December 27, 2021 I VOL. 50 I #52
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Speaking Out Community fighting possible Dynasty Center redevelopment, evictions
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THE VOICE OF DOWNTOWN LA SINCE 1972
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Living isn’t for the faint of heart By Ellen Snortland LA Downtown News Columnist rdinarily, I advocate embracing one’s age and aging in general. However, I have a caveat: I hate aging in pets. Hate it. The only blessing I can find in (most likely) outliving my pets is that it gives me practice in loss and grieving. If we’re fortunate, the older we get, the more we deal with miles of loss and grief. Speaking of grief, I experienced the profound and shocking loss of a close human friend right before Christmas. I’m submitting the following unpublished column from 2020, as I can’t focus enough to write a new piece. The sentiment is appropriate. August 2020 — We euthanized our toy poodle, Oso, during the lockdown. He lived for an astounding 17 years. In human years, that’s an ancient 119. And I have to say it: Oso was a jerk, yet I loved him. Hey, someone has to love jerks, right? I got him in July 2003, four days after my mother’s death in Rapid City, South Dakota. The only thing I could imagine comforting me at the time was to get a puppy. I looked through the Rapid City Journal ads section and came home with a tiny, fluffy white poodle only 8 weeks old and recently weaned. He looked exactly like a small Teddy Bear, so I named him Oso… Spanish for “bear.” He turned out to be the least comforting mammal I’ve ever been around. Ever. I suspected something was off with him the night I brought him home, as he refused to snuggle with me. I’d never had a puppy who refused to cuddle before. Hmm. As Oso matured, I realized consent applies to pets, too. I wouldn’t force
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him to let me hug him. He wouldn’t sit on my lap, so I didn’t make him. I make a “until death do us part” pact with my critters, although I suppose there would have been people who wouldn’t have blamed me for “re-homing” him. But I just couldn’t reject him for being nonaffectionate. Just like my mom! And then, the biting started. Oso was not only cold, he could be dangerous. For 16 years, I had to be on guard to make sure people didn’t rush up to pet him while on our walks. “Watch out! He bites!” And boy, could he bite. At this point, you may be wondering what the benefit was of having Oso around. When Ken, my sweetheart and eventual husband, had double-replacement knee surgery in 2007, I had to be out of town. Ken kept Oso for me, and Oso would jump up on Ken’s hospital bed and stay at his feet. Oso guarded him, day and night: He’d found his calling! Oso was a fighter and a protector, not a lover! Indeed, the first night Ken and I shared a bed, Oso jumped in between us. When Ken leaned over to kiss me, Oso chomped right on his nose and drew blood. Ouch. When we could finally appreciate Oso for his gift, we saw just how, er, doggedly he used it for our benefit. He constantly patrolled the property, sniffing around the fences, barking at the merest sound of something rustling in the brush. If other animals or people came to visit, he did his best to keep them away from us. When he got mostly deaf and blind starting at around 15, he literally sat in Ken’s office doorway to ensure the riffraff would not intrude. I finally put my finger on his personality. If dogs can be on the autism spectrum, that’s precisely where Oso’s neu-
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ro-atypical actions would exist. Hey, if around the house with spray and rags. humans can have variable brain wiring, People suggested that we euthanize him for peeing. I just couldn’t. I also so can other critters, right? Oso is survived by his Havanese sis- pray that if I become incontinent, my ter, Bella, and his Chihuahua-Dachs- caretakers do not put me down. hund mix brother, Bucco. Oso and BucSince Oso’s departure, we’ve noticed co never cared for one another, not that Bucco and Bella are more relaxed. one little bit. We named him Bucco be- Ken figured out that they were always cause Oso and Bucco sounded yummy. on edge because of Oso’s crabby naBucco wasn’t laughing. Later we res- ture. They are now free from waiting for cued Bella, one of the only creatures the other paw to drop. Oso would ever play with. They actually I hate aging in pets. And, to truly EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski played… but only when they thought love, one must face sorrow as deep as STAFF WRITERS: Andrew Checchia, Andres De Ocampo, Julia Shapero we weren’tCONTRIBUTING looking! That should tell that love. WRITERS: Sara Edwards, Kamala Kirk Yes, we miss Oso. RIP — Rest ART DIRECTORS: Arman Olivares, you something about who Bella is. Stephanie inTorres Patrol, not Rest in Pee — my little PHOTOGRAPHER: Luis Chavez EveryoneSTAFF misses Oso. Ken and I spectrum doggy. CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Myriam Santos swear we’veACCOUNT seen EXECUTIVES: him out Catherine of the corEllen Snortland has been writing a Holloway, Michael Lamb ner of our eyes. I do not, however, gender column — and schnoozling any FOUNDER EMERITUS: Sue Laris miss his chronic pissing. For the past three dog she can find — for decades. Contact years, he lifted his leg on anything her at authorbitebybite.com. vertical. Year after year, Ken and I ran
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HIV and COVID-19: 2 pandemics, 1 lesson By Richard Zaldivar LA Downtown News Guest Writer
