The Brief

An overnight curfew for downtown L.A. was extended to Wednesday night, with officials citing heightened tensions between protesters and authorities that have resulted in violence and property damage.

The curfew, confirmed by an official in the mayor's office, will again be in place from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. It extends east to west from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway; and from north to south from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge.

The LAPD said it and other local agencies made 203 arrests during the first curfew overnight Tuesday of people accused of failure to disperse, 17 arrests of people accused of violating curfew, one arrest of a person suspected of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one arrest of a person accused of shining a laser at a police airship.

Although the initial curfew was for one night, Bass had cautioned that she would consult with law enforcement and other local leaders on whether to extend the restrictions.

Bass has also stressed that the area under curfew is a small fraction of the city, she described it as about 1 square mile in a city that's more than 500 square miles. [Fact check: The area appears to be slightly larger, although still a fraction of the overall city footprint.]

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that non-residents caught within the curfew zone would face arrest.

"If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested," he said.

Catch up on where things stand

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that two Los Angeles County men had been charged with possessing Molotov cocktails during the protests in downtown L.A. and the city of Paramount. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

One of the defendants is a 23-year-old man from Paramount who is accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail over a wall and in the direction of sheriff's deputies during a protest on Saturday in that city. The other is a 27-year-old man from Long Beach, accused of holding a Molotov cocktail and a lighter during a protest on Sunday near federal buildings in downtown L.A.'s Civic Center. Both men are in custody, federal authorities said.

Two other people — a 32-year-old from Anaheim and a 43-year-old from Orange — face misdemeanor charges stemming from protests in Santa Ana. They're each accused of assault on a federal officer, according to prosecutors. They are accused of throwing objects, including water bottles and beer cans, during the demonstrations on Monday.

L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Wednesday announced the filing of charges in five cases related to the protests. The charges include assault of a peace officer, commercial burglary, grand theft, vandalism and reckless driving stemming from protests over the weekend. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face time in state prison.

Hochman noted that investigators are continuing to gather evidence and more charges could be coming.

"There's a tremendous amount of video out there... ," Hochman said. "For people who have already engaged in this activity, we're coming for you."

Among those charged is a Gardena man accused of passing out commercial-grade fireworks to others at a Sunday protest. Members of the group lit the fireworks and threw them at police officers, Hochman said. An officer was injured by the sparks from one of the fireworks, the district attorney said.

Two other defendants are accused in separate incidents of driving motorcycles into a line of officers in downtown L.A. The incidents happened minutes apart. Several of the officers were knocked down, and one was injured, Hochman said.

Both LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell and L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke at the news conference and stressed that their respective departments respect the people's right to peacefully protest, but that officers and deputies would step in when someone breaks the law or puts others in danger.

"What we're talking about are the individuals who don't care about the issue at hand, because we will facilitate all peaceful First Amendment activity," Luna said. "But when you have people that are out here to commit acts of violence against our deputy sheriffs or police officers or just they're destroying our city, we're going to stop it."

Context on the protest response

Meanwhile, the protests continue mostly in relatively small areas of downtown L.A. and Orange County.

California state leaders have asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the military and the National Guard to police Los Angeles and other communities in the wake of immigration raids and the protests sparked as a result.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court. They filed the request Tuesday morning.

The Defense Department asked for 24 hours to file a response, and the court granted that request. Newsom and Bonta will then have a opportunity to respond.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer set a hearing on the state's motion for Thursday afternoon.

In addition, Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday that focuses on the same issues. Bonta said this week that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully invoked a statute intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous. Local law enforcement, not the military, enforce the law within our borders," Bonta said in a news release Tuesday. "The President continues to inflame tensions and antagonize communities. ”

About the protests — and White House — response so far

Protesters have confronted authorities in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since Friday over raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tensions continued to rise Monday and Tuesday between protesters and authorities, and between federal and local officials over how to respond. As of Tuesday afternoon, aerial TV news footage showed multiple people being arrested downtown and a crowd of protesters temporarily forcing both directions of the 101 Freeway close.

