The Brief

California’s gubernatorial election is a year away, and the field of primary candidates is still taking shape. But one persistent issue has already emerged as a leading concern: the cost of health care.

At a forum Nov. 7 in the Inland Empire, four Democratic candidates vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to push back against Republican cuts to health care programs and to improve people’s access to medical care, including mental health services. But while some floated taxes, candidates were light on details about how they would bring down health care costs.

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra promised to be California’s next “health care governor,” echoing Newsom’s commitment to lower costs and broaden access when he first got into office. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond pledged to create a single-payer health care system in which everyone is pooled into one program. Former state Controller Betty Yee said she would “build back better” from federal cuts and create a health care system tailored to California’s diverse communities.

And former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to fight to preserve safety net health care pared by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, although he acknowledged the challenge given limited state resources.

“I’m not gonna sell you snake oil,” he said. “It is going to be tough to provide that care, but I’m absolutely committed to it.”

The candidates’ assurances come amid recent shifts in state and federal policies that, together with a variety of forces, are driving up the cost of health care and making it harder for people to obtain and maintain coverage. In addition to providers raising prices, other inflationary pressures include an aging population, rising chronic conditions, medical advancements, and new technologies, according to analysts. That’s added to a sense of financial precarity for the millions of Californians struggling with the state’s high cost of living and recent inflation spike.

Although the forum was open to up to six candidates, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter and entrepreneur Stephen Cloobeck declined to participate, citing scheduling or other factors, according to Jon Koriel, an event spokesperson.

Four Democratic candidates vying to be California governor appeared at a forum on health care on Nov. 7 in Riverside: (from left) former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former state Controller Betty Yee.

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Leroy Hamilton

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Health care top concern

A statewide poll commissioned by the California Wellness Foundation ahead of the Health Matters forum found that nearly 80% of likely voters worry about the cost of health care and that 72% think the next governor should prioritize capping out-of-pocket expenses. Access to affordable mental health care and being able to care for aging family members or friends were also top concerns. Perhaps in an early signal, voters last week in Santa Clara County passed a sales tax to help backfill federal cuts to food and health care safety net programs.

California mirrors much of the nation. Exit polls from the Nov. 4 election show 81% of those who voted for Democrat Abigail Spanberger, winner of the Virginia governor’s race, cited health care as the most important issue facing the state. In a national Reuters/Ipsos poll, health care was cited as the top everyday expense Americans want Congress to prioritize. And 65% of voters said an annual health cost increase of $1,000 would have some impact on their 2026 vote, according to a recent KFF poll.

Some Californians interviewed on Nov. 4, the day of the state’s special election, expressed disappointment in Newsom’s unmet promises on health care. Newsom, a Democrat who is mulling a presidential run as he wraps up his second term in January 2027, had campaigned on single-payer health care.

During his tenure he’s steered billions of dollars and engineered rules to help the neediest Californians afford and access health care. The state also expanded state-funded Medicaid coverage, known as Medi-Cal, to all eligible residents, regardless of immigration status. Medicaid provides free or low-cost health insurance to low-income and disabled people.

But this year, facing rising costs and budget deficits, Newsom and the Democratic-controlled legislature walked back some of that expansion by freezing enrollment for adults without legal status starting in 2026 and implementing premiums. They also resurrected an asset test for older adults and people with disabilities. Meanwhile, health care costs and homelessness remain a huge problem, and many Californians struggle to get basic medical care. And there’s no sign of a single-payer health care system, which Sacramento lawmakers have repeatedly failed to advance amid concerns about cost, including one estimate in 2017 of $400 billion annually.

“I remember him coming and speaking to our members and telling them that he was going to fight with them for single payer,” Michael Cusack, a 30-year-old former health care union worker from Oakland, said as he cast his ballot last week. “And I never saw him deliver on that campaign.”

Michael Cusack, a registered Democrat working at a national research lab in Oakland, California, says health care costs are top of mind for him as he weighs his vote next year, both for Congress and the governor’s race.

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Christine Mai-Duc

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Christine Mai-Duc

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Paying for health care

Becerra, Thurmond, and Yee said they would be open to raising taxes to pay for health care programs. Villaraigosa sidestepped the tax question, saying his focus would be to “grow the pie” economically. Yee also suggested offering tax credits to help struggling families pay for health care and caregiving expenses.