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he leading proposal in Congress to lower prescription drug costs would come at too high a price for patients with HIV and other chronic and life-threatening diseases. Lawmakers are attempting to address a very real problem: Patients spend too much on medicines at the pharmacy. Their drug pricing proposal fights the right problem but goes about our shared goal in the wrong way. By imposing price controls, it ignores the systemic problems that are pushing up out-of-pocket costs — and will inevitably reduce access to advanced medicines and stifle innovation. The plan thus poses a serious threat to our most vulnerable communities here in the Golden State and nationwide. The prevalence of COVID-19 infections and death among underserved communities has mirrored the devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic a generation ago. Considering the two pandemics side by side illustrates both the urgent need for Congress to lower drug costs and to encourage the development of new, innovative treatments. The toll the AIDS epidemic has taken since 1981 is hard to comprehend: Almost 40 million people died worldwide, including 500,000 in the United States. And the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still ongoing. Thousands of Americans contract HIV every year, and California is home to more patients than any other state. Though not over, the HIV crisis has become more manageable in recent years for the same reason COVID-19 deaths have plummeted since their peak: Scientists developed medicines to fight back. Though no vaccine for HIV has yet made it all the way through clinical trials and to patients — as several have for COVID-19 — the basic trajectories of both epidemics were the same. First, we were at the mercy of the disease. Then, thanks to researchers at government labs, universities and private drug companies, treatments were developed. The scientific community saved
millions of lives. But the differences between the two pandemics may be even more instructive. The COVID-19 vaccine took less than a year to develop. It took six years from the emergence of AIDS to the approval of AZT, the first antiretroviral drug to fight it. It took even longer to develop the treatments that today have downgraded HIV from a death sentence to a manageable chronic condition. The lessons from COVID-19 and HIV are the same: We cannot approach drug prices and drug innovation as competing priorities. But this is the mistake that Congress is making right now. Legislation in the current reconciliation bill will arbitrarily control the prices of dozens of branded medications. If their prices rise faster than inflation, financial penalties will be imposed. This will undoubtedly reduce the size and scope of biopharmaceutical innovation in the United States, as it would reduce the incentives for investors to back early-stage scientific research. Capping prices will also reduce access to the most advanced medicines. So even if price control schemes are effective in lowering costs, patients with incurable diseases like HIV and AIDS will be left on the outside looking in. Congress would do more to lower drug prices by capping patients’ out-of-pocket costs, or by better regulating all the middlemen in the health care industry. This would protect the pipeline of medical research that patients with chronic diseases are still counting on for their cure. Costs and cures must be seen as “yes/and” rather than “either/or” goals. Our country’s leaders should apply the lessons of the most recent pandemic to finish the fight against the last one. Richard Zaldivar is the founder and executive director of The Wall Las Memorias, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting wellness and preventing illness among Latino populations affected by HIV/ AIDS by using the inspiration of the AIDS Monument as a catalyst for social change.
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Don’t just build back better, build back smarter By David Damus LA Downtown News Guest Writer he bipartisan Infrastructure Act represents an overdue and necessary investment into our crumbling roads, bridges, ports and highways. But rebuilding is not enough. It is time to restructure our cities and highways.
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The act includes: • $110 billion for roads and bridges. • $73 billion to upgrade the electric grid. • $66 billion for passenger and freight rail. • $42 billion for ports and airports. • $39 billion for public transit. • $15 billion for electric vehicles. California is scheduled to receive $25.3 billion over five years for repairing roads in the state that are in poor condition, $4.2 billion over five years for repairing bridges in the state that are in poor condition, $3.5 billion for water infrastructure and eliminating lead pipes in the state, $1.5 billion for airport infrastructure and other funds, according to the Associated Press. Other states will also do well. New roads, bridges, water plants and improvements to ports and airports can only enhance the value of commercial real estate. The current architecture of our cities and many suburbs doesn’t work. We need better planning to address structural problems including congestion, pollution and compromised safety to increase our health, our economy and quality of life. When today’s architecture of cities was designed, no one could have predicted the Internet and the explosion of online shopping, which led to the rise of constant large delivery trucks from Amazon, UPS and FedEx clogging our streets. These bigger trucks forced many cities to create wider streets, which only added to the problem. “Larger vehicles are also more difficult to maneuver, meaning many trucks must double park on city streets to make deliveries, blocking bike lanes and sidewalks,” Curbed magazine reports. A 2018 report by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) notes that large trucks comprise 4% of the vehicles on the road but cause 7% of pedestrian fatalities and 12% of car and passenger deaths. Add to that the growth of Uber and Lyft, which increased the use of private cars instead of mass transit, and the congestion situation has become much worse. Cities are not designed for ride share services and free street parking, which leads to more congestion and urban sprawl. When the funds roll in, we can rebuild and restructure. A recent study from the National Association of City Transportation Officials, Bloomberg Associates and the Pembina Institute calls for urgent action by cities to combat “delivery deadlock.” The study pre-
