at about 1:50 p.m. on the 5200 block of White Oak Avenue in Encino.
“Upon officers’ arrival, there was a person down at the location,” Lee said. Brown was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators don’t believe foul play was involved, police said.
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An autopsy was completed Thursday, but Brown’s cause of death has been deferred, said Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. “The medical examiner is requesting more investigation into the death, including additional studies,” a process that could take several weeks, Ardalani said.
The death is the latest in a string of tragedies for Brown. Bobbi Kristina Brown, a daughter he had with legendary singer Whitney Houston, died in 2015 after being found unresponsive in a bathtub.
2017 photo of Bobby Brown Jr. (Koi Sojer/Associated Press)
An autopsy of the 22-year-old found several narcotics and prescription drugs in her body, including marijuana, alcohol and medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety. The underlying cause of death was “immersion associated with drug intoxication.”
And a few years earlier, Houston, who was married to Brown for many years and struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, was found dead after accidentally drowning in a Beverly Hills hotel room bathtub the night before the Grammy Awards. The coroner said the singer’s use of cocaine exacerbated her heart disease and played a role in her death.


latimes--2020-11-18--Court dismisses cities' lawsuit challenging cannabis deliveries in California

In a win for California ’ s struggling cannabis industry , a Fresno judge has dismissed a lawsuit by 24 cities seeking to invalidate state regulations allowing delivery of cannabis to homes in communities that have outlawed sales in shops .
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosemary McGuire said in a ruling made public Wednesday that she agreed with attorneys for the state Bureau of Cannabis Control that the state regulation does not prevent cities from enforcing local ordinances restricting home delivery .
“ On the basis of that conclusion , the court finds that this matter is not ripe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to all plaintiffs , ” McGuire wrote in the ruling signed on Tuesday .
Attorneys for the cities were not immediately available for comment on whether they would appeal the court ruling .
Santa Cruz County and 24 cities including Agoura Hills , Beverly Hills , Covina and Riverside had filed the lawsuit asking the judge to invalidate the state regulation that allows delivery in all cities , including those that ban pot shops .
The cities argued the regulation undermined their local planning powers .
The lawsuit by the cities also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the state violates a promise of Proposition 64 , the 2016 initiative that legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational use .
The cities say that ballot measure promised that local governments would have veto power over the sale of cannabis in their jurisdictions .
The challenged regulation adopted by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control “ directly conflicts with local autonomy , ” J. Scott Miller , an attorney for the cities , told the judge during a court hearing on Monday .
He noted that the state regulations affect cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all cannabis deliveries .
In defense of the bureau , the state attorney general ’ s office said that the regulation allowing state-licensed cannabis firms to deliver throughout California is legal .
Deputy Atty .
Gen. Ethan Turner told the judge that cities can still require firms that deliver in their jurisdiction to get a business license from the city and obey local ordinances .
But attorneys for the cities said the law needs to be clarified by the courts because any city that tries to ban deliveries by companies they have not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home delivery in all cities , Bureau of Cannabis Control chief Lori Ajax cited a provision of a law approved by the Legislature that says “ a local jurisdiction shall not prevent delivery of cannabis or cannabis products on public roads ” by a state licensee .
But Steve Churchwell , an attorney for the cities , argued that delivery vans using public roads can ’ t stop and have a person walk up to the front door of a home to provide cannabis to a purchaser .
“ We agreed with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed delivery through the jurisdiction and not a delivery to a physical address , which this regulation allows , ” Churchwell told the judge .
The case was closely watched by California ’ s licensed cannabis retailers , who say they have not made the inroads they expected when the initiative was approved in 2016 .
After voters approved Proposition 64 , state officials estimated there would be as many as 6,000 cannabis shops licensed in the first few years , but there are currently 707 stores and 310 delivery companies with licenses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s 482 cities do not permit retail sale of cannabis for recreational use , which combined with high state taxes and strict regulations has blunted the growth of the legal market .
In the Nov. 3 election , voters in 19 cities authorized retail cannabis sales or established a retail tax frameworks to allow their city councils to pass a cannabis ordinance , according to Hirsh Jain , director of government affairs for Caliva , which operates indoor cultivation and manufacturing facilities in California .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom was a leading proponent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ success of the legal cannabis market a priority .
Earlier this year he reduced projections for marijuana tax revenue , citing the COVID-19 pandemic , which has resulted in social-distancing rules affecting indoor sales , requiring many stores to shift largely to curbside pickup in recent months .
