LAKEPORT
Homelessness and mental health town hall live stream
The Lakeport Police Department, City of Lakeport, Lake County Behavioral Health and Lake Family Resource Center are partnering to conduct a Town Hall meeting to address the homelessness and mental illness crisis in our community.
The event will be held tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 6 to 8 p.m., in the Soper Reese Theatre, 275 S. Main Street, Lakeport. The event will be live streamed on the LPD YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCplZjUiT1RYGBIyprJbWAlA for those unable to attend in person.
There will be live question and answer sessions throughout the presentations. The Lakeport Police Department will also respond to questions after the meeting to those who leave contact information.
The presenters are not able to interact with viewers on the YouTube channel; however, questions may be entered in the comments section of the video feed for responses after the meeting.
Questions may also be submitted via email to info@lakeportpolice.org. Please use Town Hall Meeting Question in the subject line.
A public survey link will be released after the meeting providing equal access to everyone attending in person, watching online, and those who were not able to participate in the Town Hall and have questions or want to offer feedback.
The intent of the public meeting is to engage with the community. Homelessness and mental illness are complex issues requiring the collaboration of agencies and the community.
The agenda will include an overview of legislative and voter changes to criminal justice laws over the past decade that impact treatment of individuals, response to mental illness locally, and the constraints faced by agencies in rural areas.
Presenters will discuss the status of the crisis responder program operated cooperatively by Lakeport Police and LFRC.
Please contact Chief Brad Rasmussen at the Lakeport Police Department at (707) 263-5491 for more information.
—Submitted
LAKEPORT
Influence the future of your community: Commission and committee openings
The City of Lakeport has opportunities for the public to become involved in local government by serving on local commissions and committees. If you have an interest in serving your community, applying for a position on a city commission or committee is a great place to start!
The City of Lakeport invites applications for the following Committees and Boards: the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board (LFPD), the Lake County Vector Control District Board (LCVCD), and the Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee (LEDAC). These appointments would be effective as of Jan.1, 2024.
Membership on these commissions and committees is voluntary. If you are interested in serving on a committee, applications are available on the City’s website at www.cityoflakeport.com.
For additional information on regarding the mission and meeting dates of each commission, please see the Committees & Commissions page under the “Government” tab on the City’s website (www.cityoflakeport.com).
Applications are due by 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Appointments will be made at a special meeting of the Lakeport City Council in early November (meeting date to be determined.
For additional information, please contact Hilary Britton, Deputy City Clerk, at 263-5615, Ext. 102, or by e-mail at hbritton@cityoflakeport.com.
—Submitted
SACRAMENTO
Newsom signs new California crime and school laws
Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided the fate of two more high-profile bills — one on criminal justice and the other on public schools.
On Monday, the governor signed Senate Bill 14 into law, reclassifying child sex trafficking into a serious felony that increases prison sentences, saying that “California is going further to protect kids.” Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield and author of the bill, said in a statement that the measure is a “huge victory for California’s children and the survivors of sex trafficking.”
- Grove: “I want to thank the thousands of Californians who called or visited legislative offices, signed petitions, and spoke out on social media. We are here today because of the overwhelming public outrage that propelled this bill through the legislature and ultimately helped protect our children from predators.”
During an online press conference after the signing, Grove said “it should have never been this hard” to get the bill through, referring to the political fireworks as the measure journeyed to Newsom’s desk. In July, the Assembly public safety committee, led by Democratic Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles, initially stalled the bill in part due to criticisms from civil rights and progressive criminal justice groups. They argued that harsher sentences do not deter crime; that there are already laws that sufficiently punish traffickers; and that those at the lowest rungs, who may be trafficked themselves, will bear the brunt of legal punishments.
The blocking of the bill led to an uproar from Assembly Republicans; new Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Newsom also got involved. During a debate to send the bill back to the committee (which reversed course and passed the measure), Assemblymember Heath Flora, a Republican from Ripon, urged his fellow lawmakers to “choose your team — pick pedophiles or children.” Jones-Sawyer reported that women on the committee received death threats as well.
Also Monday, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1078 to penalize school boards that ban books and other education materials based solely on the materials’ inclusion of history related to Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, LGBTQ people and other groups. The bill is one response by Democratic legislators and leaders to a wave of local school boards passing policies on books and transgender students.
Standing alongside Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat and author of the bill, Newsom called the measure “long overdue.”
- Newsom, in a video: “It’s remarkable that we’re living in a country right now in this banning binge, this cultural purge that we’re experiencing all throughout America and now increasingly here in the state of California where we have school districts, large and small, that are banning books, banning free speech, criminalizing librarians and teachers. And we want to do more than just push back rhetorically against that, and that’s what this legislation provides.”
—Lynn La, Calmatters
