latimes--2020-10-11--California's hardest-to-count census tract confronts politics, pandemic and fear

The crowd formed a line alongside the taco truck parked near Fremont Park in Stockton and waited for the free fare they ’ d earned for filling out their census forms .
About 175 residents from San Joaquin County ’ s Census Tract 1 , the hardest to count in the state — most of them Latino or Black — had stopped by on a recent afternoon to “ taco ’ bout the census ” with workers from El Concilio , a nonprofit community organization that partnered with state census and local officials to increase participation among groups that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filled with information about the decennial count , locals chatted with “ trusted messengers ” — community members tasked with outreach to hard-to-count groups — and used tablets to complete the survey .
Salsa and jazz played in the background as workers gave children census stickers that they proudly displayed on the backs of their hands .
Organizers have had their work cut out for them in a census year that has increasingly become politicized , mired by a pandemic , ongoing court battles , concerns about a potential citizenship question , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information could be used to track or discount immigrants from the survey .
They ’ ve canvassed neighborhoods and hosted rallies and information sessions where they explained how census data turns into federal dollars that trickle down to states and cities .
After the coronavirus wiped out the chance to gather in person , they started phone banks and honed social media campaigns .
Now , with the count set to end Oct. 31 , they are making their final push before the deadline .
“ To get people to open their door @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Jose Rodriguez , president of El Concilio , an organization with 52 years of history in the Central Valley that offers education , counseling and job training programs to diverse communities .
He described parts of the census tract as “ rough ” and a “ hot spot for the police ” with high crime rates .
“ Some people you tell to canvass and they won ’ t because they are scared , but we will in groups of three , ” he said .
“ We say , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , our relatives — why wouldn ’ t we go there ?
They may have busted street lamps , but they ’ re people .
They still count.
” Despite the organization ’ s efforts to communicate to locals that a citizenship question is not on the census , it remains “ a big issue , ” he added , referring to the battle last year over the Trump administration ’ s argument that the move was necessary in order to better enforce the Voting Rights Act .
Opponents countered that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ voting power and the federal clout of blue states such as California .
Still , community organizations ’ efforts have shown promise in Stockton , where the state ’ s hardest-to-count tract ’ s self-response rate is 41.6 % , slightly higher than its 36.2 % response rate in 2010 .
The tract encompasses all the hurdles that other challenging areas in California face , organizers say , but in one place .
It ’ s home to communities of color — more than half the tract identifies as Latino , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 86 % of families primarily speak Spanish at home .
Some 68.8 % of its residents have income below 150 % of the poverty level , data from the U.S. Census Bureau show .
Most of the housing units in Census Tract 1 ( some 98.6 % ) are renter-occupied , posing another challenge to accurate enumeration .
Renters are harder to count because they are more difficult to reach during canvassing and the follow-up with non-responders that requires census workers to knock on people ’ s doors and urge them to fill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ answer the door for a stranger , and others may not accurately complete the census because they fear a landlord would learn they have more people living in a unit than is allowed .
And in a census that is primarily collecting data online for the first time , between 60 % to 80 % of households in the tract don ’ t have broadband internet .
“ In many cities and towns in California across the country , there is always one side of town that has the resources that families need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side there are families struggling to survive , ” said Pablo Rodriguez , executive director of Communities for a New California Education Fund , an organization that has been working to boost participation in the census .
“ Census Tract 1 is emblematic of that part of town that has been established but is still suffering , especially when it comes to sprawl.
” States draw on census data to form school district boundaries , and many of the services that people rely on in California and across the nation , such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tied to funds calculated using the census .
In 2015 , the most recent year for which an estimate is available , California received about $ 77 billion in census-related funding — “ more than 80 % of the total federal funds the state received that year , ” according to a report from the Public Policy Institute of California .
In fiscal year 2017 , 316 federal spending programs drew on 2010 census-derived data to distribute $ 1.5 trillion to state and local governments , nonprofits , businesses and households throughout the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute of Public Policy shows .
At stake are not only federal tax dollars but also political redistricting and the reapportionment of seats that each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives .
The tract in Stockton offers a glimpse of the struggles other areas of California with large underserved populations face , including Los Angeles and parts of Orange and Riverside counties , as well as rural pockets with hard-to-track addresses or limited internet access .
This year , Stockton was named the most racially diverse city in the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California is home to seven of the 10 most diverse cities , according to the survey .
With a population around 312,000 , the city had been hit hard by foreclosures and bad municipal investments when Wall Street crashed , and it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2012 .
Life in Stockton has improved since then , but recovery hasn ’ t been even across the city , organizers say .
“ It ’ s the tale of two cities that can be seen in Modesto , Bakersfield , Merced and Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , of Communities for a New California Education Fund , said .
“ A lack of investment and families that are struggling while other neighborhoods are being overly invested in and are thriving in a very different way .
It is definitely a snapshot of something that is happening not just in Stockton but across the state.
” And the shifting census deadlines haven ’ t helped the cause , he said .
Last month , a federal appeals court decided to let stand a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from shutting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that stopping the Census Bureau ’ s count now “ risks undermining ” its mission .
For every Californian missed by the census , Los Angeles County officials have said , the state loses about $ 2,000 a year in federal program funding .
The state made a sizable investment in the 2020 count , according to the Public Policy Institute of California , pouring some $ 187 million into census-related activities since 2018 .
So far , 69.4 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or more than 10.5 million housing units , have self-responded to the census , compared with 68.2 % , or 9.3 million , in 2010 .
“ That ’ s historic , ” said Ditas Katague , director of the California Complete Count Census 2020 Office .
Between 2.15 million and 2.5 million households tallied this year are in hard-to-count areas .
Those who live in difficult-to-track areas aren ’ t apathetic , Rodriguez said — they ’ re just cynical and don ’ t trust that their civic engagement will pay off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ You guys always make promises that you ’ ll fix the streets , that you ’ ll improve the parks , but I just don ’ t see it , ’ ” he said .
Some , he said , feel left behind .
When he or others explain that the census is a 10-year investment in the community , they respond that their future is not in that area and that they hope to be gone by the next decade .
“ There are people who will say , ‘ No @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there is someone at the federal level putting their thumb on the scales.
’ People are nice about it , but there is definitely a sense of hopelessness , ” he said .
“ But in spite of that , California has exceeded its 2010 count overall .
”

