RLn 9-17-20

Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have spent $47.5 million each on Prop. 22. It’s a cheap price compared to what they owe

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

[See Workers, p. 16]

Social Media Spreads Fear on Anti-fascism Caravan

Big money battles Prop. 15 p.5 Nov. 3 local and state ballot initiatives p. 6

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was paid a total of $42.4 million in cash and stock in 2019. That’s not bad for a company that’s never shown a profit since going public. Of that, just $1 million was called “base salary,” while $2 million was “reimbursement for work-related expenses.”

That’s a far cry from what Uber drivers and other gig workers receive, which is absolutely nothing.

That lack of reimbursements is the reason why a 2018 study from the Economic Policy Institute found that “Uber driver ‘no benefits’ hourly wage or discretionary

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Fulfilling a dream: Italian seafood restaurant to open in old Papadakis Taverna/Pappy’s location p. 12

For four years, thousands of people descended upon San Pedro to see the latest in advanced military vessels, vehicles and weapons along with STEM events to inspire new generations in technology and join the military. Two years later, Peace Week emerged as a counterpoint to the pro-military and by extension, prowar messaging of Fleet Week. Peace Week typically features a press conference at Liberty Hill, an art build and the papering of downtown San Pedro with peace leaflets.

This year, the coronavirus pandemic canceled Fleet Week as it had so many other events after March 2020, but Peace Week went on as planned, upgraded with a San Pedro tour mostly focused on World War II monuments such as the USS

September 17 - 30, 2020

Peace Week caravan rolling past the USS Iowa on Sept. 7. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

[See Peaceful, p. 15]

COVID-19 cases* in the US as of Sept. 16, 2020: 6,802,749 • Deaths: 200,804 • Recovered: 4,087,090 *Worldometer is a provider of global COVID-19 statistics for many caring people around the world. Its data are trusted and used by the governments of the UK, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, Johns Hopkins CSSE, Financial Times, The New York Times, BBC and many others.

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September 17 - 30, 2020

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Community Announcements:

Harbor Area

Poor Air Quality Causes Temporary Park Closures

LOS ANGELES — In the best interest of park guests, communities and staff, the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation (LA County Parks) is temporarily closing several park locations, programming, and amenities due to poor air quality. LA County Parks will access conditions on a daily basis before reopening these facilities. Reopening is contingent on air quality and safety measures. Check LA County website for a list of affected locations and programming.

Details: parks.lacounty.gov

Only Half of Community has Completed the 2020 Census

Thirteen days remain for the United States to meet its constitutional obligation to count every person residing in the country. Only 40% of the Watts community, 50% of the Wilmington community, 50% of the Harbor Gateway North community, and 50% of the Northwest San Pedro community have completed the 2020 Census.

This means that for the next 10 years, each community will lose millions of dollars a year as well as government representation. The deadline to fill out the Census is Sept. 30. Your information is secure and confidential. You can still submit online, by phone, or by mail with a postmark of Sept. 30, 2020 or earlier to: U.S. Census Bureau National Processing Center 1201 E 10th Street Jeffersonville, IN 47132 Details: 844-330-2020 in English, 844-468-2020 in Spanish; https://my2020census.gov

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 40 Years

Campaigning in a Different World

Top District 7 vote-getters in school board race look to distinguish themselves in new political environment

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

The District 7 top vote-getters were decided in April 2020, but the campaign focus was simply on who is going to replace the steady hand of Richard Vladovic. Which faction is going to get the upper hand on the board, pro or anti charter school advocates?

The top vote-getters were former Los Angeles Harbor commissioner, Patricia Castellanos, who served as deputy director for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and was the policy director and community organizer with Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education.

And the other was Tanya Ortiz Franklin, a UCLA-trained lawyer who works for Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

Tanya Ortiz-Franklin: If our objective as a school district is, as I believe it is, to prepare all students to graduate ready for college, career and life, then grading should be based on expectations

Become a Poll Worker

Apply online to one of these poll worker programs today.

Apply to be a community poll worker: www. vote4la.community-poll-worker Apply to be a multilingual poll worker: www. vote4la.com/multilingual-poll-worker County employees: www.tinyurl.com/y39emaht Apply for the county employee poll worker: www.tinyurl.com/y6t2w4he

VOTE411 Spanish Website Launched

Join Police Reform Community Forums

of taking efficient action in service of reaching this objective. Where an A demonstrates exceeding expectations, a C meets expectations for eligibility for higher education and during school closure, apparently everyone receives no lower than a D (which is still sufficient for graduation).

In responding to the pandemic and defunding school police the district earns a C and a D, [See Campaign, p. 10]

Tanya Ortiz Franklin, a lawyer who works for Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. File photo

In the wake of the pandemic and the George Floyd demonstrations, Los Angeles Unified has cut the budget of its school police and defied the Donald Trump administration’s order to open schools in the fall. School funding is still an issue, but who benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program and who didn’t is also an issue.

The following is a question and answer interview Random Lengths News sent out to the candidates this past July. We received their responses in August.

RLn: If you were to grade the Los Angeles Unified School District on its handling of the challenges presented by the pandemic and the movement to defund the police, what grade would you give and why?

September 17 - 30, 2020

Patricia Castellanos: The district’s main goal in managing through the pandemic and movement for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder should be protecting the health and safety of our students, their families and the school community. This must be balanced with the economic uncertainty and pain that the pandemic has caused for so many, as well as the learning needs of our students.

The district was right to rely on science and data to close our campuses in March, and to require 100% distance learning when our new school year starts. I believe that decision saved lives. We see other parts of the nation rushing to reopen schools and usher parents back to

LOS ANGELES — Members of the Board of Police Commissioners, in conjunction with the Advisory Committee On Building Trust and Equity, are conducting virtual community forums.

The series is aimed at listening to ideas and suggestions for police reform from community groups, social justice advocates, clergy, academics and other community-based organizations.

The recommendations will be used by the police commission and the advisory committee in building a roadmap for continued police reform.

The public may listen to the virtual meeting using the Zoom link provided below. In addition, those wishing to provide specific proposals on police reform may submit written ideas, maximum of two pages, to policecimmissionadvisorycommittee@ lapd.online.

Time: 4 p.m. Sept. 24 and Oct. 1 Details: 855-880-1246; https://lapd.zoom. us/j/97273589743 Meeting ID: 972 7358 9743

Patricia Castanellos, former deputy director for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. File photo

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The League of Women Voters Education Fund, Sept. 3, launched the election website VOTE411.org in Spanish, in partnership with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials or NALEO Educational Fund.

Jeanette Senecal, senior director of Mission Impact for the League of Women Voters Education Fund, said VOTE411 is expected to reach about 10 million people in the United States through Election Day on Nov. 3.

VOTE411 provides registration deadlines and tools, absentee and early voting information, polling place locations, voting hours and candidate information. The site is updated daily.

Details: VOTE411.org

workplaces — despite alarming surges in hospitalization and fatality rates.

With the new year approaching, the district must improve dramatically to meet the needs of our families. First, the district should do more to communicate with parents and students. As a parent of a second-grader in LAUSD, I know there will be tough decisions to be made, but parents need as much time as possible to prepare and plan. The decision to shift to 100% distance learning was announced only weeks ago. Also, I believe that the district should do more to connect with black and Latino families, whose children make up over 80% of the student population. I have been engaged with hundreds of parents through virtual meetings and surveys, many of whom have called for more communication from the district. Lastly, the district must address the low participation rates in distance learning among vulnerable students.

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Equitable Funding Model Proposed for NCs

By Hunter Chase, Reporter

September 17 - 30, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

There are 99 neighborhood councils in the City of Los Angeles and they are each budgeted $32,000 per year. But the characteristics of the neighborhoods are often so different in so many ways that the size of their budgets may be the only thing they all have in common — and that may change soon, too.

Each neighborhood council’s budget allocation being determined based on each neighborhood’s population, poverty, life expectancy, health care access, employment and income is under consideration by the Board of Neighborhood Councils, or BONC. BONC discussed this change at its Sept. 2 and Aug. 20 meetings, without acting on it.

“I was taught that neighborhood council funds were actually allocated to us to cover two items: one, administrative needs,” said Laurie Jacobs, vice president of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council at the Sept. 2 meeting of BONC. “The other part of that was for outreach, whether it be events or whatever, to engage with our community.”

Jacobs said that it wasn’t until much later that the councils started using their funding for neighborhood purpose grants, or NPGs, which neighborhood councils use to make charitable donations. They were not the original intent of the city’s funding.

“Before you talk about equitable funding, I think that we need to get some direction and

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clarification on what the fundings that are allocated to the neighborhood councils should be for,” Jacobs said. “Because if truly they are just for the two items I just mentioned, you don’t really have a need for this equitable funding.”

BONC president Eli Lipmen said that because of the city’s current financial state, the city will likely cut the neighborhood councils’ budgets. On Sept. 3, the city declared a fiscal state of emergency, furloughing roughly 15,000 city employees.

“This is really an effort to save neighborhood councils from major cuts again, by finding a … better way to allocate neighborhood council funds,” Lipmen said.

Lipmen argued that more equitable funding could present a stronger argument to the Los Angeles City Council.

Ray Regalado, vice president of BONC and president of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said the basis of a discussion on equitable funding requires a definition of what equity means regarding the funding of neighborhood councils. He said that certain communities being overpoliced should be considered as well.

“We are so much looking for fairness, and communities are looking for a way to be able to feel that they are being heard,” Regalado said.

“This is a hard issue to address, because I believe, [See Funding, p. 5]

[Funding, from p. 4]

Funding

depending on the neighborhood, we’re going to have different feelings as to what equitable actually means.”

Commissioner Len Shafer, who represents South Valley on BONC, said that the populations that some neighborhood councils represent fluctuate daily. For example, in Woodland Hills Warner Center and Downtown Los Angeles, a huge workforce comes in during the day and then leaves at night.

“The question is, do we count that workforce as opposed to something like [Korea]town, where most of their population is based on those who reside there?” Shafer said.