sented examples from around the world showing how cities can improve freight delivery and reduce congestion with “neighborhood-scale delivery hubs, loading zones that utilize pricing technology, citywide e-commerce charges and new systems that make the most of underused inland waterways.” Cities from Santa Monica to San Francisco to New York City are working to implement many of these innovative solutions. In Santa Monica, the nation’s first zero-emission delivery zone was launched earlier this year. According to the city, “the ZE Delivery Zone will provide priority curb access for zero emission delivery vehicles in select loading areas in the zone. Technology from Automotus will: monitor and analyze all vehicle activity in each curb zone while protecting privacy; collecting anonymized data for studying impact on delivery efficiency, safety, congestion, and emissions; and making real-time parking availability data available to ZE Delivery Zone drivers.” San Francisco is trying to legislate smaller, safer delivery trucks that take up less space on the road and have fewer blind spots for drivers to reduce accidents and fatalities. These smaller delivery trucks, used in Europe for decades, could greatly reduce congestion in our crowded urban areas. The problems are so serious in New York that the city council introduced a comprehensive series of bills this year, which includes plans for: • Micro distribution centers. • Commercial loading zones to be metered. • Expand loading zones in densely populated neighborhoods. • Commercial buildings must submit delivery and servicing plans. • Secure package rooms in all residential buildings. • Asking the Department of Transportation to redesign all New York City truck routes. Some of these proposals, such as requiring smaller delivery trucks, congestion pricing for commercial loading zones, promotion of mass transit options and fewer free street parking, can be implemented relatively quickly. Other ideas, such as micro distribution centers, redesigning streets and highways, zero-emission zones along with more charging centers, This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not just to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure but to redesign our traffic flow, parking and commercial delivery options that make our cities safer and more productive. The time for bold action on safer, cleaner and more efficient cities is now. David Damus is the chief executive officer of System Property, a privately held commercial office property and management firm in California.
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Janis Yue, member of Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, stands with longtime Chinatown community members and small-business owners to fight for Dynasty Center shopping plaza and speak out against gentrification. Photo courtesy of Chinatown Community for Equitable Development
Dynasty Center facing possible redevelopment, evictions By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer tore owners and Chinatown residents spoke out against the possible redevelopment of a longtime shopping center at a press conference Dec. 17. Coming with it could be the eviction of 100 small-business owners at the Dynasty Center. Many of them are low-income immigrants selling kitchenware, clothing, electronics and plants. Dynasty Center was acquired by urban commercial real estate developer Redcar Ltd. in July. The Santa Monica-based developer has purchased other properties in Chinatown to redevelop into office space. Store owners from The Shop, another shopping plaza previously next Dynasty Center, were evicted in March 2020 by Redcar and the property is undergoing construction to become offices. Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization working closely with Chinatown tenants and residents, said more than 20 store owners working in Dynasty Center were previously evicted by Redcar during The Shop’s redevelopment. Redcar could not be reached for comment. Diana Chau has maintained her family Chinatown business for nearly 30 years. The Shop displaced her in March 2020. “From the perspective of store owners, our lives and income depend on Dynasty Center as it currently is. Residents also depend on the Dynasty Center for convenience,” Chau said. Chau said Dynasty Center has been an integral part of the community for more than three decades. “This is highly unjust,” she said. “Dynasty Center has its own history that must be preserved, and we must fight back against Redcar this time.” Pauline Chau, 52-year Chinatown resident and tenant leader with All Chinatown Tenants Union, said community members get their clothing and household items from Dynasty Center. “At this moment we need to come together and fight against Dynasty Center
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and make sure that Redcar doesn’t demolish it,” she said. Pauline said Dynasty Center is essential because it provides residents with culturally relevant items they might not find at a Walmart. Like Pauline, many of the speakers and Dynasty Center store owners at the press conference were non-English speakers from East and Southeast Asia. “If Dynasty Center is destroyed, many Asian immigrants here will not know where to get their clothes and items that they need,” she said. “It is of the utmost importance that we come together and show Redcar that though they may have their own kind of power, when we come together collectively, we are just as powerful.” Organizers with CCED also spoke in solidarity with Chinatown residents and small-business owners of Dynasty Center. Charlotte Nguyen, a volunteer with CCEED, spoke about her connection with Dynasty Center and the role the community shopping center has played in her life. “I am a descendent of refugees who, like many of the store owners here, were displaced from their homeland during the Vietnam War,” she said. “Since resettling in Los Angeles 45 years ago, my family has always found safety, comfort and belonging on the streets of Chinatown. “As a little girl, my hardworking parents couldn’t always afford many toys from Target or Toys-R-Us, but at Dynasty Center I was a queen. “After they finished buying groceries, I would spend hours wandering the aisles of Dynasty Center with my parents and, sure enough, we would come home with a toy or dress or pack of Pokemon cards. It didn’t matter if we were actually rich or poor. At Dynasty Center, I always felt like we had enough.” Nguyen said she felt turmoil watching developers buy property and redevelop community centers and landmarks, while displacing members of the community. “I’ve seen the loss of local stores and familiar faces on our streets,” Nguyen