A census tract in Stockton is the hardest to tally in the state when it comes to the 2020 census.
The crowd formed a line alongside the taco truck parked near Fremont Park in Stockton and waited for the free fare they’d earned for filling out their census forms.
About 175 residents from San Joaquin County’s Census Tract 1, the hardest to count in the state — most of them Latino or Black — had stopped by on a recent afternoon to “taco ’bout the census” with workers from El Concilio, a nonprofit community organization that partnered with state census and local officials to increase participation among groups that have historically been undercounted.
Flanked by tables filled with information about the decennial count, locals chatted with “trusted messengers” — community members tasked with outreach to hard-to-count groups — and used tablets to complete the survey. Salsa and jazz played in the background as workers gave children census stickers that they proudly displayed on the backs of their hands.
Advertisement
Organizers have had their work cut out for them in a census year that has increasingly become politicized, mired by a pandemic, ongoing court battles, concerns about a potential citizenship question, the safety of respondents’ data and whether information could be used to track or discount immigrants from the survey.
They’ve canvassed neighborhoods and hosted rallies and information sessions where they explained how census data turns into federal dollars that trickle down to states and cities. After the coronavirus wiped out the chance to gather in person, they started phone banks and honed social media campaigns. Now, with the count set to end Oct. 31, they are making their final push before the deadline.
“To get people to open their door, it’s not easy,” said Jose Rodriguez, president of El Concilio, an organization with 52 years of history in the Central Valley that offers education, counseling and job training programs to diverse communities.
He described parts of the census tract as “rough” and a “hot spot for the police” with high crime rates.
“Some people you tell to canvass and they won’t because they are scared, but we will in groups of three,” he said. “We say, they’re our cousins, our friends, our relatives — why wouldn’t we go there? They may have busted street lamps, but they’re people. They still count.”
Despite the organization’s efforts to communicate to locals that a citizenship question is not on the census, it remains “a big issue,” he added, referring to the battle last year over the Trump administration’s argument that the move was necessary in order to better enforce the Voting Rights Act. Opponents countered that it was a transparent ploy aimed at diminishing minorities’ voting power and the federal clout of blue states such as California.
Still, community organizations’ efforts have shown promise in Stockton, where the state’s hardest-to-count tract’s self-response rate is 41.6%, slightly higher than its 36.2% response rate in 2010.
Advertisement
The tract encompasses all the hurdles that other challenging areas in California face, organizers say, but in one place. It’s home to communities of color — more than half the tract identifies as Latino, according to census data — and more than 86% of families primarily speak Spanish at home.
Some 68.8% of its residents have income below 150% of the poverty level, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Most of the housing units in Census Tract 1 (some 98.6%) are renter-occupied, posing another challenge to accurate enumeration. Renters are harder to count because they are more difficult to reach during canvassing and the follow-up with non-responders that requires census workers to knock on people’s doors and urge them to fill out the form. Some may not answer the door for a stranger, and others may not accurately complete the census because they fear a landlord would learn they have more people living in a unit than is allowed.
And in a census that is primarily collecting data online for the first time, between 60% to 80% of households in the tract don’t have broadband internet.
“In many cities and towns in California across the country, there is always one side of town that has the resources that families need to thrive, and on the other side there are families struggling to survive,” said Pablo Rodriguez, executive director of Communities for a New California Education Fund, an organization that has been working to boost participation in the census. “Census Tract 1 is emblematic of that part of town that has been established but is still suffering, especially when it comes to sprawl.”
States draw on census data to form school district boundaries, and many of the services that people rely on in California and across the nation, such as nutrition programs and housing assistance, are tied to funds calculated using the census. In 2015, the most recent year for which an estimate is available, California received about $77 billion in census-related funding — “more than 80% of the total federal funds the state received that year,” according to a report from the Public Policy Institute of California.
In fiscal year 2017, 316 federal spending programs drew on 2010 census-derived data to distribute $1.5 trillion to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and households throughout the country, research from the George Washington Institute of Public Policy shows. At stake are not only federal tax dollars but also political redistricting and the reapportionment of seats that each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The tract in Stockton offers a glimpse of the struggles other areas of California with large underserved populations face, including Los Angeles and parts of Orange and Riverside counties, as well as rural pockets with hard-to-track addresses or limited internet access.
This year, Stockton was named the most racially diverse city in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. California is home to seven of the 10 most diverse cities, according to the survey.
With a population around 312,000, the city had been hit hard by foreclosures and bad municipal investments when Wall Street crashed, and it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2012. Life in Stockton has improved since then, but recovery hasn’t been even across the city, organizers say.
“It’s the tale of two cities that can be seen in Modesto, Bakersfield, Merced and Los Angeles for that matter,” Rodriguez, of Communities for a New California Education Fund, said. “A lack of investment and families that are struggling while other neighborhoods are being overly invested in and are thriving in a very different way. It is definitely a snapshot of something that is happening not just in Stockton but across the state.”
And the shifting census deadlines haven’t helped the cause, he said.
Last month, a federal appeals court decided to let stand a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from shutting down the census count early. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that stopping the Census Bureau’s count now “risks undermining” its mission.
For every Californian missed by the census, Los Angeles County officials have said, the state loses about $2,000 a year in federal program funding. The state made a sizable investment in the 2020 count, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, pouring some $187 million into census-related activities since 2018.
So far, 69.4% of California’s households, or more than 10.5 million housing units, have self-responded to the census, compared with 68.2%, or 9.3 million, in 2010.
“That’s historic,” said Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete Count Census 2020 Office. Between 2.15 million and 2.5 million households tallied this year are in hard-to-count areas.
Those who live in difficult-to-track areas aren’t apathetic, Rodriguez said — they’re just cynical and don’t trust that their civic engagement will pay off.
“It’s like, ‘You guys always make promises that you’ll fix the streets, that you’ll improve the parks, but I just don’t see it,’” he said.
Some, he said, feel left behind. When he or others explain that the census is a 10-year investment in the community, they respond that their future is not in that area and that they hope to be gone by the next decade.
“There are people who will say, ‘No matter what it is that I do, there is someone at the federal level putting their thumb on the scales.’ People are nice about it, but there is definitely a sense of hopelessness,” he said. “But in spite of that, California has exceeded its 2010 count overall.”


latimes--2020-10-12--The Exide battery recycling plant left a big toxic mess. A court could let it walk away

For decades , families across a swath of southeast Los Angeles County have lived in an environmental disaster zone , their kids playing in yards polluted with brain-damaging lead while they wait on a state agency to remove contaminated soil from thousands of homes .
Now , the cleanup faces even greater uncertainty .
A bankruptcy plan by Exide Technologies , which operated the now-closed lead-acid battery smelter in Vernon that is blamed for the pollution , would allow the site to be abandoned with the remediation unfinished .
The Trump administration , through the U.S. Department of Justice and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not to oppose Exide ’ s plan , meaning that state taxpayers would be left with the bill for California ’ s largest environmental cleanup , which already stands at more than $ 270 million .
The proposal has sparked outrage among state regulators , elected officials and community groups in the largely working-class Latino neighborhoods around the plant .
They are demanding the plan be scrapped before a court hearing scheduled for Thursday .
In a letter to U.S. Atty .
Gen. William Barr , seven state lawmakers representing the affected neighborhoods @ @ @ @ @ @ @ causing “ immeasurable damage ” to surrounding communities .
“ Unfortunately for our residents , unlike Exide , there is no legal process that allows them simply to erase the lead pollution from their bodies.
” Msgr .
John Moretta of Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights implored the Department of Justice to “ not abandon this community to the trash that Exide left here.
” The Department of Justice and the EPA did not answer questions from The Times but announced they will hold a virtual public meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s concerns.
” “ We are evaluating public comment received , as called for in that proposal , ” the two agencies said in nearly identical statements .
“ Because the Exide matter remains in active litigation and before the Bankruptcy Court , other statements about the proposed settlement will be made in that forum.
” Exide did not respond to a request for comment .
In the past , the company has argued that it is not responsible for lead contamination beyond the boundaries of the Vernon facility , which it took @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other sources for the residential contamination , including neighboring industrial facilities and lead-based paint .
And in court filings , the company has argued that it has fulfilled its cleanup obligations and accused the state of seeking to improperly impose hundreds of millions of dollars in liability for “ alleged off-site residential contamination.
” A 2015 deal struck between the U.S. attorney ’ s office for the Central District of California and Georgia-based Exide was supposed to prevent such an outcome .
In it , the company admitted to years of environmental crimes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permanently closing the Vernon facility , demolishing it and cleaning up the pollution .
At the time , the U.S. attorney ’ s office defended its non-prosecution agreement as a way to ensure a timely cleanup without leaving taxpayers with the bill .
If the company failed to comply with the cleanup agreements at any point in the following 10 years , officials argued , it would face the “ hammer ” of criminal prosecution for those crimes .
That hasn ’ t happened , despite the state ’ s determination last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the agreement .
Activists , who have long questioned the company ’ s deal with federal authorities , said the outcome was foreseeable .
“ I ’ m not surprised that Exide has continued to find ways to avoid paying for the cleanup , ” said Idalmis Vaquero , a member of the group Communities for a Better Environment who lives in a Boyle Heights public housing complex within the cleanup zone that has not yet been treated for lead contamination .
“ I ’ m also really frustrated by the incompetence , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power that [ the Department of Toxic Substances Control ] is willing to exercise.
” California regulators blame the plant , about five miles from downtown L.A. , for spreading lead dust over half a dozen communities up to 1.7 miles away where more than 100,000 people lived .
But the state let the facility operate without a full permit for more than three decades .
It also did not require the company to set aside adequate funds to clean up its pollution , even as it repeatedly ran afoul of environmental rules @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of lead and other toxic pollutants into the air .
People in surrounding neighborhoods pushed for years for the plant ’ s closure only to wage more battles with state bureaucrats to get their property cleaned of the lead contamination left behind .
Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause learning disabilities , lower IQs and other permanent developmental and behavioral problems in children , even in tiny amounts .
“ Lead exposures in communities around Exide remain widespread , ” said Jill Johnston , a professor of preventive medicine at USC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large source of lead will continue to pose a threat to the health of surrounding communities.
” The state Department of Toxic Substances Control has removed lead-tainted soil from about 2,000 residential properties since 2014 .
But thousands more properties with lead contamination above state health limits have yet to be cleaned , and the project has long been plagued by delays and accusations of mismanagement .
Allison Wescott , a Toxic Substances Control spokeswoman , blamed the predicament on the company , saying that “ ever since the contamination was discovered , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responsibility to Californians.
” “ And now it is attempting to use the bankruptcy process to abandon the Vernon facility completely , ” she said .
Exide filed for bankruptcy protection in May with plans to liquidate its assets across several states .
After negotiations earlier this year , California was presented with a settlement proposal last month that asked the state to accept $ 2.5 million in exchange for releasing the company from all liability , state officials said .
California refused to sign on , but the company moved forward with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove liability and allow for abandonment of the site .
The proposal was released publicly on Sept. 25 , providing only eight business days for community members to submit comments .
Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the plant were aghast .
“ They admitted to criminal activity , and still they ’ re walking away , ” said Joe Gonzalez , a retired Boyle Heights postal worker who fought for years to shut down the plant and is now battling the state to rid his yard of lead contamination .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we need officials to stand up for our communities and the harm that we ’ re suffering.
” The state filed an objection on Wednesday , pleading with the Bankruptcy Court to deny a plan that “ effectively foists all of the risk and costs of the Vernon plant onto the shoulders of Californians and would allow the parties most responsible to walk away from an imminent and substantial public health risk.
” The facility , at 2700 S. Indiana St. in the heavily industrial city of Vernon , has not operated since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an ongoing daily risk , ” according to the state ’ s court filing .
The main part of the facility is protected by an enclosure made of scaffolding , trusses and plastic sheeting that is not meant to be permanent and “ requires daily operation , maintenance , inspections , and monitoring to ensure hazardous materials do not escape ... and further contaminate the surrounding communities.
” Cleaning the closed facility itself will cost between $ 70 million and $ 100 million , according to the state .
California officials have for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case to recoup cleanup costs from the company and any other responsible parties .
But it ’ s unclear what recourse the state will have if Exide ’ s bankruptcy plan is approved .
Toxic Substances Control “ continues its work with the attorney general ’ s office to hold accountable all parties responsible for contamination from operations of the Exide facility , ” Wescott said .
She conceded that Exide ’ s bankruptcy threatens California ’ s ability to recoup costs , but said the agency “ has the steadfast support of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this cleanup through.
” State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago ( D-Los Angeles ) criticized the Department of Toxic Substances Control for its “ dysfunction and an inability to move quickly.
” “ If DTSC had taken swifter legal action against Exide , they would have been in a stronger position in the bankruptcy , ” Santiago said .
“ All California communities are in danger of becoming the next Exide disaster if we don ’ t have an agency that moves at lightning speed as an aggressive bulldog against polluters.
” California Secretary for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s actions , saying , “ We ’ ve tried at every turn ” to hold Exide accountable .
The situation is complicated by the immense scope of the contamination and the fact that the company is liquidating , which all but eliminates the prospects of generating future cleanup funds , said Sean Hecht , an environmental law professor at UCLA Law School .
But one thing the bankruptcy process can not absolve the company of is criminal liability , he said .
“ Theoretically the Department of Justice could come after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s already admitted , ” he said .
“ But what would that accomplish in terms of actually getting funding for the cleanup ?
Ultimately the money isn ’ t there , and that ’ s what the problem is now .
”