Representatives of the industry said there are positive signs for sales during the pandemic , but noted that legal sellers have still been struggling , and attempts to pass legislation to get more cities to legalize pot shops have failed .
Scott Chipman , vice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the state should not allow the delivery firms it licenses to go into cities where they are not welcome .
“ Voters were promised and expected local control and they should have it , especially on deliveries from outside their cities , ” Chipman said .
“ If the state wants to take away local control they need to have the voters vote again.
” The current lawsuit was delayed for months after the state argued that the cities did not have standing to sue because the state law affected cannabis businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which have not yet regulated sales .
Miller , the attorney for the local governments , disagreed , stating in an Oct. 28 brief that , “ This invasion of local governments ’ lawmaking authority is the cognizable injury and suffices to establish standing and a ripe controversy .
”

Some cities that banned cannabis dispensaries went to court to prevent deliveries of the drug to their residents. Above, Ñ Cheryl Luell of the Healing Center in Needles, Calif.
In a win for California’s struggling cannabis industry, a Fresno judge has dismissed a lawsuit by 24 cities seeking to invalidate state regulations allowing delivery of cannabis to homes in communities that have outlawed sales in shops.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosemary McGuire said in a ruling made public Wednesday that she agreed with attorneys for the state Bureau of Cannabis Control that the state regulation does not prevent cities from enforcing local ordinances restricting home delivery.
“On the basis of that conclusion, the court finds that this matter is not ripe for adjudication, and dismisses the action as to all plaintiffs,” McGuire wrote in the ruling signed on Tuesday.
Steve Churchwell, an attorney for the cities, said Thursday that a decision had not yet been made on whether to appeal. Although the cities’ lawsuit was dismissed, Churchwell said local governments still benefited from the case, because it resulted in the bureau acknowledging that cities and counties do have the ability to regulate deliveries of cannabis from outside their borders.
Santa Cruz County and 24 cities including Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Covina and Riverside had filed the lawsuit asking the judge to invalidate the state regulation that allows delivery in all cities, including those that ban pot shops. The cities argued the regulation undermined their local planning powers.
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The lawsuit by the cities also said the state regulation allowing delivery everywhere in the state violates a promise of Proposition 64, the 2016 initiative that legalized the sale of cannabis for recreational use. The cities say that ballot measure promised that local governments would have veto power over the sale of cannabis in their jurisdictions.
The challenged regulation adopted by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control “directly conflicts with local autonomy,” J. Scott Miller, an attorney for the cities, told the judge during a court hearing on Monday.
He noted that the state regulations affect cities, including Agoura Hills, that prohibit all cannabis deliveries.
In defense of the bureau, the state attorney general’s office said that the regulation allowing state-licensed cannabis firms to deliver throughout California is legal.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Ethan Turner told the judge that cities can still require firms that deliver in their jurisdiction to get a business license from the city and obey local ordinances.
But attorneys for the cities said the law needs to be clarified by the courts because any city that tries to ban deliveries by companies they have not licensed will be sued.
In approving home delivery in all cities, Bureau of Cannabis Control chief Lori Ajax cited a provision of a law approved by the Legislature that says “a local jurisdiction shall not prevent delivery of cannabis or cannabis products on public roads” by a state licensee.
But Churchwell argued that delivery vans using public roads can’t stop and have a person walk up to the front door of a home to provide cannabis to a purchaser.
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“We agreed with the [state] Legislative Analyst that it allowed delivery through the jurisdiction and not a delivery to a physical address, which this regulation allows,” Churchwell told the judge.
The case was closely watched by California’s licensed cannabis retailers, who say they have not made the inroads they expected when the initiative was approved in 2016.
After voters approved Proposition 64, state officials estimated there would be as many as 6,000 cannabis shops licensed in the first few years, but there are currently 707 stores and 310 delivery companies with licenses.
Some 80% of California’s 482 cities do not permit retail sale of cannabis for recreational use, which combined with high state taxes and strict regulations has blunted the growth of the legal market.
In the Nov. 3 election, voters in 19 cities authorized retail cannabis sales or established a retail tax frameworks to allow their city councils to pass a cannabis ordinance, according to Hirsh Jain, director of government affairs for Caliva, which operates indoor cultivation and manufacturing facilities in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom was a leading proponent of Proposition 64 and has made the success of the legal cannabis market a priority. Earlier this year he reduced projections for marijuana tax revenue, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in social-distancing rules affecting indoor sales, requiring many stores to shift largely to curbside pickup in recent months.