Shafer said that specific tax dollars from specific incomes are used for nonprofits or government programs to provide services to lower-income areas. He asked what the neighborhood councils are supposed to do, as the councils can’t buy food directly or pay stakeholders’ rent.

“We’re getting into an area that we’re not prepared to deal with,” Shafer said. “I don’t know how we would come up with an idea … of how that distribution would occur. The only thing I could think of is that the neighborhood councils would then be obligated to hand over that money to NGOs or nonprofits that themselves could work as they have been for the benefit of these particular communities.”

Commissioner Joy Atkinson, who represents South Los Angeles on BONC, said this is a difficult issue because neighborhood council areas are so diverse in terms of income levels, and it can be difficult to figure out where to start.

“But we’re almost at a point that if we don’t

start, then the same problems occur and we still have inequities in our community because we can’t make up our mind how we want to do it,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson said that population needs to be considered.

“It’s not fair that a little neighborhood council that represents 10,000 people gets the same amount of money as a neighborhood council that represents 30,000 people in a poverty area,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson said that the neighborhood council system is a good place to experiment on how to solve problems of inequity, and that she was disappointed some neighborhood councils wanted to fight for their funding instead of the overall good.

Atkinson said that councils donating money to other organizations is a form of outreach.

“A neighborhood council should keep their money and it should be for what they do, and for how they promote themselves,” Atkinson said.

“But a lot of neighborhood councils promote themselves through working and giving out NPGs.” The idea for equitable funding was brought up before, Regalado said at the Sept. 2 meeting of the Harbor Alliance of Neighborhood Councils.

Previously, BONC had a working group trying to decide on a formula for how the funding would be distributed. The working group came up with four different formulas, but it ultimately went nowhere, Regalado said.

“It really needs to be thought out a whole lot better,” Regalado said. “I’m not sure that the … desire to come up with a formula is going to be that easy, no easier than it was when it was first brought up.”

Bob Gelfand, board member of Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said the initial

reason for equitable funding was because of the creation of Herman Neighborhood Council, which has about 4,000 stakeholders. It receives the same amount of funding as Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council, which has about 100,000 stakeholders.

“The fact that BONC can’t figure out that there’s something inequitable about this is a little bothersome to me,” Gelfand said.

Gelfand attended several meetings of the working group and described it as a “total joke.”

“They went on for like eight or nine meetings,” Gelfand said. “[They] couldn’t develop the intestinal fortitude to just come up with a simple formula.”

Gelfand argued that the only thing that should be considered is how many people live in the area each council represents.

“BONC was never willing to make a decision,” Gelfand said. “I doubt that they will make a decision now.”

Millionaires versus Markets:

Big Money Battles Prop. 15

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

The corporate owner of Terranea Resort has properties based on current market value, rather spent $250,000 to defeat Proposition 15, while than decades-old purchase prices, raising an Carson’s largest landowner, the Watson Land estimated $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion annually for Corp., has spent $99,000. Terranea is used to K-12 schools and community colleges, counties, getting its way: It bullied Rancho Palos Verdes [See Prop. 15, p. 17] into giving it an $8.2 million rebate when it opened in 2009 and later partnered with Donald Trump, who was once a principal shareholder in New York-based Vornado Realty Trust, an S&P 500 company that has also spent $250,000 to defeat Prop 15.

The reason is obvious: Prop. 15 A pool at Terranea Resort. Terranea is attempting to stop Proposition 15, would tax commercial which would tax commercial properties based on market price rather than purchase price. Photo courtesy of Terranea Resort and industrial

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

September 17 - 30, 2020

5

Statewide Measures on the Nov. 3 Ballot

The following are the local, county and statewide initiatives that will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The info printed here only reflects the cities in Random Lengths News’ circulation area, the county and the state.

Proposition 14

affirmative action in California’s public sector.

A “yes” vote supports issuing $5.5 billion general obligation bonds for the state’s stem cell research institute and making changes to the institute’s governance structure and programs.

A “yes” vote supports this constitutional amendment to repeal Proposition 209 (1996), which stated that the government and public institutions cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

AUTHORIZES BONDS TO CONTINUE FUNDING STEM CELL AND OTHER MEDICAL RESEARCH. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

A “no” vote opposes issuing $5.5 billion general obligation bonds for the state’s stem cell research institute, which ran out of funds derived from Proposition 71 (2004) for new projects in 2019.

Proposition 15

RESCINDS PROP. 13 FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES A “yes” vote supports this constitutional amendment to require commercial and industrial properties, except those zoned as commercial agriculture, to be taxed based on their market value, rather than their purchase price.

A “no” vote opposes this constitutional amendment, thus continuing to tax commercial and industrial properties based on a property’s purchase price, with annual increases equal to the rate of inflation or 2%, whichever is lower.

Proposition 16

REPEALS PROP. 209 This is a proposition asking California voters to amend the Constitution of California to repeal 1996’s Proposition 209, which banned the use of

A “no” vote opposes this constitutional amendment, thereby keeping Proposition 209 (1996), which stated that the government and public institutions cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

replacement residence of any value, anywhere in the state. Allocates most resulting state revenues and savings (if any) to fire protection services and reimbursing local governments for taxation-related changes.

Proposition 20

RESTRICTS PAROLE FOR NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS A “yes” vote supports this initiative to add crimes to the list of violent felonies for which early parole is restricted; recategorize certain types of theft and fraud crimes and require DNA collection for certain misdemeanors.

Proposition 21

EXPANDS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ AUTHORITY TO ENACT RENT CONTROL ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY A “yes” vote supports this ballot initiative to allow local governments to enact rent control on housing that was first occupied over 15 years ago, with an exception for landlords who own no more than two homes with distinct titles or subdivided interests.

ALLOWS PAROLEES TO VOTE

A “no” vote opposes this ballot initiative, thereby continuing to prohibit rent control on housing that was first occupied after February 1, 1995, and housing units with distinct titles, such as singlefamily homes.

Proposition 18

Proposition 22

Proposition 17

LOWERS VOTING AGE TO 17 This proposition would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they will turn 18 by the subsequent general election.

Proposition 19

PROTECTION FOR THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED AFTER WILDFIRES. Legislative Constitutional Amendment, which if passed would permit homeowners who are 55, severely disabled, or whose homes were destroyed by wildfire or disaster, to transfer their primary residence’s property tax base value to a

CHANGES EMPLOYMENT CLASSIFICATION RULES FOR APP-BASED TRANSPORTATION AND DELIVERY DRIVERS. A “yes” vote supports this ballot initiative to define app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery drivers as independent contractors and adopt labor and wage policies specific to app-based drivers and companies.

A “no” vote opposes this ballot initiative, meaning California Assembly Bill 5 (2019) could be used to decide whether app-based drivers are employees or independent contractors.

Proposition 23

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

AUTHORIZES STATE REGULATION OF KIDNEY DIALYSIS CLINICS. ESTABLISHES MINIMUM STAFFING AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS. A “yes” vote supports this ballot initiative to require chronic dialysis clinics to: have an on-site physician while patients are being treated; report data on dialysis-related infections; obtain consent from the state health department before closing a clinic; and not discriminate against patients based on the source of payment for care.

A “no” vote opposes this ballot initiative.

Proposition 24

AMENDS CONSUMER PRIVACY LAWS A “yes” vote supports this ballot initiative to expand the state’s consumer data privacy laws, including provisions to allow consumers to direct businesses to not share their personal information; remove the time period in which businesses can fix violations before being penalized; and create the Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the state’s consumer data privacy laws.

A “no” vote opposes this ballot initiative to expand the state’s consumer data privacy laws or create the Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the state’s consumer data privacy laws.

Proposition 25

September 17 - 30, 2020

REFERENDUM TO OVERTURN A 2018 LAW THAT REPLACED MONEY BAIL SYSTEM WITH A SYSTEM BASED ON PUBLIC SAFETY RISK

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A “yes” vote is to uphold the contested legislation, Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), which would replace cash bail with risk assessments for detained suspects awaiting trials.

A “no” vote is to repeal the contested legislation, Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), thus keeping in place the use of cash bail for detained suspects awaiting trials.

COUNTY/COUNTYWIDE MEASURES

Measure J COMMUNITY INVESTMENT AND ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION MINIMUM COUNTY BUDGET

ALLOCATION Shall the measure, annually allocating in the County’s budget no less than ten percent (10%) of the County’s locally generated unrestricted revenues in the general fund to address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investment and alternatives to incarceration and prohibiting using those funds for carceral systems and law enforcement agencies as detailed in the ordinance adopting the proposed charter amendment, be adopted?

City of Carson Measure K- Carson Essential City Services, Emergency Response Protection To maintain city services, such as public safety, natural disaster/public health emergency preparedness; 9-1-1 emergency response, protect local drinking water/environment; assist local small businesses/retain jobs; repair streets/potholes; and other general City services, shall the measure establishing a ¾-cent general transaction and use (sales) tax providing Carson approximately $12,000,000 annually until ended by voters, requiring public spending disclosure, all funds for Carson, be adopted?

City of Long Beach Measure US - Long Beach Community Services General Purpose Oil Production Tax Increase To provide funding for community healthcare services; air/water quality and climate change programs; increase childhood education/ youth programs; expand job training opportunities; and maintain other general fund programs, shall a measure be adopted increasing Long Beach’s general oil production tax from 15¢ to maximum 30¢ per barrel, subject to annual adjustments, generating approximately $1,600,000 annually, until ended by voters, requiring audits/ local control of funds?

Los Angeles Unified School District Measure RR - School Upgrades And Safety Measure To update classrooms/labs/technology for 21st century learning; implement COVID-19 facility safety standards; address school facility inequities; reduce asbestos, earthquake and water quality hazards; and replace/renovate aging school classrooms/ buildings, shall Los Angeles Unified School District’s measure be adopted authorizing $7,000,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, levying approximately $0.02174 per $100 of assessed valuation, generating an estimated $329,528,000 annually until approximately 2055, with independent audits, citizens’ oversight, no funds for administrative salaries?

