Tag Archives: OddBox

Here’s What Huntington Beach Looked Like On Saturday (Hint: Not Empty)

Sad to see so many willing to risk themselves and their community. 5ea541d2909fb10008f98b8c-eight.jpgPeople walk on the beach, some wearing masks. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)

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In our morning briefing, Gina Pollack had some plain talk about what we witnessed Saturday:

It’s topping 90-degrees. Most of us are on day 40-50 of quarantine (I counted 43, personally) and driveable access to beaches and wildflowers is probably one of the reasons a lot of us chose to live here in the first place.

But, look: Public health experts, doctors, mayors, governors — all say the best way to beat this virus is to avoid contact with other people. And the best way to do that is to stay home.

Neighborhood walks? Sure. Runs? That’s ok, too. But please, stop posting your poppy selfies on Instagram. At the very least, have a little discretion. When you tag your location, we can see you. We know you were there today for a picnic at 1 p.m. sitting all over those innocent flowers. And beach goers, we see you too.

It’s like, we’ve been in line for 43 days, do you really want to get out of line and start over? DO YOU? Because when you get out of the line, we all have to get out of line.

Plus, let’s be real. If we all crowd the beaches, then we’re no better than Florida. And I for one, think we are better than Florida.

See what you think. Here’s what Huntington Beach in Orange County looked like on Saturday:

5ea53e96909fb10008f98b87-eight.jpgLifeguards in Huntington Beach expected tens of thousands of people to flock the beach this weekend due to the heat wave. Lifeguards and law enforcement are patrolling the beach to make sure people are keeping their distance. (Apu Gomes / AFP via Getty Images)5ea541dd7b247700094a0bea-eight.jpgThe afternoon fog on Saturday didn’t seem to deter beachgoers. P(Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)5ea541da7b247700094a0be8-eight.jpgThe reflexion of lifeguard wearing a face mask surveying the beach is seen from her post. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)5ea541d9909fb10008f98b92-eight.jpgMike Bennett wears a Patriot face mask on his mouth as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19 while skateboarding Saturday. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)5ea541d7909fb10008f98b90-eight.jpg(Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)5ea541d47b247700094a0be6-eight.jpgMen play spike ball on the beach. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)5ea545207b247700094a0bf6-eight.jpgWomen wearing face masks sunbathe on the beach.(Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)

Orange County officials — who have called for non-local residents to stay away from the beaches there — have warned that if beaches become too crowded to ensure public health, they will close them again.

ADDENDUM:

In case you were wondering what Sunday looked like, here’s a shot of a path near the beach.

5ea615707b247700094a0c2f-eight.jpgPeople ride bikes and walk on a path along the beach on April 26. (Michael Heiman/Getty Images)

UPDATES:

4 p.m.: This article was updated with photo from Sunday.

This article was originally published at 7 a.m.


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Medical pundit and television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz has gotten himself in another mess after comments he made about re-opening schools amidst the covid-19 pandemic went viral earlier today. In conversation with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Dr. Oz referred to schools as “a very appetizing opportunity” for the United…

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A new complaint filed by the ACLU and Jewish Family Services details the horrific treatment of a Guatemalan woman who gave birth in a southern California Border Patrol station in February and alleges that Border Patrol agents ignored her and her husband’s pleas for medical care. The details are horrific—the woman, who…

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Maxine Waters unleashes over Trump COVID-19 response: ‘Stop congratulating yourself! You’re a failure’

Maxine Waters unleashes over Trump COVID-19 response: ‘Stop congratulating yourself! You’re a failure’:

seandotpolitics:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) tore into President Trump on Monday over his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, calling him an “incompetent idiot” in a series of fiery tweets and telling him to “stop congratulating” himself.

“Trump, since you destroyed the WH unit designed to plan for pandemics like #COVID19, you need to stop being duplicitous about the DPA & get more corps to develop masks, respirators, & everything needed to protect hospital workers trying to save lives,” she said in the first of series of tweets attacking the president on Monday afternoon. “Get your act together!”