Last weekend, Trump administration officials announced they were calling up the California National Guard in response to what the White House said were "violent mobs" attacking "ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles."

Trump indicated he would send more members of the guard to Southern California as well as other military support.

NPR confirmed later that 700 Marines would be sent to L.A. in a support role.

The 60-day deployment of National Guard and Marines to L.A. is expected to cost $134 million, Hegseth and other defense officials told a California congressman Tuesday.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told AirTalk, LAist's daily news talk program, she had "no idea" what the National Guard troops and Marines heading for L.A. planned to do once they arrived, but she said she was certain they were not needed. She added that the city attorney is considering taking legal action against the Trump administration, similar to what Newsom and Bonta filed, although she doesn't know yet what the lawsuit would look like.

What we know about the ICE raids to date

At a news conference Monday evening, Bass said she knew of five ICE raids that had occurred across the region, with at least two occurring within the city of L.A.

" ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said.  "I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live. It might be their workplace."

The mayor condemned the actions of the federal agents.

"At the beginning of this administration we were told raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants," she said.

"But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government."

The federal immigration sweeps prompted anger, protest and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Outside City Hall on Sunday, Eli Lockwood of Hacienda Heights told LAist she was there for a planned demonstration to protest what she said were “disgusting attacks on our communities.”

“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said.

By Sunday morning, hundreds of National Guard members were on duty in downtown L.A., where two protests — one permitted and one not permitted — converged near the federal detention center.

The growing protest made for a rowdy and tense scene, punctuated by the sound of flash bangs and tear gas.

How are officials responding to the raids and protests?

Newsom on Sunday formally asked that Trump rescind the deployment he had ordered Saturday.

The governor called the plan to take over deployment from the state "a serious breach of state sovereignty," and "purposefully inflammatory," adding that it "will only escalate tensions," and that he'd been in "close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need."

Bass has said she supports Newsom's request, adding that she had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from sending in troops.

U.S. National Guard are deployed outside the federal prison in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following a immigration raid protest the night before.

(

Jae Hong

/

AP

)

"The last thing this city needs is civil unrest that is provoked," she said.

Trump said the move was needed on social media, turning the governor's name into an insult: "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

How is law enforcement scaling up?

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the imminent arrival of U.S. Marines would be more of a logistical strain.

“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said in a statement.

Now, hundreds of more law enforcement officers are also heading to Los Angeles. Newsom said Monday he's working with partner agencies to send more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles "to clean up President Trump’s mess."

"Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces," he said in a statement. "State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region.”

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is now formally requesting the deployment of officers from a range of neighboring jurisdictions, including the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff's departments in Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

What's the role of the National Guard?

Two starkly contrasting pictures of conditions in the L.A. area continue to be offered by Trump and his allies, compared with local and state officials.

While Fox News and other conservative media used captions like "L.A. Riots" and the term "rioters" was trending on X, closer to home, authorities described isolated skirmishes and urged calm. Some national outlets seem to think Paramount, where some violence was reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, whose district includes Paramount, told LAist Sunday morning that she'd been in close contact with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the area.

"We don't need additional assistance," she said. "We have everything under control... the Sheriff's [Department] in Paramount got everything under control yesterday and LAPD has cleared out downtown last night without the help of National Guard."

The Sheriff's Department told LAist that two deputies had been injured Saturday, treated at a hospital and released. It also said people threw bottles and set off fireworks; some were detained.

Bass and other local and state leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying there is no place for violence or attacks on police as people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Barragán said her constituents are upset: "People are angry. ... They're concerned. There's a lot of anxiety about immigration enforcement."

The effect " is terrorizing the community, and now you send the National Guard, you know, against their own people, and that is of course going to escalate the situation, and we're trying to deescalate. And I think this administration knows what they're doing. They're trying to have a distraction."

What led up to Trump's action

The conflict in Paramount, a city of about 56,000 residents south of downtown L.A., attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

As the situation there was still developing, L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials said in a statement that "as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs."