During the forum’s lightning round, Becerra, Thurmond, and Yee also raised their hands when asked whether they supported single-payer care. Becerra said after the event that he doesn’t believe the state would receive support from the Trump administration for a single-payer system, but he said he would push for universal access to health care.

Indeed, all the candidates appeared mindful of Washington’s power over health care resources, even as they vowed to stand up to President Donald Trump, who has an especially adversarial relationship with Newsom.

“Let’s recognize that the federal government is our largest partner,” Becerra said. “We must work with them. We will not take a knee, but we must work with them.”

Currently, the biggest threats to health care costs and accessibility come from the federal government. Republicans in Congress have refused to give in to Democrats’ demand to extend premium tax subsidies for health insurance plans purchased on Affordable Care Act exchanges, the main issue that drove the government shutdown. Enrollees in Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, have received notices that their premiums will increase next year. On average, monthly premium payments for people receiving ACA subsidies are expected to double across the nation.

Laura Jones, a small-business owner in Oakland, currently pays the minimum possible for her Covered California plan, but she worries she wouldn’t be able to afford a major medical emergency. She thinks about one of her friends who recently suffered a stroke.

“The hospital bills were just so egregious,” Jones said. “How would I pay for that?”

Meanwhile, an impending $900 billion in federal Medicaid spending reductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and tighter eligibility restrictions are expected to push as many as 3.4 million Californians out of the program. More than a third of Californians are currently enrolled in Medi-Cal.

Oseoba Airewele, 29, of Ventura, a registered Democrat who previously worked as a software engineer, said Medi-Cal became a lifeline after he lost insurance through his job and needed mental health and dental care.

“If I were to lose it, I would be very concerned,” he said. “I’d be in a bad place.”

Oseoba Airewele stands next to a ballot box in Ventura, California, where he cast his vote in the Nov. 4 special election. Airewele enrolled in Medi-Cal after being laid off from his job as a software engineer. He says that coverage has been critical.

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Claudia Boyd-Barrett

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KFF Health News

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People with employer-based health coverage also face steep price hikes. Family premiums for employer-based plans averaged almost $27,000 this year, up 6% from 2024, a new KFF report shows. Workers typically pay almost $7,000 of that, the report found. That doesn’t include other out-of-pocket expenses.

“Even though I have a job, it’s still really expensive to pay for the copays,” said Rheema Calloway, 35, a San Francisco independent.

Primary in June

Among the other Democratic candidates vying for governor in 2026, Porter has said she will make fighting federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare a top priority, along with expanding and improving health care for all residents. Porter’s campaign suffered a blow after viral videos surfaced of her threatening to walk out of a CBS interview and berating a staff member. Former Assemblyman Ian Calderon has said he would protect access to Medi-Cal. And Cloobeck wants to fast-track housing construction.

Republican candidates include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton, a former Fox News contributor and policy adviser to David Cameron when he was Britain’s prime minister. Both have pledged to tackle affordability issues, especially housing costs.

Two other high-profile Democrats — former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla — have said they won’t run. Rick Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat and wealthy Los Angeles businessman, has yet to decide whether to run.

The California primary will be held June 2 and the general election on Nov. 3.

KFF Health News correspondent Christine Mai-Duc and ethnic media editor Ngoc Nguyen contributed to this report.

A California State University president who stepped down following a multi-million dollar settlement in a case accusing him of gender-based discrimination and harassment will earn a six-figure salary this coming year while he’s in between Cal State jobs.

During the transition period, former Cal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales will provide international consulting for Cal State and work on strengthening the university’s international initiatives and global partnerships.

Morales announced his plans for departure last August and officially left the university at the end of this school year, joining an executive transition program in which he will be paid $343,920 over a year-long period starting this August. This salary is typical for Cal State executives in this program, said Cal State Chancellor Mildred Garcia, who announced Morales’ interim role at a board of trustees committee meeting Wednesday.

The board of trustees also unanimously granted Morales president emeritus status Wednesday afternoon, a title given as a gesture of appreciation for his service to the university.

Morales, and a former dean at San Bernardino’s Palm Desert campus, Jake Zhu, were accused of gender-based discrimination, harassment and retaliation in a 2023 lawsuit that Cal State recently settled for $12 million. Clare Weber and Anissa Rogers, both former San Bernardino administrators, alleged they were instructed to resign after reporting a gender pay gap and discriminatory bullying to higher-ups.

