The Brief

Dillon was just 12 years old when his uncle took him to his first street takeover.

“It was like the first time going to an amusement park,” he said. Pure exhilaration. Cars spinning. Smoke in the air. “People literally do not care.”

If you live in Southern California and you’ve never heard of a street takeover, you’ve probably heard one: Engines rev, tires screech and fireworks explode. These illegal gatherings happen frequently on weekend nights throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. Cars block major intersections and create space for other drivers to perform reckless maneuvers, including burnouts and donuts. Spectators gather around the middle of “the pit,” filming cars spinning past with passengers hanging precariously out of windows.

Fueled by a social media feedback loop, the phenomenon took off during the pandemic, and events can attract hundreds of spectators. The crowds, often made up of minors, seek out street takeovers to find community. They know the risks, which can be deadly.

A USC reporting lab investigation found that local and state law enforcement are well aware that takeovers have surged, but they have struggled to curb them. Talk to people who live near popular takeover intersections and you will learn about scarred streets, mangled poles, looted stores, injured bystanders and tragic deaths.

How an injury at a takeover led to online fame

To report this story we analyzed 400 social media videos of street takeovers in the L.A. region.

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USC Open-Source Intelligence Reporting Lab

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Dillon was hooked after that first night in 2019. He loved the thrill of rushing away whenever the police showed up and speeding down residential streets to the next address shared in the group chat. He found new friends in the scene, brought old friends with him and often stayed out until 6 in the morning. (LAist is using a pseudonym for “Dillon,” who asked he not be named due to concerns the takeover community would be hostile if it knew he spoke with reporters.)

One night in November 2024, Dillon, then 17, was standing in the crowd at a takeover in north Long Beach when a Corvette entered the pit.

“Everybody saw him coming in hot,” Dillon said. “He was coming in hot as f--k.”

The Corvette drifted toward Dillon. He threw himself backward, only for the crowd to push him back toward the car. As the Corvette swung back toward him, Dillon jumped into the air in one last effort to avoid being hit.

“I landed, feet planted, smack on the middle of the hood,” he said. He then fell to his knees and made eye contact with the driver, who didn’t slow down. “I saw him turn the wheel more.”

The driver’s maneuver flung Dillon onto the ground, and his car spun over his arm. Dillon bounced up and ran away while other spectators followed, filming him.

“Not even my pinky would move,” he said. “I was just freaked out, like my arm might actually be gone. It was just dead.”

His friends put him into a car and sped to the emergency room, where he was sedated and sent to surgery. When he woke up, his grandparents were there, along with the police. He said he refused to give up the identity of the person who hit him and the officers left. The doctors were not optimistic about his recovery and told him he’d be very lucky if he ever got to use his arm again.

Dillon’s injury did not stay private. Footage from that night was shared and reshared across the vast network of social media accounts devoted to street takeovers. USC’s analysis shows the more violent the footage, the more traction it gets, and Dillon’s accident was gruesome. After his friends tagged him in some of the posts, his Instagram profile blew up, and he now gets as many as 1.1 million views a month.

His skin-and-bones injury made him a social media celebrity.

We analyzed social media data. Here’s what we learned about takeovers

Takeovers are not just documented on social media; their popularity is driven by it. Hundreds of accounts on Instagram and TikTok are dedicated to takeover content, with footage livestreamed and then posted and reposted. That content creates a feedback loop, leading to more takeovers in Southern California and across the nation.

Social media posts and streams also provide plenty of data for analyzing the phenomena.

The University of Southern California’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Reporting Lab reviewed more than 500 social media videos of takeovers in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Our team determined the precise locations for 400 videos of takeovers between 2020 and 2025 and found more than a dozen repeat hotspots. The city of Los Angeles was the location of 36% of the social media content we verified, while the city of Compton accounted for 29%.

Explore the mapped data

Go deeper: How we investigated Los Angeles street takeovers

Forty-eight of the videos featured at least one person getting “smacked” by a vehicle, with 14 of those incidents involving someone getting run over.

The use of laser pointers, usually aimed at drivers, at takeover events was common, showing up in 84 videos, while fireworks appeared 30 times. Larger fires, including cars set ablaze, appeared at least another 30 times. More than 65 videos featured cars destroyed in some fashion.