said. “All in the pursuit of profits, none of which ever make it back to us to make sure that we are housed, fed and can thrive. … As long as our community lives, works and dreams here, we are not going anywhere. We have said it before and we’ll say it again: This is about more than just a mall, this is a fight for the future of our community.” Janis Yue, member and volunteer with CCED, said Dynasty Center’s importance boils down to its contribution to the neighborhood. “Store owners depend on its existence and longtime Chinatown residents who need the center for their daily needs,” Yue said. Yue said the domino effect of developers coming to Chinatown and redeveloping culturally important hubs for residents could have implications. “If the building is demolished, so many people are going to negatively impacted by it and there are going to be widespread implications for the acceleration for gentrification in Chinatown. If Redcar ends up building something that doesn’t serve the community, it’s going to have long-term effects on Chinatown as a whole,” she said. A CCED petition fighting for the preservation of Dynasty Center has reached 4,600 signatures out of the 5,000 signatures being asked for. Demands for the petition include: 1. Redcar does not evict any tenant at Dynasty Center. 2. Dynasty Center is preserved as a culturally and historically important institution. 3. Rent is reduced by 50%, returning to the rate prior to the Redcar acquisition. COVID-19 has severely affected small businesses, particularly those in ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown, and the financial impacts of the ongoing pandemic are far from over. Yue said Redcar “needs to be listening to community members who have built Chinatown and have nourished it for decades. They need to be accountable to those community members and allow them to control the space.” Yue asked those in Downtown LA to “find active ways of fighting back against (gentrification) and learning about the history of different areas (in LA) can be a helpful place to start and can help folks reflect about how they can fight against this violent process.” Patrick Chen, a five-year member of CCED, said that the process of gentrification, especially in Dynasty Center’s case, “is not isolated.” “There’s a bigger picture of what’s happening in Chinatown in other working-class communities of color that are being impacted by gentrification and displacement. … This is profit over people, we demand the opposite. Chinatown is not for sale,” he said.
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Cal State students stand up to hate with art, design By LA Downtown News Staff tudents in Professor Zachary Vernon’s graphic design class at California State University Los Angeles are used to creating visual campaigns for mock clients. But earlier this month, those clients were in the room, listening intently as the undergraduate students presented their final projects of the semester: anti-hate PSA campaigns that promote inclusion and hate crime reporting for the city of Los Angeles’ LA for All campaign. “We launched LA for All to address hate in our city and to stand up for diversity, inclusion and belonging in LA,” said Capri Maddox, executive director of the city’s Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department and Cal State LA alumna. “Involving Cal State LA students in this work is a natural fit. These young people are the future of LA, and their vision for an inclusive and empowered Los Angeles is what we’re fighting for at the LA Civil Rights Department. We are so honored to have this partnership with Cal State LA.” Janet Dial, vice president for university advancement and executive director of the Cal State LA Foundation, called the initiative “exciting.” “To see our faculty and students offer their insight and artwork to move this message forward is inspiring,” Dial added. “Capri Maddox is an amazing ambassador for both the city and our university. We are grateful for her leadership.” LA for All, launched in May by the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, is an anti-hate campaign running in 18 languages and more than 4,000 ad spaces across greater Los Angeles. Its bright colors and messages like “LA is for Everyone” and “I Belong. You Belong. We Belong.” have adorned buses, trains, parks, stadiums and more, making it the city government’s largest anti-hate PSA campaign. That campaign is growing with the perspectives of Cal State LA undergraduate students, many of whom grew up nearby amid a five-year rise in reported hate crimes in Los Angeles, including a 20% jump last year. The students in Vernon’s concept development course were tasked with creating a compelling poster design that communicated their personal interpretation of one of the main messages of the LA for All campaign. The students produced work that ranged from illustration and photography to abstract art pieces and typographic designs. Works included street art, portraits of diverse families and communities, and bold statements of solidarity and inclusion in English and Spanish. One poster showed LA County as if it were composed entirely of flowers, surrounded by a sea of overlapping colors. Another simply said “Protege Nuestro Hogar” (Protect our Home) in front of a radiant sun. “Good design speaks to us on a fundamentally human level,” Vernon said. “There is nothing more human than creating connections between people. That was the goal of this project, and the students really took that to heart.” Cal State LA, ranked No. 1 in the United States for upward mobility, holds a diverse student body. The majority of its 27,000 students are nonwhite, and many see the need for more messages that stand up to hate and division in Los Angeles. “As we see what happens around us, it is important to look out for one another and stick together,” student Valeria Olvera said. “I wanted to create an image that captures the simplicity and beauty of helping each other in our community.” Classmate Heo Kim said having a sense of belonging or solidarity allows people to think about their unity with their community or country. “Since LA is a place where various races exist, I want to emphasize a strong sense of solidarity and tell people that LA can belong to anyone and anyone can belong to LA,” Kim said.