Cal State continues to deny any wrongdoing and determined Morales to be in good standing, which renders him eligible for the transition program. Executives may become ineligible if the chancellor finds they violated university policy or engaged in serious misconduct.

Weber, who alleged she was fired weeks after asking Morales for a raise over email to bridge what she called a gender-based pay gap, said the ex-president should not remain in good standing.

Male Cal State employees “are protected when they behave badly, when they mistreat women, when they harass women, when they retaliate against them,” Weber said. “The tendency is to protect the university.”

Morales’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

Morales, new campus president still high earners

During the year-long transition period, Morales will be required to submit a monthly report to the chancellor chronicling “activities and milestones completed,” according to a board document.

“President Tomás Morales has served Cal State San Bernardino with distinction for 14 years, demonstrating exceptional leadership on behalf of the university and his students,” Garcia said at the meeting.

Morales will also provide guidance and support to incoming Cal State San Bernardino president S. Terri Gomez, Garcia said at the meeting. Gomez, the current provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at Cal Poly Pomona, will assume the role on Aug. 3.

The committee approved a $426,916 annual salary, $60,000 annual housing allowance, and additional auto allowance of $1,000 per month for Gomez when she takes office.

Gomez made $338,255 in base pay in 2024, per the latest available data from Transparent California.

In 2024, 69 out of Cal State’s 118,843 employees earned a salary higher than $343,920, according to the State Controller’s Office. Morales’ salary was $527,834 in 2024 — the sixth-highest earning salary in the Cal State system, behind the chancellor and four other campus presidents. The average university salary in 2024 was $39,870, according to the office.

San Bernardino’s chapter of the California Faculty Association labor union asked Cal State to open an investigation into university administrators perpetuating gender discrimination and deny Morales executive transition benefits in a social media post yesterday.

Morales’ transition assignment will last from Aug. 3, 2026, to Aug. 2, 2027. During this period, Morales will transfer to the Management Personnel Plan, granting him the employment rights and benefits of university managers and supervisors, Cal State spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said.

Bentley-Smith did not respond to a request for comment on what job Morales will take after the transition period, which should have been previously decided, according to a 2022 Board of Trustees agenda item outlining the policy.

“We are deeply grateful for President Morales’ outstanding leadership at Cal State San Bernardino and systemwide,” Garcia said at Wednesday's meeting.

No members of the board of trustees committee made any comments or asked any questions after Garcia’s announcement.

Phoebe Huss is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Possibly the chicest and most indulgent way to unwind after a long day of work is with a perfectly-chilled martini in hand. Still, it’s usually a treat: martinis are famously high-brow beverages, and finding one that won’t break the bank in L.A. can prove difficult.

But if you know where to look, you’ll find that the city has plenty of martini deals. These five spots all stir up a delicious martini, and all of them offer generous happy hours where each ‘tini is $10 a pop.

Cento Raw Bar (West Adams) 

There are many reasons to love Cento Raw Bar, the sister restaurant to Cento Pasta Bar next door, and one of L.A.’s dining scene’s newest darlings. For starters, it looks like a mermaid’s cave, but looks aren’t all this sweet oceanic outpost has to offer. Martinis and oysters, obviously, are a match made in heaven, and diving into Cento’s $10 “golden hour” (from 5-6 p.m.) martini-oyster is as delightful as it sounds. The martinis are made with gin or vodka and arrive in fun, color-blocked glassware. If you order yours dirty, you’ll get your olives on a little dish on the side. They’re well-balanced, perfectly chilled, and wonderful to wash down oysters with.

Dante (Beverly Hills)

The dirty and Dante martinis play nice together.

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Cecilia Seiter

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LAist

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I’ve never had a bad martini in New York City, which is why Dante — a classic New York joint with a stunning location in Beverly Hills — is a must for a martini happy hour in my book. It’s famous for the tricolor olives in its signature ‘tini (a powerful blend of Ford’s gin, Ketel One vodka, Noilly Prat vermouth, Dolin Blanc vermouth, Nardini Cedro liqueur, olive and lemon bitters), but the dirty here never disappoints.

Like all good things, Dante’s dirty martini is deceivingly simple: Reyka vodka, olive oil, olive bitters and a pinch of salt with a dose of olive brine mist. Olives come chilled on the side. Martini hour is 3-5 p.m. daily.