In the course of our investigation, we also reviewed more than 93 hours of takeover footage posted on the streaming service Kick by livestreamer Conner Remaly. He did not respond to our interview requests, but his stream led our reporters on a Sunday night over the summer to multiple takeover spots, including the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and Dominguez Street in Carson, where the roar of engines trumpeted the start of the action. The noise was deafening; our sound meter registered levels as high as 109 decibels, right at the threshold to cause pain.

Street takeovers are chaotic and carry many costs including looted businesses, damaged infrastructure and injuries to adults and teens.

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Kevin D. Reyes

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Local residents, visibly annoyed, emerged from their homes to see the commotion. Hundreds of spectators cheered and jeered, many of them appearing noticeably under 18 years old. We observed attendees huffing nitrous oxide out of balloons and smoking weed and cigarettes. Some people shined laser pointers and lit fireworks, pointing them at the center of the action — known as the "pit" — the crowd, the sky and each other. There was a mix of distinct burnt smells: rubber, fireworks and marijuana. It was an adrenaline-charged, disorienting environment.

At local businesses near takeovers, break-ins and ransacking 

Takeovers like the one we witnessed are a public health issue for the surrounding community, according to Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone, an organization that advocates for pedestrian and cyclist safety.

“You can't sleep,” he said. “You can't function.”

Local businesses across Los Angeles and Orange counties suffer too.

Last year, a Compton bakery was ransacked during a takeover, and the business had to deal with more than $40,000 worth of stolen goods and damage. Some businesses, like the Felix Chevrolet near USC, have suffered damage multiple times; the dealership had its windows broken in 2024 and a takeover participant rolled away an iconic Felix statue this summer.

In our analysis of Remaly’s Kick stream, we observed 27 instances of break-ins and/or looting between June 15 and July 11, in Bellflower, Compton, Long Beach and South Los Angeles, along with the unincorporated areas of East Rancho Dominguez and Florence-Firestone.

Andrew Swank, an officer with the California Highway Patrol, told us just “being at a takeover is illegal.” He said once someone is participating in a takeover, additional illegal activity is common, adding, “It just all kind of goes downhill into the criminal element.”

A staple of SoCal culture that took off during the pandemic

Street takeovers are a California original, born from the same automotive culture that produced classic car shows, car clubs, Chicano lowriders and drag racing.

The earliest versions of street takeovers were called sideshows, and they took shape in Oakland in the 1980s. What started as informal gatherings where residents showed off their restored American muscle cars and performed stunts, soon evolved into vibrant community events.

Over time, sideshows became takeovers, spreading into the streets, influenced in part by films like Grease and The Fast and the Furious, along with the video game Grand Theft Auto V, all of which glorified street racing around Los Angeles.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, takeovers ballooned in popularity, with the scene spreading across the United States. Young people had spent so much time in lockdown “sitting and watching and not doing” that they released all that pent-up energy into the streets, said Johnathan Lawson, a car enthusiast who is working on creating a legal venue for takeovers.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states have enacted new laws since 2020 that target “exhibition driving,” which includes street racing and takeovers.

The deadly consequences

Here in Southern California, injuries have been common, and sometimes drivers hit many people at once.

“They call it striking, like bowling,” Dillon said. “Everybody goes flying like bowling pins.”

In November 2024, two 19-year-olds, Efrain Rodriguez and a person described as Richmond D. in court records, were run over by a driver performing donuts at a takeover in Anaheim.

An extremely graphic, close-up video of the aftermath made the rounds on social media. We were unable to track down Richmond, and Rodriguez did not respond to requests for comment, but his sister described his condition on a GoFundMe page seeking $50,000 for medical care: “Rodriguez had to recover from multiple fractures in his shoulder, hips and spinal cord” and has had many surgeries, “including skin grafting.”

On the night of Christmas 2022, Elyzza Guajaca was watching a street takeover at Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue, in South Los Angeles, when she was struck by a Camaro. She was taken to the hospital and died from her injuries. She was 24 years old. The driver, Dante Chapple Young, fled the scene, but authorities tracked him down the following month in New Mexico. In August 2025, he was sentenced to 13 years in state prison for vehicular manslaughter, as well as assault with a deadly weapon, his car.

The fatalities at takeovers are not limited to drivers hitting spectators.