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Los primeros años de la vida de un niño son críticos para su desarrollo. Los niños en riesgo de un atraso en el desarrollo, o que muestran signos de atraso, pueden calificar para la intervención y los servicios a través del programa Early Start de California. En todo el estado de California, el programa Early Start es coordinado por los 21 centros regionales. Con la guía de los coordinadores de servicios, un plan individualizado de servicios y apoyos puede marcar la diferencia en el desarrollo de un niño. Para las personas mayores de 3 años, los centros regionales también brindan servicios y apoyos de por vida desde la edad escolar hasta la edad adulta, incluida la coordinación de servicios, la planificación de servicios individuales, educación relacionadas con la defensa y capacitación. En asociación con los Centros de Recursos Familiares, los padres y los miembros de la familia pueden recibir apoyo, orientación, información y referencias a recursos comunitarios. Debido a la disminución de las referencias durante el estado de emergencia de COVID-19, es importante saber que su centro regional local permanece abierto y está aceptando referencias. Aunque algunos miembros del personal del centro regional pueden estar trabajando de forma remota, continúan trabajando arduamente para garantizar que su hijo reciba los servicios que necesita. Para averiguar exactamente qué centro regional serviría a su familia, visite dds.ca.gov/services or dds.ca.gov/listings Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center 3303 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 383-1300 or (213) 252-5600 kyrc@lanterman.org | www.lanterman.org
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Ian Jameson, an activist supporting LAUSD employees, gatherers with others for an LAUSD anti-vaccine mandate protest. Photo by Chris Mortenson
LAUSD employees, activists meet for anti-vaccine mandate protests By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer AUSD employees, parents and supporting activists gather in front of the district headquarters for weekly protests rejecting its employee vaccine mandate. California Educators for Medical Freedom, a nonpartisan coalition of district employees and supporters advocating for the right to choose inoculation, began gathering every Tuesday in front of the LAUSD building on Beaudry Avenue, after the district’s vaccine mandate for its employees announcement in August. Soni Lloyd, co-founder of CEMF and an LAUSD economics and history teacher of 19 years, said medical freedom means “informed consent. It’s a simple international precedent that every person has the right to choose the medical procedures that they participate in. Medicine and mandates don’t go hand in hand.” Lloyd said that the issue of a mandatory vaccination, for anyone, transcends political standings and that bodily autonomy is a worldwide concern. “It does bring a lot of differing partisans together, but that’s just the nature of the issue, that people have natural rights,” Lloyd said. Lloyd, who teaches an online class with LAUSD due to a religious exemption from receiving the vaccine, said he understands getting the vaccine “is the easy way out.” After speaking with other employees who share similar opinions about the mandate, “we decided it was important enough to take a stand on this. … Sometimes in life, there’s risk involved,” he said.
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Though it is unclear exactly how many LAUSD employees remain on unpaid leave, close to 500 employees were terminated on Dec. 8 per a school board meeting, according to published reports. The district’s vaccine requirement says all LAUSD employees must have received one dose of their vaccine by October and their second dose by November or face disciplinary action, such as being placed on unpaid leave or separation from LAUSD. Lloyd highlighted human fallibility on the topic of vaccine manufactures and an underlying mistrust of the safety of the vaccines. He highlighted a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and its baby powder containing traces asbestos and causing cancer, and Pfizer having a history of large criminal fines related to misleading marketing. “You have to consider the source,” Lloyd said. “To me it’s not just this vaccine or that vaccine, I think that this whole thing is rushed.” Though Lloyd brought up many points maintaining a position rooted in skepticism against corporate entities, their motives and the safety of their vaccines, he said, primarily, it’s about a person’s right to choose a vaccination. Lawrence Sanchez, co-founder of CEMF and a two-year substitute LAUSD teacher, focused more on the district’s mandate itself and “the moral coercion to submit to medical interventions that we don’t feel is justified,” he said. “There’s a lot on the line. It’s our livelihood, and it comes down to our core beliefs (of bodily autonomy),” Sanchez said. Sanchez said the decision to not get vaccinated and risk disciplinary action from the district has put many employees at a standstill and questioning the
DECEMBER 27, 2021
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right of “entities, such as a school district or state, who are trying to tell people what is in their best interest” requires some sacrifice. Though Sanchez was more reserved on the topic of COVID-19 vaccines and the reasons, outside of the right to choose inoculation, for being unvaccinated, he said, “There are a lot of questions about these vaccines that are technically in emergency use authorization. Technically, the trial periods are not done and will not be done for a few years. Whenever there’s risk with any kind of medical intervention, people should have a choice.” According to the Food and Drug Administration, the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved under the emergency use authorization, which allows the FDA to authorize unapproved medical products or their uses “in an emergency to diagnose, treat or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threat agents when certain criteria are met, including there are no adequate, approved and available alternatives.” The path to an emergency use authorization undergoes evaluations from FDA scientists and physicians to “determine whether the available safety, effectiveness and