An anti-ICE protester challenges deputies in Paramount on Saturday.

(

Carlin Stiehl

/

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

)

At that point, the department said it requested additional resources "countywide." The statement did not reference the National Guard.

"We will protect your right to peacefully protest," Sheriff Robert Luna said in an interview included in the statement, "but we will not tolerate violence or destruction of property."

The Sheriff's Department also clarified that they were not participating in any immigration enforcement actions, saying: "When federal authorities come under attack and request assistance, we will support them and provide aid. However, this does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations; rather, our objective is to protect them from any violent attacks. Any assault on federal or local law enforcement is unacceptable."

In Los Angeles by contrast, LAPD officials released a statement at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday calling the day's protests in the city "peaceful" and commending "all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly," adding that the department "appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day."

Later in the evening, LAPD officers ordered protesters in downtown L.A. to disperse and closed Alameda between Los Angeles Street and 2nd Street to both pedestrians and vehicles.

The scene late Saturday in downtown Los Angeles near the central jail.

(

Jordan Rynning

/

LAist

)

What we know about the ICE raids

Initially, ICE officials said 44 people were arrested in the raids, although some news reports placed the number at more than 120 by late Saturday.

"ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles," ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement.

Confrontations between what appeared to be ICE officers and people in the streets of downtown L.A. could be seen in video aired on local television and shared on social media.

At times, uniformed agents or officers could be seen physically moving people who appeared to be blocking the officers and their vehicles.

Reports shared via the social media platform X said ICE was seen in the Garment District area of L.A. Another video showed federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Westlake, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, said her organization estimated there were at least 45 detentions.

Among them was Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta. They said Huerta had been injured and was receiving medical attention while in custody.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger," Huerta said in a statement released by the union. "This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

Several immigrant rights leaders and activists, along with some city elected officials, attended a large rally Friday evening to share their reactions to the federal operations and call for a stop to them. Later, more than 300 people marched a few blocks toward the federal detention center.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles.

(

Jae C. Hong

/

AP

)

Reaction from city officials

Since Friday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has been vocal in speaking out against the ICE raids.

"As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.

"My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations," the mayor continued. "We will not stand for this."

All 15 members of the City Council released a joint statement that echoed some of the same points the Bass made.

"We condemn this in no uncertain terms: Los Angeles was built by immigrants and it thrives because of immigrants," the statement read. "We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city.

"To every immigrant living in our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will fight for you," the statement continued. "Los Angeles will continue to be a place that values and dignifies every human being, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was not involved in the ICE operations.

“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status,” he said.

After the sweeps, photographers captured several protesters being detained by officers. Addressing a crowd at a rally, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against previous statements by the Trump administration that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals.

"It's never, ever, ever been the case," Hernandez said. "Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that."

Dozens of immigration activists gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest a series of federal immigration operations Friday, June 6, that resulted in several detentions.

(

Frank Stoltze

/

LAist

)

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado noted the timing of the ICE operations, stressing that they happened at a time when families and students are celebrating graduations and the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month.

"What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?" Jurado asked. "The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy."

Mass deportations

Since Trump was elected, immigrant rights groups in Southern California have been on edge. Trump has promised “mass deportations” of unauthorized immigrants. There have been protests that have shut down freeways and high school walkouts by students protesting the administration.

“Los Angeles immigrant communities and allies have been preparing,” Andres Kwon of the American Civil Liberties Union told LAist in February.

The ACLU is part of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant rights, legal and faith-based groups that has a hotline for people to report ICE activity and to seek help after a raid.

CHIRLA and other groups have hosted workshops that teach undocumented immigrants how to assert their constitutional rights, as well as how to prepare for worst-case scenarios. They’ve been telling people they don’t have to allow a federal agent into their home without a warrant and don’t have to reveal their immigration status.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began distributing “red cards,” also known as “Know Your Rights” cards, to help people assert their rights and defend themselves if they encounter federal immigration agents.

