Skylar and Alexandra from Sunstock Solar Festival join me to talk about the upcoming event on October 20th, 2018 right here in Hollywood.

Sunstock is a festival committed to environmentalism, renewable energy, and zero waste. Music festivals have grown from occasional events into a year round industry in Southern California, but they are also synonymous with excess and waste. Why aren't larger events committed to reducing their footprint and educating their attendees? What does it take to bring that mindset to a large music festival?

Like I said Sunstock Solar Festival will be going down October 20th, 2018 right here in Hollywood, on Gramercy Place between Hollywood Blvd and Franklin Ave, it's free to everyone but if you can a $15 donation will help bring a solar roof install to a Safe Place for Youth, a Venice based non-profit.

If you want to make a donation: @SunstockSolFest on Venmo!

To learn more: http://sunstocksolarfestival.com/

or https://www.facebook.com/SunstockSolFest/

To hear Trapdoor Social: http://www.trapdoorsocial.com/

The Time's Up and Me Too movements have brought scrutiny to the incredibly unequal treatment that women in entertainment face. But for the most part the media has focused on big name celebrities and the careers of wealthy actors while ignoring the struggle of below the line workers. Below the line workers are the people who actually make everything happen. Despite Hollywood's long history of robust unions gender pay disparities are still rampant across the industry.

IATSE Local 871 represents over 2500 crafts covering a wide range of creative professionals. As one of the only majority female locals in the city they have taken it upon themselves to bring this issue to light and to pressure Hollywood producers to step up. Under the banner Reel Equity the union has studied pay rates and gender in the industry, coming to some very stark conclusions. Organizer Miranda Cristofani joins me to talk about the work that Reel Equity has been doing and what the fight will look like from here.

To sign the open letter: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/open-letter-for-reel-equity

To learn more about the 2018 Pay Equity Summit: https://womennmedia.com/event/pay-equity-summit/

To learn more about IATSE Local 871: https://www.ialocal871.org/

To read more about the August arrests of BLM LA activists: https://abc7.com/3-arrested-after-halting-police-commission-meeting/2310646/

Filmmaker Erica M. Hart joins me to talk about her latest project "Gray Area." After the 2016 election Erica was contacted by a man who had assaulted her years earlier, this opened the door to create a space for a trying and necessary conversation.

Through the lens of this short documentary we explore notions of consent, restorative justice, internet personality, and survivorship.

NB: We do discuss sex, sexuality, assault, and rape in very frank ways, not graphic, but if these are issues that you are sensitive to it's something to keep in mind.

To learn more about Gray Area you can check out Erica's article in The Advocate: https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2018/8/14/my-calm-conversation-man-who-sexually-assaulted-me

Or you can see her Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1463926962/gray-area

This week it's just Chris and Bushido Squirrel ranting about the news, and there's a lot to rant about.

California is trying to "reform" the cash bail system in the worst possible way.

The Ridley-Thomas dynasty keeps getting caught being corrupt.

Disney is mad at Anaheim and is throwing a fit.

AB84 is trying to reshape campaign finance in California in the worst ways.

And lastly, Duncan Hunter is the vaping, gaming, millennial Congressional representative that you thought you couldn't dislike more. Duncan and his wife are facing a host of charges and the indictment is a strange trip through how much you can steal from your wealth defense contractor donors.

Costa-Hawkins, the 1995 law that froze rental control in California, is officially on the chopping block, come November voters will decide whether to allow cities and counties to expand rent control. Prop 10 made it to the ballot through the dedicated work of community organizers and neighbors collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures across the state.

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) was at the front of this effort. Rene Moya, the Housing Campaign Organizer with ACCE here in LA, joins me to talk about getting on the ballot, common arguments we will need to counter, and what the fight will look like once we repeal Costa-Hawkins.