manufacturing data support authorization,” according to the FDA’s list of procedural steps for it. Sanchez said that CEMF filed a lawsuit with Health Freedom Defense Fund, a Wyoming nonprofit seeking to rectify health injustice through education and legal challenges. The lawsuit against LAUSD was filed in November and alleges the district’s lack of justification for authorizing a vaccine mandate and argues that the plaintiffs in the case have been stripped of their personal autonomy and bodily integrity. Ian Jameson, founder of Los Angeles Leftists for Choice and Unity, is an activist who attends the weekly CEMF rallies and is an active supporter of bodily autonomy when it comes to a right to choose being vaccinated. Jameson, who can be seen wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt at every anti-vaccine mandate protest he attends, said his apparel decision is intentional and coincides with the message of his newly founded group. “The pharma-owned and so-called liberal media have made (vaccines and anything dealing with vaccines) a political issue, and it is not. It’s a nonpartisan issue,” he said. “Anyone who objects to the vaccines or points to vaccine adverse reporting are dismissed as right-wing conspiracy theorists. I am not right wing.” Jameson’s intention of combatting the narrative that skepticism for COVID-19 vaccines is a political issue, but more so a right-wing issue, also stems from a belief that “this is a lethally and tragic instance where liberals are doing a 180 on responsible skepticism of corporate America,” he said. Jameson said his reasons for continuing to protest vaccines and mandates has to do with entities like LAUSD authorizing mandates requiring vaccination but ultimately being against COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines in general. “When all of this COVID stuff ends, I do not want to go back to what was normal prior to COVID, because what was normal was not medical freedom. Medical freedom means that the government has no right to interfere with your private medical decisions,” he said. Jameson pointed to areas around the world with high COVID-19 vaccination populations like Gibraltar, a British territory in the south of Spain, saying that the vaccines are linked to high death rates in those areas. “The vaccines are killing people at alarming rates. … None of the vaccines have full FDA approval. The death and injury rates are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” he said. Though deaths of fully vaccinated individuals in areas around the world happen, especially in the case of Gibraltar, where many of the deaths were of individuals 70 years old or older, there is no confirmed evidence of those deaths being linked to the vaccine. About bodily autonomy and medical freedom, regarding the reason for the CEMF rallies in front of the district’s headquarters, Jameson said, “As far as me being out here, it’s a twofold purpose. One, the government has no right to tell teachers or anyone else what to do with their bodies in terms of injecting these lethal and sometimes dangerous things called COVID-19 vaccines into their body. Two, it’s an anti-vaccine thing.” Jameson said he is skeptical of the studies conducted on the safety of the vaccines, especially COVID-19 vaccines, where long-term data is unavailable. Jameson acknowledged that he believes many of the studies are polluted with lurking agendas from the pharmaceutical industry.
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DECEMBER 27, 2021
Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help
Documentary offers humanizing take on homelessness By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer t’s common for the topic of homelessness in Los Angeles to be coupled with words like “crisis” and “state of emergency.” Depending on who you speak to, reasons for the continual issue of homelessness for people in Los Angeles and across the nation range from the lack of affordable housing, poverty, low wages and systemic inequality to domestic violence, substance abuse and personal choices. For San Francisco- and Los Angeles-based filmmakers Jon Shenk and Pedro Kos, a humanizing aspect rooted and centered in the conversation about homelessness is crucial and, ultimately, what’s missing. Shenk and Kos’ 40-minute experiential Netflix documentary “Lead Me Home” focuses on evoking an emotional response from viewers, following the lives of homeless individuals in LA, San Francisco and Seattle. The film is out now on Netflix. Luis Rivera Miranda, Tiffany Brownlee, Zia Martinis, Resheema White, Ronnie Willis, Patricia Wilcox, Raymond Thomas and others share their lives and struggles in the film, which is portrayed in a nonlinear documentation of everyday events presented in excerpt-like snippets, to create common ground and bring a sense of understanding, from those more fortunate, to the topic of homelessness. “Lead Me Home” doesn’t provide a narrative about homeless-related experiences, but rather relies on unhoused people themselves to tell their story, taking a “show, don’t tell” approach that shifts away from statistics, commentary and expert opinions, which might otherwise tell the story of homelessness in the three metropolitan areas. Kos said the documentary, which was inspired by a 2016 New York Times column called “The Tent Cities of San Francisco” is meant to “shift perspective (and) to create an experience rather than dissecting problems intellectually.” The film’s humanizing aspect is deliberate and comes from the portrayal of unhoused individuals and small snippets into their lives as they are, according to Shenk and Kos. “Jon (Shenk) and I talked about going back to basics,” Kos said about focusing on aspects of homeless individuals’ lives that of housed and unhoused individuals have in common. “What unites us in this human experience? The faucet on the side of a building
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Ronnie Willis, who was homeless for a year during the three-year development of the documentary “Lead Me Home,” shares his story and is shown dancing on Hollywood Boulevard.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