Representatives of the industry said there are positive signs for sales during the pandemic, but noted that legal sellers have still been struggling, and attempts to pass legislation to get more cities to legalize pot shops have failed.
Scott Chipman, vice president of Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana, said the state should not allow the delivery firms it licenses to go into cities where they are not welcome.
“Voters were promised and expected local control and they should have it, especially on deliveries from outside their cities,” Chipman said. “If the state wants to take away local control they need to have the voters vote again.”
The current lawsuit was delayed for months after the state argued that the cities did not have standing to sue because the state law affected cannabis businesses, not local government, many of which have not yet regulated sales.
Miller, the attorney for the local governments, disagreed, stating in an Oct. 28 brief that, “This invasion of local governments’ lawmaking authority is the cognizable injury and suffices to establish standing and a ripe controversy.”


latimes--2020-08-18--California could see a $26-billion windfall followed by growing deficits, analysts say

California ’ s state budget faces a dramatic boom-and-bust period over the next four years , analysts said Wednesday , a roller-coaster period that could begin with a $ 26-billion tax windfall and later plunge to a projected deficit of $ 17.5 billion by the middle of 2025 .
Though the gradual trend toward budget shortfalls was expected when lawmakers and Gov .
Gavin Newsom crafted a state budget in June , the large supply of extra cash — equal to almost 20 % of all current-year spending out of California ’ s general fund — is a surprise , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Many of us thought that the state revenues were headed for a plunge , ” Petek said Wednesday of fears over an economic slowdown sparked by the pandemic .
“ But as it turns out , revenues have proven to be much more resilient than that.
” In essence , the report issued by analysts said that state officials may have over-corrected in trying to limit spending in the budget year that began on July 1 .
The budget signed by Newsom was designed to erase a projected $ 54.3-billion deficit and assumed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decline in tax revenues .
As a result , lawmakers agreed to tap the state ’ s cash reserves and used one-time spending delays in hopes of staving off deep cuts to funding for schools and social services .
Instead , the state ’ s tax revenues have remained strong — in part , Petek said , because high-income residents have not suffered any notable setbacks and California ’ s budget relies heavily on those taxpayers .
“ The progressive nature of the personal income tax structure has actually worked to the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Petek said .
Analysts noted an unusually large amount of uncertainty about how large the ultimate windfall might be , noting that it could be significantly smaller or larger than the $ 26-billion estimate .
But they said lawmakers should make careful decisions on how to spend the cash .
The report urges that half of the tax windfall be used to repay the state ’ s reserve funds , providing a needed buffer in the years to come .
For the other half of the unexpected cash , analysts said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enacted this year to provide supplemental funding to K-12 schools and community colleges beginning next summer .
That plan was crafted in anticipation of slower long-term growth in education funding than economic forecasts now anticipate .
Otherwise , the state will be required next year to spend an additional $ 2.3 billion on schools above what ’ s constitutionally required .
Public schools remain the single largest recipient of state tax dollars .
The budget agreed to last summer relied on delaying $ 6.6-billion in mandatory spending on schools , requiring school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ borrow money in the interim .
The Legislative Analyst ’ s Office report suggested canceling those funding delays as another option for use of windfall taxes .
The deferred school spending was part of $ 11.1 billion in cuts that lawmakers had hoped to rescind once additional coronavirus relief funds were approved by President Trump and Congress — a package that never materialized .
Democratic legislative leaders said Wednesday that their first priority for using windfall tax revenues is to restore those cuts , which also included less money for colleges and universities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employee compensation .
“ It should be our priority to restore funds to critical programs that were cut and prevent additional cuts , ” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon ( D-Lakewood ) said in a written statement .
But restorations beyond the current budget year could exacerbate what ’ s already projected to be a projected deficit in each of the next three fiscal years .
The analysts ’ report warns of annual shortfalls growing to as much as $ 17 billion by the fiscal year 2024-25 .
Those operating deficits would stand in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help Californians whose earnings have been hit hard by the pandemic .
Spending on welfare-to-work assistance , subsidized child care programs and the state ’ s portion of Medi-Cal healthcare coverage already make up a substantial share of future spending increases .
Even then , the budget enacted in the summer expected higher costs .
There had been discussion that Newsom and lawmakers might make adjustments to the budget before the Legislature adjourned in August , but no changes were made — even as monthly tax collections continued to outpace projections that were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Pro Tem Toni Atkins ( D-San Diego ) said the state still needs the expected second round of coronavirus relief from the federal government , now expected to be on the agenda when President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January .