In November 2021, hundreds of spectators gathered for a takeover at the intersection of Bullis Road and Pine Street in Compton. Among those spectators were 22-year-old Juan Antonio Orozco and 19-year-old Javier Carachure Menchaca, both of whom were shot and killed in a car at the scene. Orozco’s body was discovered with the car door open and one foot on the ground. Menchaca’s body was found a few steps from the car. He had been shot from behind.

Karen Orozco says she still thinks about her brother every day.

“He had such a big heart,” she said. “He would always think of others before himself.”

No arrests have been made and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department case remains open. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is offering a $60,000 reward for information on the homicides.

For some, the takeovers mean community

To outsiders, street takeovers may appear as chaos just for the sake of chaos. The reality is more complicated — and organized.

Takeovers are not just random weekend throwdowns. They are often organized by close-knit groups of young people with assigned roles: Some send out addresses; others monitor for police activity; others are sometimes charged with acquiring “stolos,” or stolen cars; while others, known as “spinners,” drive the cars and perform the stunts. Social media is a big part of the process, with a lot of the filming done by spectators, aka “servers.”

Street safety advocates say the gatherings often attract young people who are drawn in by the thrills and stay for the sense of belonging. 

“This is their support network,” said Kevitt, of the nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone. “They don’t care if it’s legal or illegal. They’re just there for camaraderie.”

Our interviews with participants confirmed this sentiment. Dillon went to takeovers to hang out with friends. We heard from other participants that the community feels like family.

Law enforcement’s response

Those working to curtail takeovers know that tapping into that sense of belonging has to be central to solutions.

“We’re talking about youth who have found community with each other,” said Lili Trujillo Puckett, founder of Street Racing Kills. “You have to educate them. You have to help them. You have to talk to them.”

Trujillo Puckett’s connection to the issue is personal. In 2013, her daughter was killed riding in a car that crashed during a street race.

Both Trujillo Puckett and Kevitt, of Streets Are For Everyone, are involved in L.A. County’s Street Takeover Reduction Workgroup, a collaboration between law enforcement and other organizations inside and outside of the government. The group released an action plan in February 2025, focusing on various solutions, including changes to road infrastructure and stronger legal enforcement. The most recent update of the plan was published in December 2025.

The plan calls for installing barriers at popular intersections to deter cars from a skidding maneuver known as "drifting." The estimated cost is $10,000 for each leg of an intersection.

They are not popular with takeover enthusiasts. In June, Remaly posted a video from the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Compton Boulevard, a popular takeover spot that now has plastic barriers running along its center lanes. In the clip, he held his arm out of the car window and grabbed hold of a barrier.

“This is the s--t that ruined the spot,” he said. “We can’t have fun no more.”

Some takeovers now happen one block north at Atlantic Avenue and San Luis Street.

A few miles from that intersection, at Alameda Street and El Segundo Boulevard, California Highway Patrol officers swarmed a takeover in the early morning hours of July 12. According to CHP Capt. Joe Diaz, officers made 28 arrests and issued 16 citations that day, along with towing 25 vehicles and seizing three firearms. Diaz said the show of force was not a new approach, but Remaly and another Kick streamer were shocked by the number of patrol cars that showed up with blaring sirens and flashing lights.

“Oh, my god, there’s so many,” said Remaly, filming as he ran back to his car.

“I’m telling you right now,” one street participant said, “the police don’t do s--t at all. The only thing they do is show up, turn on their sirens, and everyone leaves.”

Participants don’t necessarily go home after the police arrive at an intersection. They often just move to the next address, or “addy,” and start up the action again. Our analysis of Remaly's Kick stream found an average of seven successful takeovers each night he filmed.

County Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s district, which extends from Koreatown to the South Bay, was the location of 74% of the takeovers on the stream. She told us she believes accountability is critical, across the board.

"If you organize, participate or you are a spectator, you’ll face consequences," she said. "If you’re the audience, you are also contributing to the problem.”

For some safety advocates, the larger solution can be found in providing youth with legal alternatives to taking over streets.

“No matter how many arrests, no matter how many times these guys go to jail, there’s always somebody new coming into the scene,” said Fabian Arroyo, longtime member of the Brotherhood of Street Racers, an organization formed in 1960s South Los Angeles to channel street racing into safe, legal events. “The best way to solve the problem is to have everybody go to a place, a venue somewhere where they can just do it legally.”