Lomita City Measure L- City of Lomita Local General Municipal Sales Tax Measure To protect Lomita’s long-term financial stability; maintain City services; improve local drinking water quality; repair streets/potholes; keep parks and public areas clean/safe; maintain emergency/ public safety response; help retain local businesses; and provide other city services, shall a measure be adopted establishing a ¾ cent local sales tax providing approximately $1,300,000 annually until ended by voters, requiring annual independent financial audits with all funds benefitting Lomita residents?

Signal Hill City Measure R- City of Signal Hill Financial Stability Measure Shall a measure establishing a ¾ (three quarter) cent sales tax providing an estimated $5,000,000 annually to the City’s general fund to maintain city programs such as: street, pothole, and infrastructure repair, clean public areas, 9-11 emergency response, crime prevention, and other general services until ended by voters, with independent audits, all money used locally for Signal Hill, be adopted?

September 17 - 30, 2020

Paid for by Albert Robles for Mayor 2020, FPPC#1418224 • 249 East Ocean Blvd., Suite #670, Long Beach, CA 90802

Vote to Re-Elect Mayor Albert Robles Tuesday, November 3

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Mayor Albert Robles would like to remind you to please fill out your Census today! Make sure you are counted — 10 minutes today will make the next 10 years better.

To fill out the Census, visit http://my2020census.gov, call 844-330-2020, or reply by mail. Once you’re done filling yours out, alert your friends and family to ensure they are counted too. Deadline to complete the Census, by mail, phone or online, is September 30.

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Fog In the Media

Even the weather girl should know which way the wind blows James Preston Allen, Publisher

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

Sitting, as I do most early mornings, drinking coffee on my back porch, I can hear the distant barking of harbor seals from the main channel.

Recently the weather gal on CBS Channel 2 News forecast that day to be one of the hottest days of the week before reporting on the smoke conditions from the fires. I could hear the bellowing of foghorns from the ships in the port. The weather report didn’t mention the inversion that creates fog, which happens when hot air temperatures meet colder water.

It’s a phenomenon that sailors and surfers know well.

Even though each of these ships, large and small, are outfitted with the most advanced GPS and radar, they are still dependent upon the ancient service of the fog horn and probably still a sailor on the bow watch to help navigate the blind gray mists of the waters here.

The horns have their own distinctive tones allowing vessels to communicate with and to audio locate other craft in the area through the mist. It is a technology that predates all the sophisticated digital equipment on the bridge of any modern ship and is there in case other systems fail.

Now I only bring this up because the multibillion dollar shipping industry still uses this antiquated form of communication as a fail-safe measure. I also use it as a metaphor for what’s missing in the fog of digital communications these days. For all intents and purposes the meteorologists, as the weather gals and guys are called, rely on all of this sophisticated Doppler radar and satellite imaging to forecast tomorrow’s temperatures without knowing the micro climes of temperature inversions along the coasts.

On this particular day, CBS Channel 2 News got the forecast wrong by double digits and then the burnt orange clouds of smoke from the San Gabriel fires lowered the temperatures too. This gave an eerie cast to the shadows on the ground as I walked to work.

All of this is not dissimilar to the fog of disinformation that is blanketing our city and national politics, especially in the remaining weeks before the November election.

There’s a bleak perception that grays out all information as being equal and that each of us is left to navigate these treacherous waters by either dead reckoning or digital device alone.

Political forecasters are about as accurate as

the weather gal on Channel 2 News with bestguess estimates. The polling numbers only add anxiety to smoking distractions of daily scandals and social media conspiracies.

The captain of this ship-of-state, the orange tweeter, celebrates this bleak chaos adding more smoke to create enough confusion to navigate into a second term — lying as he did this week while meeting Gov. Gavin Newsom in Sacramento and denying climate change science.

CBS news reported the exchange with an unchallenged equivalency between the science and the idiot denier. The exchange went like this: “We’ve had temperatures explode this summer .... We want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests and actually work together with that science,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s secretary for natural resources.

“That science is going to be key because if we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed in protecting Californians.”

“It’ll start getting cooler. You just — you just watch,” the president said.

“I wish science agreed with you,” Crowfoot said.

“Well, I don’t think science knows, actually,” he said.

And the CBS reporter made not one remark exposing Donald Trump’s continued denial of the overwhelming evidence on climate science and global warming.

This comes on the heels of the revelation from the famous journalist Bob Woodward’s report in his new book Rage in which he actually recorded the president as saying he knew the coronavirus was a significant threat early on.

During a Feb. 7 recorded phone call with Woodward, Trump recognized that the virus was dangerous.

“It goes through the air. That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right?” the president asked. “But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”

Woodward also reported that Trump said, “This is deadly stuff.” Then Trump went on to lie about the COVID-19 virus to the entire nation and denying all of the scientific data on the

September 17 - 30, 2020

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com

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Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Vol. XLI : No. 19

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg paul.rosenberg@ randomlengthsnews.com Internship Program Director Zamná Àvila

disease and continues not to wear a mask.

It has become apparent that this captain Trump would just as soon scuttle the ship of fools in a fog of deception and outright lies to keep his campaign afloat. And his merry crew of tricksters — Roger Stone, Postmaster Louis DeJoy, Chad Wolf, acting director of Homeland security and Michael Caputo, whom the White House appointed to serve as HHS assistant secretary for public affairs — are all onboard with this plan.

They continue spreading false information and deflect all criticism.

That plan, if one can call it a plan, is to support every lie, nutty conspiracy theory and false claim against Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his

running mate Sen. Kamala Harris that Mr. Trump can conger up out of his delusional Adderalladdicted paranoia.

So be prepared for the final assault of this disinformation campaign to fog your vision, which creates a smoke screen to hide the truth.

And that truth is the fact Mr. Trump is losing this campaign by his own deceit over the COVID-19, racial injustice and the economic disaster he allowed to manifest because of his own incompetence.

There may be few political foghorns to use as fail-safe options in this, but even the weather gal on Channel 2 should know which way the winds are blowing. Do you?

A 200-Pound Sack of Concrete vs. The Orange Menace

By Norman Solomon

At a time when long-winded polemics and punditry about the upcoming presidential election are all over the place, a longtime progressive populist author and agitator has just summarized it all in less than a minute.

“Hi, Jim Hightower here,” a just-released video begins, “with a message for progressives who don’t like Joe Biden’s corporate-hugging politics. Neither do I! But — and it’s a very big ‘but’ — [Donald] Trump is a crackpot, a total plutocratic toady who’s literally destroying the lives of workaday people and killing America’s progressive possibilities.”

Columnists/Reporters Melina Paris Staff Reporter Hunter Chase Staff Reporter Send Calendar Items to: 14days@randomlengthsnews.com Photographers Arturo Garcia-Ayala, Terelle Jerricks, Raphael Richardson, Chris Villanueva Contributors Joseph Baroud, Mark Friedman, Greggory Moore, Norman Solomon Cartoonists Andy Singer, Jan Sorensen, Matt Wuerker

Hightower continues: “Trump has to be gone before we the people can move forward with our agenda of fairness and justice for all. So I don’t care if Biden is a 200-pound sack of concrete, we have to carry him into the White House to eject the Orange Menace. I urge all of you, especially in swing states like mine, to suck it up and do this heavy lifting. Let’s dump Trump, then we’ll take on Biden!”

I’m excited that my colleagues on the Vote Trump Out project have teamed up with the writer of the monthly Hightower Lowdown to [See Dump Trump, p. 9]

Design/Production Suzanne Matsumiya, Brenda Lopez

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RANDOMLetters

Trump’s Panic Button

The Dems are misusing the revelation in Bob Woodward’s new book that Trump intentionally downplayed the COVID-19 virus because he didn’t want to start a “panic.” Trump’s candor in discussing the virus with Woodward reflects a sentiment that is, for him, uncharacteristically genuine. People can relate to his concern, even sympathize.

The issue is not that Trump lied to the American people. about the severity of the virus.

That’s a given and, under the circumstances, forgivable in the eyes of many voters. Rather, the issue is that Trump, knowing the seriousness of the virus and the ease of its transmission, nonetheless put people at risk by, among other things, pressing states to lift restrictions prematurely, holding indoor public rallies, and discouraging the wearing of protective masks.

The impulse to withhold frightening information from the public, particularly in the early stage of the pandemic, is understandable, maybe defensible.

Knowingly putting people at risk is not. And putting people at risk for reasons that are essentially political is, uhm, Trumpian in the extreme.

Peter Scheer President at First Amendment Coalition San Raphel, Calif.

Medical Advancement

A British doctor says, “Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another man, and have him looking for work in six weeks.”

A German doctor says, “that’s nothing. We can take a lung out of one person, put it in another man, and have him looking for work in

Dump Trump

As a widely published writer and alumnus of CSU Stanislaus, it has recently come to my attention that Stanislaus County is harboring the most reprehensibly racist newspaper in the state of California — the Ceres Courier.

What a disgrace! The Ceres Courier is truly atrocious, not to mention seriously stupid and bigoted beyond belief.

Creepy conservative QAnon crackpot Jeff Benziger should resign immediately, but he won’t because Benziger’s only employment option would then be to continue publishing his despicably divisive dimwitted drivel under the auspices of The Crusader —the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan, which of course endorsed racist Donald Trump who is Jeff Benziger’s hateful personal hero.

P.S. Hank Vander Veen is also the publisher of these other California newspapers: Turlock Journal, Manteca Bulletin, Oakdale Leader, Riverbank News and Escalon Times.

Jake Pickering Arcata, Calif.

Voting By Mail

Voting by mail should replace voting at the polls in its entirety.

On Sept 11, 1973, the democratically elected government of Chilean President Salvador Allende was overthrown by a U.S.-supported military coup.

During the 17-year-long brutal military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, more than 3,000 were killed or disappeared and over 40,000 were tortured and imprisoned. Although the Pinochet regime officially ended in 1990, much of the dictatorship’s legal system remains, including the Chilean constitution.

Military police in Chile recently filed charges against Las Tesis, the interdisciplinary feminist collective whose protest

We’ve already hit bottom with Trump, and then some. In reality (unlike some fanciful notions that things must get even worse before they get better), the worse it gets, the worse it gets. The horrific directions that Trump has taken this country must be reversed.