“ The need for federal stimulus is still critical for a strong economic rebound , and to help California continue to meet some of our state ’ s most pressing needs , which includes enhancing unemployment benefits , providing relief for renters and mom-and-pop landlords , and supporting local governments and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a written statement .
The report released Wednesday serves as an early benchmark for the Legislature , which will convene next month for a new two-year session .
Budget hearings are expected after Newsom submits a spending plan in early January .
Newsom ’ s budget spokesman , H.D .
Palmer , said the tax windfall doesn ’ t change the general trajectory of California ’ s economic condition .
“ The state ’ s 11 % unemployment rate in September was still nearly three times its rate before the pandemic , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers are receiving some form of unemployment assistance , ” Palmer said .

California’s state budget faces a dramatic boom-and-bust period over the next four years, analysts said Wednesday, a roller-coaster period that could begin with a $26-billion tax windfall and later plunge to a projected deficit of $17.5 billion by the middle of 2025.
Though the gradual trend toward budget shortfalls was expected when lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom crafted a state budget in June, the large supply of extra cash — equal to almost 20% of all current-year spending out of California’s general fund — is a surprise, Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek said.
“Many of us thought that the state revenues were headed for a plunge,” Petek said Wednesday of fears over an economic slowdown sparked by the pandemic. “But as it turns out, revenues have proven to be much more resilient than that.”
In essence, the report issued by analysts said that state officials may have over-corrected in trying to limit spending in the budget year that began on July 1. The budget signed by Newsom was designed to erase a projected $54.3-billion deficit and assumed the recession would lead to a sharp decline in tax revenues. As a result, lawmakers agreed to tap the state’s cash reserves and used one-time spending delays in hopes of staving off deep cuts to funding for schools and social services.
Instead, the state’s tax revenues have remained strong — in part, Petek said, because high-income residents have not suffered any notable setbacks and California’s budget relies heavily on those taxpayers.
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“The progressive nature of the personal income tax structure has actually worked to the state’s benefit in the current environment,” Petek said.
Analysts noted an unusually large amount of uncertainty about how large the ultimate windfall might be, noting that it could be significantly smaller or larger than the $26-billion estimate. But they said lawmakers should make careful decisions on how to spend the cash. The report urges that half of the tax windfall be used to repay the state’s reserve funds, providing a needed buffer in the years to come.
For the other half of the unexpected cash, analysts said the Legislature should consider rescinding a budget-related law enacted this year to provide supplemental funding to K-12 schools and community colleges beginning next summer. That plan was crafted in anticipation of slower long-term growth in education funding than economic forecasts now anticipate. Otherwise, the state will be required next year to spend an additional $2.3 billion on schools above what’s constitutionally required.
Public schools remain the single largest recipient of state tax dollars. The budget agreed to last summer relied on delaying $6.6-billion in mandatory spending on schools, requiring school districts to use cash reserves or to borrow money in the interim. The Legislative Analyst’s Office report suggested canceling those funding delays as another option for use of windfall taxes.
The deferred school spending was part of $11.1 billion in cuts that lawmakers had hoped to rescind once additional coronavirus relief funds were approved by President Trump and Congress — a package that never materialized. Democratic legislative leaders said Wednesday that their first priority for using windfall tax revenues is to restore those cuts, which also included less money for colleges and universities and a $2.8-billion reduction in state employee compensation.
“It should be our priority to restore funds to critical programs that were cut and prevent additional cuts,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) said in a written statement.
But restorations beyond the current budget year could exacerbate what’s already projected to be a projected deficit in each of the next three fiscal years. The analysts’ report warns of annual shortfalls growing to as much as $17 billion by the fiscal year 2024-25.
Those operating deficits would stand in contrast to demands for boosted spending to help Californians whose earnings have been hit hard by the pandemic. Spending on welfare-to-work assistance, subsidized child care programs and the state’s portion of Medi-Cal healthcare coverage already make up a substantial share of future spending increases.
Even then, the budget enacted in the summer expected higher costs. There had been discussion that Newsom and lawmakers might make adjustments to the budget before the Legislature adjourned in August, but no changes were made — even as monthly tax collections continued to outpace projections that were made in the late spring.
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Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said the state still needs the expected second round of coronavirus relief from the federal government, now expected to be on the agenda when President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.
“The need for federal stimulus is still critical for a strong economic rebound, and to help California continue to meet some of our state’s most pressing needs, which includes enhancing unemployment benefits, providing relief for renters and mom-and-pop landlords, and supporting local governments and our schools,” Atkins said in a written statement.
