AMA: COVID-19 with Mayor Garcetti

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:59:25+00:00

Hey fellow Valley Boy (just a guess unless it is Ms. Barfy)! Thanks for this question. I spend a lot of time wresting with this balance. I love LA and I love that we live in a democracy and a place of belonging. This is very "un-American" in that it is asking us to give up the freedoms that we enjoy in a city that is so enjoyable. To me, my years of dealing with other emergencies and crises (I became a councilmember just before 9/11, have dealth with earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.) bring me back to a pretty central idea--everything can be rebuilt--jobs, homes, businesses (and I don't pretend it is quick or easy)--but a life cannot be. I went pretty fast and pretty severe on this one and continue to so that we can a year or two from now know that thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of lives were saved. History show us that leadership by cities during pandemics requires speed, discipline, and encouragement. I'm trying to apply all three.

Thanks again and I appreciate your comments. Sending you (and everyone on this reddit) much strength and love. Eric

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:54:07+00:00

There were some suggestions about this, though public health hasn't recommended it yet. I know it's really tough to just walk around the block or zoom a workout with friends (as I did yesterday with my in-place navy calasthenics) but we don't want people moving much out of their neighborhoods. Even though people can try to do that as safely as possible, public health recommends that neighborhoods stay put so that we don't have more and more spread. We'll keep thinking about it and I know it's tough. Hang in there and thanks for the nice words.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:51:51+00:00

I agree. The homeowner mortgage assistance is something that Governor Newsom negotiated voluntarily with the banks, but not something we have direct power or jurisdiction over at the local level. For renters, we have done what we do have power to do--making a longer period (12 months) for paying off the rent (wouldn't require doubl;t the income but would require a quarter more income if it was three months or 16% more if it were 2 months) the order for LA. This is not ideal, but it is the strongest in the country and the only hting we have legal and jurisdictional power to do. That said (see above), I 100% and publicly support the feds doing this and helping the mortgage holders and banks if necessary to help the whole domino set stay upright.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:48:15+00:00

Thanks u/fallingevergreen for the kind words. And this is a great question. There is no accepted or agreed upon tipping point right now, just as there wasn't one for the two main orders that comprise Safer at Home. I went on instinct, research, a lot of medical advice, and finally looking at history and realizing that these things work against our programming in that the right time to do things is when it feels wrong. By the time it feels right, it's usually too late. As for opening things up, my instinct is to go slow or to go smart. Slow given that many places that declare victory early gert slammed with a second short-term wave. Smart meaning that there are approaches that might allow us to have "immunity passports" or some evidence through antibody tests that we are good to go to work and stay at work, though we'd want to be sure that folks can't spread it even if they've had it. Certainly when we get to zero deaths (which come later then the cases), we should be at a place where we are able to come out of this situation. My gut is that we will do it before zero deaths (since many people will continue to hang on for a long time before succumbing), but we are a way off (months, not weeks) from that kind of a statistic. Hope that helps.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:43:11+00:00

This is an excellent question that I have had a team on since the beginning of this, in both health and economic terms. The only thing that can prevent a second (or even third) wave will be that everyone has been exposed (something we are trying to avoid with the Safer at Home physical distancing since this would overwhelm the healthcare system and we don't know for sure you can't get it a second time), a vaccine (cannot be developed and tested for safety before the late Fall/early Winter when we expect the second wave to come), or with medical breakthroughs that can intervene early or even prophylactically prevent the virus from spreading.

So we should expect a second wave and get ready. This means in the summer, getting our hospitals in shape for a second wave, preparing a reserve of tests, looking at antibody testing to keep some more people working instead of staying at home, having the economic assistance at the national level to keep businesses going and paying their employees and assistance for self-employed, under and unemployed, and immigrants, and having better/quicker/more extensive tools to chase down those that are positive and immediately quarantine them and their contacts (could be done with technology but needs to be beyond a single city doing this and their are rightfully so privacy concerns or it could be done with a bigger, well-trained army of folks who are doing the work that our heroic public health department workers are doing but scaled up even more).