Jim Hightower’s new video underscores that progressives have the opportunity to get much better results fighting President Biden than fighting President Trump. Moving “a 200-pound sack of concrete” is bound to be a heavy lift, but the possibilities would be real.

The votes in swing states will determine whether we get the chance.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction. org and the author of many books including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

basis.

The green scarves represent “La Marea Verde” (the Green Wave), a massive international women’s movement demanding sexual and reproductive health, and other rights. This movement began in Argentina, then spread to Chile and beyond, and its green scarf is now a symbol of women’s resistance throughout the world.

Carol A. Wells, Center for the Study of Polical Graphics, Los Angeles

September 17 - 30, 2020

able to block increasingly horrendous policies, much less advance our agendas. If there’s a President Biden, we’ll need to fight him from day one — and we’ll actually have a chance to move policy.

Franklin Roosevelt won the presidency 88 years ago running as a centrist. Militant grassroots movements propelled his administration to the left, bringing a transformative New Deal. We have a real chance to move Biden-era policy into a Green New Deal, a $15 federal minimum wage, and so much more — if we fight like hell after getting rid of Trump.

Of course, nothing’s guaranteed. The entrenched system is heavily weighted — always has been — against the interests of working people, women, people of color, the poor and others deprived of power by structural inequities. We always have to keep organizing and putting up a fight.

Demand Chile Drop Charges Against Feminist Arts Group

each year.

A Rapist in Your Path is a protest performance bringing attention to the violence women face on a daily basis. It was first performed at a protest in the city of Valparaíso in Chile in November 2019, and became a viral video almost instantly. Since then, the protest has also been performed in Colombia, Mexico, France, India, and in the U.S. This collective display of international solidarity serves as another reminder of the violence and injustices women across the world face on a daily

produce the new video, which concisely hits key points that often get lost in the haunted funhouse of election rhetoric: • There’s truly an enormous amount in Biden’s record for progressives not to like.

There’s no point in pretending otherwise.

• The extreme destructiveness of the Trump presidency must not be evaded.

Fighting for a progressive agenda must go hand in hand with fighting the forces of white supremacy, nativism, political repression, absolute climate denial and more.

Being in denial about Trump’s fascistic momentum is, to put it mildly, unwise.

• “Dump Trump, then we’ll take on Biden.” With Trump in the White House and his fanatical right-wing underlings running every federal department, progressives haven’t been

The Ceres QAnon Courier

performance, Un Violador En Tu Camino/A Rapist in Your Path became a viral sensation in 2019. Authorities claim that the collective is “inciting hatred and disobedience against authority.”

One of the lines stated, “And the fault wasn’t mine, not where I was, not how I dressed. You are the rapist.”

Last month, Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council asked the Chilean state to drop criminal charges. “Las Tesis has been key in denouncing police violence and violence against women in Chile. The State has an obligation to protect human rights defenders. It should not prosecute them for exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.”

The charges filed against Las Tesis are a flagrant attempt to intimidate and silence not only the collective, but all Chilean women, and validates their activism. Femicide in Chile and around the world is one of the leading causes of death for women, often at the hands of partners and men known to them.

Internationally, at least 66,000 women and girls are murdered

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

[Dump Trump, from p. 8]

four weeks.”

A Russian doctor says, “In my country, medicine is so advanced we take half a heart out of one person, put it in another man, and have both of them looking for work in two weeks.”

The American doctor, not to be outdone, says, “You guys are way behind us. We just took a man with no brain out of Florida, put him in the White House, and now half the country is looking for work.

John Winkler San Pedro

The two institutions that can definitely be trusted are the County Board of Elections and the United States Postal Service. The money saved by eliminating the need for poll workers could be used to offer free postage on the envelopes used to vote by mail. The person voting would also have more time to consider what they are voting for and would not be confined to the hours of the polling place.

It would also prevent unwanted entry to schools and churches from anyone trying to harm someone.

In addition the voter would not be harassed by someone trying to place unsolicited campaign literature into their hands. The additional revenue would boost the Postal Service and perhaps keep it afloat until we as a country are able to vote online.

Voting by mail would solve the registered voter problem and guarantee safe passage of the ballots to the County Board of Elections. It might even prevent further spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Joe Bialek Cleveland, Ohio

9

[Campaign, from p. 3]

Campaign

respectively. In mid-March, the district took swift action based on clear values of what would be most needed for our students to continue learning — daily food distribution for all and getting devices and internet connectivity to as many students as possible.

As the weeks went on and students experiencing the heaviest burdens of the pandemic still lacked devices or internet access and the district’s priorities shifted away from them to starting a summer school program they could not access, their grade suffered as well.

On the issue of school police in this historic moment to demonstrate that black lives matter, the grade is based on taking efficient action for black students’ preparation for college, career and life. Black youth have been leading the call to decriminalize students for years and the district waited until the last minute to take action for next school year with no cohesive approach to Los Angeles School Police. The superintendent created his task force without youth, teacher or parent leaders — a task force that has yet to meet though they were supposed to report back by the end of summer — and the board rehashed the same arguments and allegiances during two excruciatingly long board meetings.

September 17 - 30, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

RLn: Do you believe the LAUSD has been centering students’ academic and social-emotional needs with its decision not to reopen schools in the fall and defunding the LAUSD police? Detail your reasons why you believe it has or has not.

10

PC: Our students learn when they feel safe. In managing LAUSD’s current challenges, the district is right to prioritize the health and safety of our students, their families and our school community.

The decision to not reopen schools in favor of distance learning was based on overwhelming scientific data. There is no doubt that for the great majority of students the best place for them to learn and grow — socially, emotionally, academically — is in school alongside their teachers and classmates.

Much more work must be done about our students’ learning needs, including dramatically improving distance learning for ALL students, improving communications with all parents and improving support for students with special needs. But the decision to not reopen schools saved lives.

Also, the recent decision to redirect funds from the LAUSD police to services that support black students was the right decision. It provides critical support for our high-needs schools in the midst of a national call for racial justice and healing.

TOF: No. I believe the district is centering public health in the decision to not reopen schools this fall, as they should, and is centering politics in the issue of defunding police. If the district centered students’ academic and social-emotional needs in these decisions, there would be a more comprehensive plan with a timeline for decisions to be made with the meaningful engagement of students, parents, educators and school staff.

I have spent the last few months centering students’ academic and social-emotional needs alongside fellow educators as we prepare for school reopening at 19 LAUSD schools. We started by setting goals for the year — not in state assessments and academic growth as we traditionally do, but in ensuring that all students have devices and internet connectivity, that relationships are the foundation of learning and that we have the tools we need to support meaningful student engagement in diverse ways. This led us to develop an array of distance learning and family engagement resources to support an optimistic launch to the 2019-20 school year, even as we await many crucial decisions

from the district.

RLn: Do you believe that charter schools in Los Angeles County receiving $78 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans is as big a problem as some are making it out to be?

PC: We must do everything we can to protect our schools from the immense economic hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, as public entities, our schools have benefited from a continued funding stream from the state, plus access to federal CARES Act funding. Charter schools continue to be funded by these public sources as well. However, as the pandemic continues and revenues for the state decline, public education, which is already underfunded, is at risk for further cuts and underfunding. If the federal government is going to provide additional funding to charter schools, outside California’s school funding mechanism, then neighborhood public schools should be eligible for those additional funds as well.

TOF: Nonprofit organizations around the country breathed a sigh of relief when they could access PPP loans to maintain job security and health care for employees and their families, just as government entities did when the CARES Act came through. It’s important that federal dollars provide a safety net for our most vulnerable populations as well as those serving them.

RLn: With three months remaining until the general election in November, what challenges, if any, beyond the ones mentioned in this questionnaire, do you see emerging in the next couple of years and what will it take to address those challenges?

PC: California continues to rank near 43rd in the nation in per-student spending, reflecting a public school system that has experienced decades of under-funding. The COVID pandemic exacerbates this crisis.

Our communities are struggling under the weight of COVID, the recession, job losses and housing and food insecurity. With the state’s economic uncertainty and the lack of leadership at the national level, parents are concerned about drastic budget cuts when our students need resources more than ever. The district, local, state and federal administration must step up and raise revenue for our public schools so that our students can learn and teachers can teach.

TOF: The looming economic recession, especially because LA Unified has teetered on the fiscal cliff for years, is a huge concern that must be met with courage and a deep understanding of how cuts impact the classroom. Even with the hope of Proposition 15 and the school bond measure in November, LAUSD must still move towards equitable funding. That is, the fight for enough cannot mask the fight for fairness.

Additionally, meaningful community engagement in decision-making continues to be an opportunity for improvement in our district and is even clearer during this time of distance learning. Now that some students are thriving working at their own pace (almost practicing for college) and others are deeply struggling with the lack of resources and human connection, our education system has the insights to make really different decisions about teaching and learning in partnership with families, so that every student has a tailored experience for the best educational outcomes possible.

San Pedro resident releases photobook of leading African-American figures and reflective quotes about mothers

W

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

September 17 - 30, 2020

Melba F. Binion, left, is author Melba Binion-Sanders-Johnson’s mother. Right is Binion-Sanders-Johnson’s daughter, Alexandria Yates and granddaughter, Skyler Yates, above right. Photos by Moses Mitchell

[See Eyes, p. 14]

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

hat do you see when you look into your mother’s eyes? That can be a complicated answer depending on who you ask. However, San Pedro author, Melba BinionSanders-Johnson, found a way to pull together a variety of answers from leading African-American political and cultural figures and marry those answers with their stunning portraits. These figures are from a variety of walks of life, ranging from entertainment, politics and the nonprofit sector. The portraits focus on the faces of the subjects with particular attention to the eyes.

