Tag Archives: City Hall

Downtown LA on Wednesday: An Uneasy Calm

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Protesters on the steps of City Hall, police in the background.

The past few days have been hard to believe. ICE agents have been arresting hundreds of people across Southern California. The President has ordered the National Guard into LA, over the protests of the Governor and the Mayor. Apparently the Marines are on their way. And a curfew has been declared in Downtown LA.

I went down to City Hall for a hearing this afternoon. I got off the subway at Civic Center and walked across Grand Park to Spring. The park seemed peaceful, as usual, but as I got closer to City Hall I saw a crowd of around a hundred protesters gathered on the steps at the entrance. Activists spoke passionately about the injustice of the ICE raids.

I entered City Hall and attended the hearing, which lasted until about four fifteen. Then, since I hadn’t had lunch, I walked up First Street looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, these days its hard to find a restaurant that’s open in the Civic Center. As companies have reduced their footprint in Downtown or abandoned it altogether, many local businesses have cut their hours or closed down.

As I walked up First Street, I saw that the ground floor of the former LA Times building was covered with graffiti. A little farther up there was a row of parked police cars. Helicopters crisscrossed the sky overhead. Even though things were calm, there did seem to be tension in the air.

Thinking that the cafe at MOCA might still be open, I headed up to Grand. I walked into the cafe and saw that they were cleaning up. The woman behind the counter said they were open for another 20 minutes, so I ordered a sandwich. When it was ready, I went out to the patio and sat down to eat it.

The woman at the counter spoke with a heavy accent. My guess is that she had come from somewhere in Central America. In the time I was there, she made my sandwich, wiped off the tables in the patio, straightened the chairs and emptied the trash cans. When I left she was sweeping up inside the restaurant.

These are the people that keep this city going. These are the people that keep this country going.

“Hands Off” Protest in Downtown LA

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Protesters at Fifth and Hill in Downtown LA

Thousands of people gathered in Downtown on Saturday to voice their anger at the Trump administration’s actions since his January inauguration. The President began by firing off a series of executive orders, some of which have been called unconstitutional. He’s given Elon Musk unprecedented access to US agencies, allowing Musk and his team to view the government’s vast trove of sensitive data belonging to millions of Americans. And he’s imposed sweeping tariffs on trading partners that sparked a massive sell-off in the stock market.

Many protesters came to defend immigrant rights
Some of the attendees made their points with music


The “Hands Off” protests were part of a nationwide day of action organized by a number of different groups. The Associated Press reported that protests were planned in over 1,200 locations across all 50 states. The signs at the LA protest spoke of anger on a wide range of issues, including deportations, the firing of Federal workers, LGBT rights and the economy.

Protesters marching up Hill Street
The marchers round the corner where the US Courthouse stands

The protest started around 4:00 pm in Pershing Square, and then the crowd marched to City Hall. The event was scheduled to last until 8:00 pm, but I left around 6:00 because I had a house guest coming. I didn’t get to hear the speakers, but the message from the crowd was clear: They don’t like the mass firings, they don’t like the deportations and they don’t like the funding cuts. But in spite of the anger in the air, the protest was peaceful. As of this morning, I haven’t seen any reports of arrests. This story from the LA Times has more details.

Anti-Trump, Musk Protests Draw Big Crowds in L.A. and around the Nation

Protesters gather at LA City Hall

Will Robots Replace People at the Port of LA?

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ILWU No Robots

I have to admit I was initially ticked off that I couldn’t get into the LA City Council meeting on Friday. I’d taken the subway to Downtown that morning because I wanted to speak about an item on the Council agenda. But when I got to City Hall, I found a huge line of people crowding the entrance, and when I finally got inside it turned out they weren’t allowing any more people in. The Council chambers were full up.

ILWU Entrance Line

The crowd at the entrance to City Hall.

But sometimes you have to be flexible, and actually I was glad I made the trip anyway. It turned out that hundreds of people had shown up that day because they were worried that their jobs were going to be taken by robots. Earlier this month the Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a permit that would allow shipping giant Maersk to automate much of its operations at the Port of LA. But Councilmember Joe Buscaino, who represents the area, wrote a motion asking the City Council to assert jurisdiction in the matter and send it back to the Board for reconsideration.