can become a kitchen. The park bench can become a living room. Whatever our (living) situations, we look for those things that bring us comfort … whether that’s in a house, apartment, or tent on the street,” he said. One major aim of the documentary is to dispel “walls,” Kos said, that prohibit those in more fortunate living and economic situations from seeing homeless individuals as humans who share the same experience. “We all have that need and that longing. (We) also go about the day doing things that we all do. We all wake up, have a meal, and we fall in love and provide for our families,” he said. Shenk said that during the three-year development of “Lead Me Home,” one takeaway is that every homeless individual they met has a different story and that there is no single example of homelessness, despite their commonality of not being able to afford housing despite their varied accruement of income. “We all, as Americans, need to find a way to solve this problem. I don’t think there will be political will to do that (together) unless we think of people experiencing homelessness as people, as people who deserve all the respect of humanity that people with homes have,” he said. Though Shenk and Kos are aware that a single film isn’t a definite answer to homelessness, Shenk said the documentary hopes to “add to the conversation” and convey the severity and enormity of the issue of homelessness across the nation, Shenk said. Aside from the New York Times article that inspired the documentary, Shenk
and Kos correlated the Great Depression to the current situation of homelessness, throughout metropolitan areas like LA, San Francisco, Seattle and the nation. The Great Depression left millions of Americans jobless, many of whom depleted their savings and were forced to reckon with severe poverty-stricken realities, like life in large, town-like encampments commonly known as “Hoovervilles.” To give perspective from a current standpoint, a March report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said on any given night, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States in 2020. A Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) report published in June 2020 said 63,703 people in the greater LA area were either unhoused or were living in unsecure housing situations. LAHSA determined that a 2021 Unsheltered Point-InTime count was unsafe and, therefore, was not conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “When I remember learning about (the Great Depression), it was a put in the context of an economic collapse,” Shenk said. “(The collapse) led to a massive loss of jobs but, of course, no one ever thought to say that it was the homeless people themselves to blame for their economic problems.” Shenk outlined his opinion on the situation and said, “Personally, I feel like it’s time where we as Americans have to come together and take a hard look at why we have an economy where people are falling out of the bottom.” If the number of the nation’s homeless
population was drastically lower, Shenk admitted that he could understand the causes of homelessness being personal situations or choices. However, Shenk said, “when you have hundreds of thousands of people out on the streets, you have to take a look and ask, ‘What systems do we have in place that are causing this to happen?’ It’s clearly a systemic problem,” he said, referring to HUD’s findings, which are also mentioned at the end of the documentary. Kos said that he and Shenk set out to show a wide range of experiences in their film and that through introductions made by homeless service organizations, like LA Family Housing in Los Angeles, Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco and Mary’s Place in Seattle, Kos and Shenk met unhoused individuals who were “excited to share their stories because their stories have been invisible and ignored for so long,” Kos said. “They were so incredibly generous and open because I think they understood that by (telling their story) they could help tell the larger story and break down these invisible barriers that divide us,” Kos said about everyone featured in the documentary. While Shenk and Kos both hope that viewers watch the film with an open heart and an open mind and are willing to view life through a different lens than their own, Shenk said, “We hope that people come to it and want to have an emotional experience and potentially be moved by the stories we show in the film and learn a little bit about an issue that is affecting all of us to get a little bit of perspective on this.”
DECEMBER 27, 2021
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DECEMBER 27, 2021
Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help
Celebrating New Year’s Eve in DTLA By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer TLA has a plethora of opportunities to ring in 2022, from virtual events to immersive underground parties. There’s plenty to choose from below.
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Clifton’s Republic NYE Party 9 p.m. Clifton’s Republic, 648 S. Broadway, 213-613-000, theneverlands.com Clifton’s Republic is hosting a New Year’s Eve party on each of its floors. Music starts at midnight with Saand and Jonnie King opening for Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation. Other DJs with spin elsewhere in the venue, making for a fun, last sendoff for 2021. Seating is first come, first served. Contact tablereservations@theneverlands. com for table reservations.
Compound NYE and NYD 2022 10 a.m. Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. Jan. 1, and 10 p.m. Jan. 1 to 6 a.m. Jan. 2 DTLA location TBA, https://ra.co/guide/us/losangeles Compound NYE is throwing a festival-style party starting on New Year’s Eve. The immersive underground event will feature two rooms of sounds and a curated audio and visual experience. Don’t miss this blend of DJs spinning everything from techno to electronic body music. Tickets start at $60 for a one-day ticket on either NYE or NYD or $90 for the two-day tickets. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test will be required for this 21-and-older event. The location will be revealed two
Grand Park’s New Year’s Eve LA Countdown to 2022 11 p.m. Grand Park’s YouTube channel, @GrandParkLosAngeles Grand Park canceled its live, invite-only audience for LA’s front-liners and first responders. Instead, the Grand Park NYE program will be streamed for everyone. The event will host Kinky as a headliner and other music performances and the signature countdown projection onto city hall.