Donald Graham, the deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, agrees.

“We live in a county where the city of Long Beach turns their entire downtown into a Formula One racetrack every year,” Graham told us. “So how can we not figure out a way to use the existing infrastructure to do pop-up tracks and pop-up burn boxes to allow people to express themselves in this way, but do it safely?”

Authorities have their eyes on the social media promoters

In February, police arrested Erick Romero Quintana, on allegations the 22-year-old helped organize takeovers. Romero Quintana ran the Instagram account @privatemeetz, which prosectors said shared locations for 16 gatherings across South L.A. between December 2022 and November 2023.

One of the gatherings he allegedly promoted was the Christmas night takeover at Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue where 24-year-old Elyzza Guajaca was killed. Prosecutors argue Romero Quintana’s social media activity played a central role in drawing large crowds to this and other high-risk events. He is charged with 16 counts of conspiracy to commit reckless driving. If convicted, he could face more than a decade in prison.

L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman discussed Romero Quintana’s case at a press conference in August and emphasized Romero Quintana was not the driver.

“He was the promoter, the social media promoter, who thought that by hiding behind his computer, by hiding behind the internet, we weren't going to find him. Maybe he thought we didn't care about what he was doing on social media to go ahead and promote this illegal, destructive and ultimately deadly type of practice. But we do care,” Hochman said.

Romero Quintana currently is banned from social media as a condition of his release and is due back in court in January. He did not respond to our request for comment, but his attorney, Bart Kaspero, said he believes the case sets a dangerous precedent.

“I’ve never seen anyone charged just for posting videos where crimes happen,” he said. “It’s kind of like passing out flyers to a house party.”

Quintana’s case is part of a larger push by L.A. officials to hold social media companies and users accountable for profiting off videos of street takeovers. County officials have contacted social media companies and asked them to remove posts that promote illegal activity. We reached out to Meta, the parent company of Instagram, but did not receive a response.

Deputy Chief Graham also spoke at Hochman’s press conference, lamenting that the city still saw three young people die this year in “street racing-related activities.” Then he called out social media executives.

“You are monetizing this criminal, dangerous and deadly behavior,” he said. “So maybe, just maybe, before you cut a check, maybe look at the content that you're sending out.”

The message driven home by Hochman, Graham and other speakers was that there will be consequences for everyone in the takeover scene: drivers, organizers and spectators.

"Enough is enough," Hochman said. “We will not yield the streets.”

The question remains whether participants will listen to that message.

“I don’t think things will change,” said Dillon, after we texted him about Hochman’s comments. He recently bought a car and is now a driver at takeovers.

Another street takeover participant wrote back, “And yet we will STILLL be outside EVERY WEEKEND.”

If Proposition 3 looks familiar, it’s because this is the third time the income tax measure has appeared on California ballots. But this time might be the last.

Prop. 3 would permanently extend an income tax on the wealthy to fund schools, healthcare and other state services. It first appeared on the ballot as a temporary tax in 2012 to help schools through the Great Recession, and voters renewed it in 2016. Now, its supporters are asking voters to make it permanent before it expires in 2031.

“I can’t overstate how important this is,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union and a primary supporter of the measure. “It’s only a tax on the wealthiest Californians, but it’s vital for our schools.”

Prop. 3 would extend a tax on individuals who earn more than $371,000 or couples who earn more than $743,000 annually. It generated between $5 billion and $15 billion a year, fluctuating with the stock market, interest rates and other factors that affect the income of the state’s top earners.

Top earners would continue paying an income tax rate of 12.3% if the measure passes. Tack on the state’s additional 1% tax on income over $1 million for mental health services and California’s highest-earners wind up with an income tax rate of 13.3%, the highest in the nation.

The bulk of the money would be funnelled through the state’s Proposition 98 funding mechanism, which guarantees 40% of the state budget be set aside for K-12 schools and community colleges. If the money surpasses a certain level, the extra would go toward a budget rainy day fund.

Prop. 3 would also pay for healthcare and other services because it frees up money the state would ordinarily spend on schools for other services, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Of the Prop. 98 money, 89% goes to K-12 schools and 11% goes to community colleges.

In flush years, the income tax makes up about 15% of the state’s overall K-12 education budget. If it doesn’t pass, school districts will be forced to lay off up to 50,000 teachers and make other cuts, Goldberg said.

