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Campaign to expand rent control in California says 3rd time’s a charm

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Campaign to expand rent control in California says 3rd time’s a charm


LOS ANGELES (KABC) — It’s a years-long effort to expand rent control in California.

Proponents of the Justice for Renters Act say they’ve gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot in 2024.

During a campaign launch at L.A. City Hall on Thursday, supporters gathered, holding signs that read, “The rent is still too damn high,” echoing their past slogans.

Among the supporters is labor and civil rights leader, Dolores Huerta.

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“We owe it to all those families out there, the low-income families, the farmworkers,” Huerta told Eyewitness News. “People that they don’t have a lot of assets. They don’t have big bank accounts that they can fall back on.”

“I was ashamed. We defended the United States of America, but yet, we’re homeless. We were homeless,” said Basil Kimbrew of Veterans Voices.

Kimbrew is now a businessman campaigning for the measure.

“I want you guys to understand what it’s like to be homeless. That when you can’t pay your rent … I had no shoes, no underwear, no food,” he said.

The coalition has campaigned to repeal the Costa Hawkins Act before.

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The 1995 California law limits rent control policies local governments can enforce. This measure would expand municipalities’ ability to apply rent control to newer buildings.

“We can’t have them getting 2% to 3% raises a year and then seeing their rents raised 10% a year,” said Brian Tabatabai, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of West Covina about supporting residents.

Roughly 60% of voters rejected similar propositions in 2018 and 2020.

Supporters and funders including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and labor groups are appealing to voters again.

“Many of our members are the working poor, living paycheck to paycheck, couch surfing, and living in their cars or struggling to pay rent,” said Ada Briseño, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, a union representing food service, airport, and hotel workers.

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The California Apartment Association opposes the effort and calls it an “anti-housing measure.”

The association told Eyewitness News that, assuming it qualifies, it will prepare to fight this latest proposition.



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Car plunges off California’s Devil’s Slide cliff into ocean, killing three passengers: cops

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Car plunges off California’s Devil’s Slide cliff into ocean, killing three passengers: cops


Three people died Friday when their car tumbled down a cliff and into the ocean near the Devil’s Slide on California’s famed Highway 1.

Cops got a call about a single-vehicle crash just before noon that day, forcing police, fire crews and other first responders to mobilize for a cliff rescue, according to SFGate.

The car — a gray two-door sedan — careened off the southbound side of the road and dropped about 300 feet down an embankment between Pacifica and Montara, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson and news reports.

Three people died after a car fell off a cliff on Highway 1 in California. KTVU
The crash happened near the Devil’s Slide trail. KTVU

Authorities shut down the road for several hours as rescuers rappelled to the vehicle, which lay on its roof as seawater lapped around the wreckage.

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“It was a recovery mission, and it was steep cliffs and tough terrain,” a member of Cal Fire told Fox 2 KTVU. “The car was partially submerged, so our rescuers were taking on waves.”

The impact was so violent that it catapulted pieces of the vehicle away from the wreck.

When they reached the site, rescuers quickly pronounced two of the vehicle’s occupants dead.

Police at the scene of the deadly single-vehicle accident. KTVU
The car at the bottom of the cliff. KTVU
Pieces of the car near the location of the crash. KTVU

But an incoming high tide curtailed their efforts, which included hauling heavy machinery down the cliff so first responders could cut the car apart and recover the bodies, the station said.

A third person — also dead — was found inside the car on Saturday, the outlet said.

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Cops haven’t released the victims’ identities, and the investigation is still ongoing, the highway patrol said.



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Latest Line: A good week for Kamala Harris, bad week for California unions

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Latest Line: A good week for Kamala Harris, bad week for California unions


Kamala Harris

President Joe Biden ends his re-election bid and supports Vice President Harris, California’s former Senator and Attorney General and San Francisco’s former District Attorney, to run in his place, as Democratic leaders quickly unite in support of her historic campaign.

 

 

 

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Unions

California’s powerful labor unions lose key California Supreme Court ruling unanimously upholding a voter-approved Proposition 22 that allows gig-work companies like Uber and DoorDash to treat their drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors instead of employees.

 

 

 

Gavin Newsom

Democrats’ quick move to support Vice President Kamala Harris for president after President Biden ended his re-election bid snuffed out talk of California’s governor as a viable alternative. But recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling boosts Newsom’s effort to clear illegal encampments of homeless people that have hurt Newsom’s national image.



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California wildfire evacuee shelters with her 7 dogs

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California wildfire evacuee shelters with her 7 dogs


Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California are getting some help from the weather just hours after the blaze exploded in size, scorching an area larger than Los Angeles. But it is little consolation to the many who have had to evacuate or have lost their homes to the flames, including evacuee Susan Singleton and her 7 dogs. (AP Video by Eugene Garcia)



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