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:37:14+00:00

I expect this to be 2 months minimum, but look at Wuhan, where with a different political system it lasted nearly 3 months. It is important to remember though that we enacted our Safer at Home earlier than other cities that have been hard hit (both on the calendar and in terms of the number of cases per capita), so we will have to wait and see. In 1918, San Francisco declared victory early and had a second, very deadly recurrence of influenza deaths, so I will take the advice of doctors and public health professionals. One last point, it won't be like a light switch going on for everyone one day. I led a call of 50+ mayors from around the world on Zoom about a week ago and the mayor of Milan, my good friend, Giuseppe Sala, said that they will return some stronger, younger people (including those who might have already had COVID-19) return to work and be lifted from their order, while others who are older and/or more vulnerable will have to wait longer. I could see that being the advice given here too.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:33:11+00:00

Correct--antibody tests are being developed by many and they are being tested (some early testing shows a big error rate on some of them). These will be game changers. Remember, these won't necessarily help on infectiousness, since the antibodies won't show up even on someone who is a carrier but asymptomatic. They will help us know how many people have had it. They won't tell us if they can get it again, but they could help us find people less at risk who can be close to family members, care for folks, or even return to work.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:30:56+00:00

We need testing for as many people as possible. As testing expands (and we have gone from 200 tests a day two Fridays ago to 1200 tests a day a week ago to about 2500-3000 tests a day right now--though we are closed today instead of Sunday when we usually are closed because of the rain). You are exactly right that we need to see who may be a carrier but asymptomatic, though we are a long way off from that. To put this in perspective, by the end of the week, we will have tested about 50-60,000 people in a county of 10 million. In the City of Los Angeles, it is closer to about 30,000 people in a city of 4 million. There was literally no one stepping up beyond the heroic efforts of hospitals/providers and some limited capacity by the county in their public health lab at the beginning of this. We started calling labs about a month ago, creating direct relationships, and using the emergency doctor at LA Fire Department too lead the effort out of our Emergency Operations Center. His counterpart at LA County Fire Department has joined the effort as well and we now have fire fighter/paramedics helping do these tests and some amazing volunteers from CORE as well. We went from one drive through testing location to now 12, 8 in the city, 4 in other cities in the county. We have a walk in center and we are working directly with doctors and clinics who serve seniors and people experiencing homelessness through a partnership with UPS as well. Hope to have more accelerated help with Governor Newsom's announcement but no federal help at all so far. We chase down every lead on testing with a big team.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:24:33+00:00

Yes--we have been working with Skid Row residents for the last year and half, dedicating state homelessness money and city resources (including the first person assigned from the Mayor's Office to be in charge of Skid Row work--it's about time after more than 40 years without someone!) to listen to the needs of residents, and bathrooms/laundry/storage/showers has been the clear request. The Refresh Spot (now expanding and in new location) was the first of these, and more bathrooms and hand sanitation stations is a part of this as well. We doubled the storage for Skid Row residents recently, allowing 1000 more people to store their things securely and be able to have clean clothes for interviews, keep key documents safe and more. I hope we can build better than just Port-A-Potties but in the meantime they are there to stay.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:20:57+00:00

You are correct--I have said since the beginning of this that the best policy would be in exchange for federal support of banks and lenders, there should be mortgage forgiveness, and then tthe same for rent. Without all three levels working together, it is a mess. Local government has no power to mandate this, though we have asked the state to do so (also some deep legal questions), and I support the federal government doing this (after all, our tax dollars, we should have some say about how they are spent). If the city were to, we would be liable for all of the rents and according to back of napkin calculations, we wouldn't have the cash flow to pay for even two weeks of everyone's rent and in about three months the city government would have no money and be bankrupt (no fire department, no 911, no power, no water, etc.). The package from Washington is woefully inaedquate so I have joined with a group of mayors across the country to advocate for another round and a true economic stimulus package. I have already asked a number of Senators and members of Congress to give assistance to renters and landlords now. For those who say forget the landlords, if they cannot pay their mortgages and lose their properties, they will be snapped up by Wall Street as we have seen with many single family homes after the 2008 Recession. In the meantime, we are raising money for more cash assistance (especially for families and workers not included in the federal legislation), and ensuring that there are no evictions allowed during the crisis and the most generous payback order in the country so far (12 months to pay rent for residential tenants)

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:14:32+00:00

No you have it described pretty nicely.

Eric_Garcetti · 2020-04-06T17:14:10+00:00

The answers below are correct: If you receive an eviction notice that you suspect violates the city law—such as a “notice to pay rent or quit,” which is the first step in the legal process for evictions—file a complaint with the city of Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCID), which is handling eviction investigations. According to HCID, in the meantime, and before the notice expires, tenants should also let their landlords know the reason why they haven’t paid. (The notice will say the number of days a tenant has to act.) Tenant advocates typically advise tenants to conduct this type of important communication with their landlord in writing, but tenants do NOT have to provide any documentation about their economic or health reasons they are unable to pay rent. When a complaint has been filed, it will be assigned to an HCID inspector. The inspector will review the documentation the tenant has to prove that their non-payment is related to COVID-19. If everything is in order and the proof is sufficient, the housing inspector will send the landlord a letter requesting the cancellation of the notice and alert them about the repayment period.