Union’s big push

The teachers union is aggressively supporting the measure. It collected thousands of signatures to win a spot on the ballot and sent members to knock on more than 200,000 doors throughout the state. Goldberg described the campaign as “one of our biggest, most ambitious efforts yet.”

The powerful union as well as other groups have raised more than $40 million to pass Prop. 3. Opponents, which include taxpayer associations, have raised $5,500.

The measure appears to have an edge with voters. According to a Public Policy Institute of California poll conducted in September, 58% of likely voters said they planned to vote yes on the measure. Among Democrats, 82% said they favored it, while 18% of Republicans said they did.

Prop. 3 is not the only tax-the-rich measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. Proposition 40 would levy a 5% tax on Californians with assets of more than $1 billion, with 90% of the money going toward healthcare and the rest divided between schools, food assistance programs and other services. The teachers union opposes Prop. 40 because it argues schools wouldn’t receive enough of the money, Goldberg said.

“We’re not campaigning against Prop. 40. We’re just prioritizing Prop. 3,” Goldberg said.

The union decided to put the measure on the ballot now, more than four years before the current tax expires, because schools typically plan their budgets many years in advance and need plenty of advance warning of significant changes in revenues, Goldberg said.

‘Not sustainable’

Susan Shelley, vice president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, questioned whether schools need more money, considering the state’s recent investments and declining enrollment.

“We have fewer and fewer students. Does this mean we need fewer teachers? Maybe it does,” Shelley said. “It’s time to revisit some of these costs. Some districts have unaffordable labor contracts, fewer students … It’s not sustainable.”

In addition, she said, California already has the highest personal income tax rate – 13.3% – in the country. Adding more will only drive the wealthiest residents – and their money – from the state, which will have a disproportionate impact on state revenues, she said. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the state’s top 2% of earners pay about half the state’s income taxes.

California’s K-12 enrollment has declined steadily for at least a decade, with schools losing more than 500,000 students since the mid-2010s. Families are having fewer children, immigration is down and many families have left California because of the high cost of living.

Still, California has among the country’s highest student-to-teacher ratios. In 2022-23, California had one teacher for every 22 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The national average was 1:15. In New York, it was just over 1:11.

That’s why California schools need more money, said Rob Manwaring, senior policy and fiscal adviser at the advocacy group Children Now.

“Those ratios mean that students who need extra help aren’t getting it, which is why we have such a large achievement gap in California,” Manwaring said. “It’s dire.”

He also noted that federal budget cuts will continue affecting California, including its schools, and the state will need revenue to backfill those costs. The chance of an economic downturn in the next few years will also imperil school funding.

“No one wants to project out too far, but schools might see some very tight budgets,” Manwaring said.

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

The state workers who are planning the first-ever statewide walkout in 44 years this week once were on much better terms with their boss, Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SEIU Local 1000, state government’s largest union, kicked in one of the single biggest checks to Newsom’s 2018 campaign, a $500,000 contribution. It followed up with $1 million more to help Newsom fend off a recall in 2021.

That alliance made sense for the union, especially considering that Newsom’s Republican opponents were much less friendly to labor.

But today the two sides are far apart with Local 1000 preparing its first statewide strike since signing its first collective bargaining agreement in 1982 as it accuses Newsom of bad-faith bargaining. Its members are trolling Newsom online with memes likening him to infamous Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, caricaturing him as a sci-fi villain and mocking his presidential ambitions.

What happened to the labor love fest?

At the bottom line, Newsom was stingier with public employees than voters who think of him as a labor-aligned Democrat might assume. He demanded wage reductions from state workers over three years of his tenure and limited raises to 3% in financially flush times. He also took a hard line in calling employees back to the office four days a week after many grew accustomed to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The fact the state has refused to bargain in good faith is what got so many members active,” said Anica Walls, president of Local 1000. The union represents about 100,000 workers. “They’re just kind of tired of always feeling the budget is balanced on state employees’ backs.”

That feeling goes back more than 20 years for some California public employees. Like many workers, they accepted furloughs and wage reductions during the Great Recession. That period lasted from 2008 to 2013 under former governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown. But Brown then pressed for more concessions, including an additional paycheck deduction to fund retiree healthcare and higher worker contributions toward pensions.

