June 25 – July 22, 2021
Bonin Served Recall Papers
Bonin serve recall papers last Tuesday, over 27,000 signatures must be obtained from constituents By SaM CatanZaro
“Our streets have become de facto campgrounds,” reads recall papers served to Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin this week. Bonin, who represents Council District 11 encompassing much of the Westside including Brentwood, was served the recall notice last Tuesday. “Councilmember Mike Bonin has consistently made promises to his constituency and failed to follow through on these promises since he took office,” reads the recall’s Statement of Reasons. “In summary Councilmember Mike Bonin does not engage with the district and did not improve our quality
of life or clean up our neighborhoods. Our streets have become de facto campgrounds, sanitation policies are failing, crime is rising, and Mike Bonin remains unresponsive.” In a statement, Bonin called the recall waste of tax dollars. In addition, the councilmember claimed that the campaign is backed by rightwing forces. “A recall election, held right before regularly scheduled city elections, would be a waste of millions of dollars of taxpayer money — dollars that could be better invested in addressing our homelessness crisis,” Bonin, who has announced a run for a third and final term in 2022, wrote in said. “This recall has been championed by the same right wing forces that are trying to erode our democratic process and take down progressive officials across the state.” In addition to the recall election for California Governor Gavin Newsom, last week recall papers were served to Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents neighborhoods including Silver Lake and Hollywood. A recall effort is also underway against LA County District Attorney George Gascón. Under City of Los Angeles recall rules, once the recall paperwork is verified, campaigns have 120 days to collect signatures from 15
percent of registered voters in the district, which in District 11 is at least 27,387 signatures. If sufficient signatures are obtained and verified, a presentation to recall will be made to the City Council at some point in December. Council would then have 14 days to call for an election. If Council does not act within those 14 days, LA County election officials would call for an election. Bonin has faced backlash in recent months since introducing a motion to explore the possibility of bringing more temporary homeless shelters to a range of public spaces on the Westside, including Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades. The motion, which
recently passed City Council initiating a feasibility study, has been met with opposition from many residents and stakeholders in the district. A change.org petition against the proposal has collected over 31,000 signatures. This is not the first time Bonin–who was first elected in 2013 and reelected in 2017– has faced a recall effort. In 2017 critics of his “road diets” (eliminating traffic lanes as part of an effort to reduce pedestrian and cycling injuries) launched an unsuccessful campaign to remove Bonin from office after the program led to increased traffic and congestion in many residential streets.
Purple Line Extension Breaks Ground 2.5 subway extension underway By SaM CatanZaro Officials last month broke ground on a 2.5-mile subway extension of the Purple Line (Metro’s D Line) from Century City to Westwood. “The Purple Line Expansion is the key that will unlock our transportation future and burst open doors of opportunity on the Westside — and today’s groundbreaking moves us one step closer to completely redefining our city’s relationship with public transit,” said Mayor Garcetti, who also serves as Metro Board Chair. Scheduled for completion in 2027,
Section 3 of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project is part of a larger three-phase, 8.9-mile, seven-station project that will extend the Purple Line from the current terminus at Wilshire/ Western to the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Medical Center (VA) just west of the 405 Freeway. The 2.5-mile stretch will connect to the final station of the Purple Line Section 2 in Century City, and include one station at Westwood Village and another at the VA. Metro is now actively building all three sections of the subway extension, which are planned to open in 2024, 2025 and 2027, respectively. The first section between Wilshire/Western and Beverly Hills is nearly 70 percent complete, and
Purple Line, see page 8
Ceremonial shovels hits the dirt outside the Westwood VA Hospital last month.
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