The effort came as the Trump administration announced it would allow ICE to conduct arrests in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, dismantling policies dating back to 2011.

Before L.A., ICE conducted high-profile enforcement actions in Chicago and Boston. Last week, an ICE raid on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood resulted in multiple arrests. While the raid was taking place, crowds gathered outside the restaurant where many people protested the action, filming the officers on their cellphones and surrounding their vehicles.

Detentions under Biden

Removals of immigrants by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol in the L.A. area were on the rise before Trump came into office. But the Washington Post reported earlier this year that ICE had struggled to boost arrest numbers despite an infusion of resources.

ICE/CBP removals in the L.A. Area of Operations, which includes much of Southern California, increased by more than 180% between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, according to ICE data. More than 3,551 people were removed in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.

Detentions also rose, according to the data.

While national detentions remained fairly constant over the past four years, L.A.-area detentions increased by 155% from 2022 to 2024, when 3,857 people were detained.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chris Newman, legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said earlier this year.

While in office, former President Joe Biden was under increasing political pressure to address illegal immigration.

“The Biden administration was focused on recent arrivals and people with criminal history,” Newman said.

From 2023 to 2024, the L.A. area had significant increases in detentions (432% increase from 217 to 1,154) and removals (547% increase from 223 to 1,443) of people who had not been convicted of crimes.

How we're reporting on this

Many reporters, editors and producers have been contributing to this story, which first published on Friday, June 7, with Frank Stoltze's byline, Dana Littlefield edited. Stoltze who was at the scene of the initial news conference and also reported from downtown L.A. over the weekend with Jared Bennett. Among other key contributors in the days since: Jordan Rynning, Josie Huang, Dañiel Martinez, Destiny Torres, Fiona Ng, Jason Wells, Ross Brenneman, Matt Ballinger, Erin Stone, Makenna Sieverston and Megan Garvey.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

Shifting control of L.A. city homelessness spending away from the agency long entrusted with it to a department in city government could take a year and a half, city officials said Wednesday.

Bringing that spending in house was one of several options discussed by city councilmembers during a meeting of their housing and homelessness committee. Another option they’re considering is having the money be managed by the county, which started setting up a homelessness department about a year ago.

The city directs roughly $300 million per year to the L.A. Homeless Services Authority. L.A. County supervisors voted last April to withdraw funding for the agency, citing ongoing problems with the agency's oversight of homelessness funds. Now 10 months later, city officials are debating what to do with the troubled agency.

Just after Wednesday’s discussion ended, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ office released a statement urging the council not to withdraw funding from LAHSA without a plan in place.

“Withdrawing from LAHSA too quickly, without a plan and without the capacity, will no doubt cause unintended consequences that will leave more Angelenos to die on our streets,” Bass said in her statement. “What we need is a serious, thoughtful transition plan — the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy.”

What’s on the table?

A staff report presented to the homelessness committee last April included several paths forward. Those options are:

• not changing anything major
• keeping the city money at LAHSA but beefing up city oversight
• shifting the funding from LAHSA to direct city control
• shifting the city’s funding from LAHSA to the county homelessness department to administer it

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who sits on the council’s housing and homelessness committee, said he’d be open to having the county handle the city’s homelessness spending if the county doesn’t charge the city for overhead costs.

 ”If they're doing that, then I might be willing to say, 'OK, let's give them some of our money.' … That's going help our programs and give us a more efficient route,” Blumenfield said. “We also need to get down to brass tacks and understand what it means financially.”

Currently, about 3.6% of the city’s spending through LAHSA goes to administration costs, according to LAHSA’s budget. That rate is 8% for the county’s funds at LAHSA, which will be pulled from the agency July 1 and shifted to the new county department.

Councilmember Tim McOsker said he was leaning toward working with the county on a limited number of programs, like interim housing.

City officials said they currently lack staff dedicated to advising them on homelessness policy and setting up the infrastructure to potentially take on direct oversight of the spending.