The Grateful Shred New Year’s Eve 2021 7:30 p.m. The Regent Theater, 448 S. Main Street, Los Angeles 323-284-5727, regentdtla.com The Grateful Shred will hit the Regent Theater stage for New Year’s Eve with Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics as an opening act. End a year of strenuous, pandemic-induced stress with a trippy and peacefilled atmosphere of classic Grateful Dead tunes. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Masks and proof of vaccination are required.
Lights Down Low NYE 10 p.m. DTLA warehouse location TBA, https://ra.co/ guide/us/ losangeles Lights Down Low brings to gether an eclectic DJ lineup for New Year’s Eve. The lineup includes Omar-S playing Detroit house music, joined by a Yves Tumor DJ set and a rave and techno set by AceMoMA and Veronica Vasicka. The event is on its second run of ticket sales. Act fast to land $50 GA tickets. The 21-and-older even requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 36 hours of the event. Midnight Lovers/Dialogue NYE and NYD 10 p.m. Dec. 31 to 2 p.m. Jan. 1 DTLA location TBA, https://ra.co/guide/ us/losangeles, @midnightloversla and @dialogue_la on Instagram Midnight Lovers LA and Dialogue team up for a NYE and NYD house music event. Francesca Lombardo’s extended low-slung and rhythmic house set will be followed by local Los Angeles DJs for an all-night event that will end on NYD. The location’s address will be emailed to ticketholders a few hours prior to the event’s start. Proof of vacation is required for the 21-and-older event. Tickets start at $45.
Nixo Lounge 9 p.m. 213-748-1291 Nixo Patio Lounge at E-Central Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles is hosting a New Year’s Eve event featuring “American Idol” favorite Adam Lasher. The party goes from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and there’s no cover. Champagne toast is included.
The NOVO NYE 9 p.m. The NOVO, 800 W. Olympic Boulevard 213-765-7000, thenovodtla.com/events Countdown to the New Year at The NOVO with artist Blxst. Doors open at 8 p.m., with the show following at 9 p.m. This is an all-ages event with tickets starting at $77 for general admission.
NYE at Lilly Rose 8 p.m. Lilly Rose, 813 Flower Street eventbrite.com Want to eat and drink before the party kicks off? Check out The Wayfarer DTLA. From 5 to 11 p.m., The Rooftop will offer a four-course, prix-fixe dinner plus a complimentary glass of champagne. Tickets start at $85. Reservations are required. Those who want a lighter precelebration meal can enjoy a New Year’s Eve Tea from 2 to 6 p.m. at Lilly Rose with holiday expressions and special releases from Dammann Tea. Those tickets start at $50, and reservations are required. Pricing: general admission presale ($150), VIP access presale ($250), general admission ($175) and VIP access ($275). Prohibition NYE — Canceled 9 p.m. Dec. 31 to 2 a.m. Jan. 1 Union Station, 800 N. Alameda Street https://found.ee/prohibitionnye Organizers released a statement Dec. 22: “It is with great regret that we announce that we will be unable to produce Prohibition NYE on Dec. 31, due to the increasing challenges from the pandemic and its rapidly spreading Omicron variant. We are honored to have hosted thousands of attendees over the past nine years, and we plan to be back next year in what will hopefully be better times where we can once again enjoy this cherished tradition that ushers in a new year of fresh beginnings. We wish all attendees of Prohibition NYE past, present and future a wonderful and safe holiday season.”
DECEMBER 27, 2021
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LOS ANGELES ATHLETIC CLUB
BEST SPORTS BAR IN DTLA
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DECEMBER 27, 2021
Covered California will help PHOTO PAGE
People’s DTLA Photos by Chris Mortenson he cannabis dispensary People’s DTLA celebrated its grand opening on Dec. 18 with local artists, brands, and food and beverage vendors embracing the community. Muralist Mr. B Baby, the Taco Cartel food truck, the D.R.E.A.M. Donut Truck, and custom latte art from Coffee Dose were featured.
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Cameryn Zupan receives screenprinting lessons from Joel Mendoza.
Nail artist Kristan Coronado paints Miguel Maldonado’s nails.
Jeannie Vasquez and Jessey Zepeda from Heavy Hitters.
Sam Mazer serves fresh coffee and latte art at the Coffee Dose activation.
Jasmine Loza, Ashley Huyng and Natalie Huymh at the Aster Farms activation.
Shabby Khalili and Afsy Mah.
People’s President Oren Schauble.
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EY E - OPEN I NG TAST E S . BR E AT H TA K I NG V I EWS . Feast on far more than the view at this award-winning American steakhouse with a French twist, and dine on premium steaks along with fresh seafood sourced locally and from around the globe. Savor unique culinary pairings artfully curated by our acclaimed chefs, complemented by offerings from our extensive wine list of over 1,000 different labels. For more discreet dining, private dining rooms and private VIP Starlight Booths are available. Reopening Friday, January 14, 2022
InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown | LaBoucherieDTLA.com
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