Waters was referring to the president’s decision to shutter a National Security Council pandemic directorate in 2018. Trump has received renewed criticism for the move as the country grapples with the COVID-19 outbreak, although functions of the unit that dealt with the tracking of possible threats from infectious diseases were picked up by another group in the security agency afterward.

The Democratic congresswoman, who also chairs the House Financial Services Committee, went on to take aim at Trump for what she called “self congratulations,” as the president has described his administration’s response using words such as “fantastic” and “incredible” over the past week.

“Trump, stop congratulating yourself!” she wrote. “You’re a failure & you’ve mishandled this #COVID19 disaster! You’re not knowledgeable & you don’t know more than experts & generals. Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling & you continue to demonstrate that every time you open your mouth!”

Chronically Ill And Facing Eviction During A Pandemic

5e7d1abeb18a9b000a3f55ba-eight.jpgPresley Wilson and her four-year-old son, Raiden, outside of her mobile home in Pomona’s California Trailer Grove. (Presley Wilson)

Presley Wilson is a single mom of a four year-old, who lives in a travel trailer in Pomona. “It’s 26 feet, and with two people and two dogs. And so it’s packed,” she told me by phone earlier this week.

Wilson drives for Lyft as her main source of income. Her bank account rises and falls with her ability to drive — something she said she lost when the coronavirus arrived in California.

That’s because Wilson is chronically ill, with two syndromes affecting her blood circulation. They can also exacerbate other illnesses:“It’s dangerous for me to get sick because I get super, super sick,” she said.

She stopped driving in February, worried that picking up passengers at LAX might expose her to COVID-19.

No income meant she didn’t have rent for March. And so, on March 17, the “three day notice to pay rent or quit” arrived at Wilson’s door. It detailed the hole Wilson found herself in — she owned $625 in rent for this month, along with another $132.47 in electricity, water, sewer and trash bills.

Management at her trailer park — it’s called California Trailer Grove, although it’s mostly treeless — also slipped her a letter saying she owed a $50 late fee.

5e7d1961d474fb0008bed7d0-eight.jpgWilson’s three day notice to pay or quit.

“It’s pretty damn scary, especially when you have a kid,” Wilson said.

Normally, she’d get help from a county program called Emergency Assistance to Prevent Eviction, which helps families on CalWORKs pay rent and utilities.

But the Department of Public Social Services had closed its offices the day before, and Wilson said she wasn’t able to reach anyone there.

And so she found herself self-isolating in her trailer, facing eviction during a pandemic, as a chronically ill person.

“At this point, I’m just waiting on the federal government and hoping,” Wilson said. “I mean, there’s millions of us in this state alone that are not going to be able to pay our rent.”

She said she was hoping to avoid homelessness; her next destination would be her car.

A CONFUSING SITUATION

The plight of renters like Wilson has been on the mind of policymakers across California and the nation as the coronavirus pandemic has taken hold. With the economy grinding to a halt, unemployment claims are surging, and many tenants will not have the money to make rent on April 1.

Several measures could give renters a temporary break — but the fast-changing environment is also causing confusion.

On March 16, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order that authorized local governments to halt evictions. But the order simply allowed cities and counties to impose eviction moratoriums, and didn’t itself stop evictions anywhere.

Before the governor’s action, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had issued an eviction moratorium in the city of L.A. for residential tenants “able to show an inability to pay rent due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” That meant that some other types of evictions, including for breaking the terms of a lease, could continue. Garcetti later followed up with moratoriums on commercial and Ellis Act evictions.

Some smaller jurisdictions, including the cities of Inglewood, Palm Springs, and El Monte, have imposed their own eviction-halting measures. And many others, including Presley Wilson’s home city of Pomona, have no moratorium.

Then there’s the court system.

In many places, eviction cases aren’t moving forward because courts are closed. That includes the Los Angeles Superior Court, where presiding judge Kevin C. Brazile suspended all civil, criminal and unlawful detainer trials until June 22, due to the pandemic.