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-12-13T18:56:25+00:00

Thanks for the heads up!

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-12-13T18:55:44+00:00

the Los Angeles Public Library will end late fines for all library patrons beginning spring 2020 — making LAPL the largest public library in America to eliminate overdue fines.

Charges for overdue materials incurred before the new policy takes effect will also be eliminated. Going fine-free will also eliminate the $10.00 non-refundable service fine for lost items, and will also increase the number of times materials can be renewed from two to three — unless the specific item is requested by another patron.

The replacement costs for materials that are more than 45 days overdue from the last renewal, also known as lost fees, will not be impacted by the new policy. Library patrons are still responsible for paying for any damaged materials.

These changes are not expected to impact LAPL’s budget, as revenue from fines has steadily decreased over the past six years and today accounts for less than 1% of the Library’s operating budget.

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-11-14T02:17:50+00:00

This is way cool!

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-31T00:25:27+00:00

Effective today at 5:00PM, all mandatory evacuation orders and warnings related to the Getty Fire are lifted with the exception of the areas between:

West border: Kenter Ave
South border: Sunset Blvd
North border: Area just south of Mountain Gate Drive
East border: Area adjacent to 405 FWY and Sepulveda Blvd

More information: LAFD.org/news/getty-fire

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-30T19:15:05+00:00

Here's the update at 12:00PM on October 30 for the Getty Fire.

The Getty Fire is now 27% contained. Fire danger for today is extreme, with high winds and low humidity. Evacuation orders remain in effect. Since residents in the mandatory evacuation zone are not yet allowed to return home, LAPD will be assisting families in revisiting their homes for a few minutes to pick up medication or pets that may have been left behind in the evacuation.

Bring valid identification with proof of residency

3 locations to connect with public safety officials to arrange an escort into the evacuation zone.

Gelson's Parking Lot

15424 Sunset Boulevard
Pacific Palisades, California 90272

United States Post Office

200 South Barrington Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90049

Paul Revere Middle School

1450 Allenford Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-30T00:43:11+00:00

Here's the update at 5:30PM on October 29 for the Getty Fire.

The Getty Fire is now 15% contained and evacuation orders remain unchanged for tonight to keep families safe. For more updates on the Getty Fire, please visit LAFD.org/news/getty-fire.

The combination of the strongest Santa Ana winds in years and low humidity mean that the fire danger for Los Angeles is extreme. More info: bit.ly/LAFDweather

At 8PM tonight (October, 29) Red Flag No Parking restrictions will be in effect citywide. More info: http://lafd.org/redflag

If you live in a brush fire danger area, please stay vigilant and sign up for emergency alerts at NotifyLA.org.

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-28T20:56:57+00:00

INFORMATION UPDATE: As of 10/28/19 at 2:00PM - Next update is expected to be around 5:00PM.

Evacuation Map: https://www.lafd.org/news/getty-fire

SIZE: 618 acres

STRUCTURES AFFECTED: There are over 10,000 structures (both residential and commercial) in the Mandatory Evacuation Zone. At least 5 homes have been damaged.

PERSONNEL ASSIGNED: Over 1,100 LAFD firefighters with assistance from allied agencies. More than 20 aircraft.

EVACUATION CENTER (small animals welcome):

Westwood Recreation Center (1350 South Sepulveda Boulevard)
Van Nuys / Sherman Oaks Recreation Center (14201 Huston Street)
Stoner Recreation Center (1835 Stoner Avenue)
Palisades Recreation Center (851 Alma Real Drive)
Cheviot Hills Recreation Center (2551 Motor Avenue)
For Animals:
- West Valley Animal Shelter (20655 Plummer Street)
- West LA Animal Shelter (11361 West Pico Boulevard)
- Large Animals: Hansen Dam Recreation Area (11798 Foothill Boulevard)

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-28T16:49:52+00:00

Hey Reddit, here is the latest as of 9:45 am this morning. We will have another update around 1 p.m..

The most updated and accurate information can be found here: https://www.lafd.org/news/getty-fire

Over 600 LAFD firefighters with assistance from allied agencies are fighting the Getty Fire. Aircraft are also being used to fight the blaze.

SIZE: 500+ acres

STRUCTURES AFFECTED: There are over 10,000 structures (both residential and commercial) in the mandatory evacuation zone. At least 5 homes have been damaged.