The report released Wednesday serves as an early benchmark for the Legislature, which will convene next month for a new two-year session. Budget hearings are expected after Newsom submits a spending plan in early January. Newsom’s budget spokesman, H.D. Palmer, said the tax windfall doesn’t change the general trajectory of California’s economic condition.
“The state’s 11% unemployment rate in September was still nearly three times its rate before the pandemic, and more than one in every five California workers are receiving some form of unemployment assistance,” Palmer said.


latimes--2020-11-20--COVID-19 cases spike at partially reopened L.A. schools, but it's hard to draw conclusions

Coronavirus infections among staff and students at partially reopened L.A. County schools spiked in the past week , but incomplete data make it difficult to gauge whether educators and parents should be worried or assured during the unprecedented surge in community transmission .
Last week , 164 schools in the county had reported coronavirus infections since the start of the school year .
This week , that total jumped to 263 .
Last week a total of 169 staff and 63 students had been infected ; one week later the cumulative numbers were 275 staff and 103 students , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on infections of staff and students on campuses were provided Thursday to schools leaders and school nurses in two calls with public health officials .
The Times obtained the information from interviews with those on the calls and from an audio recording .
Last week , 13 schools were linked to outbreaks since the school year began .
Three more outbreaks were reported this week .
Health officials define an outbreak as three or more cases within a 14-day period that appear to have a connection .
Dr. Robert Gilchick , child and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upside in the briefing with school nurses .
Even the outbreaks , he said , resulted in relatively few cases , typically three or four .
And most schools reported one case only .
On balance , he said , it appears that school safety protocols are working .
“ The safety protocols and infection controls that have been instituted may be working very well , ” he said on the call .
Compared to 1.43 million public school students in L.A. County and 3,185 public and private schools , the infections associated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are no data on the number of students and staff on campuses .
Both school district leaders and state legislators have complained about this lack of data at the county and state level .
No schools can legally offer on-campus instruction to all enrolled students .
Instead , schools can apply for waivers to serve students in transitional kindergarten through second grade .
And schools also can bring up to 25 % of enrollment on campus at a time to serve students with special needs .
The county collects figures on which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paperwork to provide services to students with special needs , but there are no reliable numbers on how many students are receiving services on campuses in the 80 school districts in the county .
In L.A. Unified , about 2,000 of more than 460,000 students have returned to campus for tutoring .
Some researchers have concluded that the infection rate at schools tends to mirror what is going on in the community , but does not necessarily make it worse — provided that appropriate safety protocols are followed .
Other experts consider the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home groups of students who come in contact with an infected individual .
That ’ s one reason why school officials have said it could be problematic to fully reopen campuses at a time of widespread community transmission— classes could be frequently disrupted by quarantines each time a student or staff member becomes infected .
The numbers this week came as officials in one Southern California school system concluded they had seen enough .
The San Bernardino school system will keep its campuses closed for the remainder of the school year , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their county .
The state ’ s eighth-largest school district , with about 47,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students , may be the first in the state to make the difficult decision to keep students online .
Others districts throughout California — including Los Angeles Unified — do not yet know when they will fully reopen for in-person classes .
All Southern California counties are in the most restrictive purple tier and under state rules schools can ’ t fully reopen until a county moved to the next improved red tier .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ providing increased in-person services and instruction to more students .
But the ongoing pandemic surge threatens to move school operations in the opposite direction .
This push-and-pull drama is playing out across the country , according to a brief released Wednesday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington .
While almost 16 % of America ’ s school districts said they are offering more in-person schooling now than they did at the start of the current school year , roughly 14 % have shifted toward more remote learning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nation ’ s largest school system , shifted back to remote learning on Thursday as cases surge across the city .
Avoiding potential instability was a factor in the San Bernardino decision .
“ The board ’ s decision is consistent with its steadfast commitment to safety for students and employees , ” the district said in an online announcement .
“ This decision will enable district staff to focus greater resources toward strengthening distance learning while also allowing families to better plan.
” The announcement stated that the action was taken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that show the virus is spreading at alarming rates and families living in its attendance boundaries are especially at risk.
” Data from the San Bernardino County Health Department indicate that the coronavirus infection rate within the school district ’ s boundaries is among the highest in the county .
The district ’ s decision underscores once again the disparity between school systems that serve more affluent communities with lower virus transmission rates versus those that serve low-income neighborhoods , which are more likely to have higher coronavirus rates .
About 9 in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of low-income families .
These families also have more difficulty providing supervision and support for children forced to do all their schoolwork online .