“There are no dedicated policy staff on homelessness in the city [government],” said John Wickham, a legislative analyst official at the city who presented the staff report of options to the committee Wednesday.

Additional accountability

The statement from Bass’ office encouraged the city council to develop a “thoughtful transition plan” before shifting funds away from LAHSA.

The statement touted a new Homelessness Bureau the city created for the budget that started last July to focus on “oversight, accountability and results” to the city’s homelessness spending.

But city officials noted at Wednesday’s committee meeting that no one has been hired yet at the bureau, nine months after the council approved its funding.

“We have not hired a single person for the bureau yet,” said committee chair Nithya Raman, who championed the bureau a year ago. “We need more capacity to be able to manage this work at the city and to make sure that every dollar is working well. We just do. We're not staffed to be able to handle that right now.”

Limited time for discussion

Wednesday’s discussion didn’t start until just before 4 p.m., following two hours of discourse on other items at the meeting and lasted about 45 minutes.

“It's getting very late,” Raman said around 3:45 p.m., before the committee began talking about the possible funding shift from LAHSA.

It’s been two years since Councilmember Monica Rodriguez introduced the item that was up for discussion Wednesday, with the staff report of options delivered almost a year ago. She told councilmembers Wednesday that they’ve been wasting precious time and need to be decisive.

 ”In the 316 days since this report was issued, we are finally here engaging in this conversation,” Rodriguez said. She recently criticized Raman, the committee’s chair, for not scheduling the discussion sooner.

“ No longer can we afford indecision in making decisive actions around how we change this system. We must act. We must act now,” she said.  ”We still have a broken and dysfunctional system without a singular entity directing our work around homelessness.”

Raman has said she plans to hold one more discussion — expected to be March 18 — before the committee decides next steps. From there, it will be up to the full city council to decide. The committee’s recommendations are influential, as the panel’s five members are one-third of the full council and most of what it would take to form a deciding majority on the council.

No written agreement

Officials also noted Wednesday that under their current approach, there’s no written agreement laying out what LAHSA and the city’s responsibilities are. They said one is in the works.

“What I've seen in my short period is that … if we didn't ink it, nobody could think it and then they get away with not doing the work,” said Councilmember Heather Hutt. “I think we need to be more intentional about identifying roles.”

LAHSA is in ‘crisis,’ CEO says

LAHSA was created by the city and county in 1993 to oversee homeless services. It’s governed by a CEO who reports to a commission of 10 members. Half of the members are appointed by the mayor and the other half by each of the five county supervisors. Bass also serves on the commission, having appointed herself in fall 2023.

While it’s long-faced criticism, it’s been under particularly close scrutiny for more than a year.

An audit and court-ordered review found it failed to properly track its spending and whether services were being provided.

LAHSA also has been facing criticism more recently for months-long delays in paying tens of millions of dollars to reimburse service providers — a problem officials vowed to fix nearly two years ago. Several providers recently told LAist they've had had to dip into reserves or take on debt.

While addressing the commission that oversees the organization last Friday, CEO Gita O’Neill said LAHSA was “in crisis. And I say this not as a criticism to any of our really hardworking staff. They've built what they were asked to build.”

O'Neill added of LAHSA staff that “morale is very low.”

More than a year-and-a-half after promising to provide up to 40 free carts to eligible street vendors, Long Beach hasn’t even made it halfway to that goal and now plans to cut funding for the program.

As of late February, Long Beach had supplied 11 free carts, with six more applicants waiting for final approvals. Health officials say this is because out of the 123 applicants, the vast majority haven’t completed all the steps necessary.

Long Beach originally allocated $429,500 for the free-cart program, but the City Council recently approved reducing that by $200,201, citing “low participation” and the need to balance a city budget that’s facing deficits.

Applications are still open for vendors seeking a free cart, but city officials are reviewing “the application process and overall program,” Health Department spokesperson Jennifer Ann Gonzalez wrote in an email.

Vendors, for their part, say the process was plagued by delays and complications.