Some of those featured include the well known, like retired California Sen. Diane Watson, actor Malcolm Jamal Warner, Rev. Cecil Murray, vocalist Eloise Laws, singer-songwriter Skyler Grey, director-producer Donald B. Welch, Bonnie Pointer of the Pointers and more. The first 15 pages are perhaps the most striking because they reveal a far more personal portrait of the author’s family. casually flipping through the pages you are greeted with four generations of the Binion-Sanders-Johnson family who all have similar looking eyes. It was almost as if the casual viewer were looking at a single person transition through all five phases of life. Family resemblance runs deep in the DNA. These photographs appear like a visual interpretation of a quote Binion-Sander-Johnson uses in the prologue from scientist-inventor and peanut farmer George Washington Carver: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life, you will have been all of these.”

This is a quote that may resonate today.

What is perhaps the most stunning element of the book is that the portraits are intensely focused mostly on the eyes of the subjects whose stories are only partly told. Some of these beautiful pictures by Moses Mitchell are artfully cropped in half, giving more of a poetic glance than providing a full storyline. This is an intriguing design for storytelling. And, it should be considered as the companion to the author’s documentary series. More on that later.

If there’s a complaint to be had about this book, it’s that Through My Mother’s Eyes operates as a companion piece without its companion. The book is supposed to be paired with the docu-series but the docu-series is not here yet. As a result, there are no brief biographies in this book that helps contextualize the words of the people featured, let alone offer understanding for the uninitiated of just how important they are and the circumstances that formed the very basis of who they are.

For example, I was pleasantly surprised to find the inclusion of Toberman Neighborhood Center former executive director Gloria Lockhart. Lockhart published her own memoirs, Unmasking a Woman’s Journey in 2011 and I wrote a feature story on it. I read Lockhart’s quote in Binion-Sanders-Johnson: “There are two pairs of eyes. First, my biological mother’s eyes, the ones that did not raise me but which held a lot of pain, sorrow and a lot of regrets. Then there are my adopted mother’s eyes, that showed me joy, ambition and creativity. These are filled with the Love of God. The combination of the two, I got what needed from both.”

11

T

September 17 - 30, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

his past June, Greg Morena, restaurateur and owner of Pappy’s, announced he was selling the historic restaurant location for $2.5 million. At the time, he said if the building didn’t immediately sell, he would put it up for lease until the right offer and circumstances appeared.

The news was music to the ears of restaurateur Nima Karimi, the owner of Sebastian’s Mediterranean Cuisine and Matteo’s Pizza. Karimi had his eyes on the former Papadakis Taverna location since he arrived in San Pedro almost seven years ago.

“I still can’t believe it,” Karimi said. “Ever since I came to San Pedro, which was six and half years ago, I’ve always had an eye for that place. And now, finally, we’re there.”

Karimi’s new restaurant will be called La Bocca Felice, or The Happy Mouth in Italian.

The restaurateur intends for this new restaurant to be more formal than Pappy’s but has no plans of making significant changes to the historic venue, with the exception of installing an open-air pizza oven on the second floor of the restaurant, provided that all of the building and safety permits go through. Karimi said the restaurant will be open for business by Oct. 1.

Iranian born, but reared in Norway, Karimi has three restaurants in Norway. When he came to the United States, he was the chef at an Palos Verdes Italian restaurant called Avenue Italy before moving on to open Matteo’s Pizza on Gaffey Street, then Sebastian’s Mediterranean Cuisine on 7th Street.

“I have always cooked Italian food,” Karimi said. “I’ve cooked Italian cuisine for over 20 years.”

12

La Bocca Felice:

The Happy Mouth to Replace Pappy’s Seafood

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Sebastian’s Mediterranean Cuisine and Mateo’s Pizzeria restaurateur, Nima Karimi. Photo by Terelle Jerricks

The new restaurant will offer Italian seafood cuisine from all 20 regions of Italy.

“My partner and I are convinced that if we travel to each region, each as a special, that will

create something unique in San Pedro,” Karimi said.

When asked about the pizza oven that has to be installed, he explained that his vision

called for it to be installed on the second floor outdoors. Karimi explained that before any of that is possible he would have to get approvals from the city’s building and safety department.

So we shall see.

Karimi noted that due to outdoor dining permissions, he’ll be able to engage in outdoor dining on Oct. 1 with or without the pizza oven in place. With that in mind, Karimi is looking to ensure that operations and staffing are above par by the time of La Bocca Felice’s opening.

“I want everything to be set with good staff,” Karimi said. “It’s much better to be open a little later and be at 100%, rather than use clients as guinea pigs. So, as long as it takes.”

The 301 W. 6th Street location has a great deal of history. Greg Morena’s renovation exposed the 5,000 square-foot building’s architectural history by removing the midcentury architectural add-on, which revealed original 1920s windows, open beams, concrete and other accents that had been covered up.

San Pedro’s famous Papadakis Taverna’s occupation of that corner of Sixth and Centre is the longest in downtown San Pedro history.

Closed in 2010, John Papadakis and his family owned and operated the restaurant for more than 40 years. The building originally housed a U.S. Post Office, before it became the Beacon Drugstore.

Back then, drug stores featured a soda fountain and had something alongside the pharmaceuticals sold from their shelves. The first restaurant opened at the location was the Yacht Club Cafe, which advertised as a place to rendezvous and grab a drink, if not a bite to eat.

[See Felice, p. 13]

[Felice, from p. 12]

La Bocca Felice

Morena purchased the building for $1.6 million in late 2016. Moreno and his wife, Yunnie Kim, reportedly had to let go of the new San Pedro property when the pandemic hit to focus on their two primary restaurants on the Santa Monica Pier, the Albright and Rusty’s.

As sad as it is to see Pappy’s go, there’s palpable excitement for what’s next on the corner of 6th and Centre streets in San Pedro.

For his part, Karimi expressed hope that San Pedro and others who may cross La Bocca Felice’s doorstep embrace his vision with open arms.

“I hope that they will enjoy every bite of their meal and I hope I can provide a fun and cozy atmosphere for them with safety first,” Karimi said. “Besides that I can promise nothing. I just hope that everybody puts their feet inside my restaurant and leaves with smiles on their faces.”

Palos Verdes Art Center

Studio Gallery 345

SKIN IN THE GAME

Pat Woolley, Ports O’Call Village

In an abundance of caution, Studio 345, which shows the works of Pat Woolley and Gloria D. Lee will be closed for First Thursdays until further notice. 345 W. 7th St., San Pedro.

Ko-Ryu Ramen 362 W. 6th St. San Pedro 90731 310-935-2886

koryuramen.com Koi Ramen

To have “skin in the game” is to have a personal stake in a competitive endeavor, placing assets at risk, win or lose. For Black folk in this game we call America, the asset risked is the body itself — its physical being and cultural identity.

Curated by Brent Holmes, Skin In the Game presents works by 12 artists that challenge mainstream assumptions of Black identity and artistic practice. The pieces range from experiments in Afrofuturism and Afropunk to street portraiture, abstraction, exercises in queer humor, and the appropriation of minstrelsy. Although focusing primarily on Black voices, Skin In the Game includes artists of various ethnicities and backgrounds who show solidarity and commitment to the cause of racial justice.

The exhibition launched virtually online. Zoom events will be announced providing discussion with the artists. The show runs through Nov. 14.

Details: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes, (310) 541-2479, www.pvartcenter.org

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

Take a vir tual tour of Pat Woolley’s work at www. randomlengthsnews.com/art/first-thursday

Antwane Lee, The Solar Shrine, Honorarium Grant Selection for Burning Man 2020-2021

September 17 - 30, 2020

13

[Eyes, from p. 11]

My Mother’s Eyes

September 17 - 30, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

I was compelled to review Lockhart’s memoir to remember the grounding experience from which her quote grew. Lockhart focused her memoirs on the most seminal and transformative events of her life that helped her break through barriers, but also included traumas that had lifelong impacts on her. In easy to read prose, Lockhart recounted the events that led to her mother separating Gloria from her siblings for what was supposed to be a short time but ended up being permanent. Lockhart was sent to live with a maternal aunt and her husband at the age of five or six years old.

Reading Lockhart’s quote within this context, the words pack a particular punch and depth.

Another quote that stood out to me was one from the radio personality of KJLH, Roland Bynum, in which he say: “My Mother didn’t raise me. When I looked into her eyes, I saw a sad person. She was fearful. But when we did finally get together, she said ‘about time you got home, boy. Welcome home.”

I was left wanting to know what made him say this.

The same was true of State Sen. Holly Mitchell, who said this about her mother: “She was shy and insecure but blossomed into a powerhouse, and A-type personality and became a prison warden. ‘She was something else,’ [Gov.] Jerry Brown once said of her.”

Clearly there is much more alluded to than is outright told in this book which is why one becomes curious about what comes next.

14

Fortunately, Through My Mother’s Eyes is part of a larger project that includes a docu-series exploring the relationship between a mother and child.

Created by BinionSanders-Johnson, filmmaker Chadwick L. Williams and Brownstone Entertainment, the docu-series examines the unique circumstances and relationships that make us who we are through our relationships. The questions the show asks: What do you see when you look Author Melba Binion-Sanders-Johnson’s page in her book, Through My Mother’s Eyes. into your mother’s the lives of some of the most powerful and Sanders-Johnson is also the owner of the yoga eyes? If your mother were to look into your culturally significant Southern California-based apparel line, It’s a Wrap by Melba. eyes, what would she see? What influence did African-American figures of our time. your mother have on your life? Tell me about About the Photographer the last time you looked into your mother’s About the Author Moses Mitchell, an Los Angeles-based eyes; and tell me about your mother.

Binion-Sanders-Johnson is an actress, photographer responsible for the portraits in The trailer for this docu-series promises model, author and a 36-year practitioner and Through My Mother’s Eyes has been shooting to be a good companion to Binion-Sanderssenior teacher of Bikram Hot Yoga and a stills since he was five years old. Reflected in Johnson’s book while offering insights into certified Core Power Yoga instructor. Binionthe quality of his images are the years he has dedicated to cultivating his craft. Moses’ work largely reflects his concern for poverty and education, his interest in universal spiritual principles and his passion for music. This laserlike focus is reflected in his commercial and documentary projects. Clients include, Diageo, GTM, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Michael Beckwith, Interscope Records, Warner Bros, CBS, LA’s BEST, HBO, MTV and BET, among others.