Families in low-income areas also have been among the last to receive the technology needed to do their schooling from home .

Custodian Carlo Ramos sprays a disinfecting solution on playground equipment at Lupin Hill Elementary School, one of the first L.A. County public schools to open under a special waiver.
Coronavirus infections among staff and students at partially reopened L.A. County schools spiked in the past week, but incomplete data make it difficult to gauge whether educators and parents should be worried or assured during the unprecedented surge in community transmission.
Last week, 164 schools in the county had reported coronavirus infections since the start of the school year. This week, that total jumped to 263. Last week a total of 169 staff and 63 students had been infected; one week later the cumulative numbers were 275 staff and 103 students, a 63% increase.
The latest numbers on infections of staff and students on campuses were provided Thursday to schools leaders and school nurses in two calls with public health officials. The Times obtained the information from interviews with those on the calls and from an audio recording.
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Last week, 13 schools were linked to outbreaks since the school year began. Three more outbreaks were reported this week. Health officials define an outbreak as three or more cases within a 14-day period that appear to have a connection.
Dr. Robert Gilchick, child and adolescent health section chief, saw an upside in the briefing with school nurses. Even the outbreaks, he said, resulted in relatively few cases, typically three or four. And most schools reported one case only. On balance, he said, it appears that school safety protocols are working.
“The safety protocols and infection controls that have been instituted may be working very well,” he said on the call.
Compared to 1.43 million public school students in L.A. County and 3,185 public and private schools, the infections associated with schools seem negligible. However, there are no data on the number of students and staff on campuses. Both school district leaders and state legislators have complained about this lack of data at the county and state level.
No schools can legally offer on-campus instruction to all enrolled students. Instead, schools can apply for waivers to serve students in transitional kindergarten through second grade. And schools also can bring up to 25% of enrollment on campus at a time to serve students with special needs.
The county collects figures on which schools received waivers and which schools filed paperwork to provide services to students with special needs, but there are no reliable numbers on how many students are receiving services on campuses in the 80 school districts in the county. In L.A. Unified, about 2,000 of more than 460,000 students have returned to campus for tutoring.
Some researchers have concluded that the infection rate at schools tends to mirror what is going on in the community, and that reopening campuses does not make the community infection rate worse — provided that appropriate safety protocols are followed. Other experts consider the matter unsettled.
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Safety protocols include sending home groups of students who come in contact with an infected individual. That’s one reason why school officials have said it could be problematic to fully reopen campuses at a time of widespread community transmission— classes could be frequently disrupted by quarantines each time a student or staff member becomes infected.
The numbers this week came as officials in one Southern California school system concluded they had seen enough.
The San Bernardino school system will keep its campuses closed for the remainder of the school year, a response to the surging coronavirus crisis in their county. The state’s eighth-largest school district, with about 47,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students, may be the first in the state to make the difficult decision to keep students online.
Others districts throughout California — including Los Angeles Unified — do not yet know when they will fully reopen for in-person classes. All Southern California counties are in the most restrictive purple tier and under state rules schools can’t fully reopen until a county moved to the next improved red tier.
In recent weeks, more schools have been providing increased in-person services and instruction to more students. But the ongoing pandemic surge threatens to move school operations in the opposite direction.
This push-and-pull drama is playing out across the country, according to a brief released Wednesday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. While almost 16% of America’s school districts said they are offering more in-person schooling now than they did at the start of the current school year, roughly 14% have shifted toward more remote learning. Schools in New York City, the nation’s largest school system, shifted back to remote learning on Thursday as cases surge across the city.
Avoiding potential instability was a factor in the San Bernardino decision.
“The board’s decision is consistent with its steadfast commitment to safety for students and employees,” the district said in an online announcement. “This decision will enable district staff to focus greater resources toward strengthening distance learning while also allowing families to better plan.”
The announcement stated that the action was taken “after carefully weighing local COVID-19 figures that show the virus is spreading at alarming rates and families living in its attendance boundaries are especially at risk.”
Data from the San Bernardino County Health Department indicate that the coronavirus infection rate within the school district’s boundaries is among the highest in the county.
The district’s decision underscores once again the disparity between school systems that serve more affluent communities with lower virus transmission rates versus those that serve low-income neighborhoods, which are more likely to have higher coronavirus rates.
About 9 in 10 San Bernardino district students are members of low-income families. These families also have more difficulty providing supervision and support for children forced to do all their schoolwork online. Families in low-income areas also have been among the last to receive the technology needed to do their schooling from home.