Morning Brief: Drought-Friendly Lawn, New COVID Vaccine, Non-U.S. Citizen Voting Rights

Good morning, L.A. It’s Tuesday, August 2.

So I have a special gift for you. Let me apologize in advance. Unfortunately, it’s not $2,000 you need to pay for August rent or the $100 you need to fill up your tank. I know, I wish I won the Mega Millions Jackpot, too.

BUT it will help sustain you in another kind of way. Our LAist How-To Guru Caitlin Hernandez has some tips on how YOU can create the drought-friendly yard of your dreams.

A cool fact I learned while reading their story is that for each square foot of grass that you extract, you can save 44 gallons on average a year. Wow!

Caitlin provides a step-by-step process to converting lawns that has me ready to get out my gardening boots and tools right now. The first step is to observe your outdoor area and figure out your aesthetic. If I were you, I would scour Pinterest and make a board for this special project. We received a LOT of great ideas from readers, like long-time gardener Jennifer Orsini, about favorite drought-tolerant plants. Orsini has been working on her garden for nearly 40 years.

The next thing to do is know your grass. There’s cool-season turf and warm-season turf and the specific type will determine the steps you take to convert your lawn. If you have a certain type of grass, it could be a pain to take out.

Caitlin warns that turf removal and replacement can be quite expensive. However, there’s a rebate program you can apply to where you can get reimbursed as much as 40% on average. These rebate programs can even help cover the costs of irrigation updates.

Now, I’m certainly not about to give the whole story away so check out the rest of the handy steps in Caitlin’s article today.

As always, stay happy and healthy, folks. There’s more news below the fold.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• Novavax, a new COVID-19 vaccine will be available in LA starting this week. Health officials hope it will appeal to those Angelenos who have yet to be vaccinated. 
• Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the monkeypox outbreak in hopes of getting more support for vaccination efforts.
• As reported cases of monkeypox climb in California, a major question on everyone’s mind is how we talk about it. Experts are offering ways to reduce rising stigmas of the virus. 
• In need of a creative ‘safe space’? There’s a co-working site in L.A. aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs of color. It’s called Blackbird House. 
• In response to what many have described as a mental health crisis among young people, California lawmakers are going after social media, arguing many elements are designed to hook kids. 
• Alzheimer’s researchers are looking beyond plaques and tangles for other potential causes of memory impairment. 
• Whether you’ve lived in the City of Angels for years or you’ve just finished dropping your luggages in your new $2,000 apartment, you know how difficult it is to navigate the social life here. The Los Angeles Times’ Nicole Kagan gives you and I some great tips on how to make friends here, from dating apps to dog parks.
  

Before You Go...Should Non-U.S. Citizen City Residents Vote In Local Elections?

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My colleague Leslie Berestein Rojas has an interesting story about one Santa Ana Councilperson’s proposal to allow non-citizen residents to vote in city elections. His argument?

43%. That’s the percentage of Santa Ana’s foreign-born population of city residents. They pay taxes. They serve on city boards, commissions and committees. They take their children to school. They go grocery store shopping. They pay the bills. The list goes on.

Councilperson Jonathan Ryan Hernandez’s charter amendment won’t appear on the November ballot but, as Leslie reports, a growing number of cities are trying to adopt similar measures.