To purchase the book, visit https://tinyurl. com/Through-My-Mothers-Eyes. The book can be purchased in the following formats with the following ISBN numbers: Paperback: ISBN: 978-1-950936-44-1 $29.95 E-book: ISBN: 978-1-950936-45-8 $19.95 Hardcover: ISBN: 978-1-950936-55-7 $39.95

[Peaceful, from p. 1]

Sept 17-30 • 2020

MUSIC Sept. 24

A Day Of Blues Enjoy ten-plus hours of free live streamed music with artists including Robert Cray, Keb’ Mo’, Tommy Castro, Michele Lundeen, Diana Rein, Casey Hensley, New Blues Revolution, Blind Lemon Peel, Orphan John And The Abandoned and Bobby Spencer.

One hundred percent of funds raised support Give A Gig, Blues In The Schools, Bedside Beats, Long Beach Gives, and Long Beach Blues Society Time: 10 a.m. Sept. 24 Details: www.facebook.com/ cantstoptheblues

ART

Sept. 19 Raised as Roosters Coinciding with the 30-year anniversary of the groundbreaking historic survey, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 19651985 , Angels Gate Cultural Center presents Raised as Roosters: Relief Prints and Drawings by Abel Alejandre and Guerra. Alejandre and Guerra, widely respected for their rendering and printmaking skills, share a selection of new and recent works on paper which provide an opportunity to reflect upon themes of Xicano identity, masculinity and traditional Mexican visual motifs.

Time: Opening virtually Sept. 19 Details: www.angelsgateart.org/ Raised-as-roosters.

Sept. 17

ConSortiUm A collaborative coalition of California State University art museums and galleries announce a virtual event series for 2020– 2021. The inaugural program, PLATFORM, includes six live conversations with contemporary artists, collectives and curators whose works are critical to current re-imaginings of the art world and the world at large.

Time: 5:30 p.m. Sept. 24. All events will be presented live via Zoom Cost: Free Details: Register for the Zoom webinar, www.cpp.edu/platformcsu-art-speaker-series

Sept. 26

Step into Another Realm Scott Aicher’s aesthetic has been shaped by San Pedro’s punk scene, underground comics, psychedelic art and skate and custom car culture. During two weekends in September, six socially-distanced masked humans may enter at a time.

The exhibition will end Sept. 30.

Scott Aicher will be present both weekends from 3 to 5 p.m.

Time: 12 to 5 p.m. Sept. 26 and 27 Details: (310) 266–9216; corneliusprojects.com Venue: Cornelius Projects, 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

Oct. 1 Black Lives Matter Exhibit El Camino Gallery presents an online group exhibit called Black Lives Matter. It includes Pandemic Response artists statements and study guide and questions.

This exhibition will be followed by a separate online show in October addressing the death of George Floyd in the hands of the Minneapolis police and broader issues of Black Lives Matter.

Details: elcamino.edu/ academics/finearts/artgallery/ current-exhibition

FILM Oct. 1

Metropolis at the Long Beach Drive-In Kick off Long Beach Architecture Week at the Scottish Rite Cultural Center with a screening of Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis.

Virtual Screening of The Outpost The Battleship IOWA Museum will host an online screening of The Outpost, a movie about the Battle of Kamdesh, the bloodiest battle in the United States war in Afghanistan. The following day there will be a question and answer session with the director and cast. RSVP. Time: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17 and 18 Cost: Free Details: https://tinyurl.com/ OutpostIowa

COMMUNITY Sept. 17

Virtual Family Art Workshop via Zoom Angels Gate Cultural Center is now offering monthly Family Art Workshops. All are welcome.

Art activities are for kids and adults of all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Time: 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 19 Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ virtual-family-art-workshoptickets

Outdoor and Virtual Classes Fall Recreation Classes The in-person classes will take place outdoors with adherence to COVID-19 guidelines to help keep participants safe. Virtual classes provide convenience from the comfort of home.

Class offerings include tennis, dog obedience, jazz dance, beginning ukulele and Afro Zumba.

Details: www.reservations. lacounty.gov.

Daily Free Virtual Programming Discover entertaining, creative and educational activities for all ages through the LA County Library’s free virtual programs. Offerings include Maker Mondays, Transformation Tuesday, Well-Being Wednesday, Arts and Culture Thursday, Fun Friday and Stories and More Saturday.

Details: www.lacountylibrary. org/virtual-programming

Peaceful

and their vehicles license plates. The agitators then began to leave the general vicinity when officers of the LAPD arrived.

They then waited across the street in an auto repair parking lot to continue photographing the protesters from a distance with their cell phones. When the train of cars began their tour down Harbor Boulevard, they were followed by a caravan of agitators throughout the route. When the tour stopped on 5th Street [at the Liberty Hill monument] to regroup, they continued to shadow them as the LAPD

Iowa museum ship, the S.S. Lane Victory, the Liberty Hill monument on 5th Street and Harbor Boulevard and the Industrial Workers of the World union hall (today a corner market on 12th and Centre streets), where the local contingent of the Ku Klux Klan raided the building and scalded the face and body of a young girl with hot water.

The tour also included the former headquarters from whence the Klan marched, which is now the Calvary Christian Church on 10th Street.

It was promoted as being the antifascism tour of San Pedro.

The Peace Week tour ran into a crimp following a Facebook post misidentifying it with antifa (a decentralized movement of militant antifascists) and hysterically warning of violence. The post got parishioners of Mary Star Catholic Church and other San Pedrans A police officer speaking with residents looking to confront “antifa” protesters out to defend their that never came. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala church (located a few observed and forced them to maintain their blocks away from Calvary Church) for an attack distance. that was never going to come.

The final leg of the tour was at the S.S. The Los Angeles Police Department was Lane Victory where the demonstrators stopped put on notice. The Harbor Division provided a to mention a few words in front of the ship motorcycle escort for the Peace Week caravan recognizing its role in World War II to stop while surveilling the movements of the tour’s fascism. participants. Some 12 backup units were hidden David Jones, the Lane Victory Board out of sight just in case there actually was a president, came down to say a few words of problem. appreciation to the peace tour group, while The following eyewitness account around the bend there were three carloads with was offered by Random Lengths freelance agitators continuing to follow and observe the photographer, Arturo Garcia-Ayala: demonstrators.

I was there from the beginning covering the LAPD maintained a presence to prevent an event in journalistic capacity. First of all, the aggressive incident. After maybe 20 minutes, peace demonstrators were harmless. A “church the demonstrators disbanded from in front bingo group” is more aggressive than these of the Lane Victory ship and everyone went folks whose average age was over 40, nearly 50 their separate ways. There was no plan to go years with oldest in her 90s. anywhere else in San Pedro. The tour ended I was the second person to arrive at the event at 12:43 PDT. There were no hostilities from yet I waited in my car for more demonstrators the peace tour anti-fascist demonstrators. to arrive. Already there were counter-protest All the aggression came from the counteragitators harassing the demonstrators with protest agitators. Regardless, besides hostile screams, vehicle trolling, photographing the implied threats of violence. Yelling at the protestors’ vehicles and license plates, there demonstrators that they are not welcomed. They was NO INCIDENT. then proceeded with their cell phones as a fear tactic to photograph nearly every demonstrator

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

Long Beach Architecture Week Enjoy all access to this year’s Virtual Long Beach Architecture Week with self-guided tours and panels, including a panel discussion on evolving design in the face of a pandemic, a live Q&A on the Edward A. Killingsworth Project and the Atkinson Brick virtual house tour with live Q&A. The event offers self-guided tours and signature educational events through the new LBLiving app available for iPhones and Androids on the App Store and Google Play, and online at www. welcometolb.com.

Time: Sept. 17 through 27 Cost: $49 Location: LB Living App Details: https://tinyurl.com/LBAWtickets

Sept. 24

Enjoy a night of music, tasty food, great presentation and a special live introduction to the film by Art Deco expert and historian John Thomas.

Time: 7 p.m Sept. 19 Cost: $25 per car Details: https://www.facebook. com/events/metropolis Venue: Scottish Rite, 805 Elm Ave., Long Beach

September 17 - 30, 2020

15

[Workers, from p. 1]

Port Sued Again For Inadequate China Shipping Air Quality Mitigations

September 17 - 30, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

SAN PEDRO — The 20-year battle for clean air at the China Shipping Terminal is headed back to court, as the original China Shipping plaintiffs and allies have filed suit to void the City Council’s Aug. 12 vote to certify the Port of Los Angeles’ plan to make up for 11 promised mitigation measures that it never implemented.

“The Port of L.A. broke the law by abandoning its clean air commitments in the original EIR and, without justification, adopting measures that are far less protective,” said Melissa Lin Perrella, Senior Director of Environmental Justice at Natural Resources Defense Council.

“The Port hid its actions from the public for nearly a decade, resulting in communities shouldering more and more pollution. The Port is not above the law. Our lawsuit seeks to hold the Port accountable.”

“The Port has shamelessly violated environmental protections it committed to more than a decade ago,” said Dr. John G. Miller, President of the San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition. “Residents of San Pedro, Wilmington, and Long Beach face higher cancer risks, asthma rates, cardiovascular mortality rates, and a higher risk of death from COVID-19 in the diesel death zone that surrounds the Port. We refuse to keep suffering with the consequences of pollution from the Port. Today’s lawsuit is yet another chapter in our fight for justice.”

“The Port legally promised it would adopt health-protective measures to minimize toxic air pollution from ships, trucks, and equipment at the China Shipping terminal,” said Janet SchaafGunter of the San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners United, one of the three original activists responsible for initiating the original lawsuit.

“Instead, Port authorities slithered around behind closed doors, abandoning many of its original environmental commitments, which resulted in unfathomable health consequences for residents and dockworkers living and working in this diesel death zone around the Port. We demand better air for our families and our communities.”

A separate suit was also filed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “We are extremely disappointed that the Port did not at least require clean fuel or electric trucks,“ said Wayne Nastri, South Coast AQMD Executive Officer.