Union leaders had high hopes Newsom would end the trend of temporary pay cuts and givebacks, as shown by the campaign contributions he gained in 2018.

It didn’t work out that way.

Here’s a look at some of the issues that led the state’s largest public employee union to break with Newsom and put him on the spot with its first statewide strike.

Money, money, money

California state government spending surged during the Newsom administration, climbing from $201.4 billion in the 2018-19 financial year to $321 billion in Newsom’s 2025-26 budget. That’s a 59% increase.

Payroll is up, too, but at a slower rate. Compensation for state workers hit $25.2 billion in 2025, about 32% more than 2019.

To be sure, Newsom gave bonuses to many public employees — especially prison staff — when the state was flush with money just after the pandemic. But he’s been thriftier with wage increases. They topped out 3% in most contracts.

Meanwhile, Newsom at two key moments pressed public employees to accept pay cuts. The first happened in the panic of the early pandemic when the governor braced for a severe recession. Unions agreed to wage cuts of roughly 9% and in exchange workers received days off that they could save and bank for later.

The second wage cut happened in 2025 when the governor sought to close a severe budget deficit. Most unions, including Local 1000, again accepted deals for two years of wage reductions in exchange for days off. They also agreed to defer raises until next year.

One union did not accept those terms, the California Association of Professional Scientists. The scientist union was the first to strike against Newsom, holding a three-day walkout in 2023. It viewed the contract it negotiated in 2024 as critical, and it didn’t want to give up its raises when Newsom asked.

But, just before an agreed-upon raise was supposed to take effect last summer, it learned that the state budget didn’t include money for the wage increase.

The conflict again angered public employees who expected a pay boost. The union appealed to state lawmakers, who funded the raises in a follow-on spending bill.

“We negotiated that collective bargaining agreement in good faith and believe a deal is a deal,” said the union’s vice president, Justin Garcia.

Working from home

California government changed overnight during the pandemic, when Newsom ordered employees to work from home unless the nature of their job required them to report to a prison or state hospital. That was a major cultural adjustment for a bureaucracy known for time cards, rigid schedules and a refusal to pay for workers’ office parking.

The Newsom administration commended workers for making the change and it publicized a dashboard that showed state employees were just as efficient at home as they were in the office.

But as time passed Newsom said he grew concerned that remote work stifled the in-person collaboration that he argued was important for a successful organization. He called employees back to the office two days a week in 2024, and four days a week beginning last summer.

Many state workers want more flexibility. They point to a 2025 state audit that found the state could save $225 million a year by allowing more remote work.

Retirement plans diverge

State workers hired before 2013 have a better retirement deal than public employees who joined since then. That issue is not front-and-center in the Local 1000 strike, but it’s bubbling up as newer workers learn about their colleagues’ benefits.

Former Gov. Brown championed the law that trimmed pension benefits. It came out of the Great Recession, which caused California’s major pension funds to hemorrhage billions of dollars and highlighted a generous pension enhancement that former Gov. Gray Davis had signed into law a dozen years earlier.

Now, public employees work longer and pay more of their own income toward their pensions. Newsom last month vetoed a bill that would have sweetened retirement formulas for police and firefighters, a proposal that likely will return to Newsom’s successor in the near future.

“What people thought before was a cush state job because we had good retirement, the ability to retire with a pension, that does not look the same to people who came after 2013,” said Walls, the Local 1000 president.

Where else can they go?

Local 1000 and other state government unions might be frustrated with Newsom, but they tend to get a better hearing from Democrats than Republicans. Schwarzenegger, after all, championed four failed ballot measures that would have stripped them of their power and influence.

“They (unions) have to make converts in the church in which they worship,” said Don Perata, a union-aligned Democrat and former Senate president pro tem who battled with Schwarzenegger.

He praised Local 1000 members for carrying state government through the pandemic and for taking on difficult jobs to serve Californians. He recognized governors and lawmakers have to pass balanced budgets, and said that means they should be more careful in running up the cost of programs that might eat away at funding that could be used to pay public employees better.

“It’s past time to show there’s recognition and not just by blowing smoke at them,” Perata said.

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

This story first appeared on Long Beach Post.

