It's Wednesday. A Los Angeles neighborhood is grappling with near-constant noise, pollution and safety hazards caused by port backlogs. Plus, how redistricting could change California politics. |
 | | Imelda Ulloa with her grandson Anthony Maganá outside her home in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times |
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LOS ANGELES — The stucco cottage looks every bit the California dream: a grassy yard and big patio, encircled by a white picket fence. Next to the front door, a Santa figurine greets visitors and a dog's snout peeks through a window, as if an advertisement for domestic bliss. |
This home is in Wilmington, a mostly Latino working-class enclave north of the Port of Los Angeles, where the effects of the supply chain crisis have spilled over in a big way. For the past several months, the street that the house is on has served as a 24-hour thoroughfare for semi trucks headed to and from the port. |
"It's like a highway," said Imelda Ulloa, who has lived in this home for more than 20 years. |
Ulloa, 57, can't open her windows anymore because of how much noise and dust flood in. She doesn't invite guests over to barbecue because the din of engines drowns out their conversations. Her grandson isn't allowed to play out front because it's too dangerous. |
One afternoon last week, I stood on Ulloa's stoop and counted: In 10 minutes, 44 trucks drove by, inches from her front gate. |
Police and city officials ramped up ticketing of trucks in Wilmington after an increase in complaints from residents, but the sheer volume of vehicles makes it difficult to eliminate the problem. |
"Obviously clearing out the ship backlog is going to be No. 1," said Jacob Haik, deputy chief of staff for Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represents the Harbor neighborhood. |
As with many consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the disruption in the supply chain has revealed something that has always been true, said Manuel Pastor, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California: A small group of people pay a high price for what we view as quick and easy access to goods. |
So much of the discussion around the port backlog "has focused on 'How do we maximize the throughput?'" Pastor told me. "But the throughput is through someone's neighborhood." |
But the few trucks that drove in front of Ulloa's home on Drumm Avenue when her children were growing up didn't stop them from playing tag with neighbors or skateboarding in the street. |
Such activities would be impossible now. Trucks are regularly stalled outside her house, forming a colorful chain that extends tens deep. |
As we sat last week in her living room, decorated with family pictures and bouquets of flowers, Ulloa and I were interrupted by a near-constant roaring of engines and honking even though the windows and doors had been shut. |
Ulloa used to clean her patio and car once every two weeks, but so much grime accumulates now that she rinses them twice a week. |
"You wash your car in the morning and it's dirty in the afternoon," she told me. |
Other residents say their commutes have grown because it takes so long to merge in and out of the traffic outside their homes. Drivers delivering takeout meals or packages have to park down the street because there's no way to pull into the driveways. |
 | | Cesar Vigil and his dog Kronos watching trucks pass their home.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times |
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"We're living in a port — that's what it feels like," said Cesar Vigil, who lives next door to Ulloa. He acknowledged that the port plays a vital function: "But at what cost?" |
Haik said that trucks in Wilmington must sometimes travel near homes because they are close to businesses. But the police can check whether drivers' manifests match the routes they take, he said. |
"The enforcement is over there," he told me. "Eventually we're going to catch them." |
Since September, port police officers have issued 700 moving violations to truck drivers, including for going down roads they weren't supposed to, said Sgt. Glenn Twardy of the Los Angeles Port Police. They have also handed out 1,000 citations to trucks parked illegally and impounded 400 chassis that had been left in the streets. |
Twardy, who has worked in the area for more than 15 years, said that while some port activity encroaching into Wilmington has always been unavoidable, "I've never seen it this bad." |
According to Ulloa, the traffic in front of her home slows on Sundays but doesn't completely stop. Holidays are the only time when the number of trucks passing by drops to maybe one or two, she said. |
Thinking about the upcoming reprieve made her almost giddy. |
"I love those days," she told me, grinning. "You can sit on your patio. You can hear your conversations." |
 | | An empty commercial area in Rotterdam on Sunday, the first day of an Omicron-related lockdown in the Netherlands.Marco De Swart/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images |
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The latest on Omicron and the pandemic |
 | | Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress, announced that she will not seek re-election in her Los Angeles-area district.Alex Brandon/Associated Press |
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- Covid-19 vaccine mandate: A judge struck down San Diego's student vaccination mandate, preventing thousands of unvaccinated students from being kicked out of in-person school, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
- Chief of staff arrested: Joseph Iniguez, the chief of staff for the Los Angeles County district attorney, was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication, The Associated Press reports.
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- Inmate rights: The A.C.L.U. of Northern California has accused Tulare County of denying female prisoners sufficient prenatal care, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Mandatory boosters: San Jose proposed requiring booster shots for all city employees, the first city in the state to do so, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- Crypto start-ups: A wave of Silicon Valley executives and engineers are leaving jobs at large tech companies to chase cryptocurrency.
- Humboldt quake: An early-alert system gave some residents up to 10 seconds to take cover during Monday's 6.2-magnitude earthquake, The Guardian reports.
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 | | Julia Gartland for The New York Times |
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 | | Wildflowers blooming on a canyon trail in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.Etienne Laurent/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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"We call it 'down-market desert' as there are few restaurants and no stoplights in the town of Borrego Springs. But there are hundreds of interesting trails to hike in the park, which is the largest state park in the lower 48 states. It is often the warmest place in California in winter. Accommodations are reasonable." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
 | | Stairs in Grandview Park along the Crosstown Trail.Jason Henry for The New York Times |
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And before you go, some good news |
If you're still looking for some low-key holiday plans, consider walking across San Francisco in a day. |
The Crosstown Trail starts at the city's southeastern corner and ends at its northwestern tip. Over 16.5 miles, it traverses dirt paths and city streets and covers an elevation gain of over 2,000 feet and temperatures that can vary as much as 30 degrees. (That's microclimates for you.) |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya |
Jack Kramer and Mariel Wamsley contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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