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Jeremy B. White and Lara Korte’s must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State | | | | |  | | By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White, Sakura Cannestra and Owen Tucker-Smith | THE BUZZ: It’s one of California’s most deeply-rooted and pernicious problems, and this year Democrats across the state are taking a harder line. As Lara and Jeremy report today, elected officials across deep-blue California are reacting to intense public pressure to erase the most visible signs of homelessness. Democratic leaders who once would have been loath to forcibly remove people from sidewalks, parks and alongside highways are increasingly imposing camping bans, often while framing the policies as compassionate. It’s not hard to find examples — Sacramento just voted to ban camping on sidewalks and the scenic American River Parkway. San Diego has penalized people refusing shelter. Oakland upped its rate of camp closures as the pandemic receded. San Jose is scrambling to clear scores of people from an area near the airport or risk losing federal funding. Advocates and homeless people say it’s not a true solution. They argue such policies effectively shuffle the problem from street corner to street corner and risk further penalizing people who need help. But overwhelmingly, business leaders and angry residents are showing up to local government meetings, demanding officials do something about the neighborhood blight. Across the county, California is home to the lion’s share of the nation's homeless population. Per federal counts, more than 161,000 people were homeless in Sacramento in 2020, about 27 percent of the national total. We should note — California is much bigger than most states, both geographically and population-wise. The mild climates also make it an easier place to live unsheltered than, say, the Midwest or New England. | 
This is a homeless encampment on Beaudry Avenue in downtown Los Angeles on May 21, 2020. | Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo | Critics, especially conservative cable news pundits, have piled blame on California’s decades-long Democratic rule. More than his predecessors, Gov. Gavin Newsom has made homelessness a centerpiece of his administration — securing historic levels of funding for local housing and clean-up projects. He recently announced that the state had cleared 1,200 encampments in the past year, and there are high hopes for his newly-launched CARE Courts. But those efforts aren’t happening fast enough for many in California, including merchants who are languishing in downtowns that are inundated with tents, tarps and other refuse. It’s a frustration that voters are likely to carry into the polling booth in November. The latest poll from the Public Policy Institute of California reported that 70 percent of likely voters considered homelessness to be a “big problem” in their communities. That number was even higher (74 percent) in competitive Congressional districts. Read more in Lara and Jeremy’s story. BUENOS DÍAS, good Wednesday morning. Tonight in L.A., we’re watching the debates between candidates in two high-profile races. At 6 p.m., it’s Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva v. Robert Luna. Then at 7 p.m., it’s Rep. Karen Bass v. Rick Caruso. Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith and Fox 11 News anchor Elex Michaelson are co-moderating the debates, which will be livestreamed at latimes.com and univision34.com, as well as be broadcast on Fox 11 and KPCC 89.3 FM. Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte . QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I had to jam my own Democratic Legislature in the last few weeks of our session to get these four critical... climate bills done. Had I not done that, all those special interests would have prevailed again." Newsom speaking about the swath of California’s climate legislation at Climate Week NYC on Tuesday. TWEET OF THE DAY
|  Today's Tweet of the Day. | Twitter | WHERE’S GAVIN? In New York City for Climate Week.
| | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A GLOBAL INSIDER INTERVIEW : From climate change to public health emergencies and a gloomy global economic outlook, the world continues to deal with overlapping crises. How do we best confront all of these issues? Join POLITICO Live on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10:30 a.m. EDT for a virtual conversation with Global Insider author Ryan Heath, featuring World Bank President David Malpass, to explore what it will take to restore global stability and avoid a prolonged recession. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | TOP TALKERS | | — “S.F. had bold plan to cut chronic homelessness in half in 5 years. The numbers only got worse,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mallory Moench and Kevin Fagan: “As San Francisco approaches the end of the five years in December, it seems clear the city will fail to cut the number of chronically homeless in half. In fact, that number is higher than it was in 2017 — 2,691 compared with 2,138.” — “Prop. 27 — which would legalize online sports betting — is scaling back TV ads ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli: “The Prop. 27 campaign pulled all of its TV advertising from California’s major markets this week and only has broadcast spots scheduled to run in October in Los Angeles with smaller cable buys in the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego and Fresno through October, according to campaign ad trackers.” | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | — “Column: Is Gavin Newsom running for president? Or is he just desperate for attention?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria: “Political columnist Mark Z. Barabak is convinced Newsom isn’t really running for president at this point. California columnist Anita Chabria insists he is.” — “In nonpartisan race for California superintendent of public instruction, it’s all politics,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Mackenzie Mays: “The superintendent of public instruction is the only nonpartisan statewide office in California, but it seems impossible to separate politics from the race between Democratic incumbent Tony Thurmond and Republican challenger Lance Christensen.”
| | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | WEST COAST ROAST — “California is so hot and dry that not even soaking rain can ease fall fire peril,”by the Los Angeles Times’ Hayley Smith and Alexandra E. Petri: “In California, occasional bouts of heavy precipitation are proving outmatched by rising temperatures and worsening drought, which can leave vegetation nearly as brittle and fire-prone as it was before the rain.” — “Analysis shows California EDD fraud really at $32.6 billion and counting ,” by KCRA’s David Manoucheri: “Yet, the department has remained silent in terms of new fraud figures. Now, the CEO of a major data and analytics company says that the $20 billion figure is woefully short of the mark.” — “Billions in Climate Deal Funding Could Help Protect U.S. Coastal Cities ,” by the New York Times’ Stephanie Lai: “A little-noticed section of Democrats’ climate legislation, which made the largest federal investment in history to combat the warming of the planet, injects $2.6 billion over five years into coastal communities across the country through grants to fund projects that prepare and respond to hazardous climate-related events and disturbances.” STILL A PANDEMIC — “ Covid Still Kills, but the Demographics of Its Victims Are Shifting,” by California Healthline’s Phillip Reese: “Still, each week, the virus is killing hundreds of Californians, hitting hardest among the unvaccinated. The virus remained among the state’s leading causes of death in July, trailing heart disease, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease but outpacing diabetes, accidental death, and a host of other debilitating diseases.” KEEPING THE LIGHTS OFF — “How an effort to reduce fossil fuel use led to another environmental problem: light pollution,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Sumeet Kulkarni: “By 2020, LEDs accounted for 51% of global lighting sales, up from just 1% in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization that analyzes global energy data.”
| | | | DON’T MISS - MILKEN INSTITUTE ASIA SUMMIT : Go inside the 9th annual Milken Institute Asia Summit, taking place from September 28-30, with a special edition of POLITICO’s Global Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive coverage and insights from this important gathering. Stay up to speed with daily updates from the summit, which brings together more than 1,200 of the world’s most influential leaders from business, government, finance, technology, and academia. Don’t miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | — What the numbers really say about abortion and Democrats in the midterms, by POLITICO’s Jessica Piper: Democrats have been on a voter registration tear since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. There’s just one problem for them — they are digging out from under major Republican gains in the previous 18 months. — “Biden scrambles to shore up Latino support. Is it too late?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Eli Stokols: “But some Latino activists worry voters aren’t aware of all that’s been done, and others worry that the blinkered perspective Biden acknowledged privately has limited Latino representation in his administration.” CITIZEN-CENTRIC — “The Supreme Court could revisit ‘archaic’ citizenship cases. The Biden administration is urging it to pass, ” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “In April, when the court upheld the government’s denial of some Social Security benefits to Puerto Ricans — who were granted U.S. citizenship, but not all the rights of U.S. residents, by Congress in 1917 — conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the cases ‘have no foundation in the Constitution and rest instead on racial stereotypes.’”
| | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | — “The robots are here. And they are making you fries.” by the Washington Post’s Laura Reiley and Lee Powell: “Restaurants have toyed with robotics for years, cropping up as early as 1983 when Two Panda Deli in Pasadena, Calif., used robots to schlep Chinese food from the kitchen to customers.”
| | HOLLYWOODLAND | | STREAMING AWAY — “‘Days of Our Lives’ made the move to streaming. Some loyal fans are feeling burned,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Meredith Blake: “But last week, the daytime drama took a leap that many longtime viewers may never accept: NBC moved the soap, a staple of its daytime programming since 1965, to Peacock, NBC Universal’s streaming service, replacing it with a daily news broadcast.” — "Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine to support farmworkers with free concert in Sacramento ," by KCRA's Jonathan Ayestas: "Rage Against the Machine is a group known for actively engaging in political discussion, including with their music."
| | CANNABIS COUNTRY | | — “Sacramento charged landlord $137K after his tenant grew pot. Now city to pay settlement,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Theresa Clift: “The settlement agreement, which the city signed in August, includes $650,000 in attorney’s fees, $35,000 to repay fines the property owner had paid, and roughly $10,000 in additional compensation.”
| | MIXTAPE | | PAGING ROAD RUNNER — “Inside the war against Southern California's urban coyotes. 'Horrific' or misunderstood?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Louis Sahagún. — “Will you get a payment? California readying ‘tax refunds’ for 23 million residents,” by the Mercury News’ Samantha Gowen. — “ Lawsuit filed over inmate who died after cover-up at troubled California prison,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Sam Stanton. — “ ‘State of emergency’: Oakland leaders ring the alarm after three homicides in one hour,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Rachel Swan. — “$10,000 for one Instagram post? How food influencers can make or break restaurants ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Jenn Harris. — “Berkeley man who welcomed the public at his backyard hot tub dies,” by SFGate’s Amy Graff. SPICE UP YOUR LOVE LIFE WITH… — “My secret to dating in San Francisco is a spreadsheet,” by SFGate’s Chin Lu.
| | BIRTHDAYS | | Jerry Bruckheimer ... Ethan Coen … Kiki Burger (4-0) … Brian Roehrkasse CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this -only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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