Two upcoming events at Long Beach City College will give Long Beach residents the chance to stockpile sandbags in advance of what is expected to be a particularly strong El Niño season.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, residents can pick up sandbags for free at the LBCC Trades, Technology and Community Learning Campus (1305 E Pacific Coast Highway). A second distribution will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, in Lot M of the Liberal Arts College (4901 E. Carson St.). Each event runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and community members will be able to drive up to the distribution sites, where staff will help them fill their cars with up to 10 sandbags. IDs will not be required to receive sand and sandbags.

At a recent press conference amid the waves fueled by Tropical Storm Rachel, Mayor Rex Richardson emphasized that residents all across Long Beach will likely feel the effects of storms and flooding this El Niño season.

“Do not be caught off guard,” he said. “Prepare right now.”

The Peninsula has already endured catastrophic damage — a dozen families lost their homes in the punishing waves of the most recent storm. Yet even if residents can’t see the ocean from their windows, experts predict the greater Long Beach area will see bursts of drenching rain carried by atmospheric rivers, large bands of water vapor. In turn, those rainstorms raise the risk of flash flooding, landslides and high tides.

Some of these effects will not be limited to the coast. Low-lying areas throughout Long Beach are especially susceptible to flooding, according to a city press release.

Richardson urged city residents to pick up sandbags before they need them — and to keep them throughout the rainy season, which typically lasts from December through March.

In addition to the upcoming distribution events, residents can also pick up empty sandbags at all neighborhood fire stations. (Station locations are available here.) Sand is available at stations 7, 12, 13 and 14, and residents are encouraged to bring shovels to fill sandbags themselves.

City officials encouraged community members to stay informed during the rainy season by signing up for Alert Long Beach and checking the city’s landing page for emergency updates. City Manager Tom Modica urged residents to take steps to fortify their properties, gather emergency supplies and develop plans for emergency weather.

Find additional resources on how to prepare for and navigate El Niño here.

While those of us closer to LAX wait around for the People Mover to finally make its much-delayed debut (oh, how I remember fondly taking a video of its virgin run around the terminals when I got off a plane a few months ago … ), those in the Valley and parts north have had the last laugh as the new Burbank terminal makes the area’s best airport even better. Sigh.

But who needs to go anywhere? We’ve got plenty going on right here. And remember to get your ballot in and use our voter guides as your one-stop-ballot-info stop. Election Day is Nov. 3!

Music

In music around the region this week, highlights from Licorice Pizza's recommendations include:

Chief Keef will be at the Wiltern on Oct. 27

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Wednesday

• G-Eazy with Logic and Juicy J at the YouTube Theater
• Chappell Roan’s two-night charity event “Super Graphic Spectacular” at the Shrine Auditorium, benefiting her Midwest Princess Project

Thursday

• Doja Cat and Latto paint the town red at the Forum
• Talib Kweli and Friends are at the Blue Note

Friday

• Andrew Bird with the LA Philharmonic at Disney Hall
• Foster The People with Goth Babe at the Greek
• Channel Tres at the Shrine

Saturday 

• Animal Collective at the Fonda
• Pershing Square’s free I Love Funk Festival with Kool & the Gang, Zapp, Evelyn, Rose Royce and the Dazz Band
• Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: In Concert at the United Theater, featuring a live band performing the full Bowie soundtrack

Sunday

• Xavier Wulf at the Hollywood Palladium
• Jodeci play the YouTube Theater

Monday 

• The Well and Pink Fuzz at Zebulon
• Great Lake Swimmers at Lodge Room

Tuesday

• Chief Keef at the Wiltern
• Josh Johnson ANIMATIVE with Anna Butterss and Ben Lumsdaine at Zebulon

Events

Movies Under the Microscope: Real Genius

Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.
Natural History Museum 
900 Exposition Blvd., Expo Park 
COST: $25; MORE INFO  

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Courtesy TriStar Pictures

)

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s Movies Under the Microscope series is back with an ‘80s sci-fi flair, followed by a discussion about how movie science and real science overlap. This week, Val Kilmer (RIP) leads a pack of teen scientists building a laser for the government in the 1985 classic Real Genius. The screening is followed by a panel featuring Dr. David Saltzberg, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA and science consultant on The Big Bang Theory and Oppenheimer; Cody Ziglar, comic and writer for Futurama and Rick and Morty; Jason Patrick Galit, lead consultant for InterMyth and pop culture educator; and Beth Werling, the senior collections manager of history (Material Culture) at NHM. NHM’s Joel Quizon will moderate the panel.