Portions of the former Exide lead-acid battery recycling plant in Vernon are now wrapped in scaffolding and white plastic sheeting.
For decades, families across a swath of southeast Los Angeles County have lived in an environmental disaster zone, their kids playing in yards polluted with brain-damaging lead while they wait on a state agency to remove contaminated soil from thousands of homes.
Now, the cleanup faces even greater uncertainty. A bankruptcy plan by Exide Technologies, which operated the now-closed lead-acid battery smelter in Vernon that is blamed for the pollution, would allow the site to be abandoned with the remediation unfinished.
The Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency, has agreed not to oppose Exide’s plan, meaning that state taxpayers would be left with the bill for California’s largest environmental cleanup, which already stands at more than $270 million.
Joe Gonzalez, 64, shows the many patient wrist bands he has accrued during his cancer treatment as he speaks in front of his Boyle Heights home, which lies within the residential cleanup zone surrounding the former Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
The proposal has sparked outrage among state regulators, elected officials and community groups in the largely working-class Latino neighborhoods around the plant. They are demanding the plan be scrapped before a court hearing scheduled for Thursday.
In a letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. William Barr, seven state lawmakers representing the affected neighborhoods said Exide must be held accountable for causing “immeasurable damage” to surrounding communities. “Unfortunately for our residents, unlike Exide, there is no legal process that allows them simply to erase the lead pollution from their bodies.”
Msgr. John Moretta of Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights implored the Department of Justice to “not abandon this community to the trash that Exide left here.”
The Department of Justice and the EPA did not answer questions from The Times but announced they will hold a virtual public meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday “to listen to the community’s concerns.”
“We are evaluating public comment received, as called for in that proposal,” the two agencies said in nearly identical statements. “Because the Exide matter remains in active litigation and before the Bankruptcy Court, other statements about the proposed settlement will be made in that forum.”
Msgr. John Moretta of Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights speaks during a news conferencee to express opposition to the Exide bankruptcy plan. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Exide did not respond to a request for comment. In the past, the company has argued that it is not responsible for lead contamination beyond the boundaries of the Vernon facility, which it took over in 2000. It has blamed other sources for the residential contamination, including neighboring industrial facilities and lead-based paint.
Advertisement
And in court filings, the company has argued that it has fulfilled its cleanup obligations and accused the state of seeking to improperly impose hundreds of millions of dollars in liability for “alleged off-site residential contamination.”
A 2015 deal struck between the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California and Georgia-based Exide was supposed to prevent such an outcome. In it, the company admitted to years of environmental crimes, escaping criminal charges in exchange for permanently closing the Vernon facility, demolishing it and cleaning up the pollution.
At the time, the U.S. attorney’s office defended its non-prosecution agreement as a way to ensure a timely cleanup without leaving taxpayers with the bill. If the company failed to comply with the cleanup agreements at any point in the following 10 years, officials argued, it would face the “hammer” of criminal prosecution for those crimes.
That hasn’t happened, despite the state’s determination last year that the company was in violation of the agreement.
Activists, who have long questioned the company’s deal with federal authorities, said the outcome was foreseeable.
“I’m not surprised that Exide has continued to find ways to avoid paying for the cleanup,” said Idalmis Vaquero, a member of the group Communities for a Better Environment who lives in a Boyle Heights public housing complex within the cleanup zone that has not yet been treated for lead contamination. “I’m also really frustrated by the incompetence, slow cleanup and the lack of legal power that [the Department of Toxic Substances Control] is willing to exercise.”
Map of the cleanup zone around Exide Technologies’ lead battery recycling plant. (Los Angeles Times)
California regulators blame the plant, about five miles from downtown L.A., for spreading lead dust over half a dozen communities up to 1.7 miles away where more than 100,000 people lived. But the state let the facility operate without a full permit for more than three decades. It also did not require the company to set aside adequate funds to clean up its pollution, even as it repeatedly ran afoul of environmental rules on hazardous waste and released illegal amounts of lead and other toxic pollutants into the air.
People in surrounding neighborhoods pushed for years for the plant’s closure only to wage more battles with state bureaucrats to get their property cleaned of the lead contamination left behind. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause learning disabilities, lower IQs and other permanent developmental and behavioral problems in children, even in tiny amounts.
“Lead exposures in communities around Exide remain widespread,” said Jill Johnston, a professor of preventive medicine at USC. “Without active remediation, this large source of lead will continue to pose a threat to the health of surrounding communities.”
Much of the closed Exide lead-acid battery recycling plant, located in Vernon, is wrapped in white plastic sheeting. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
The state Department of Toxic Substances Control has removed lead-tainted soil from about 2,000 residential properties since 2014. But thousands more properties with lead contamination above state health limits have yet to be cleaned, and the project has long been plagued by delays and accusations of mismanagement.
Allison Wescott, a Toxic Substances Control spokeswoman, blamed the predicament on the company, saying that “ever since the contamination was discovered, Exide has worked to evade its full responsibility to Californians.”
“And now it is attempting to use the bankruptcy process to abandon the Vernon facility completely,” she said.
Exide filed for bankruptcy protection in May with plans to liquidate its assets across several states.
After negotiations earlier this year, California was presented with a settlement proposal last month that asked the state to accept $2.5 million in exchange for releasing the company from all liability, state officials said. California refused to sign on, but the company moved forward with a “nonconsensual” plan that would remove liability and allow for abandonment of the site.
The proposal was released publicly on Sept. 25, providing only eight business days for community members to submit comments.
Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the plant were aghast.
“They admitted to criminal activity, and still they’re walking away,” said Joe Gonzalez, a retired Boyle Heights postal worker who fought for years to shut down the plant and is now battling the state to rid his yard of lead contamination. “It’s just a long-haul nightmare. And we need officials to stand up for our communities and the harm that we’re suffering.”
× Unsettled: Exide | Video by Bethany Mollenkof and Spencer Bakalar
The state filed an objection on Wednesday, pleading with the Bankruptcy Court to deny a plan that “effectively foists all of the risk and costs of the Vernon plant onto the shoulders of Californians and would allow the parties most responsible to walk away from an imminent and substantial public health risk.”
The facility, at 2700 S. Indiana St. in the heavily industrial city of Vernon, has not operated since 2014 but “remains highly contaminated and an ongoing daily risk,” according to the state’s court filing. The main part of the facility is protected by an enclosure made of scaffolding, trusses and plastic sheeting that is not meant to be permanent and “requires daily operation, maintenance, inspections, and monitoring to ensure hazardous materials do not escape ... and further contaminate the surrounding communities.”
Cleaning the closed facility itself will cost between $70 million and $100 million, according to the state.
California officials have for years said they are building a legal case to recoup cleanup costs from the company and any other responsible parties. But it’s unclear what recourse the state will have if Exide’s bankruptcy plan is approved.
Toxic Substances Control “continues its work with the attorney general’s office to hold accountable all parties responsible for contamination from operations of the Exide facility,” Wescott said. She conceded that Exide’s bankruptcy threatens California’s ability to recoup costs, but said the agency “has the steadfast support of state and local leadership necessary to see this cleanup through.”
Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) records Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) speaking Tuesday at a news conference in Boyle Heights where they expressed their opposition to Exide’s proposed bankruptcy settlement. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) criticized the Department of Toxic Substances Control for its “dysfunction and an inability to move quickly.”
“If DTSC had taken swifter legal action against Exide, they would have been in a stronger position in the bankruptcy,” Santiago said. “All California communities are in danger of becoming the next Exide disaster if we don’t have an agency that moves at lightning speed as an aggressive bulldog against polluters.”
California Secretary for Environmental Protection Jared Blumenfeld defended the state’s actions, saying, “We’ve tried at every turn” to hold Exide accountable.
The situation is complicated by the immense scope of the contamination and the fact that the company is liquidating, which all but eliminates the prospects of generating future cleanup funds, said Sean Hecht, an environmental law professor at UCLA Law School. But one thing the bankruptcy process cannot absolve the company of is criminal liability, he said.
“Theoretically the Department of Justice could come after Exide for the felonies that it’s already admitted,” he said. “But what would that accomplish in terms of actually getting funding for the cleanup? Ultimately the money isn’t there, and that’s what the problem is now.”