Found Oyster (East Hollywood)

Olive lovers will find Found Oyster’s martini delightful.

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Cecilia Seiter

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LAist

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The folks behind Found Oyster knew what they were doing when they married excellent seafood, wine and martinis in their bustling neighborhood bistro.

You’ll find $10 martinis everyday from 4-6 p.m. here, and you can order your martini with olives, onion or a twist. The dirty martini is generous, with fat, blue cheese-stuffed olives served on the lip of a chilled Nick and Nora. There’s plenty to sample from the raw bar — seafood platters, scallop tostadas and sea urchin service — and the large plates, like the wedge salad and the pork caesar schnitzel, are not to be missed.

Maydan (West Adams) 

Don’t miss out on Maydan’s happy hour snacks.

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Courtesy Maydan

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There’s something beautiful about a martini that subtly departs from tradition, and Maydan, the acclaimed Lebanese-inspired restaurant inside its eponymous food hall, delivers on this front.

The Za’atar martini brings together olive oil washed vodka, dry vermouth and sumac-sesame oil for a savory spin on a classic cocktail. Happy hour is Tuesday through Thursday 5-7 p.m. You’ll also find discounted snacks on the happy hour menu, like charcoal-grilled kebabs and housemade dips.

The Nice Guy (West Hollywood) 

Jazz and martinis were made for each other.

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Courtesy The Nice Guy

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Martini Mondays are a great excuse to leave the house on a weeknight. West Hollywood’s The Nice Guy offers a generous range of $10 martinis, including dry, dirty and espresso martinis paired with live Italian jazz. You can also order a $30 martini meal to the tune of a burger, fries and martini (the Classic) or a Caesar salad, rigatoni Bolognese and a martini (the Mr. Nice Guy.)

Genaro and Catalina Ventura moved to the South L.A. neighborhood of Jefferson Park more than 25 years ago. The Craftsman-style house they found was a dream — spacious, with a yard where they could garden and their children and dog could play.

What they didn’t know before moving in was that just a few hundred yards behind the house is an active oil drilling site.

Genaro Ventura, a now-retired custodian for the city of L.A., worked nights. When he’d come home around 2 a.m., the smell of oil and chemicals was often strong in the air.

“Since the night is quiet, there’s no traffic or smog,” Genaro Ventura told LAist in Spanish. “You can really smell the air from the drill site, and it’s a terrible odor.”

[“Como la noche es calmada, pues no hay tráfico, no hay smog, y puede uno pues percibir el aire del drill site, y es un olor muy feo."]

Five years after the family moved in, Genaro was diagnosed with cancer in his left kidney and had to have it removed. In 2013, a brain tumor led to another surgery, and the following year another brain tumor required radiation treatment. He has to return regularly for scans. Most recently he’s developed lung cancer and is scheduled to start chemotherapy.

With no family history of cancer, the Venturas suspect the illnesses are related to air pollution from the nearby drill site.

And it’s not just Genaro Ventura. The family’s last dog died of cancer. Their elderly chihuahua now has cancer, too. Two of Catalina Ventura’s friends nearby were also diagnosed with cancer and recently moved away. Their son and many children in the neighborhood grew up with asthma.

“I’d like to leave here,” Catalina Ventura said in Spanish. “But we can’t — this is our home and we like the area, plus we don't have the money to move, so we’ve stayed here despite everything we’ve gone through.”

[“Yo me quisiera ir de aqui. Pero no podemos porque estamos aquí, es nuestra casa y nos gusta el área, pero tampoco tenemos dinero para movernos, así que seguimos aquí a pesar de lo que sufrimos.”]

Now, after more than a decade of community organizing, the drill site could be shut down. The city has scheduled a hearing this week to consider revoking E&B Natural Resource’s license to operate the site.

The Murphy Drill Site in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

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Sarah Craig

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Faces of Fracking

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“It is really the  best chance we have ever had to see this toxic industrial site shut down and removed from our neighborhood,” longtime South L.A. resident Richard Parks said at a recent community town hall at a church down the road from the drill site. Parks is the president of the nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership, a group that has spearheaded the shutdown effort.

In response to questions from LAist, a spokesperson for E&B emphasized the company’s compliance with regulations and said the facility “plays an important role in supplying locally produced petroleum to the Los Angeles Basin.”

