May 30, 2019 

By City News Service 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today to explore how it might limit cannabis advertising appealing to underage youth.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in her motion that marketers were distributing door hangers promoting cannabis-based edibles to family residences in Santa Clarita and other communities. She recommended a county ordinance consistent with state law that requires advertisers using direct marketing to verify that consumers receiving the information are 21 years or older.

Barger noted that measures legalizing the adult use of cannabis and establishing a regulatory framework also promised safeguards against access for children. For example, cannabis businesses are barred from operating within 600 feet of schools and radio, television, print and digital ads may only be displayed where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is expected to be at least 21 years old.

State law also already bars any advertising intended to encourage marijuana use by minors.

Enforcement may be another matter.

“A lot of this advertising is definitely targeted towards youth,” said Catalina Gonzalez of the nonprofit Day One, which focuses on public health education and policy. Gonzalez told the board about bubble-gum pink ads she said were clearly designed to appeal to LGBTQ youth.

The board directed its lawyers to report back in two weeks with a legal analysis of state law and recommendations for limiting ads to anyone under the age of 21.

May 30, 2019 

By City News Service 

The city of Los Angeles will not be allowed to remove property of homeless people in a designated area of Skid Row and will pay $645,000 under a lawsuit settlement finalized today in federal court.

The City Council voted 12-2 last Friday to settle the case, Carl Mitchell v. Los Angeles, with Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Jose Huizar dissenting.

“The Mitchell settlement will only perpetuate the public health crisis that already exists in Skid Row and will set a precedent for the rest of the city that will normalize encampments,” Buscaino said in a statement released this afternoon. “The city is sending a clear signal that we are turning the sidewalks in Skid Row into free, unlimited public storage, doing a disservice to the residents of Los Angeles, especially to those living on the streets.”

Huizar also voiced his displeasure with the settlement agreement in a newly released statement.

“I am opposed to the cat-and-mouse game the city and these same litigants continue to play, which will have a detrimental effect on setting sound homelessness policy for the city of Los Angeles,” Huizar said. “The city continues to set policy as a reaction to individual and ongoing lawsuits rather than agreeing to a comprehensive settlement with a multitude of litigants that will move us forward in a proactive path in helping us address our homelessness crisis.”

Calls to the attorney for the plaintiffs were not immediately returned.

Per the settlement, the city for three years must let people know both 24 hours and 30 minutes before a cleanup is to take place and must not seize property of those who choose to reside on the streets within the borders of Second Street to the north, Eighth Street to the south, Spring Street to the west and Alameda Street to the east. The city will also not be allowed to conduct cleanups when it is colder than 50 degrees outside or when it's raining.

Large items, such as couches, mattresses, dressers, or other similarly-sized or larger furniture and cooking appliances of more than a few pounds and open-flame devices are still prohibited. The city is still able to remove items that are deemed abandoned, present an immediate threat to public health or safety, are crime evidence or contraband.

Property that is seized under the belief that the item isn't considered contraband or criminal evidence will be held for 90 days for people to recover.

The settlement funds are to be used to pay damages claimed in the suit, as well as the defendants' attorneys fees and associated costs.

Los Angeles has long struggled with how to clean up and regulate homeless encampments and in 2016 passed a law limiting the amount of belongings a homeless person can store on the sidewalk to 60 gallons. But in response to the lawsuit, a federal judge issued an injunction barring Los Angeles police and sanitation officers from seizing and destroying homeless people's property in and near Skid Row. U.S. District Judge S. James Otero's injunction also ordered the city to segregate and store impounded belongings where they can be recovered.

The increased regulation has led to an escalation in the size of homeless encampments on Skid Row, where thousands of homeless people congregate.

Buscaino pointed to the federal court ruling as being partly responsible for a typhus outbreak at City Hall earlier this year, since it has led to a significant increase in homeless encampments in downtown.

“That injunction is prohibiting our outreach workers from getting to our most vulnerable homeless population in and around the downtown area. So rats are a symbol of this injunction,” Buscaino said in voting against a settlement along with Huizar, who represents the Skid Row area.

May 23, 2019 

By City News Service 

The City Council declared today as John Singleton Day in Los Angeles in honor of the late filmmaker, who was known for helming the gritty drama “Boyz n the Hood.”

“In a time and in an industry where all the odds were stacked against him, John overcame and became the best at his craft,” City Council President Herb Wesson said. “And more than maybe anyone, he opened people's eyes to a reality and an experience of South Los Angeles that had been overlooked by society.”

Singleton died April 29 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 51, days after suffering a massive stroke.

Singleton, whose directing credits included “Poetic Justice,” “Higher Learning,” “2 Fast 2 Furious” and the 2000 remake of “Shaft,” grew up in South Los Angeles, attended USC and produced the A&E documentary “L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later.”

He also co-created the FX series “Snowfall,” about the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. Its third season is scheduled to begin later this year.

But it was Singleton’s directorial debut with “Boyz n the Hood,” for which he also wrote the screenplay, that defined his career. Singleton received Oscar nominations for best director and best original screenplay for the film about life on the streets of South Los Angeles. He was the first African American ever nominated for the best-director Oscar, as well as being the youngest-ever nominee in the category.