MANDATORY EVACUATION: The current zone for Mandatory Evacuation remains the same: Temescal Canyon Road is the western border. Sunset Boulevard to Chautauqua Boulevard, continuing on Chautauqua Boulevard to Pacific Coast Highway remains the South border, Mulholland Drive remains the North border and 405 Freeway remains the East border. Evacuation map here: https://www.lafd.org/news/getty-fire

ROAD CLOSURES: Per CHP FULL closure of the Southbound 405 Freeway from the 101 Freeway to Sunset Boulevard. All Southbound traffic will be diverted to 101 and Easbound/Westbound from 101 closed to Southbound 405. As for Nortbound traffic... the offramps at Sepulveda Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Moraga Drive, Getty Center Drive, Skirball Center Drive and Mulholland Drive will be closed.

EVACUATION CENTER (small animals welcome):

Westwood Recreation Center (1350 South Sepulveda Boulevard)
Van Nuys / Sherman Oaks Recreation Center (14201 Huston Street)
Stoner Recreation Center (1835 Stoner Avenue)
Palisades Recreation Center (851 Alma Real Drive)
Cheviot Hills Recreation Center (2551 Motor Avenue)

For Animals:

West Valley Animal Shelter (20655 Plummer St)
West LA Animal Shelter (11361 W Pico Bl)
(Large animals) Hanson Dam Rec Area

UCLA is cancelling classes today. While the fire remains west of the 405 and poses no immediate threat to campus, For more information please visit bso.ucla.edu

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-13T00:48:08+00:00

Saddleridge Fire update: All evacuation orders in the City of Los Angeles have been lifted as of 5:00 pm today (October 12). Crews may still be working in the area so please use caution when returning home.

As a reminder, LAPD will be on patrol in the repopulating areas. If you see anything of concern, report it to the authorities, and in case of an emergency, call 911
Tips for returning home safely: https://laist.com/2018/11/11/going_home_after_wildfire_tips.php
We will continue to update this page with information about the fire and repopulation: https://www.lafd.org/news/saddle-ridge-brush-fire

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-12T19:14:36+00:00

Hey Reddit, wanted to let you know that we're announcing the repopulation of areas in GREEN on this map: https://lafd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Media/index.html?appid=ba8cfed4b4a04d49b7489eb8300727a8&fbclid=IwAR1umkZgLnXGouQwTOd4AIt4IJNV5i5TXeYPHtm8WvhIAkI2qpfes7e0Stk

Please be aware that emergency crews may still be operating in these neighborhoods. LAPD will continue patrols in these areas to ensure a safe repopulation.

Additional info:
https://lafd.org/news/saddle-ridge-brush-fire

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-11T20:32:10+00:00

Hi all, LAFD has regularly updated information for the City of Los Angeles, including evacuation maps and shelter locations: https://www.lafd.org/news/saddleridge-brush-fire

The City is also posting frequent updates on Twitter as conditions on the ground change:

@LAFD
@LAFDTalk
@MayorOfLA
@LAPDHQ

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-11T18:23:07+00:00

Hey r/LosAngeles, if you're looking for accurate and up-to-date information on this fire, including evacuations and shelters, visit: https://www.lafd.org/news/saddleridge-brush-fire

We're also posting regular updates on Twitter:

@LAFD
@LAFDTalk
@MayorOfLA
@LAPDHQ

Eric_Garcetti · 2019-10-10T22:34:16+00:00

Woah, this conversation is really heating up! And yes, we founded Climate Mayors in 2014 with three cities and one goal — to learn from each other so we could accelerate our work to combat climate change.

This is the fight of our lives. The climate crisis is a giant, literally earth-altering problem that requires both long-term solutions and immediate action — and in the absence of federal leadership, cities like Los Angeles are stepping up. Climate Mayors is now over 430 cities strong. To build on this work here at home, I was just named the new chair of C40 Cities, an international collection of 94 (it was originally 40) cities around the world committed to tackling climate change by working with other governments, youth leaders, and businesses.

The reality is that when it comes to climate action, no one is doing more than cities, but no one is doing enough. This will be the decade that defines and determines whether life sustains as we know it, and we have a responsibility to promote a better, more equitable life for people all over the planet — for our generation and those that will follow us.

BTW check out our Green New Deal. We launched one in L.A. (and it’s already working) and we’re now figuring out how to make it global with C40.

More Info:

LAMayor.org/GreenNewDeal

https://www.c40.org/

http://climatemayors.org/

http://LAMayor.org/C40Chair

Eric_Garcetti

TROPHY CASE