16

POLB Adopts $650 million Budget

LONG BEACH— The Long Beach City Council recently approved a $650 million budget for the Harbor Department that includes a transfer of about $19 million to the city’s Tidelands Operating Fund, which supports quality-of-life projects along Long Beach’s 7-mile coastline.

The budget for fiscal year 2021, which begins Oct. 1, is 4% lower than last year’s budget. Operating revenue is projected to be down 5% due to uncertain global conditions.

For the next fiscal year, the port plans to invest $379 million, or 58% of the total budget, in capital projects to construct and renovate port facilities. The port plans $1.7 billion in capital expenditures over the next 10 years to enhance marine terminal productivity, deliver greater efficiency to customers and improve safety and the sustainability of operations.

Details: https://docs.google.com/edit-2021adopted-budget

Carson Prepares For Voting Provides Seven Vote-By-Mail Drop Boxes

CARSON — Beginning Oct. 5, all registered voters will be mailed a vote-by-mail ballot to ensure they have a safe and accessible voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop box locations, all available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, will be distributed throughout Carson. Ballots also can be returned by mail (no postage required) or inperson at any vote center.

Details: lavote.net.

Gig Workers

compensation … falls below the mandated minimum wage in nine of 20 major markets, including the three largest (Chicago, Los Angeles and New York).” That’s a far cry from Uber’s claims that its drivers make an average of $25 an hour.

Uber and Lyft are trying to preserve their subminimum-wage business model via a high-priced campaign to exempt themselves from California labor law via Proposition 22 on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Their lead argument is to preserve the illusion of drivers as independent business owners with “flexibility” and “freedom.”

But there’s just one problem.

“Freedom doesn’t pay the bills. Flexibility doesn’t pay the bills. A minimum wage pays the bills. A living wage pays the bills,” says Torrancebased Jerome Gage, an organizer with the Mobile Workers Alliance. “This is something I could see myself doing for the next few decades,” he told Random Lengths, “In order to do this, I need better working conditions, I need a minimum wage, I need health insurance, I need sick leave.

Those basic, basic things are things I’m asking for. And that’s what’s at stake this November.”

“The entire gig economy is essentially based on a scam … designed to minimize pay for labor — often below minimum wage and sometimes so deceptive that workers don’t notice that they lose money rather than earn money,” Edan Alva, a driver, leader and organizer with Gig Workers Rising told Random Lengths. “At the same time all the costs and expenses are being put on the workers, and the risks that are associated with the work.”

“In the beginning, sort of a honeymoon phase, I really didn’t see the flaws in the business model,” Gage said.

But that changed after he became a full-time Lyft driver in 2016.

“I realized that I was being given the short end of the stick,” he said. “I was in charge of so many expenses for operating the vehicle, and Lyft was not taking responsibility for any of it.

“When the pandemic started, it made all of the shortcomings worse. I found myself without work, without unemployment insurance, without healthcare, and all this stems from Uber and Lyft’s refusal to properly classify [its] drivers as employees.”

As with port truckers, their condition could well be described as “sharecropping on wheels”: doing piecework with the illusion of ownership and the reality of political powerlessness, along with limited earnings and the possibility of going into debt.

“You will definitely see that pattern in this industry as well,” Gage said. “Drivers are responsible for everything that costs money, while Uber and Lyft control how drivers make money.”

“Gig corporations are machines to convert labor’s work into profit for billionaires, while leaving the worker with almost nothing: no protections, no ability to advance, no ability to save, barely the minimum they need to exist,” said Alva, who’s driven for Lyft since 2014. “If there’s any unexpected expense, that immediately puts the worker at a potential financial ruin, potentially losing the roof over their head. And, I’m talking about little things that most people could cope with very easily — like a flat tire, a cracked windshield — things that happen a lot; a mechanical failure in the car, things happen a lot when you drive that much. Any one of these, when you earn that little, can derail people’s life.”

The divide between Uber’s $25 per hour

Lyft driver and Mobile Workers Alliance organizer, Jerome Gage. Photo by Raphael Richardson

fantasy and the grim reality Alva describes is typical of today’s gig economy. A recent UC Santa Cruz study of San Francisco gig workers found that “as much as 20% [of them] might be earning nothing when all expenses are accounted for,” while 15% rely on some form of public assistance and over one-fifth have no health insurance.

A Corporate-Crafted Deal

But if Uber and its corporate allies — Lyft Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates — have their way and Prop. 22 becomes law this November, that vast divide will only deepen, become permanent and spread to encompass more and more workers in the years ahead.

In addition, a study from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that if their drivers had been treated as employees, Uber and Lyft would owe $413 million in unemployment benefits from 2014 to 2019. As a result of this non-payment, tens of thousands of drivers who lost work because of the pandemic were ineligible for unemployment insurance.

Uber and Lyft claim that Prop. 22 benefits workers, but there’s nothing to back that up, said Barbara Smith, of the National Employment Law Project, a co-author of the recent report, Rigging the Gig: How Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash’s Ballot Initiative Would Put Corporations Above the Law and Steal Wages, Benefits, and Protections from California Workers.

Gig Workers Rising organizer and leader, Edan Alva. Photo by Hanna Spongberg

Uber and Lyft both initially invested $30 million in trying to pass Prop. 22, which is peanuts compared to the $630 million in back wage claims filed by more than 2,500 Uber and Lyft drivers as of April 16. The number of claims had doubled by the time the California Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower stepped in to sue on their behalf on Aug. 5.

“The Uber and Lyft business model rests on the misclassification of drivers as independent contractors,” she said in a press release. “This leaves workers without protections such as paid sick leave and reimbursement of drivers’ expenses, as well as overtime and minimum wages.”

“What people need to know first about Prop.

22 is that this is an initiative that was bought and paid for by the gig companies and it is entirely written in their interests, not in the interests of workers or consumers or even the government,” Smith told Random Lengths. “They in fact have written into the initiative that they will more or less never have to bargain with a workers organization. They can just write their own ticket. For the state to pass anything that looks like collective bargaining they would need an impossible 7/8 majority. So, the companies are not listening to workers and they have not written [See Workers, p. 17]

[Workers, from p. 16]

Workers

this in the interest of workers.”

This stands in stark contrast to past claims, she noted.

“Last year when gig companies were trying to get an exemption from AB-5, the CEOs of Uber and Lyft wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle saying that they wanted there to be a workers organization to negotiate on behalf of workers,” Smith recalled. “So, the initiative shows what they really want.”

Wealth Distribution

passing them onto tenants is a whole other story.

“This change would be phased in over several years, beginning in 2022-23, following a process established by the Legislature,” the California Budget and Policy Center report explained. “If at least 50% of a property (determined by square footage) is occupied by small businesses, the property would not be assessed until 2025-26 at the earliest.”

Beyond that, California Budget and Policy Center policy analyst Kayla Kitson told Random Lengths, “Prop. 15 includes a series of provisions that would protect many small businesses from property tax increases while also providing them with new property tax cuts.” For example, “The measure would create a new tax exemption for personal property, which will result in overall

tax cuts for many small businesses,” exactly the opposite of what the ad threatens.

More broadly, “We think it’s important that Californians understand what Prop. 15 would do,” Kitson said. “Why focus on commercial and industrial properties only? This is because a small portion of the commercial and industrial properties in California are very valuable but have not been reassessed in decades, so their assessed values under current law are much lower than their market values. And this has created inequities between taxpayers and resulted in significant lost revenue for local services for people across California communities.”

The mysterious “they” who “admit homeowners are next” could not be reached for comment. Because, alas, “they” do not exist.

[Prop. 15, from p. 5]

Prop. 15

cities and special districts, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. And, 92% of that money would come from the top 10% of commercial properties, according to a property tax roll analysis by Blue Sky Consulting in July. In other words, it would come from folks like Terranea, Watson and Vornado.

“This is a choice between perpetuating a tax break for the wealthiest corporations in our state or expanding the critical local services to reduce homelessness, reduce emergency wait times and improve our neighborhoods — at zero cost to residents,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said earlier this year.

A recent deceptive No On Prop 15 TV ad portrays a black family barber shop as the prime target of Prop. 15, with the added ominous warning that “they admit homeowners are next,” but the ad flies directly in the face of the facts.

The proposition exempts properties worth less than $3 million — except for owners whose total holdings exceed that threshold — and has other provisions protecting small businesses: “Prop. 15 would not affect the assessment of residential property (including owner-occupied homes and residential rental property) or property used for commercial agricultural production,” according to an analysis by the California Budget and Policy Center. “The measure would also create new exemptions for business personal property (such as equipment, furnishings and supplies): small businesses would be able to exempt all of their business personal property from taxation, and other business taxpayers would be able to exempt the first $500,000 in business personal property.”

In short, Prop. 15 bends over backwards to ensure that it’s not a broad tax increase, but rather narrowly targets those who’ve long gotten by paying far less than their fair share.

But that hasn’t stopped Prop. 15’s opponents from trying to argue the opposite. On Aug. 5, Superior Court Judge James P. Arguelles ruled that a key paragraph of the voter guide arguments against Prop. 15 — claiming that it could lead to higher taxes for homeowners — be removed as “misleading if not outright false.”

But courts can do nothing about lies on TV. “Our worst recession isn’t the time for the biggest property tax hike ever,” the barbershop ad concludes.

But taxes won’t go up for years — and

September 17 - 30, 2020

The linchpin of the pro-Prop. 22 argument is that making gig workers employees would eliminate flexibility. But flexibility is “largely illusory,” Smith said.

“Most of the work on the platform is done by full-time workers,” Smith said. “So, there’s nothing flexible, or any more flexible about that than there is for any other full-time workers.”

In fact, the UC Santa Cruz study found that 50% of workers worked more than 40 hours — meaning they worked overtime hours without overtime pay, yet another form of wage theft that Prop. 22 would legalize. And 30% work more

a predatory, obnoxious, exploitative business model — it sort of almost hurts me to call it a business model, it’s just theft. It’s theft on a grand scale.”

But the gig companies behind Prop. 22 aren’t just stealing from several hundred thousand workers.

