CALIFORNIA

MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020::L ATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA

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Simona Boneva knew she
wasn’t going to be able to pay
her rent this month. Her
shift as an office manager at
a media company was cut in
half, and her bartending job
went away entirely because
of the citywide shutdown
over the coronavirus out-
break.
When she went to talk to
her landlord, the company
responded with a letter out-
lining terms for it to agree to
temporary relief and a re-

SIMONA BONEVA,left, with roommate Gayle Curry, received a letter from their landlord demanding any funds from a stimulus check.

Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times

Tenants are feeling squeezed

Despite new eviction

protections, some

landlords are making

onerous demands.

By Liam Dillon

[SeeLandlords,B2]

ORINDA, Calif. — In

dramatic moves aimed at

slowing the rapid spread of

the coronavirus, California

judicial leaders are expected

to adopt a statewide emer-

gency order setting bail at

zero for misdemeanor and

lower-level felony offenses.

In a remote meeting

Monday, the Judicial Coun-

cil also is expected to vote to

suspend evictions and fore-

closures and to allow for the

expansion of court hearings

held by video or telephone.

The moves come as the

number of confirmed co-

ronavirus cases topped

15,000 in the state, with more

than 350 deaths. Los Ange-

les County had a particu-

larly grim weekend, record-

ing 43 deaths, with con-

firmed cases nearing 6,000.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-

Sakauye heads the council,

the policymaking body for

California’s court system.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has giv-

en her and the council, which

is primarily made up of

judges, extraordinary tem-

porary powers to suspend

laws to deal with the health

crisis.

For criminal and juvenile

proceedings, including ar-

raignments and preliminary

examinations, the council

will direct courts to pri-

oritize the use of technology

to meet legal deadlines and

ensure that defendants and

children are not held in cus-

tody without timely hear-

ings, according to a report

prepared for Monday’s

meeting.

In criminal cases, the de-

fendant must agree before a

court hearing can be held re-

motely.

Orange County Dist.

Atty. Todd Spitzer last week

called on judicial leaders to

issue a statewide order re-

quiring preliminary hear-

ings be held remotely. Or-

ange County Public Defend-

er Sharon Petrosino count-

ered that clients had a

constitutional right to ap-

pear in person for prelimi-

nary hearings.

“During the COVID-

pandemic,” the report says,

“trial courts must protect

defendants’ constitutional

rights to have the assistance

of counsel and to be person-

ally present with counsel,

and at the same time take

steps to protect the health of

defendants, judicial officers,

court staff, counsel, and all

JUDGES

LIKELY

TO OK

CRISIS

ACTIONS

Proposals include

setting bail at zero and

suspending evictions

and foreclosures.

By Maura Dolan,

Paige St. John and

Alex Wigglesworth

[SeeCourts, B4]

Early Saturday evening

in a bright, three-story

shared-living apartment

complex in Venice, two twen-

ty-somethings, Jake Vira-

montez-Smith and Colin

Huitfeldt, sat on the couch in

aliving room watching a

movie while their house-

mate, Julia O. Test, cooked a

vegan supper in the kitchen.

The noise brought

Michael Dash out of his

room downstairs to see what

was going on. He bounded

up the steps, greeting the

trio. He was wearing blue

rubber gloves.

“I’m skeeved out by peo-

ple a little bit,” said Dash, a

45-year-old entrepreneur.

His reaction — eager for

the company but anxious

about the novel coronavirus

that they might be carrying,

even without flu-like symp-

toms — reveals the tension

of living in a shared space

right now. While public

health officials are advising

people to stay at home and

practice social distancing,

Too close for comfort

in their shared space

By Liam Dillon

JULIA O. TESTlives in a shared-living apartment

building in Venice where most of the 20 bedrooms are

occupied. It’s both unnerving and a social blessing.

Luis SincoLos Angeles Times

[SeeShared,B5]

It’s hard to
believe it took
just a few
weeks for this
pandemic to
remake this
city.
Everything
feels smaller
and quieter. Once we
roamed a sprawling metrop-
olis, and now we pace our
blocks. Our social lives now
play out on phone and lap-
top screens. Before there
were many stories in the
news, and now there’s only
one, and it’s inescapable,
menacing us from every
unwiped surface and errant
gust of wind.
But this crisis has also
gifted us with the clarity to
see our city more clearly.
And I’ve never found my
neighborhood more beauti-
ful, more heroic, more in-
spiring.
On my daily walks, I
notice the sun bursting
through old shade trees and
outlining cracked concrete
and smudged stucco in gold.
I listen for the whistle of the
neighbor’s parakeet and the
bell ringing on the ice cream
cart.

Our

time to

aid one

another

RUTILIO LOPEZ, right, wears protective gear behind a pane of bulletproof glass at Royal Liquor Mart.

Brian van der BrugLos Angeles Times

FRANK SHYONG

[SeeShyong,B5]

It’s easy for

political lead-

ers to order

people to stay

home and

cover their

faces when

they venture

out. What’s

hard is to make all those

ambitious programs work

that they’re launching.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and

Los Angeles Mayor Eric

Garcetti have earned kudos

for briefing the public al-

most daily on their latest

steps to fight the highly

contagious coronavirus.

Newsom was the first

governor in the nation to

issue a stay-at-home order

for people not engaged in

essential services, such as

providing healthcare, bag-

ging groceries or operating

gas stations. Garcetti was

the first mayor to ask people

to wear homemade masks

when out and about.

But that’s just verbal

jabber mixed with persua-

sion and cheerleading.

Making all the programs

work that they’re rolling out

—many in partnership with

private enterprise — will be

the final test of their per-

formances during this pan-

demic crisis.

For example, there’s

Newsom’s unprecedented

California Health Corps

program. It’s an effort to

build up a reserve army of

backup doctors, nurses and

other medical care special-

ists who can be called up to

replace frontline providers

when they get overwhelmed

by surging caseloads or

become sick themselves.

Newsom is leading an

effort to add 50,000 hospital

beds to the 75,000 already

existing in California, and

his Health Corps volunteers

will help staff the extra beds.

They’ll be paid.

“We need you,” Newsom

CAPITOL JOURNAL

Newsom has good ideas, but can he deliver?

GEORGE SKELTON

in sacramento

[SeeSkelton,B4]

Gun group

sues L.A.

over closures

By shutting down

firearms vendors,

the city is defying a

state order that

exempts “critical

infrastructure

sectors,” suit says. B

DIY face mask?

Keep it clean

With the Centers

for Disease Control

and Prevention and

local officials advising

using masks to limit

viral spread, here’s

what to know. B

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