Anita McCoy, who sells pastrami and hot dogs through her business Lucky Bee, said it took roughly eight months to receive a cart that was worth about $17,500. She was grateful but said it took countless emails and phone calls to the Health Department to finally get the finished product.

“I had to be diligent in my pursuit,” McCoy said.

De’Mon Tyndell, who runs The Quesadilla Calling, received his cart roughly a year after applying.

At one point, after months of email exchanges and “doing applications on applications,” Tyndell told city staff, “I don’t even want to do this anymore.”

Although he has the cart, Tyndell said he doesn’t use it for his various pop-ups throughout the week because the roughly 800-pound mobile kitchen is not “user friendly” to transport.

De’Mon Tyndell says the free cart he received from the city hasn’t been practical to use.

(

Thomas R. Cordova.

/

Long Beach Post

)

Moving it requires a trailer with a winch because the cart’s built-in wheels are too small for it to be towed around, Tyndell said.

As a result, the cart has been sitting in storage for the past six months while he uses a flattop grill and tables he can easily load in his van.

The free cart program was aimed at small-time entrepreneurs who needed help complying with new rules the city drafted on street vending. To qualify, applicants needed to live in Long Beach, have no more than two full-time employees and operate only one cart. If approved, they could receive one of four types: fruit carts, grilled food carts, tamale carts and ice cream carts.

But many people trying to run a low-margin business don’t have time for a complicated application process.

For McCoy, selling pastramis and hot dogs from a corner in North Long Beach is just one of her side businesses. That means she doesn’t have to be out every day to bring in enough cash to sustain her operation. That flexibility gave her the time to pursue the free cart with a sense of urgency.

“I was begging them [to give me a cart] because I knew the program was going to be cut,” McCoy said.

Meanwhile, since early last year, the city has begun penalizing street vendors who don’t comply with its rules.

Health Department officials say it’s a necessary step to prevent food-borne illness caused by vendors who haven’t gone through a health inspection.

From early last year through Feb. 23, city staff seized and discarded food from 72 vendors and issued 103 administrative citations against vendors without an active business license. In 71 cases, they’ve also impounded street vendors’ equipment.

Penalties for the citations range from $100 to $500, depending on how many times a vendor has been cited.

Enforcement is carried out based on complaints. The Health Department says its staff first tries to educate vendors on how to comply, then they issue a notice of violation and finally an administrative citation. If vendors don’t heed that citation, a team responds to discard food and impound equipment.

Starting in 2022, California banned cities from outlawing street vendors altogether, but municipalities are still allowed to regulate when, where and how they can sell for health and safety reasons.

Since Long Beach adopted its rules, the city has received 358 applications from vendors seeking a business license to operate legally. As of Feb. 23, the city has granted just 55 (15.4%).

Rather than risk being cited, Tyndell limits his selling to pop-ups at farmers markets, outside bars and various events around the city where he can more easily get permits. Recently, he got a spot selling inside Good Times Billiards — a pool hall in Lakewood — and hopes to add a second location inside another pool hall on Broadway in Alamitos Beach.

That business is awaiting city approval, but Tyndell said he aims to open by the end of the month. There, he says, he’ll finally use his free cart to serve up gourmet quesadillas.

A Vietnam War memorial that became a symbol of government corruption was torn down Wednesday in Fountain Valley.

Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do had awarded $1 million in taxpayer dollars for the memorial in 2023 — to a nonprofit where his daughter, Rhiannon Do, was an officer.

The project was never completed.

When LAist visited the memorial last year, it was unfinished and cracked. And an architect who visited the site with LAist estimated that the monument cost a fraction of the taxpayer money awarded to build it.

Do is currently serving a five-year prison sentence in Arizona after admitting to directing money to several nonprofit groups and businesses that then funneled some of that money back to himself and family members for personal gain. LAist has been investigating the alleged corruption since 2023.

Do was also ordered to pay $878,230.80 in restitution for his role in the bribery scheme that saw millions in taxpayer dollars diverted from feeding needy seniors, leading authorities to label him a “Robin Hood in reverse.”

Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who now represents Do’s former district, which includes the memorial site, said it would have been too expensive to repair or relocate it.

“Let’s restart and do it right,” she said at the time.

Go deeper ...

Here's a look at some of LAist's coverage of one of the biggest corruption scandals in Orange County history:

LAist investigates: Andrew Do corruption scandal
Ex-Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is ordered to pay $878,230.80 in restitution
'Robin Hood in reverse.' O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do resigns and will plead guilty to bribery conspiracy charge
Former OC Supervisor Andrew Do turns himself in, begins 5-year federal prison term
6 questions we still have after disgraced former OC Supervisor Andrew Do’s sentencing
A quiet retreat for the judge married to disgraced OC politician Andrew Do

How to watchdog your local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention. Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The Orange County Board of Supervisors meets on alternating Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. at 400 West Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

Low-polling Democratic candidates for governor of California struck a defiant tone Tuesday in the face of mounting pressure from party leaders to drop out before a key deadline this week.

With nine major Democrats still vying for the state’s top job, party insiders have fretted for weeks about a splintered primary vote that could result in the two leading Republicans — commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — finishing first and second in the June 2 primary and ensuring a GOP victor in November.

In an open letter to campaigns published Tuesday, California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks called that scenario implausible but “not impossible” and urged Democratic candidates to make an honest assessment of their chances before Friday — the deadline to file and officially appear on the ballot in June.

“If you do not have a viable path to make it to the general election, do not file to place your name on the ballot for the primary election,” Hicks wrote.

But candidates who have been mired in single digits for months, including state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former state Controller Betty Yee, showed no immediate signs of heading toward the exits.

At the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office in Oakland, Yee filed the paperwork to officially place her name on the ballot.

“When I was signing the declaration of candidacy, my hands were shaking because I just thought about my mother, who is 102, and how within a generation she’s able to see her daughter do this,” Yee told KQED. “We’re undergoing a process of constant assessment, and every time we do that, we just see that this is still a wide-open race.”

Thurmond, who is Black and Latino, accused the state party of “essentially telling every candidate of color in the race for governor to drop out.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be the party who embraces democracy — a party of, by and for the people?” Thurmond said in a video posted to social media. “Well, the establishment might not be, but our campaign is, and that’s why we’re in this race to win it.”

Hicks did not call on any specific candidates to leave the race but asked those who continue their campaigns beyond this week to “be prepared to suspend your campaign and endorse another candidate on or before April 15 if your campaign cannot show meaningful progress toward winning the primary election in the coming weeks.”

The chair’s plea comes weeks after Democratic delegates failed to agree on an endorsement at the state party convention in San Francisco.

Since then, polling in the race has been largely static, with investor Tom Steyer (who has spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads) being the only Democrat to see significant traction in recent surveys.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Rep. Katie Porter and Steyer were the top polling Democrats in polls released last month by Emerson College and the Public Policy Institute of California.

Below that trio is a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls that includes Thurmond and Yee, along with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San José Mayor Matt Mahan and former Assemblymember Ian Calderon.

Meanwhile, Hilton and Bianco have faced little competition for the Republican primary vote.

Jon Slavet, a GOP tech entrepreneur who was polling at around 1%, suspended his campaign Tuesday.

“The last few months have been a gift,” said Slavet, in a video posted on social media. “It’s also shown me that building a winning coalition, brick by brick, will take time.”

With Slavet out of the field, a primary election simulator created by Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., put the chances of a Republican vs. Republican general election at roughly 25%.

In his letter, Hicks said a Bianco-Hilton general election would not only upend Democratic leadership of state government but also depress Democratic turnout in the California congressional districts the party is hoping to flip in November.

“The result would present a real risk to winning the congressional seats required and imperil Democrats’ chances to retake the House, cut Donald Trump’s term in half, and spare our Nation from the pain many have endured since January 2025,” Hicks wrote. “We simply can’t let that happen.”