5e71648db555c5000abe3fe4-eight.jpgThe California Trailer Grove trailer park in Pomona. (Aaron Mendelson/LAist)

“Everything is getting continued, which is kind of a silver lining to this,” said Javier Beltran of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which represents low-income tenants. Beltran told me he still worries about “informal evictions” that don’t go through the court process.

He added that tenants who lose work in the informal economy — like street vendors, or workers paid under the table — will have a hard time proving their incomes were impacted by COVID-19.

At the same time, the coming weeks and months will put incredible pressure on landlords, said Daniel Yukelson of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. The court closures, in particular, shift the balance of power.

“It creates basically open hunting season on landlords, you know, from tenants who just don’t want to pay their rent. There’s no leverage,” Yukelson said.

His group is telling members to work with their tenants, and even consider deferring rent. “We are stressing that owners be patient, and that they keep an open line of communication with renters,” he said, adding that renters and property owners will both need government assistance in the coming months.

If a renter doesn’t pay for 90 days, Yukelson said, “for a small owner, that could be devastating. They could easily and quickly be in default on their mortgage.”

The statewide picture could become clearer — if a bill introduced by San Francisco assemblymember Phil Ting becomes law. The measure seeks to create a statewide eviction moratorium. But it won’t be as simple as a vote: State legislators are currently on an unprecedented recess due to COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom also said his office was considering additional action on an eviction moratorium.

EVICTIONS DURING A CRISIS

Presley Wilson’s mobile home park is owned by entities connected to mega-landlords PAMA Management and Mike Nijjar, subjects of a KPCC/LAist investigation. Their real estate empire spans an estimated 16,000 units and over $1.3 billion in real estate across California.

Businesses connected to PAMA and Nijjar are known for fast and frequent evictions: KPCC/LAist tallied more than 4,300 eviction lockouts in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties between 2010 and 2018.

5e7d195dd474fb0008bed7cc-eight.jpgA late fee notice from the California Trailer Grove in March, 2020. The park is owned by an entity connected to Mike Nijjar and PAMA Management.

Mike Nijjar, Mobile Management Services, and PAMA Management’s attorneys, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

PAMA’s eviction process is systematized: management handbooks reviewed by KPCC/LAist included an eviction calendar, showing when to file, and an eviction flowchart, laying out the process.

In 2012, PAMA used several law firms to file for approximately 140 evictions per month, former PAMA executive Everet Miller testified during one of many lawsuits the company has faced.

PAMA is aware of how high the stakes are for renters facing eviction.

“Many of our tenants live literally paycheck to paycheck; it doesn’t take much to push them over the edge,” Miller testified in 2011. Still, he said, “We can’t be aggressive and send out Guido with a baseball bat and break their kneecaps. The system is the system.”

In the wake of the previous recession, evictions jumped — not just at properties connected to PAMA, but all around Southern California. KPCC/LAist reviewed data on eviction lockouts, the very final step of the eviction process. In Los Angeles County, there have been more than 153,000 eviction lockouts since 2010, a period that covers the recovery from the Great Recession.

5e7d195fd474fb0008bed7ce-eight.jpg

The late fee Presley Wilson faces is also a common practice at properties managed by or connected to PAMA. For tenants living at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder, such fees can be crippling. “Fifty dollars is make or break in terms of feeding their family,” Grant Riley, a plaintiff’s attorney who has sued PAMA, said.

Across PAMA’s estimated 16,000 units, late fees could add up to more than a million dollars per year.

Health and safety issues are also common at PAMA properties. The California Trailer Grove experienced a typhus outbreak in 2015, the first outbreak of the medieval disease in L.A. County in six years.

Since the outbreak, the state regulators twice suspended PAMA Management’s permit to operate the Pomona park, citing electrical hazards and sewage leaks.

