El Magonista Newsletter | Vol. 10, No. 36 | October 3, 2022

By Jaysha Patel | ABC7-Los Angeles | SEP. 30, 2022 | Video by ABC-7

R6 Distillery is planning to open their second location on Golden Avenue next to Edison Elementary in Long Beach.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Long Beach residents gathered on Thursday to voice their concerns after the city says there was a proposal for a distillery across the street from Edison Elementary School on Golden Avenue in downtown Long Beach.

El Segundo-based veteran and family-owned business, R6 Distillery, is planning to open their second location at the warehouse there with the city's approval.

Community members say they are upset about the lack of transparency around the project and the potential for more alcohol sales in the community.

They say they have gotten no response from the city about their concerns, and that they were blindsided when they heard about the plan from an article.

Eyewitness News reached out to R6 Distillery about their response to community members.

In a statement founder and head distiller, Rob Rubens, said (in part):
Our project at 601 Golden will... help accelerate the gentrification of the area adjacent Edison Elementary and west Long Beach, where there are currently a number of homeless and transients with drug addiction."

Eyewitness News also reached out to a spokesperson with the Long Beach Unified School District who said their planning department is working with the city to determine how the project was approved, and they are looking at next steps to oppose it... READ MORE

Several community groups spoke up this week against the plan to build an expansive distillery across the street from Edison Elementary School in a largely Latino neighborhood that’s suffered from a lack of greenspace and high poverty rates.

In a press conference Tuesday, organizers from Latinos in Action-California and Centro CHA said they were blindsided by news that El Segundo-based R6 Distillery would be opening up its second location in Long Beach, with plans for an 18,500 square foot warehouse that will include “space for more drinking and eating — and a machine that can sanitize, fill and label 1,000 bottles in about 25 minutes,” according to an article published in the Los Angeles Times last October.

In the article, founder and head distiller of R6 Distillery, Rob Rubens, discussed his plans for the expansion and disclosed the new location, 601 Golden Avenue, the former U.S. Postal Service building and Hoonigan Industries headquarters next to Edison Elementary School and just north of Cesar E. Chavez Park.

At Tuesday’s press conference, community members said they only learned about the major development from the newspaper article. Many speakers objected to it, saying they are worried about alcohol sales in a community that’s already been burdened by too many liquor stores and the pollution that the distillery could bring. But, they said, their concerns haven’t... READ MORE

The administration is bracing for a likely court ruling that would end the program, which has shielded more than 600,000 immigrants from deportation.

The White House is preparing to take executive action to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants known as “Dreamers,” people close to the White House told NBC News, as the Biden administration braces for a potential court defeat that could end the decade-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Planning has intensified in recent days ahead of a decision on the program’s future from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, possibly within days. At stake is the ability of more than 600,000 people protected under the program, known as DACA, to continue living and working in the U.S. without fear of deportation. The conservative panel of judges is all but certain to rule that DACA is illegal. Although the Biden administration is likely to appeal the order, the Supreme Court has indicated it would agree with a 5th Circuit ruling that ends the Obama-era program.

With few options to act on its own, the Biden administration is readying steps that could continue to shield from deportation — at least temporarily — immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but lack legal status and were granted protections under the DACA program.

The order would direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deprioritize deporting DACA recipients and refrain from deporting them if they aren’t deemed threats to public safety or national security... READ MORE

Story & Photo by Anita Chabria | Los Angeles Times | SEP. 28, 2022

SACRAMENTO —  Turns out “Sí, se puede” isn’t just a rallying cry. It’s a threat. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom just learned that the hard way. 

On Wednesday afternoon, after a morning of glory in which Newsom signed a number of important laws to break the logjam on affordable housing in California, word started leaking out that he would also put pen to paper on Assembly Bill 2183, a measure by the United Farm Workers meant to make it easier for those who labor in our fields to form a union. 

It’s a bill Newsom has fought against vehemently for months and promised to veto if it reached his desk. But for weeks since it actually landed in his lap, it has mushroomed into a political nightmare. 

The Capitol stairs have become home to dozens of farmworkers holding a vigil to demand his signature. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris put out public statements in support of it, as did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Newsom’s political mentor. Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello traveled to Sacramento to sing “This Land Is Your Land” with union members.

The farmworkers have danced, marched, dined and interviewed ceaselessly — backed by big names and big love for a profession that is honored as much as it is abused in this state... READ MORE

Opinion by Profe. Gonzalo Santos | SEP. 29, 2022
IN RESPONSE TO THE PREVIOUS STORY IN THE LA TIMES

A magnificent, well-thought, well-timed, and well-executed campaign to improve the labor rights to organize and vote for farmworker unions in California. First, the hard legislative work to pass AB2183, THREE times (the last two vetoed by Newsom). Then the 24-day march from Delano to Sacramento to pressure the governor to sign the bill. Then the dual tactics of getting Biden & Harris to endorse the bill and mount daily vigils to keep the pressure on the governor all the way to yesterday - two days before the deadline to sign the bill - when Newsom relented and agreed to sign it with a side letter of understanding with the UFW and the CLF on text to be added next legislative period.

And it worked! This hard-fought, finally victorious campaign for workers’ union voting rights, becomes the gold standard for labor organizing - ¡sí se pudo!

Three other observations that folks need to keep in mind: (1) The powerful, highly organized and influential California growers really lost this time. Their well-known intimidating, union-busting tactics become much harder for them to deploy to keep the workers from forming unions in their fields, as they will now be able to do so like all other workers in the public sector - by mail and petitions OUTSIDE their workplaces... READ MORE

By Brittny Mejia & Cindy Carcamo | Los Angeles Times | SEP. 27, 2022

Throughout her life in California, Kassandra Merlos has relied on her Mexican passport as her sole form of identification.

When she has rented apartments, she has been reluctant to mention that she’s in the country without legal status and only has her passport for identification. When she has gone out to bars with friends, she has felt discriminated against when told she needs a California license or an ID to get in.

For nearly a decade, immigrants who are in the country illegally have been able to get a restricted California driver’s license, but Merlos doesn’t drive. The 26-year-old applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — better known as DACA — to get a work permit, but the program is no longer processing new applications.

Her mother and brother, who has epilepsy, also don’t have driver’s licenses. None of them have state-issued identification. 

That’s expected to change now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law Assembly Bill 1766, also known as “California IDs for All.” Under the bill signed last week, California ID eligibility will be expanded for close to 2 million people who lack legal status.

The law will go into effect no later than July 1, 2027... READ MORE

The construction on the sixth and final bridge closed some roads at LAX, but work was finished ahead of schedule on three out of four nights, according to officials.

Los Angeles International Airport announced the completion of the final Automated People Mover pedestrian bridge structure over World Way on Thursday, Sept. 29, moving one step closer to connecting the Tom Bradley International Terminal with the future West Central Terminal Area station.

The construction on the sixth and final bridge closed some roads at LAX, but work was finished ahead of schedule on three out of four nights, according to officials.

The work included assembling four steel trusses weighing over 270,000 pounds above World Way and bolting them together to create the bridge’s structural frame. The six bridges together include more than 3,600 tons of steel, with the project total at more than 9,000 tons.

The bridges are all in various stages of construction. The next step in the project is to establish the Automated People Mover systems and test train cars, according to Sam Choy, project director for LINXS Constructors.

Justin Erbacci, CEO of Los Angeles World Airports, said the result of the project is “coming into view.”

“The placement of the final pedestrian bridge structure is yet another remarkable achievement on our journey to reimagine the travel experience at LAX, while continuing to operate the fifth-busiest airport... READ MORE