latimes--2020-10-12--California regulators launch review of long, deadly delays in L.A. County specialty care

As current and former doctors in Los Angeles County ’ s public hospital system condemn delays in providing specialist care , California regulators have launched a review of the long , sometimes deadly waits faced by patients who need treatment from one of the nation ’ s largest public health systems .
The actions come in the wake of a Times investigation that found patients of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services face agonizing delays to see specialists after referrals from primary care providers , leaving many with intolerable pain , worsening illnesses and a growing sense of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients who died of the conditions they waited to have treated .
The California Department of Health Care Services will review whether any managed care plan that offers Medi-Cal — the government-subsidized program that covers low-income Californians and most county patients — violated its contract with the state to provide adequate access to care , an agency spokeswoman said .
“ Any untimely death is a tragedy , and our hearts go out to the families suffering the loss of a loved one .
The wait times outlined by The Times are unacceptable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the California Health and Human Services Agency , said in a statement .
“ Timely access to care is a fundamental patient right.
” The review is the second underway by the state .
The California Department of Managed Health Care began an investigation of the county ’ s wait times this year in response to questions from The Times about delays in specialist appointments .
Baass is overseeing both inquiries after her boss , state Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly , recused himself .
Ghaly is married to the director of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dr. Christina Ghaly .
The average wait to see a specialist in the L.A. County system was 89 days , according to a of more than 860,000 requests for specialty care at the county ’ s Department of Health Services , which serves more than 2 million people , primarily the region ’ s poorest and most vulnerable residents .
Even patients waiting to see doctors whose prompt care can mean the difference between life and death — neurologists , kidney specialists , cardiologists — endured delays that stretched on for months , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of nonemergency requests from primary care providers to specialists from 2016 through 2019 .
Several doctors who now work for the county or recently left called for reform , including better communication between primary care providers and specialists as well as a dramatic increase in hiring of specialists .
Dr. Michael Hochman , a primary care physician and associate professor of clinical medicine at USC ’ s Keck School of Medicine , who has practiced at safety-net health systems on both coasts , said Los Angeles County ’ s is “ the least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at in my 14 years since I graduated medical school.
” Hochman said it was “ particularly frustrating ” to try to get patients potentially lifesaving radiology tests at L.A. County-USC Medical Center , the county ’ s flagship safety-net hospital in Boyle Heights .
When family practitioners make such referrals , “ you ’ re usually worried about cancer , some serious illness like that , ” Hochman said .
“ It ’ s not the kind of thing that can wait a few months.
” He contrasted those long waits to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at USC ’ s Keck Hospital .
“ You ask for it and it ’ s done before you ’ ve finished signing the order , ” Hochman said .
Hochman , who once worked as a health advisor to L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas , said having a health system overseen by politicians instead of medical professionals makes it particularly resistant to change .
“ They are elected officials , and they want to paint a rosy picture of what ’ s going on rather than necessarily taking on the root cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work , ” Hochman said .
Members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have said little about The Times ’ findings .
In an email , board Chairwoman Kathryn Barger wrote that the well-being of patients in the safety-net system is an “ important responsibility , ” adding , “ we must continue to look for improvements and enhancements to ensure the highest quality of care for our vulnerable residents.
” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl , reached by text the day the investigation was published , replied : “ Sorry no time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the info provided by DHS.
” Asked whether she was satisfied with the waits , Kuehl replied : “ Im in back to back mtgs .
Sorry .
Won ’ t be answering again.
” Dr. Christina Ghaly , director of the county ’ s health services , and her top deputies criticized The Times ’ investigation , saying its descriptions of individual patient cases were “ inaccurate ” and “ misleading , ” but they declined to elaborate , citing healthcare confidentiality laws .
They accused The Times of “ manipulating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a triage system that prioritizes patients based on their individual health needs .
In letters and emails to the newspaper , they said the newspaper ’ s investigation “ cherry-picked ” cases from before the county revamped its referral system in recent years and hired more specialists .
The county , Ghaly said , has won praise from the healthcare industry for introducing an internal email system , called eConsult , that allows primary care providers to confer with a specialist about a patient ’ s condition and whether additional testing or a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
From before eConsult ’ s introduction in 2012 to 2018 , the number of face-to-face patient visits scheduled with specialists dropped by about 41 % , county officials said , helping cut wait times for other patients who need to see a specialist .
In previous interviews with The Times , some county primary care doctors and nurses complained that eConsult seems designed to prevent or delay appointments with overburdened specialists .
Dr. Jonathan Bergman , a urologist at the county ’ s Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar , praised eConsult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be a model for other health systems .
But he said waits remain too long .
“ That number got reduced from infinity to a number that is still too big , ” Bergman said .
The county , he said , still suffers from a chronic shortage of specialists .
“ Clinics are way too full , they still are , ” Bergman said .
“ Even if you make things maximally efficient , until you hire enough specialists , you definitely are going to have a problem.
” A doctor who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of her patients with gallbladder problems had to wait “ months and months and months , and it wasn ’ t until she got infected , really dangerously sick , that they did her surgery , ” she said .
“ That was a pattern.
” The doctor , who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation , said she still worries that she will be sued for something she missed while working for the county because she had so little time with patients .
“ If you can talk to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnosis , which is what you need , ” she said .
“ At DHS , you were always robbed of that.
” It ’ s unclear how many patients die waiting to see specialists ; county health officials said they don ’ t track that .
But The Times reviewed the medical records of six patients who faced delays of at least three months to see specialists and died of the illnesses they waited to have treated .
They included 61-year-old Isabel Lainez , whose bladder and kidney problems were so bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bus , in the car , in an elevator — while waiting 10 months to see specialists .
She died of chronic kidney disease before she got an appointment .
Majid Vatandoust was denied a colonoscopy , despite classic symptoms of colon cancer , because he was 49 and his county gastroenterologist said cancer screening is “ not valid for patients under 50.
” By the time Vatandoust turned 50 and was approved for the test , the cancer in his colon had spread to other organs .
It killed him two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a public outcry over lengthy medical delays and patient deaths spurred California to set specific limits on how long HMOs can keep sick people waiting to see a doctor .
The time standards require health insurers — including those offering Medi-Cal , which covers about a third of Californians — to provide appointments with specialists within 15 business days , or four days in urgent cases .
The Times ’ analysis of specialist appointments provided by the county ’ s health services found that 88 % occurred more than 15 business days after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or nurse practitioner — made a referral .
Because the regulation applies to the insurers and not doctors and hospitals directly , L.A. County health officials said they view the time standards as “ guidance.
” But the county ’ s contract with the largest insurance provider for its patients requires the health system to “ meet or exceed ” the timely access standards , according to a copy obtained by The Times through a public records request .
Beth Capell , a policy advocate with Health Access California , a consumer group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said after reading The Times ’ investigation , “ It was heartbreaking to see that after all these decades to ensure consumers have timely access to care that we haven ’ t accomplished it , at least for some Californians.
” The time standard , she said , is a requirement , not a guideline or recommendation .
“ It ’ s a requirement that ’ s there for good reason , ” she said .
“ Care delayed is care denied .
”

