It's Thursday. The latest on the furor at City Hall in Los Angeles. Plus, California's attorney general will investigate the city's redistricting process. |
 | | Protesters demonstrated outside City Hall on Wednesday calling for the resignations of three Los Angeles City Council members.Mario Tama/Getty Images |
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On Wednesday, protesters shut down a City Council meeting for the second day in a row with calls for resignations; the attorney general announced plans to investigate; and Nury Martinez — a San Fernando Valley councilwoman who had already relinquished her council presidency and taken a leave of absence — resigned entirely from elected office. Earlier this week, the head of one of Southern California's most powerful labor organizations stepped down. |
If you're not in Los Angeles or are just tuning in, you may be wondering: How did we get here? Here are five things to know: |
1. About half of the four million or so residents in Los Angeles are Latino. But Latinos hold only four of the 15 City Council seats. |
By comparison, white Angelenos, a declining population, make up about 28 percent of the city's residents and hold six Council seats. Black Angelenos hold three, despite having less than 9 percent of the population. Only Asian Americans, with about 12 percent of the city's residents, have representation proportionate with their population, with two Council seats. |
2. Every decade, after the census comes out, the nation adjusts the boundaries of its political districts. Last year was one of those years. |
The process is intense. In many places in the U.S., redistricting descends into rank gerrymandering. California's state government has sought to avoid this by outsourcing it to an independent redistricting commission, which uses complex computer models and public hearings to redraw the lines around legislative and congressional districts. Some local governments in the state have independent commissions, too — Los Angeles County, for instance. But the panel that draws the lines for the city of Los Angeles is not independent. It holds public hearings, creates models and recommends boundaries, but the final districts are still determined by the City Council. |
3. Last October, three Latino council members met privately with the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The subject? Latino clout and redistricting. |
Present were Martinez; two councilmen from the city's Eastside, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León; and the head of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, Ron Herrera. All are Latino and veterans of California politics. "My goal is to get the three of you elected, and I'm just focused on that," Herrera told them. "We're like a little Latino caucus of our own." |
4. As they discussed carving up voting blocs and choice "assets," such as job-rich arenas, universities and airports, their bare-knuckled conversation was being secretly recorded. |
Martinez complained that the advisory map removed political plums like the Van Nuys Airport out of her district, and suggested that Los Angeles International Airport be taken from a white councilman and put in a Black councilman's district. That white councilman, Mike Bonin, she added, using a vulgarity, was weak. She denigrated Bonin's Black son in racist terms and said he needed "a beatdown." She said that the Los Angeles County district attorney was "with the Blacks" and that white liberals on the Council were untrustworthy. She also belittled immigrants from Oaxaca. The men did not confront her. In fact, at times, they kept the conversation going with their own derogatory remarks, the recording indicates. |
5. The four thought they were alone and could speak freely. And back-room political conversations get raw, especially in big cities. But yikes. |
In Los Angeles — a diverse city that prides itself on the strides it has made since 1992, when the city rioted for three days over racial and ethnic tensions — the audio has been mind blowing. Since The Los Angeles Times first reported on the recording on Sunday, calls have proliferated for resignations. On Monday, Herrera was the first to comply. Martinez initially relinquished her Council presidency, then announced on Tuesday that she was emotionally exhausted and taking a leave of absence. On Wednesday she resigned from the Council completely. Not budging so far are Cedillo, who was upset by a progressive challenger in June and is a lame duck until December, and de León, who is not up for re-election for another two years. |
Shawn Hubler is a California correspondent for The Times and is based in Sacramento. |
 | | An illegal pot farm in Riverside in 2019.Riverside Police Department via AP, File |
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- Fighting illegal pot farms: California's top prosecutor announced this week that he would try a broader approach to disrupting illegal pot farms that undercut the legal cannabis economy, The Associated Press reports.
- Avian flu: This year's avian influenza outbreak is the worst the United States has experienced since 2015. In Sonoma County, the Bird Rescue Center created extra makeshift hospitals to handle patients.
- Turnover: An unusually high number of California lawmakers will be gone after the November election because of redistricting and decade-old changes to term limits that are now coming to bear, The Associated Press reports.
- Presidential visit: President Biden will be in Southern California through Friday with stops from Brentwood to Orange County, NBC reports.
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- Settlement: Victims of a former Sun Valley high school wrestling coach who was convicted of molesting nine children will receive a $52 million settlement, The Los Angeles Times reports.
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- Name dispute: Defying the Biden and Newsom administrations, Fresno County supervisors formally opposed changing the name of the Central California mountain community of Squaw Valley, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Property crime: A Castro Valley man was shot after confronting four people who were allegedly trying to steal his catalytic converter, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- Shooting: A Vallejo police officer who fired a rifle five times through the windshield of an unmarked police vehicle and killed a man was fired last week, The Associated Press reports.
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 | | Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. |
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 | | Golden Gate Park.Jason Henry for The New York Times |
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Today's tip comes from Mickey McGovern: |
"I live across the bay from San Francisco. I can see the city from my kitchen window. When friends or family come to visit, I first take them for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, where the views are spectacular. The next day, we go hang out in Golden Gate Park, which was designed by the same guy who designed Central Park in New York, Frederick Law Olmsted. It's beautiful. There's so much to do in Golden Gate Park, including the California Academy of Sciences with its rain forest, planetarium and a great cafe for lunch. Across the park is the de Young Museum with all of its spectacular exhibits. And the Japanese Tea Garden. I never get tired of visiting San Francisco." |
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. |
Did you recently buy or rent a home in California? We want to hear from you. |
The New York Times's weekly real estate column, The Hunt, features everyday people who just moved and want to share their stories. If that's you, get in touch with us at thehuntca@nytimes.com. |
 | | Angelita Arellano with some of her great-grandchildren.Araceli Arellano Hager |
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And before you go, some good news |
Two years ago, Gustavo Arellano, a Los Angeles Times columnist, wrote about celebrating his grandma's 98th birthday with a socially distanced fiesta: "None of us wanted to kill Grandma — which we call her as much as we do abuelita, because assimilation — after she's lived almost a century." |
The Arellano clan vowed that if their matriarch, Angelita Arellano, made it to 100, they would hold an even bigger event. That happened last month. |
The festivities started with mariachi, Gustavo wrote, then proceeded to St. Alphonsus Church in East Los Angeles, where his grandma has been a faithful parishioner for decades. During Mass, a crowd of about 200, mostly family and friends, sang "Las Mañanitas," the traditional birthday song of Mexico. |
"Go enjoy yourself tonight," the Rev. Rodolfo Prado told Arellano in Spanish. "You're going to be in the pews tomorrow at 9 in the morning for Mass, right?" |
"No, 11:30," she replied, to laughter from everyone. |
Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow. |
Soumya Karlamangla, Briana Scalia, Miles McKinley and Francis Mateo contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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