“Over time whole communities are affected by this,” Alva pointed out. “It’s not just the worker, it’s their families, as they face financially the cost of homelessness, where they live, the cost of unpaid hospital bills where they live. Workers like me — I actually had that situation — when they get sick have a choice between literally losing the roof over their head or continue to drive while being sick, which was my choiceless choice when it happened to me. And, that means it also puts the public at risk. So, it’s a horrible public health policy to allow it to happen.”

The ‘Flexibility’ Illusion

in a car and not having work because there are simply too many drivers on the road compared to the demand and all these people are not being paid yet Lyft and Uber are definitely benefiting from their existence. And that is outright labor theft, what these companies are doing.”

As Alva describes, unpaid driver wait time is central to the Uber/Lyft business model. And, the companies know it. In its initial public offering documents, Uber even said so.

“The fact that they are portraying themselves as protecting drivers in any way, shape or form is ridiculous,” Alva said. “All they’re doing is thinking of their bottom line. They invested $200 million [a recently reported figure — official figures topped $180 million through Sept. 4] to protect their bottom line, to prevent drivers from having any rights and to prevent drivers from organizing. And, no company that cares about people in any way would do all that. It’s such

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

The disconnect was even deeper than Smith indicated.

“I absolutely hope that a lot of the conversations about more aggressive [wealth] distribution will become more than discussion and become reality,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Concordia Summit in New York City in September 2019, as reported by the Observer.

“It is up to society and governments to correct it.”

But now, Khosrowshahi’s company has spent $47.5 million (through Sept 4) and counting to ensure that never happens. Most egregiously, the company pays nothing into Social Security or Medicare — the nation’s two largest social insurance programs — and Prop. 22 would ensure that it never will.

The second thing people need to know is how little it offers.

“The initiative is either a collection of things that are one, totally absent, two, things that are already obligations under law — like background checks — or three, promises that are wholly or partly illusory,” Smith said.

Their banner headline promise, for example, is 120% of the applicable minimum wage.

“It would not pay workers for the time that they spend waiting for a ride, which in a couple of the studies can be 20 minutes out of every hour or more,” Smith said. “That’s how they degrade labor standards and we calculated that workers could lose up to $500 a week in pay just because they’re not being paid for all hours worked.”

“I’ve had hours at a time where I didn’t have a passenger in the car,” Alva confirmed. “So basically, no pay for that.”

In fact, a recently-completed UC Berkeley Labor Center study found that “After considering multiple loopholes in the initiative, we estimate that the pay guarantee for Uber and Lyft drivers is actually the equivalent of a wage of $5.64 per hour,” according to the press release, reflecting unpaid hidden costs, including unpaid waiting time, underpayment for driving expenses and unpaid payroll taxes and employee benefits.

It went on to note: “Harry Truman was president the last time the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage was that low. Indeed, the real level of the pay guarantee is about one third of the required minimum pay for drivers under New York City’s new driver pay standard.”

than 50 hours. “[Part-timers] already — in order to make money — are working peak hours and are in fact harassed with in-app messages, even when they have the app off warning them to work when the company wants them to work. So they have in reality what becomes very little flexibility,” Smith said. “There is no law on earth that prevents them from offering flexibility to workers. They can, and should, and likely will offer flexibility to workers [if Pro. 22 fails], because they’ll be asking for part-time workers during peak hours, and at the same time, workers can have baseline labor standards and core benefits.”

“Lyft and Uber benefit from flooding the market with drivers because that increases the availability for the clients to get used to the fact that Uber/Lyft means immediate service,” Alva said. “That means that there are all these hundreds of thousands of drivers out there who are sitting

17

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The address of the court is 275 Magnolia Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802 A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: Daily Journal and RLn. Date Aug. 7, 2020 Michael P. Vicencia Judge of the Superior Court

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ACROSS

1 “RuPaul’s ___ Race” 5 Twitch streamer, often 10 Ride around town 13 Drink brand with a lizard logo 14 San Antonio mission, with “the” 15 Rescue team, briefly 17 Pictures of surrealist Joan’s work?

19 Fortnite company 20 One way to sit by 21 “And here’s to you, ___ Robinson ...”

22 Arrange alphabetically 23 Mountaineer’s vocalization 25 Manzarek of The Doors 26 Stereotypical person who might demand to speak to the manager of this puzzle 27 End of Wikipedia’s URL 28 Sound from a meadow 30 “Hansel and Gretel” setting 31 Villain who only wears his purple suspenders and “W” hat two days at a time?

35 California city near Stockton 36 Muralist Rivera 37 “Won’t do it” 41 Comedy duo of scientist Marie and singer Burl?

44 It may be served in a spear 47 Bonding words 48 Sixth sense, supposedly

49 Got up 50 Baha ___ (“Who Let the Dogs Out” group) 52 Element #5 54 Cruise destination 55 Die maximum, usually 56 Rapidly disappearing storage medium 57 Actress Kendrick of the Quibi series “Dummy” 58 Program again onto an antiquated computer storage format?

62 Bank’s property claim 63 Last letter in the Greek alphabet 64 Rival of Visa or MC 65 Dishonorable guy 66 Intro show 67 Budget allocation

DOWN

1 Psychiatric reference book, for short 2 French monarch 3 Like smaller dictionaries 4 Crystal-filled cavity 5 No longer fresh, as venison 6 Pie ___ mode 7 Igneous rock, once 8 Abrasive manicure substance 9 Monica’s brother on “Friends” 10 Chef Boyardee product that had to be renamed for a “Seinfeld” episode

11 Ballpark figure?

12 “Whose Line ...” comic Ryan 16 What some dryer sheets have 18 “Well ___!” (“Fancy that!”)

23 Feline wail 24 Cookie that released an eggshaped version for Easter 2019 25 Projections from a hub 26 Backyard pond fish 29 Tennis’s Agassi 30 Palm leaf 32 It does a hold-up job in the parking lot 33 Teensy 34 “Teletubbies” shout 38 Defeat 39 Chilean cash 40 “Pardon the Interruption” network 42 Glob or nod ending 43 “The Many Loves of ___ Gillis” 44 Vatican-related 45 Like some twists of fate 46 Pupil protector 50 Home of the Dolphins 51 Throw out 53 NATO alphabet vowel 55 Octagonal road sign 56 “Aw, fiddlesticks!”

59 Cause of conflict, maybe 60 Hang-out room 61 Abbr. after a telephone number

LEGAL & DBA FILINGS [from p. 18] The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ AMALIO ALVAREZ, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/17/2020.. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration. Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied

by Affidavit of Identity form.

The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 08/06/20, 08/20/20, 09/03/20, 09/17/20

09/03/20, 09/17/20

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME Case No. 20LBCP00182 Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles Petition of: Richard Michael Martorella for Change of Name TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner Richard Michael Martorella filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Richard Michael Martorella to Savio Liberante Martorello. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted.

If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: Date: October 1, 2020, Time: 8:30 a.m., Dept.: S26, Room: 5500 The address of the court is 275 Magnolia Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802 A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: Los Angeles Daily Journal Date: August 07, 2020 Michael P. Vicencia Judge of the Superior Court 8/17, 8/24, 8/31, 9/8/20 DJ-3389613#

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020112419 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: 110 VIP MOBILE DETAILING, 1135 N. CABRILLO AVENUE, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s):STEVE V. GUEVARA, 1135 N. CABRILLO AVE. SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by an Individual . The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/2018. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)).

S/ sTEVE V. GUEVARA, Owner This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/27/2020. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 08/20/20, 09/03/20, 09/17/20, 10/01/20

08/20/20, 09/03/20, 09/17/20, 10/01/20

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020118391 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: KENIA Z. FLORALS, 729 WEST BASIN STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s):KENIA RIVERA, 729 WEST BASIN STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ KENIA RIVERA, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 08/05/2020. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on

which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 08/20/20, 09/03/20, 09/17/20, 10/01/20

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020117742 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: ALL CARPET CARE RESTORATION SERVICES, 1840 S GAFFEY STREET #414, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s):MARTIN MADRIGAL, 24517 MARINE AVE, CARSON, CA 90745. This business is conducted by an Individual The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/2000. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ MARTIN MADRIGAL, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 08/04/2020. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied

by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 202128710 The following person is doing business as: BIGEYE VIRTUAL, 905 Friendship Park Drive, San Pedro, CA 90732, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Ryan Alan White, 905 Friendship Park Drive, San Pedro, CA 90732. This Business is conducted by an Individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 07/2020. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Ryan Alan White,owner.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on 08/25/20. Notice--In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920 where it expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 09/17/20, 10/01/20,

GELES. Registered owner(s): SHAUN VICKERS, 420 Barbara St., SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on 06/2017. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ SHAUN VICKERS, Owner . This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 08/06/2020. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied

by Affidavit of Identity form.

The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 09/03/20, 09/17/20, 10/01/20, 10/15/20

10/15/20, 10/29/20

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020119322 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: SV HARDWOOD FLOORING, 3420 Barbara St., SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS AN-

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020112421 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: ARABELLA’S, 350 W. 5TH STREET #212, AVENUE, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s):STEVE V. GUEVARA, 1135 N. CABRILLO AVE. SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/2018. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ VALERIE MONIQUE SANCHEZ-BUENO, Owner . This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/27/2020.

NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020107263 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: JOSEPHINE TUBEROS TAX SERVICE, 28631 S. WESTERN AVE, SUITE 105 A, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s): JOSEPHINE TUBEROSI, 2025 UPLAND STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90275. This business is conducted by an Individual The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/1981. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)).

S/ JOSEPHINE TUBEROSI, Owner . This statement was

filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/17/2020.

NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration.Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020115943 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: SANPEDRO. COM, 3185 ALMERIA STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s): JEROME T. DORSEY, 3185 ALMERIA STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A.. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ JEROME T. DORSEY, Owner This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/31/2020. NOTICE-In accordance with Subdivision (a) of Section 17920, a Fictitious Name Statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the County Clerk, except, as provided in Subdivision (b) of Section 17920, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration. Effective Jan.

1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 08/06/20, 08/20/20,

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September 17 - 30, 2020

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