Majid Vatandoust died of colon cancer at age 52, three years after a request for a colonoscopy was denied by a specialist working for L.A. County despite tests that showed clear indicators of the disease.
As current and former doctors in Los Angeles County’s public hospital system condemn delays in providing specialist care, California regulators have launched a review of the long, sometimes deadly waits faced by patients who need treatment from one of the nation’s largest public health systems.
The actions come in the wake of a Times investigation that found patients of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services face agonizing delays to see specialists after referrals from primary care providers, leaving many with intolerable pain, worsening illnesses and a growing sense of hopelessness. The Times report included several patients who died of the conditions they waited to have treated.
The California Department of Health Care Services will review whether any managed care plan that offers Medi-Cal — the government-subsidized program that covers low-income Californians and most county patients — violated its contract with the state to provide adequate access to care, an agency spokeswoman said.
Advertisement
“Any untimely death is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families suffering the loss of a loved one. The wait times outlined by The Times are unacceptable,” Michelle Baass, undersecretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said in a statement. “Timely access to care is a fundamental patient right.”
The review is the second underway by the state. The California Department of Managed Health Care began an investigation of the county’s wait times this year in response to questions from The Times about delays in specialist appointments.
Baass is overseeing both inquiries after her boss, state Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, recused himself. Ghaly is married to the director of the Los Angeles County safety-net hospital system, Dr. Christina Ghaly.
The average wait to see a specialist in the L.A. County system was 89 days, according to a Times data analysis of more than 860,000 requests for specialty care at the county’s Department of Health Services, which serves more than 2 million people, primarily the region’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.
Even patients waiting to see doctors whose prompt care can mean the difference between life and death — neurologists, kidney specialists, cardiologists — endured delays that stretched on for months, according to the data, which consisted of nonemergency requests from primary care providers to specialists from 2016 through 2019.
Several doctors who now work for the county or recently left called for reform, including better communication between primary care providers and specialists as well as a dramatic increase in hiring of specialists.
Advertisement
Dr. Michael Hochman, a primary care physician and associate professor of clinical medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, who has practiced at safety-net health systems on both coasts, said Los Angeles County’s is “the least effective system that I’ve worked at in my 14 years since I graduated medical school.”
Hochman said it was “particularly frustrating” to try to get patients potentially lifesaving radiology tests at L.A. County-USC Medical Center, the county’s flagship safety-net hospital in Boyle Heights. When family practitioners make such referrals, “you’re usually worried about cancer, some serious illness like that,” Hochman said. “It’s not the kind of thing that can wait a few months.”
He contrasted those long waits to what happens for privately insured patients treated at USC’s Keck Hospital. “You ask for it and it’s done before you’ve finished signing the order,” Hochman said.
Hochman, who once worked as a health advisor to L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, said having a health system overseen by politicians instead of medical professionals makes it particularly resistant to change.
“They are elected officials, and they want to paint a rosy picture of what’s going on rather than necessarily taking on the root cause of the problems, which is hard work,” Hochman said.
Members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have said little about The Times’ findings.
In an email, board Chairwoman Kathryn Barger wrote that the well-being of patients in the safety-net system is an “important responsibility,” adding, “we must continue to look for improvements and enhancements to ensure the highest quality of care for our vulnerable residents.”
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, reached by text the day the investigation was published, replied: “Sorry no time at all today. Please pay attention to the info provided by DHS.” Asked whether she was satisfied with the waits, Kuehl replied: “Im in back to back mtgs. Sorry. Won’t be answering again.”
Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the county’s health services, and her top deputies criticized The Times’ investigation, saying its descriptions of individual patient cases were “inaccurate” and “misleading,” but they declined to elaborate, citing healthcare confidentiality laws.
They accused The Times of “manipulating data” and failing to account for a triage system that prioritizes patients based on their individual health needs. In letters and emails to the newspaper, they said the newspaper’s investigation “cherry-picked” cases from before the county revamped its referral system in recent years and hired more specialists.
The county, Ghaly said, has won praise from the healthcare industry for introducing an internal email system, called eConsult, that allows primary care providers to confer with a specialist about a patient’s condition and whether additional testing or a face-to-face appointment with a specialist is necessary.
From before eConsult’s introduction in 2012 to 2018, the number of face-to-face patient visits scheduled with specialists dropped by about 41%, county officials said, helping cut wait times for other patients who need to see a specialist.
In previous interviews with The Times, some county primary care doctors and nurses complained that eConsult seems designed to prevent or delay appointments with overburdened specialists.
Dr. Jonathan Bergman, a urologist at the county’s Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, praised eConsult for shortening delays and said it could be a model for other health systems. But he said waits remain too long. “That number got reduced from infinity to a number that is still too big,” Bergman said.
The county, he said, still suffers from a chronic shortage of specialists.
“Clinics are way too full, they still are,” Bergman said. “Even if you make things maximally efficient, until you hire enough specialists, you definitely are going to have a problem.”
A doctor who left the county last year said one of her patients with gallbladder problems had to wait “months and months and months, and it wasn’t until she got infected, really dangerously sick, that they did her surgery,” she said. “That was a pattern.”
The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said she still worries that she will be sued for something she missed while working for the county because she had so little time with patients.
“If you can talk to your patients, you can get the diagnosis, which is what you need,” she said. “At DHS, you were always robbed of that.”
It’s unclear how many patients die waiting to see specialists; county health officials said they don’t track that. But The Times reviewed the medical records of six patients who faced delays of at least three months to see specialists and died of the illnesses they waited to have treated.
They included 61-year-old Isabel Lainez, whose bladder and kidney problems were so bad she became incontinent — wetting herself on the bus, in the car, in an elevator — while waiting 10 months to see specialists. She died of chronic kidney disease before she got an appointment.
Majid Vatandoust was denied a colonoscopy, despite classic symptoms of colon cancer, because he was 49 and his county gastroenterologist said cancer screening is “not valid for patients under 50.” By the time Vatandoust turned 50 and was approved for the test, the cancer in his colon had spread to other organs. It killed him two years later.
A decade ago, a public outcry over lengthy medical delays and patient deaths spurred California to set specific limits on how long HMOs can keep sick people waiting to see a doctor.
The time standards require health insurers — including those offering Medi-Cal, which covers about a third of Californians — to provide appointments with specialists within 15 business days, or four days in urgent cases.
The Times’ analysis of specialist appointments provided by the county’s health services found that 88% occurred more than 15 business days after a primary care provider — a doctor or nurse practitioner — made a referral.
Because the regulation applies to the insurers and not doctors and hospitals directly, L.A. County health officials said they view the time standards as “guidance.”
But the county’s contract with the largest insurance provider for its patients requires the health system to “meet or exceed” the timely access standards, according to a copy obtained by The Times through a public records request.
Beth Capell, a policy advocate with Health Access California, a consumer group that helped push for the time limit, said after reading The Times’ investigation, “It was heartbreaking to see that after all these decades to ensure consumers have timely access to care that we haven’t accomplished it, at least for some Californians.”
The time standard, she said, is a requirement, not a guideline or recommendation.
“It’s a requirement that’s there for good reason,” she said. “Care delayed is care denied.”


latimes--2020-10-12--LAPD data show few officers report excessive force by peers; better tracking promised