The spokesperson also pointed to a July report the company commissioned from environmental consulting firm Roux Associates. The report says “the administrative record contains no scientific evidence that the Murphy site jeopardizes or adversely affects public health or safety of nearby residents or workers.”

Daniel Murphy's home was a sprawling estate on West Adams Boulevard in the early 20th century.

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Courtesy L.A. Public Library

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Why an oil drilling site is in the middle of a neighborhood 

What’s known as the Murphy drill site on West Adams Boulevard sits atop the vast Las Cienegas oil field.

The site’s name comes from Daniel Murphy, a business tycoon who lived on an estate there in the early 20th century.

Murphy, who made his money in cement, oil and railroads, was also a devout Roman Catholic, so after his death, his family donated the property to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For decades, the Archdiocese has leased the property to various oil companies. Most recently, the site has been operated by E&B Natural Resources.

In a statement, the Archdiocese told LAist it "has no direct control over the facility" and that "the health and well-being of the community remain a priority." It added that the Church understands E&B has complied with regulations "and has taken efforts to address the concerns of the community."

Although oil wells are present throughout Los Angeles, the effects are largely unequal. Through the mid-20th century, racist housing laws and discriminatory lending practices relegated people of color to certain neighborhoods.

Jefferson Park was one of those redlined neighborhoods and remains home to mostly Black and Latino residents.

A 2022 study found twice the number of oil and gas wells in historically redlined neighborhoods, with L.A. topping the list.

A Google maps screenshot of the Murphy drill site, owned by E & B Natural Resources, in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of L.A.

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Google Maps

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How much oil is produced at the Murphy drill site? 

Since 2018, Oildale, California-based E&B Natural Resources has operated the Murphy drill site.

Production of crude oil at the site peaked in 1973 at about 1,588 barrels per day, and of natural gas in 1981 at about 533 barrels, according to a 2024 amortization study commissioned by the city.

Ever since, production has declined. In 2022, E&B extracted some 251 barrels per day of oil and 21 barrels of natural gas from the Murphy site — a relatively small amount by oil production standards. All oil drilling within L.A. city limits now makes up less than 2% of the state’s oil.

In a statement to LAist, a spokesperson for E&B said the site remains valuable.

“Maintaining responsible local production also helps meet regional energy needs with resources produced close to where they are ultimately consumed,” the company spokesperson wrote.

Where oil and gas comes from in California.

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Courtesy CJM Petroleum Consulting Inc.

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The health effects of living near oil drilling

Today, it’s easy to miss the Murphy drill site. A mass of piping and oil wells is hidden behind a wall and manicured hedges, and next door to low-income apartments, an AIDS Healthcare Foundation clinic and an education center for children with hearing loss. A church, library, elementary school and high school are also nearby.

At the convent directly behind the site, Roman Catholic nuns are tasked with caring for the sick who call for them.

On a recent afternoon, Sister Claudia  of the Servants of Mary told LAist in Spanish that dark soot often covers the roof and walls of the building.

“A black dust settles even on the leaves of the trees and gets into the house," she said.

[“Un polvo negro que se queda hasta en las hojas de los árboles y entra a la casa."]

Many of the sisters have allergies they never had before living there, she said, and two of the sisters have cancer.

Sister Claudia, left, and Sister Maria de Jesus of the Servants of Mary convent in Jefferson Park.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Since at least 2014, the site has been the cause of dozens of complaints to local air quality regulators. People who live or work nearby have reported strong oil and chemical odors, noise and other concerns, according to records obtained by local nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership and shared with LAist.

For more than a decade, the group and its partners have organized to gain more protections on the site and, ultimately, shut the drilling down.

They’ve gathered the experiences of nearby residents, many of whom have suffered multiple miscarriages, respiratory illness and cancer. Numerous studies have found that people living near oil wells, which have been found to leak carcinogens like benzene, are more likely to have higher rates of asthma, preterm births and cancer.

But such research is not enough to shut a site down, and it’s hard to prove exactly where those illnesses come from. So over the last decade, academic researchers have partnered with the community to try to do just that.

“The burden is often placed on the community to prove they're being harmed,” said Jill Johnston, an environmental health researcher at U.C. Irvine and previously USC, where she led the oil drilling research. “ We're trying to establish some of this data-driven evidence to support the observations that people have experienced for decades.”