It’s easy to see why people who work at the Port are freaked out. Maersk isn’t the first shipping company to push for automation, and it won’t be the last. Hundreds of jobs could disappear if Maersk goes forward, and as more companies follow suit it will probably lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. This, in turn, would be a devastating blow to San Pedro and Wilmington, where a lot of the local economy depends on those jobs.

ILWU Crowd Listening

Workers gathered on the lawn outside City Hall.

The crowd that showed up at City Hall on Friday was mostly made up of members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Many of them wore T-shirts and carried signs protesting the move to automation. Those who couldn’t get inside gathered on the lawn outside City Hall where audio of the meeting was broadcast over a sound system. You could hear speaker after speaker telling the Council that they had to take action, and the meeting was frequently disrupted by roars of approval from those who had made it inside.

ILWU Crowd T Shirts

The ‘Yes to Boots, No to Robots’ T-shirts were a popular item.

ILWU We Are 99

Lots of folks carrying signs.

ILWU Humans Taxes

It’s true, robots don’t pay taxes.

In the end the Council voted unanimously to send the matter back to the Board of Harbor Commissioners for reconsideration, but the issue is far from resolved. Even if the Board changes its mind and decides to rescind the permit, Maersk claims it’s legally entitled to go ahead with the conversion anyway. They argue that other ports are automating and that they have to do the same if they want to stay competitive. And another complication is that for years the City of LA has been pushing shippers to move from diesel to electric technology. There are huge pollution issues in Wilmington and San Pedro because the Port of LA burns massive amounts of fossil fuels. Maersk’s conversion to automation has the potential to radically reduce emissions.

This is really just one more battle in what promises to be a long and painful war. Automation advocates claim that machines don’t just take jobs, that they can also create jobs, but no one has been able to spell out exactly how that’s going to happen. Academics say that more automation will drive increased economic activity which will bring new employment opportunities, but they don’t go into details except to say that the unemployed can move into the service sector. Really? Retailers are already replacing clerks with machines. Transit network companies like Uber are planning to shift to driverless cars. And fast food chains are quickly building automated outlets. In classic fashion, economists who make six figures are telling low-income workers not to worry about automation, because in the long run it will boost GDP and everyone will be a winner. But people who live in the real world have been dealing with wage stagnation for years, while their paychecks are being eaten away by rising housing and healthcare costs.

The workers at the Port of LA are right to be scared.

For more details, check out this story from the LA Times.

City Deals Blow to Automation Plan at the Port of LA

ILWU Flag

Stop the Violence

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Protesters on the steps of City Hall this past week.

Protesters on the steps of City Hall this past week.

The past several days have been traumatic. Two more black men shot by police. Police shot by gunmen in retaliation. And protesters gathering across the nation to ask for an end to the violence.

While the focus has been on Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas, protesters have staged demonstrations in a number of cities, including Los Angeles. Like every other major American urban center, LA has seen its share of unarmed black men die during encounters with police officers. To remind us of this, a number of peaceful civil actions have been staged at locations including City Hall, LAPD Headquarters and Pershing Square.

Another shot of protesters on City Hall steps.

Another shot of protesters on City Hall steps.

While there’s no question that we need to see changes in the way police do their job, the problem is much larger than that. It’s not just a matter of appointing a task force to do an investigation and come up with recommendations. As a nation, we need to acknowledge that we have a long way to go to achieve equality. And as a nation, we must all commit to working towards that goal. I thought Obama said it well in his speech in Dallas….

In the end, it’s not about finding policies that work. It’s about forging consensus and fighting cynicism and finding the will to make change. Can we do this? Can we find the character, as Americans, to open our hearts to each other? Can we see in each other a common humanity and a shared dignity, and recognize how our different experiences have shaped us?

Obama asks if we can do this. I don’t doubt that it’s possible. The question is whether we will commit to making it happen.

Chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of City Hall.

Chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of City Hall.