With a new state law requiring police officers to report excessive force by their peers , a Los Angeles police commissioner this summer asked department commanders how many times such reporting had occurred in the last five years .
The answer that Dale Bonner got back , in a July email obtained by The Times through a public records request , was five .
When The Times asked for a synopsis of the five incidents , LAPD officials said that the number was actually two .
Amid thousands of unauthorized force complaints from the public since 2015 , there were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officer had filed an unauthorized force complaint against another officer , they said .
Both were in 2016 .
In one , an officer reported seeing another yank a handcuffed detainee backward off a bench onto the floor , leading to the offending officer receiving a 10-day suspension and demotion .
In the other , an officer reported being in a vehicle with two supervisors when one activated a personal stun gun and the other pulled out a handgun .
The first supervisor received a 12-day suspension , the second a 22-day suspension @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles Police Department fielded more than 2,200 unauthorized force complaints against officers .
Not a single one was recorded as having been filed by a fellow officer , according to department records .
There also have not been any recorded cases of officers filing excessive force complaints so far this year , despite members of the public filing more than 50 such complaints over their treatment by officers at massive protests in the city this summer .
Both LAPD Chief Michel Moore and Deputy Chief Robert Marino , who heads the LAPD @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Times the low number of recorded complaints is misleading — based on inadequate tracking of such reporting , more than anything else .
“ We ’ re not capturing it right , the data , ” Marino said .
Marino said there were probably other undocumented instances in which officers quietly reported excessive force to a supervisor , but the supervisor never mentioned the origins of the complaint when pursuing it .
Moore said in cases in which excessive force is obvious and immediately documented , officers routinely provide fair and truthful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In fact , Moore said officers are routinely punished for not reporting such force by their peers in cases in which the misconduct comes to light in some other way , which he knows because he personally oversees the discipline process .
However , neither he nor Marino could provide data on such punishments .
“ We continue to refine our systems to better analyze for a number of variables to better understand the interplay of factors , ” Moore told The Times , referring to the shortcomings in the data .
Marino @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to better track such incidents moving forward , including putting a “ check box ” on forms in which alleged excessive force is detailed so that those filling out the paperwork can indicate whether the complaint originated with another officer .
“ We ’ re trying to create a program within internal affairs that captures that , ” Marino said .
The move follows a national push by reform activists and lawmakers to hold police more accountable for their treatment of people on the street , including by requiring officers to report their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last year , lawmakers in Sacramento passed a law requiring that all California police agencies adopt policies mandating peer reporting of excessive force by January 2021 .
LAPD commanders said such reporting wasn ’ t new for them — that the LAPD has long required it — but the Police Commission nonetheless revised the use-of-force policy .
Bonner , who received the raw data from Moore in a July 21 email , said he had not followed up with police since then , but intended to do so .
He said that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did seem low , but that he was reluctant to reach any conclusions when so much remains unknown about what is occurring and how officers with concerns are communicating them .
“ I ’ m certainly not throwing my hands up and saying , ‘ Well , this is the way it is.
’ What I ’ m also not doing is going the other way and conjecturing , ” Bonner said in an interview .
“ My interest also is not just in improving the form and improving the policy and paper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how it really plays out in real time.
” Properly understanding what is occurring will require conversations with officers “ who are actually on patrol and responding to incidents , ” he said .
Dustin DeRollo , a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League , said the union supports peer reporting and believes it occurs routinely as officers report incidents to their supervisors and comply with internal investigations .
Activists and lawmakers welcomed commitments to improve tracking , saying accountability won ’ t come without it .
“ No matter what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have an accountability structure to enforce it , it ’ s just words on a paper , ” said Sam Sinyangwe , an activist with the organization Campaign Zero , which has advocated for peer-reporting policies nationwide .
State Sen. Anna Caballero ( D-Salinas ) , who sponsored the bill that mandated such reporting , said that police agencies have until January to comply with the law , and that if they do so without establishing clear tracking protocols , new legislation may be in order .
Reducing the use of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the LAPD for years , and the department has had some success .
LAPD shootings are way below where they once were , hitting a 30-year low last year .
However , overall complaints last year were up .
According to LAPD data , a total of 3,763 complaints were fielded in 2019 for an array of alleged offenses , most of which were filed by members of the public .
There were 3,567 complaints in 2018 and 3,217 in 2017 .
Few complaints result in punishment for officers .
Of the 2,200 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , only 70 were sustained by the department .
None was recorded as having been filed by a fellow officer .
Asked why LAPD officers , who always work with partners , don ’ t report possible excessive force more often given the thousands of outside complaints , Moore noted that the vast majority of those complaints — more than 95 % — were dismissed , some for a lack of evidence but many after being deemed “ demonstrably false.
” “ The existence of an allegation does not prove there is any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Moore also said he didn ’ t know of a single excessive force investigation in which the officers involved didn ’ t submit to interviews and share what they knew .
Of course , cooperation in an ongoing administrative investigation is different from proactively reporting an incident the department is unaware of , reform advocates said , and some excessive force would never come to light without peer reporting .
In part because of that , the duty of officers to report and intervene when excessive force occurs has been a focus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was one of eight use-of-force policy reforms urged as part of a national reform effort by Sinyangwe ’ s group called # EightCantWait — which captured the attention of lawmakers nationwide .
DeRay McKesson , who works with Sinyangwe at Campaign Zero , said the duty to report and intervene is an accountability measure like any other , in that compliance must be tracked for it to be effective .
“ The data allows us a different entry point to identify problems and hold the institution accountable , ” he said .
Sinyangwe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck as other officers stood by — show that intervention and reporting requirements are necessary tools that will mean little if they aren ’ t enforced .
“ The policy is an important first step in making it possible to hold officers accountable for these things , ” he said .
“ But what is clear is that is not sufficient.
” Caballero said tracking compliance moving forward will be “ critical for law enforcement agencies to have a clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used , ” and would “ ultimately help shape the agency ’ s response to ensure these situations , which often result in the loss of life , are eliminated.
” She said additional legislation “ may be necessary to strengthen the reporting requirements , ” but noted that the law gives agencies until January to implement the requirements — giving them “ additional time to further develop , implement and refine use of force policies .
”

