L.A. Mayor's Major Moves

In a whirlwind of a week, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles has taken tremendous action to reassure Angelenos of their safety and to prevent the coronavirus COVID-19 from spreading.

Beginning on Sunday March 15, Garcetti urged people to avoid large groups and expressed his gratitude to those already making sacrifices for the safety of the city. This was followed by his emergency order to place temporary restrictions on restaurants, bars, gyms, and other businesses throughout Los Angeles.

Bars, clubs, gyms, entertainment venues, movie theaters, and bowling alleys are completely closed under this order. Places of worship are encouraged to limit large gatherings and take precaution. Restaurants have slightly more flexible restrictions as they are not allowed to serve dine-in customers, but can be available for take-out or delivery. However, many restaurant workers are suffering due to these closures.

While subject to extension, these closures and restrictions are in place until March 31.

That same Sunday evening, Garcetti shared that on Monday, March 16, LAUSD would close all schools for at least two weeks. The district had hoped to offer Family Resource Centers that would provide help with childcare and meals, but these are no longer opening. Austin Beutner, the superintendent of LAUSD, said public health officials deemed the centers unsafe for students and staff. Instead, the district opened "Grab and Go" food centers open weekdays 7am to 10am, where students can take two meals. The locations for these centers can be found on LAUSD's site. With most of the state's schools closed, California's Governor Gavin Newsom has since then shared that he believes it's possible they will remain closed for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year.

Garcetti also announced that he raised the city's emergency response status to Level 1, the highest level available, allowing him to request more assistance from federal and state governments to fight the continuing spread of the coronavirus.

At this point, Garcetti not only added restrictions but also lifted a few. Garcetti relaxed street sweeping restrictions in residential areas, added on to grace periods on people picking up/dropping off groceries, froze parking fine increases for the next 60 days, and extended payment deadlines for tickets.

Also on Monday, Garcetti wanted to protect "our most vulnerable Angelenos" by closing Senior Centers to the public but still allowing them to provide meals. Older adults are able to send a friend, family member, or care giver under the age of 65 to pick up packed or frozen meals for them. Continuing to stress the importance of knowing that there wouldn't be a shortage of food, Garcetti told the city that there was no need to rush to stores as they are staying open and still restocking, and of course, to keep practicing social distancing.

Tuesday March 17, Garcetti ordered a moratorium on commercial evictions of tenants unable to pay rent due to circumstances related to the coronavirus. This will be in place until March 31. According to Garcetti's site, "A provision in the order gives eligible tenants up to three months following the expiration of the local emergency period to repay any back due rent."

On Twitter, Garcetti announced he partnered with the Los Angeles City Council to create an $11 million micro-loan program to offer emergency loans to small businesses affected by the crisis. The $11 million is being provided by the Economic and Workforce Development Department. The program is being paired with a Small Business Resilience Toolkit, which is being distributed as a digital guidebook and includes vital information covering Federal, State, County, and City emergency policies, and effects that COVID-19 is having on businesses. The program was officially live the next day, Wednesday March 18.

Another strong partnership between the mayor and the city council was announced Wednesday. This is the Disaster Service Worker program which allows them to redeploy any city employee necessary to combat this crisis as well as their efforts to house the homeless. This program puts "$20 million in reserve funds into relief efforts — including emergency shelter and supplies," adding 1,600 emergency shelter beds in thirteen city recreation centers by the end of this week, and building up to dozens more of locations in the coming days with more than 6,000 beds provided by the American Red Cross.

In his daily briefing, Garcetti shared the Department of Mental Health's hotline number for those who may need someone to talk to as well as reassurance that public transportation is still available, will not be closing, and being cleaned religiously. Garcetti also gave an updated number of 190 confirmed and diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in L.A. County, which will change as the days go on and testing hopefully advances. Throughout his support, Garcetti urges people to stay home whenever and as much as they can.

At Thursday March 19, the city was trying to keep up when yet another announcement was made by Garcetti. He followed Kathryn Barge, L.A. County Supervisor, on live television to announce the Safer at Home emergency order. This orders residents of L.A. to stay in their homes unless it is an essential activity. Businesses including museums, malls, retail stores, for profit companies, and non-profit organizations must stop operations. Garcetti made it clear that this isn't a lockdown, "this is stay at home because you're safer at home."

Governor Newsom followed Garcetti and implemented this order throughout the entire state of California. This order is in place until April 19.

Although this order came with a heavy message at how it will be part of our history forever, Garcetti said it is necessary as,"we are trying to intervene earlier and we are trying to be one of those countries where that curve starts to flatten." Garcetti lightened the mood by pointing out that he can tell people have been doing their part through metrics of clearer air and greener traffic maps- a novelty in Los Angeles.

On Friday March 20, with the weekend just out of reach and a lot to process, Garcetti's work as well as Angelenos' is not finished. More updates to come.