Treasures and Trivia Thrifting Event

Friday to Sunday, Oct. 23-25
465 N. Halstead St., Pasadena
COST: $40; MORE INFO

Benefiting the Children’s Hospital of LA, Treasures and Trivia is an upscale thrifting event where you can find high-end clothing, furniture, art, housewares, holiday décor and more. Find your next prized possession among rows and rows of unique vintage items.

Side B: the sounds

Through Saturday, Oct. 24
David Zwirner Gallery
606 N. Western Ave., Melrose Hill
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

)

Did you know there’s a jazz listening room at David Zwirner through this weekend? "Side B: the sounds" is part of the current exhibition at the airy gallery space in Melrose Hill, Roy DeCarava: the sound i saw. There are a few events this weekend at the space, including a screening of the 1984 documentary Conversations with Roy DeCarava (Oct. 22), a reading by Harmony Holiday (Oct. 23) and a live jazz performance organized with the Sam First jazz club (Oct. 24). You can follow the full schedule of events here.

Grand Ave. Arts: All Access

Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy Grand Ave. Arts

)

Grand Ave. is the place to be on Saturday, when 14 leading arts and cultural institutions open their doors for the tenth anniversary of Grand Ave Arts: All Access. From the Ahmanson to Colburn, REDCAT to MOCA, DATALAND and more, all of the institutions along Grand Ave. are planning performances and exhibitions, including a special performance of ¡SÍ SE PUEDE! from Center Theatre Group, an instrument petting zoo at Colburn and Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Downtown Día de los Muertos celebration. Plus, it’s all free!

Public Spirits: Festival of Performance Art

Friday, Oct. 23, 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Various locations 
Chinatown
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The Performance Art Museum is hosting an all-day festival of interpretive art, with performances by Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo (Puppies Puppies), Pau S. Pescador, Da Ron Vinson and Ryat Yezbick. Each artist approaches performance “as a form of public speech and a means of intervening in civic life in a spirit of resistance and critical response to the political climate.”

City of San Fernando Día de los Muertos Festival

Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
San Fernando Recreation Park
208 Park Ave., San Fernando
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy the City of San Fernando

)

Bring the whole family to experience the rich tradition of Día de los Muertos! This lively event honors the memories of loved ones, and the city of San Fernando asks you to join in the sacred tradition by building your own altar.

L.A. Times Food Bowl 

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24
Barkar Hangar
3021 Airport Ave., Santa Monica
COST: FROM $170; MORE INFO

Try bites from the hottest restaurants in L.A. at the annual L.A. Times Food Bowl, this year taking place at the massive Barkar Hangar in Santa Monica. Roy Choi, Chainsaw, Baroo, Rustic Canyon and many, many more will have tastes and treats — all included in your ticket.

It's Funny NOW: Five Moth Champions Live

Saturday, October 24, 8 p.m.
Hermosa Beach Playhouse
710 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach
COST: FROM $21.24; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy RimoVision

)

Five Moth StorySlam and Grand Slam champs join forces at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse for It’s Funny NOW. True stories, live on stage and only the best — you really can’t go wrong, just don’t forget to bring the tissues.

Venice Yoga Festival and block party

Saturday, Oct. 24, 12 p.m. to sunset
Venice Basketball Courts
1708-1978 Ocean Front Walk, Venice 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

Get your vinyasa on, or just meditate by the ocean waves with fellow yogis and community members at the free Venice Yoga Festival at Muscle Beach. In addition to free classes with local practitioners, the day also features live music and kirtan, kids’ activities, workshops and talks.

Blind Runner

Through Sunday, Nov. 8 
South Coast Repertory
655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
COST: FROM $41; MORE INFO

”Blind Runner” will be at South Coast Rep for a few weeks.

(

Matt Stasi

/

South Coast Repertory

)

Mehr Theatre Group’s Blind Runner tells the story of three Iranians in a race against themselves — and time — using projection, immersive imagery and a story performed entirely in Persian with English supertitles. The unique show premiered at New York’s St. Ann's Warehouse in January 2025 as part of the Under the Radar Festival. With text and direction by award-winning Iranian theatre artist Amir Reza Koohestani, Blind Runner runs through Nov. 8 at South Coast Rep. Shows on Oct. 25 and 28 feature artist talkbacks.