The LAPD is working to build a better tracking system for incidents in which an officer reports another for using excessive force. Above, police officers must walk in formation outside LAPD headquarters.
With a new state law requiring police officers to report excessive force by their peers, a Los Angeles police commissioner this summer asked department commanders how many times such reporting had occurred in the last five years.
The answer that Dale Bonner got back, in a July email obtained by The Times through a public records request, was five. When The Times asked for a synopsis of the five incidents, LAPD officials said that the number was actually two.
Amid thousands of unauthorized force complaints from the public since 2015, there were only two documented instances in which an officer had filed an unauthorized force complaint against another officer, they said. Both were in 2016.
Advertisement
In one, an officer reported seeing another yank a handcuffed detainee backward off a bench onto the floor, leading to the offending officer receiving a 10-day suspension and demotion. In the other, an officer reported being in a vehicle with two supervisors when one activated a personal stun gun and the other pulled out a handgun. The first supervisor received a 12-day suspension, the second a 22-day suspension.
From 2017 to 2019, the Los Angeles Police Department fielded more than 2,200 unauthorized force complaints against officers. Not a single one was recorded as having been filed by a fellow officer, according to department records.
There also have not been any recorded cases of officers filing excessive force complaints so far this year, despite members of the public filing more than 50 such complaints over their treatment by officers at massive protests in the city this summer.
Both LAPD Chief Michel Moore and Deputy Chief Robert Marino, who heads the LAPD’s professional standards bureau, told The Times the low number of recorded complaints is misleading — based on inadequate tracking of such reporting, more than anything else.
“We’re not capturing it right, the data,” Marino said.
Marino said there were probably other undocumented instances in which officers quietly reported excessive force to a supervisor, but the supervisor never mentioned the origins of the complaint when pursuing it. Moore said in cases in which excessive force is obvious and immediately documented, officers routinely provide fair and truthful assessments of their partners’ actions.
In fact, Moore said officers are routinely punished for not reporting such force by their peers in cases in which the misconduct comes to light in some other way, which he knows because he personally oversees the discipline process. However, neither he nor Marino could provide data on such punishments.
“We continue to refine our systems to better analyze for a number of variables to better understand the interplay of factors,” Moore told The Times, referring to the shortcomings in the data.
Marino said he was working on a system to better track such incidents moving forward, including putting a “check box” on forms in which alleged excessive force is detailed so that those filling out the paperwork can indicate whether the complaint originated with another officer.
Advertisement
“We’re trying to create a program within internal affairs that captures that,” Marino said.
The move follows a national push by reform activists and lawmakers to hold police more accountable for their treatment of people on the street, including by requiring officers to report their peers when they witness abuse.
Late last year, lawmakers in Sacramento passed a law requiring that all California police agencies adopt policies mandating peer reporting of excessive force by January 2021. LAPD commanders said such reporting wasn’t new for them — that the LAPD has long required it — but the Police Commission nonetheless revised the use-of-force policy.
Bonner, who received the raw data from Moore in a July 21 email, said he had not followed up with police since then, but intended to do so. He said that the number of recorded instances of peer reporting did seem low, but that he was reluctant to reach any conclusions when so much remains unknown about what is occurring and how officers with concerns are communicating them.
“I’m certainly not throwing my hands up and saying, ‘Well, this is the way it is.’ What I’m also not doing is going the other way and conjecturing,” Bonner said in an interview. “My interest also is not just in improving the form and improving the policy and paper on it, but trying to understand how it really plays out in real time.”
Properly understanding what is occurring will require conversations with officers “who are actually on patrol and responding to incidents,” he said.
Dustin DeRollo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said the union supports peer reporting and believes it occurs routinely as officers report incidents to their supervisors and comply with internal investigations.
Activists and lawmakers welcomed commitments to improve tracking, saying accountability won’t come without it.
“No matter what the policy is, if you don’t have an accountability structure to enforce it, it’s just words on a paper,” said Sam Sinyangwe, an activist with the organization Campaign Zero, which has advocated for peer-reporting policies nationwide.
State Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), who sponsored the bill that mandated such reporting, said that police agencies have until January to comply with the law, and that if they do so without establishing clear tracking protocols, new legislation may be in order.
Reducing the use of force has been a key goal of the LAPD for years, and the department has had some success. LAPD shootings are way below where they once were, hitting a 30-year low last year.
However, overall complaints last year were up. According to LAPD data, a total of 3,763 complaints were fielded in 2019 for an array of alleged offenses, most of which were filed by members of the public. There were 3,567 complaints in 2018 and 3,217 in 2017.
Few complaints result in punishment for officers. Of the 2,200 unauthorized force complaints between 2017 and 2019, only 70 were sustained by the department. None was recorded as having been filed by a fellow officer.
Asked why LAPD officers, who always work with partners, don’t report possible excessive force more often given the thousands of outside complaints, Moore noted that the vast majority of those complaints — more than 95% — were dismissed, some for a lack of evidence but many after being deemed “demonstrably false.”
“The existence of an allegation does not prove there is any substance to it,” Moore said.
Moore also said he didn’t know of a single excessive force investigation in which the officers involved didn’t submit to interviews and share what they knew.
Of course, cooperation in an ongoing administrative investigation is different from proactively reporting an incident the department is unaware of, reform advocates said, and some excessive force would never come to light without peer reporting.
In part because of that, the duty of officers to report and intervene when excessive force occurs has been a focus of reform activists for years, and was one of eight use-of-force policy reforms urged as part of a national reform effort by Sinyangwe’s group called #EightCantWait — which captured the attention of lawmakers nationwide.
DeRay Mckesson, who works with Sinyangwe at Campaign Zero, said the duty to report and intervene is an accountability measure like any other, in that compliance must be tracked for it to be effective.
“The data allows us a different entry point to identify problems and hold the institution accountable,” he said.
Sinyangwe said recent cases of police brutality — including the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck as other officers stood by — show that intervention and reporting requirements are necessary tools that will mean little if they aren’t enforced.
“The policy is an important first step in making it possible to hold officers accountable for these things,” he said. “But what is clear is that is not sufficient.”
Caballero said tracking compliance moving forward will be “critical for law enforcement agencies to have a clear picture of how frequent excessive force is used,” and would “ultimately help shape the agency’s response to ensure these situations, which often result in the loss of life, are eliminated.”
She said additional legislation “may be necessary to strengthen the reporting requirements,” but noted that the law gives agencies until January to implement the requirements — giving them “additional time to further develop, implement and refine use of force policies.”


latimes--2020-10-12--Thank Newsom's childhood pet — an otter — for helping protect California land and waters

Now we get it : Gov .
Gavin Newsom was first inspired to fight climate change and protect the environment by his childhood pet — Potter , the river otter .
Some of us thought Gov .
Jerry Brown was a bit strange .
But he didn ’ t cozy up to a river otter as a little kid .
Nor was Brown particularly concerned about insects — at least that we know about .
Newsom was and is .
Newsom told reporters about his early introduction to environmental causes last week while unveiling yet another executive order — this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s land and coastal waters in their semi-natural state by 2030 .
Not only would that help threatened animals , fish and wildlands , the governor said , but it would also slow global warming by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere .
Give Newsom credit .
It ’ s a noble and lofty goal .
And probably achievable .
Too bad a forward-looking governor didn ’ t commit to that a century ago , before California became overrun with people , sickened by pollution and set ablaze by flammable wildlands .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate change .
California has lost 95 % of its wetlands since the early 1900s .
“ It ’ s incredible , the loss of wetlands in the Central Valley , ” says Wade Crowfoot , secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency .
There have been successful efforts in the last 30 years to save what ’ s left , he says .
“ That ’ s exciting .
And it ’ s what we want to do more of — to stem that loss and maybe add some back.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s side , Arthur Menzies , who was imprisoned by the Japanese on Corregidor Island during World War II , returned “ with one mindset , ” Newsom said , “ and that was a focus on California native plants .
There ’ s a wonderful Menzies garden in the Bay Area.
” His grandfather “ studied for decades — native plants and native species ” of California , Newsom said .
“ I ’ ve always shared a little bit of that bias.
” His late father , William Newsom , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promoted a successful ballot measure that protected the cougars .
The governor ’ s dad also became enamored with river otters .
“ My first pet when I was a young child [ was ] a river otter , ” Newsom said .
“ Some people have dogs and cats .
I had a river otter — Potter the Otter .
“ When I think about climate change , I think about animals .
I think about plants .
I think about insects .
I think about farming… ” Last year , Newsom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sacramento Valley town of Paradise with a story about his pet otter .
“ I ’ d get cozy with it , ” he told the 7- and 8-year-olds , Times staff writer Taryn Luna reported .
Potter slept curled up on little Gavin ’ s bed .
During the school visit , Newsom told reporters that his parents argued about Potter ’ s place in the family .
“ There was the moment where the otter bit the mailman , and my mother said to my father , ‘ It is either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damn otter , ’ ” Newsom recalled .
The governor jokingly added that Potter may have been “ one of the reasons for the divorce.
” Also last year , Newsom signed a bill outlawing fur trapping — making California the first state to completely ban it .
Shortly afterward , the governor ’ s office tapped out a tongue-in-cheek tweet with an otter image asserting : “ My friends and I should not have to live in fear of being trapped and our fur being sold.
” So , California ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his grandfather , dad and pet otter .
Newsom ’ s latest environmental effort is called a “ 30 by 30 ” plan — part of a worldwide effort to protect 30 % of Earth by 2030 .
Thirty-eight countries have signed on .
California is the first state to do so .
Newsom , announcing his executive order in a Yolo County walnut orchard , said : “ California , as the fifth-largest economy in the world , needs to flex its muscles , needs to assert itself and to advance that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to its global impacts , but hopefully [ to ] jump-start similar efforts in other states.
” “ We are in a climate emergency , ” the governor asserted .
“ You may call it ‘ global warming , ’ some may call it ‘ global climate change , ’ others may call it ‘ global weirding.
’ But many are just recognizing that self-evidently something ain ’ t right.
” The reason Newsom ’ s goal seems achievable is because 22 % of California ’ s land and 16 % of its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials say .
Governments — federal , state and local — own 53 % of California .
Newsom ’ s order directs state agencies to work with other governments and private landowners to devise ways to protect animals , plants , water and soil — and improve wildland management to guard against fires .
State Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross says : “ We ’ re really at a unique point of time… .
A lot of young farmers coming back [ to family farms ] , who are in the third and fourth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ figure this out .
They ’ re saying , ‘ I ’ m a carbon farmer and an almond farmer.
’ ” Newsom ’ s goal is to change habits through voluntary cooperation — not by legal mandate .
New laws would require the Legislature to pass bills .
And that would get entangled in politics .
That ’ s why Newsom ’ s recently announced effort to ban the sale of new gas-powered automobiles by 2035 seems problematic .
He will be long gone as governor by then , his executive order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Legislature surely would need to approve such a dramatic change in California car culture .
With his simpler “ 30 by 30 ” order , Newsom is hoping to gather all the leery interests around a campfire and lead them in a chorus of Kumbaya .
We all should sing a toast to Potter .

