Community Announcements:
Harbor Area Long Beach Extends Emergency Rental Assistance Deadline
Long Beach, for the second time, has extended by 30 days the deadline for residential landlords and tenants to apply for the Long Beach Emergency Rental Assistance Program or LB-ERAP. The new deadline for the program is now July 11, 2021. All LB-ERAP applications can be submitted via the program’s online information and service portal at longbeach.gov/erap. A second extension of the LB-ERAP application deadline is being provided as additional federal funding, which the city was expecting through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, recently became available. Additional funding of $21.4 million has increased the total program budget to $51.4 million, allowing the city to extend the application period to assist additional applicants. Details: 833-358-5372; longbeach.gov/erap.
Emergency Tenant Protections Set to Expire June 30
On June 30, 2021, emergency tenant protections are set to expire. That means, unless the protections are extended, renters will have to go back to paying full rent on time each month to avoid eviction. Lawmakers are considering an extension and may extend tenant protections past June 30, but it’s important for Los Angeles renters and landlords to know their rights and be prepared. Details: www.dcba.lacounty.gov/newsroom/ emergency-tenant-protections
Long Beach Extends Emergency Rental Assistance Program
The City of Long Beach is again giving residential landlords and tenants more time to apply for its Emergency Rental Assistance program, this time by 30 days. Details: www.longbeach.gov/press-releases/ emergency-rental-assistance
Lunch at the Library Returns to Select LA County Libraries
Los Angeles County Library’s annual Lunch at the Library program is back, providing free graband-go meals to children during the summer. This year, two healthy meals — reheatable lunch and breakfast — will be available daily for no-contact pickup on a first come, first served basis from June 14 to Aug. 6 (except July 5). Details: https://lacountylibrary.org/SummerLunch
The Long Beach Bacolod Association and Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Community Advisory Council invite you to a drive-thru food distribution, June 26. Food is donated to the LASD Community Advisory Council by food banks Heart of Compassion and City of Refuge. During the food drive at St. Barnabas Parish, cars will be directed to a designated parking area and volunteers will bring one or two boxes of food to the car. Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. June 26. Details: 213-440-2707 Venue: St. Barnabas Catholic Church, 3996 Orange Ave., Long Beach
Every 10 Years, California Draws the Lines
During Summer 2021, the Citizens Redistricting Commission or CRC will conduct 10 public hearings, ensuring residents’ ability to participate from all five Supervisorial Districts. At these hear[See Announcements, p. 6]
The specter of environmental racism permeated the Port of Los Angeles’ June 15 public hearing on the Southern California International Gateway, also known as the SCIG project, just two days before Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday. The disconnect between the port’s plan (only partially discussed in its revised draft environmental impact report) and the new national holiday was staggering. A chorus of community members explicitly condemned the environmental racism involved, while representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD, echoed their criticisms in more muted tones, focused specifically on formal failings in the EIR. “This project is racist,” said Paola Dela Cruz-Pérez, youth organizer with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. “This project and your deliberate choices to continue bringing it back are oppressive and I’m here to tell you: Not today, oppressors. Not today.” “We oppose this project for many reasons that have been described by many members of the community today,” said NRDC attorney Julia Jonas-Day. “First and foremost because it will disproportionately impact low income and communities of color already overburdened by pollution, as the revised draft EIR itself makes clear.” That disproportionate impact was “the one thing you all have been truthful about,” said mark! Lopez, former head of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. “That is literally the definition of environmental racism. “Mayor Garcetti, this is your environmentally racist project. Gene Seroka, this is your environmentally racist project. Chris Cannon, this is your environmentally racist legacy.” “SCIG is located in an environmental justice area heavily impacted by neighboring refineries, diesel truck traffic on the Terminal Island Freeway and the intermodal railyard north of SCIG,” said AQMD assistant deputy executive officer Ian MacMillan. “BNSF’s SCIG project will further exacerbate this burden.” In MacMillan’s prepared remarks, he said, “SCIG project will generate significant localized air quality impacts and exceed the applicable significance thresholds for NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 by 325%, 518% and 47%, respectively.” Local residents have been opposing the SCIG project in public meetings since it was initially proposed in the early 2000s, voicing similar concerns that have been sharply underscored by recent events. “The past year-plus of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprisings has been the most traumatizing and awakening period of recent American history,” Long Beach resident Elsa Tung said. “This SCIG project, as many, many others have mentioned, will disproportionately harm Black, indigenous communities of color that are already overburdened by pollution, disease and lower life expectancy.” “We stand with the community, and echo the concerns that SCIG will increase pollution,
EYCEJ demonstrators protesting the Southern California Intermodal Gateway project in 2015. File photo
worsen public health, and exacerbate inequities in already overburdened communities of color,” said NRDC attorney Heather Kryczka. “We urge the port to reject this project.” “Allowing SCIG to pass is like telling people, ‘If you can’t afford to live in an expensive neighborhood, you deserve to die of cancer, yeah.
Terminal asthma? Sure! Cardiovascular disease? Why not!’” exclaimed East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice organizer Tiff Sanchez. “It’s racist. It’s environmental racism.” “If you support this project, you are supporting the death of our neighbors,” Jessica [See Racism, p. 10]
June 24 - July 7, 2021
Summer Public Hearings
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
California must redraw the boundaries of its congressional, state Senate, state Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts to reflect the new population data from the U.S. Census. The Voters FIRST Act gives this power to California citizens, ensuring that new and fair districts are drawn free of special interests, politics, or political influence. In the spring and summer of 2021, the California Redistricting Commission will host meetings where you can provide input by phone during the meeting or electronically prior to the meeting. Details: www.wedrawthelinesca.org/meetings
Specter of Racism Haunts SCIG Railyard Project
Real People, Real News, Really Effective
Drive Thru Food Distribution at St. Barnabas Parish
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