To learn more about ACCE: https://www.acceaction.org/

To learn more about the Los Angeles Tenants Union: https://latenantsunion.org/en/

For more information on Prop 10: https://voteyesonprop10.org/

Congratulations to the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Union on becoming an officially recognized bargaining unit. Ace Katana joins me to talk about the efforts to unionize, what spurred it, and what they hope to gain.

The Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender is the largest criminal defense law firm in the world and the oldest public defender office in the US. Hundreds of attorneys handle thousands, if not tens of thousands, of cases a year. They are often the only hope their clients have to stay out of jail and to defend themselves against the power of the mass incarceral state.

Since first being proposed by Clara Shortridge Foltz at the World's Fair in 1893, cities and counties have adopted this model to provide representation to their residents. These efforts were further bolstered by Supreme Court decisions that affirmed a defendant's right to legal counsel. As more attention turns to the abuses of prosecutors and cops the necessity of this work becomes even more apparent.

To learn more about Clara Shortridge Foltz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Shortridge_Foltz

To see what the LA County Public Defenders Union is up to: https://www.lapubdefunion.com/

or follow them on Twitter: @LApubdefunion

To learn more about AFSCME Council 36: https://www.afscme36.org/

To visit KNOCK LA's Patreon: http://patreon.com/KNOCK_LA

Everything is on fire. This is the new normal for California and the western states. Currently there are nearly 100 fires burning across the US, some of the most destructive are growing here in California.

Global climate change has disrupted the natural cycles that we have grown accustomed to; every year bigger, more destructive fires tear through dry vegetation and raze towns to their foundations. Billions of dollars are required every year to fight, contain, evacuate and rebuild.

This is our new reality. How will we as a city, a county, a state respond to this new, constant danger?

*One correction: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was founded in 1885, I said 1895

Audio from:

KCRA

Al Jazeera

EuroNews

CBS

GMA

KBCW

The Ellison is a more than century old apartment building in Venice that is one of the last affordable buildings in that area. While the Ellison has a rich history of tenants and owners the latest owner is doing everything in his power to force out rent stabilized long term tenants.

Lance J. Robbins is a notorious slumlord in Los Angeles, he boasts a long record with the city and was even prosecuted by former Mayor James Hahn. His newest scheme to turn an RSO apartment building into a hotel is bring misery to tenants, neighbors and guests.

To see pictures from The Ellison and get involved head over to: https://knock-la.com/welcome-to-the-hellison-c62390123ef6

To send a post card to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office: https://goo.gl/forms/XUNpIallUPLTkfPi1

Also apologies for my audio quality on this episode, ran out of good mics in the studio and had to roll with a cheap on for myself

If you want to help us out so we can afford more good mics head over to Patreon.com/KNOCK_LA

Mayor Eric Garcetti is pinning his Presidential hopes on a successful bid for the 2028 Olympic Games, but a dedicated, and growing, group of Los Angeles organizers is rallying to stop him. The Olympics are sold to cities as essentially free by leveraging corporate sponsors to foot the bill: this is disingenuous. Rachel Reyes (@Rachel_Reyes) joined me at Ground Game HQ to talk about the hidden costs of the Olympics.

How will the games drive displacement? How will the unhoused be further criminalized? How much more money will we funnel to LAPD to arrest and harass our neighbors?

As the International Olympic Committee struggles to find host cities now is the time to fight back locally and to organize our neighbors to demand that our voices be heard.

To learn more and get involved: https://nolympicsla.com/

And follow @NolympicsLA on social media to keep up with the fight

Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) from Curbed.LA joins us at Ground Game HQ for a wide ranging discussion about the state of the city, the future of transportation, and how to make development more transparent.

Curbed is part of a growing movement for more local coverage. As Los Angeles journalism is roiled by buyouts, union busting, and cuts to staff more nimble organizations are establishing themselves as more than niche sources. Curbed has been especially committed to tracking development across the city and showing how effective this can be in setting the narrative.

You can check out more coverage from Curbed: https://la.curbed.com/

And for their Beginner's Guide to LA: https://la.curbed.com/2018/6/21/17456050/guide-la-tips-moving-renting-homes