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday to protect nearly a third of California’s land and coastal waters at a walnut farm in Winters, Calif.
Now we get it: Gov. Gavin Newsom was first inspired to fight climate change and protect the environment by his childhood pet — Potter, the river otter.
Some of us thought Gov. Jerry Brown was a bit strange. But he didn’t cozy up to a river otter as a little kid. Nor was Brown particularly concerned about insects — at least that we know about. Newsom was and is.
Newsom told reporters about his early introduction to environmental causes last week while unveiling yet another executive order — this one to protect 30% of California’s land and coastal waters in their semi-natural state by 2030.
Advertisement
Not only would that help threatened animals, fish and wildlands, the governor said, but it would also slow global warming by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.
Give Newsom credit. It’s a noble and lofty goal. And probably achievable.
Too bad a forward-looking governor didn’t commit to that a century ago, before California became overrun with people, sickened by pollution and set ablaze by flammable wildlands. It’s not all the fault of climate change.
California has lost 95% of its wetlands since the early 1900s.
“It’s incredible, the loss of wetlands in the Central Valley,” says Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. There have been successful efforts in the last 30 years to save what’s left, he says.
“That’s exciting. And it’s what we want to do more of — to stem that loss and maybe add some back.”
Advertisement
Back to Newsom’s early environmental training:
The governor’s grandfather on his mother’s side, Arthur Menzies, who was imprisoned by the Japanese on Corregidor Island during World War II, returned “with one mindset,” Newsom said, “and that was a focus on California native plants. There’s a wonderful Menzies garden in the Bay Area.”
His grandfather “studied for decades — native plants and native species” of California, Newsom said. “I’ve always shared a little bit of that bias.”
His late father, William Newsom, founded the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation and promoted a successful ballot measure that protected the cougars. The governor’s dad also became enamored with river otters.
“My first pet when I was a young child [was] a river otter,” Newsom said. “Some people have dogs and cats. I had a river otter — Potter the Otter.
“When I think about climate change, I think about animals. I think about plants. I think about insects. I think about farming…”
Last year, Newsom regaled a second-grade class in the fire-ravaged Sacramento Valley town of Paradise with a story about his pet otter.
“I’d get cozy with it,” he told the 7- and 8-year-olds, Times staff writer Taryn Luna reported. Potter slept curled up on little Gavin’s bed.
During the school visit, Newsom told reporters that his parents argued about Potter’s place in the family.
“There was the moment where the otter bit the mailman, and my mother said to my father, ‘It is either your son and daughter, or your damn otter,’” Newsom recalled. The governor jokingly added that Potter may have been “one of the reasons for the divorce.”
Also last year, Newsom signed a bill outlawing fur trapping — making California the first state to completely ban it.
Shortly afterward, the governor’s office tapped out a tongue-in-cheek tweet with an otter image asserting: “My friends and I should not have to live in fear of being trapped and our fur being sold.”
So, California’s governor clearly has been strongly influenced by his grandfather, dad and pet otter.
Newsom’s latest environmental effort is called a “30 by 30” plan — part of a worldwide effort to protect 30% of Earth by 2030. Thirty-eight countries have signed on. California is the first state to do so.
Newsom, announcing his executive order in a Yolo County walnut orchard, said: “California, as the fifth-largest economy in the world, needs to flex its muscles, needs to assert itself and to advance that cause — not only as it relates to its global impacts, but hopefully [to] jump-start similar efforts in other states.”
“We are in a climate emergency,” the governor asserted. “You may call it ‘global warming,’ some may call it ‘global climate change,’ others may call it ‘global weirding.’ But many are just recognizing that self-evidently something ain’t right.”
The reason Newsom’s goal seems achievable is because 22% of California’s land and 16% of its coastal waters are already protected, state officials say.
Governments — federal, state and local — own 53% of California. Newsom’s order directs state agencies to work with other governments and private landowners to devise ways to protect animals, plants, water and soil — and improve wildland management to guard against fires.
State Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross says: “We’re really at a unique point of time…. A lot of young farmers coming back [to family farms], who are in the third and fourth generations, are excited about trying to figure this out. They’re saying, ‘I’m a carbon farmer and an almond farmer.’”
Newsom’s goal is to change habits through voluntary cooperation — not by legal mandate. New laws would require the Legislature to pass bills. And that would get entangled in politics.
That’s why Newsom’s recently announced effort to ban the sale of new gas-powered automobiles by 2035 seems problematic. He will be long gone as governor by then, his executive order could be rescinded by a successor, and the Legislature surely would need to approve such a dramatic change in California car culture.
With his simpler “30 by 30” order, Newsom is hoping to gather all the leery interests around a campfire and lead them in a chorus of Kumbaya.
We all should sing a toast to Potter.


latimes--2020-10-12--UC San Diego ends up with 5,000 fewer dorm students than projected, primarily because of coronavirus

UC San Diego has 9,655 students living in campus housing this fall , a figure that ’ s nearly 5,000 less than the campus has been projecting since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic .
The university also disclosed last week that it expects to lose about $ 200 million for 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic .
The school had been saying the losses would range from $ 350 million to $ 450 million .
The huge cut in student housing represents a largely unpublicized effort to staunch the spread of the virus .
Campus housing executives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Leslie Sepuka , a spokeswoman .
UC San Diego began fall 2019 with 15,500 students living on campus , a figure that was expected to rise to 17,600 this year as new housing came online .
When the pandemic began to hit hard this spring , the university adjusted its estimates to 14,500 students who would be were living in campus housing in the fall .
UC San Diego in mid-August that it was standing by that estimate .
But the campus was actually moving to reduce the number of dorm students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state , according to an email Sepuka sent last week to the U-T. By early September , UC San Diego shifted , saying it would have about 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students in housing this fall .
The number reflected further efforts to “ de-densify ” dorms in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19 .
The dorm population was 9,655 on Oct. 1 , the university says .
UC San Diego also has said its COVID-19 financial losses could total as much as $ 450 million , with nearly half of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system .
, Sepuka said last week that the campus expects to have $ 140 million in unexpected costs in 2020 and 2021 , and that the health system would take a $ 60-million hit in 2020 .
The total : $ 200 million .
“ The earlier high-level estimates are no longer accurate because they were exactly that : estimates based on the best assumptions at the time , ” Sepuka said in email Thursday .
UC San Diego Health originally expected to lose $ 200 million alone .
The estimate fell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 60 million after the university received some government support .
“ We have very good financial people .
But this was a difficult situation , which made it hard to make estimates , ” said Dr. David Brenner , vice chancellor for health sciences .
“ This is the first time we ’ ve ever had an estimate that was this far off.
” The university has fared much better in forecasting COVID-19 infections .
The school said in August that it expected 20 to 40 students in campus housing this fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , the number of positive tests has been in that range .
The university is trying to prevent an outbreak by regularly testing students for COVID-19 , and examining the wastewater from school buildings for signs of the virus .
UC San Diego has shown that it can use such monitoring to identify and locate people who have contracted COVID-19 .
The university also offers a that notifies people if they ’ ve come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 .

UC San Diego has 9,655 students living in campus housing this fall, a figure that’s nearly 5,000 less than the campus has been projecting since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The university also disclosed last week that it expects to lose about $200 million for 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The school had been saying the losses would range from $350 million to $450 million.
The huge cut in student housing represents a largely unpublicized effort to staunch the spread of the virus. Campus housing executives weren’t available for comment, said Leslie Sepuka, a spokeswoman.
UC San Diego began fall 2019 with 15,500 students living on campus, a figure that was expected to rise to 17,600 this year as new housing came online.
When the pandemic began to hit hard this spring, the university adjusted its estimates to 14,500 students who would be were living in campus housing in the fall.
UC San Diego told the Union-Tribune in mid-August that it was standing by that estimate. But the campus was actually moving to reduce the number of dorm students due to health safety guidance from the state, according to an email Sepuka sent last week to the U-T.
By early September, UC San Diego shifted, saying it would have about 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students in housing this fall. The number reflected further efforts to “de-densify” dorms in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
The dorm population was 9,655 on Oct. 1, the university says.
UC San Diego also has said its COVID-19 financial losses could total as much as $450 million, with nearly half of the costs affecting the UC San Diego Health system.
Sepuka said last week that the campus expects to have $140 million in unexpected costs in 2020 and 2021, and that the health system would take a $60-million hit in 2020. The total: $200 million.
Advertisement
“The earlier high-level estimates are no longer accurate because they were exactly that: estimates based on the best assumptions at the time,” Sepuka said in email Thursday.
UC San Diego Health originally expected to lose $200 million alone. The estimate fell to $100 million, then to $60 million after the university received some government support.
“We have very good financial people. But this was a difficult situation, which made it hard to make estimates,” said Dr. David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences. “This is the first time we’ve ever had an estimate that was this far off.”
The university has fared much better in forecasting COVID-19 infections. The school said in August that it expected 20 to 40 students in campus housing this fall would get infected the virus. So far, the number of positive tests has been in that range.
The university is trying to prevent an outbreak by regularly testing students for COVID-19, and examining the wastewater from school buildings for signs of the virus. UC San Diego has shown that it can use such monitoring to identify and locate people who have contracted COVID-19.
The university also offers a cellphone-based app that notifies people if they’ve come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Robbins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.