GEARING UP FOR APRIL

On the phone in her mobile home, Presley Wilson was relieved when I told her that courts aren’t currently moving forward on eviction cases.

“I definitely can breathe a little easier,” she said.

On the 23rd, Wilson received a letter from her management company. “We understand some of you may experience financial challenges due to the impact of COVID-19,” it reads. The letter said that tenants who couldn’t pay rent due to the virus might be granted relief, though it does not go into detail.

Wilsomn planned to write the company about rent relief; she wasn’t holding out hope.

After I initially talked to Wilson, I contacted L.A. County’s Department of Public Social Services to ask about her situation with Emergency Assistance to Prevent Eviction. Wilson said she received a call from a social worker later that day. She now hopes to receive support to help pay her March rent.

But even if that happens, April 1st is right around the corner. And Wilson said that in just a few days, many of her neighbors will be in trouble.

“None of us are going to be able to come up with that money by then. I know, definitely, I won’t be able to,” Wilson said. “No way.”

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The Good, the Bad, and the Very Fucking Ugly of that Proposed Trillion-Dollar Covid-19 Stimulus Package

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So, you’ve probably heard that the Senate is poised to pass a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, to offset the economic fuckery caused by covid-19 (and the United States’ garbage response). But what exactly is in the bill? Who sees the benefits and who gets fucked? Well, it’s… a mixed bag.

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Of Course Texas is the Latest State Trying to Stop Abortions During the Coronavirus Crisis

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Republicans in states around the country are doing their best to use the growing coronavirus epidemic in order to push through their rightwing, anti-abortion agendas. The latest—on Sunday night, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to “postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately…

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Trump Nixes The DPA

Recently there has been news about the Defense Production Act and its use to fill the void of much needed medical supplies……I helped my readers get on the right page……https://lobotero.com/2020/03/21/what-is-the-defense-protection-act/

Personally, it is a great idea…..gear up the production for much needed supplies….but it appears the the president does not want that to happen…..

President Trump on Sunday rejected calls from governors, hospitals and others to direct companies to ramp up production of critical supplies for the coronavirus fight through the use of the Defense Production Act.

Trump argued that he has used the Defense Production Act (DPA) as leverage in negotiations with companies to get them to produce supplies and equipment for the coronavirus fight.

He also argued against nationalizing industries, though that is not something that would be done through the use of the DPA.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/488938-trump-rejects-calls-to-directly-use-defense-production-act

The news is dire from Italy where about 1400 people died over the weekend and there are predictions that the US is about 10 days behind where Italy is…..and yet the president is still trying to look business and takes victory laps for nothing in particular.

To me Trump looks as out of touch as anyone can be……he still seems to believe that all will return to “normal” in due time.

In this time of dire need……the country needs leadership not some kick the can down the road bullshit…….

President Trump says the US will reevaluate its coronavirus strategy at the end of the month to determine “which way we want to go.” In an all-caps tweet, he wrote: “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” without elaborating, reports Reuters. It could be a nod to the sentiment expressed late last week by the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. The board argued that while an initial shutdown of about two weeks is wise and necessary, a longer break would be catastrophic for US businesses and their employees. “That should be the moment, if not sooner, to offer new guidance on what might be called phase two of the coronavirus pandemic campaign,” the editors wrote.

The 15-day period Trump is referencing began March 16 when he outlined a series of proposals to help stem the spread of the virus. Since then, states have taken initiatives of their own, and now more than 1 in 3 Americans are under stay-at-home orders, reports US News & World Report. That includes those in the states of New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana, and Delaware, as well as in the city of Philadelphia. “At the end of the 15-day period, we will make a decision as to which way we want to go!” wrote Trump.

States are showing leadership…..but we need unity and a national leadership….that is what we elected this person to do and he is FAILING on every level.

How many Americans can die in that 15 day period?

Confidence is sinking…..for me it has sunk……

Please…..Stay calm……avoid crowds…..wash hands often…..us bloggers will pass on all info as it comes available….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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