The researchers and community members installed air monitors near Murphy and another nearby drill site. They found that the closer to the site people lived, the more likely they were to have reduced lung function.

“The amount of reduction we see is similar to what you would experience from living with a smoker,” Johnston said.

E&B disputes the findings, arguing that it did not measure "actual site emissions or exposure and cannot establish causation."

In another study, the researchers partnered with the community to collect hundreds of toenail clippings to measure toxic metals associated with oil drilling. They compared them to clippings from people not near drill sites.

“The closer you live to an oil drilling site, the more production it has, the more nickel and manganese that you have in your body,” Johnson said, explaining the study’s findings at a recent town hall ahead of the Thursday hearing.

Too much of such metals in the body can lead to a variety of symptoms, including respiratory and nervous system issues. At high exposure levels, nickel has been linked to an increased risk of cancer.

Signs in various languages warn of the potential for dangerous gas at the Murphy drill site.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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The Murphy drill site is in a neighborhood with a convent, homes and schools.

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Isabel Avila

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How to shut down a drill site

The organizing paid off. In 2023, the community won a hearing from the city to consider adding new regulations to protect public health. Those new rules would extend protections currently in use in wealthier, whiter parts of L.A. They included enclosing the site and using electric equipment instead of diesel where possible. E&B’s permit also limits operations to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

But after an appeal from E&B, the city rolled many requirements back. For example, the site no longer is required to use electric equipment — E&B recently started burning more gas for electricity on site.

The site is also still not enclosed, despite the three-year-old mandate from the city. Neighbors say they have on multiple occasions seen, heard or smelled operations outside of the allowed hours.

“ They know the rules, but they choose not to follow them,” Parks said.

In a statement to LAist, a spokesperson for E&B said the enclosing of the site has been delayed due to complex permitting requirements from the city and that the company “is awaiting action by the city on the necessary approvals.”

In recent years, under E&B’s purview, the Murphy site has logged dozens of violations from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the state and the L.A. Fire Department, according to public records obtained by Redeemer Community Partnership and shared with LAist, as well as publicly available data.

Since 2019, some of the most concerning violations have been for at least four methane leaks greater than 50,000 parts per million — the explosive level of the gas. In January last year, an inspector identified a leak at 209,000 parts per million, four times that limit.

Outside of L.A., the state recently fined the company more than $1 million for violations at a site in Bakersfield, which the company has appealed.

Now, the city is considering revoking E&B’s permit to operate the site. City Councilmember Heather Hutt, who represents the area, called for a hearing after being presented with the evidence from local residents.

“The city and the community’s attempts to regulate and mitigate this site over the decades has failed,” Hutt wrote in a letter to the city’s zoning administrator ahead of the Thursday hearing. “I am calling for the zoning administrator to revoke this use and continue to reset the balance between community needs and corporate laxity in urban Los Angeles.”

Neighbors of the Murphy drill site have been fighting to get it shut down for years. They held a town hall July 18.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Signs and slogans were common at the July 18 town hall. Others read "Save South L.A." and "End neighborhood drilling."

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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What’s next

During the city’s hearing to consider revoking E&B’s permit the zoning administrator will hear testimony from residents, who can sign up and submit their comments during the meeting or ahead of time. Meanwhile, E&B plans to present its rebuttal to city staff’s latest report on compliance at the site and other concerns.

At the town hall, Parks discussed another drill site, a little over a mile away, called the Jefferson site.

He and other local residents successfully campaigned to get that site shut down, too. The oil company that owned the property eventually decided to sell instead of facing litigation and the cost of carrying out practices to better protect public health. In 2023, Parks and his group secured grants to purchase the property, where they plan to build a park and permanently affordable housing.

“Bit by bit, an amazing transformation is taking place,” Parks said at the recent town hall. “We are receiving beauty for ashes. … If we show up and we share our stories, if we call for environmental justice, if we call for care for our common home, we are well-positioned to build something beautiful and enduring for our community.”

Catalina and Genaro Molina at home.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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After the town hall, Catalina and Genaro Ventura returned home and sat outside on their porch. They said they hope this is a turning point to better protect future generations.

“I hope the city becomes aware and does something for the people, for the animals, for the children, for the elderly. For everyone, for everyone,” Catalina Ventura said in a Spanish.

[“Y pues que la ciudad tome conciencia y haga algo por la gente, por los animales, por los niños, por los ancianos. Por todos, por todos."]