LOS ANGELES — Downtown Los Angeles just reached 100 degrees for the fifth consecutive day, making it the longest stretch ever in October.
In response to the triple-digit temperatures, the nonprofits Strategic Action for a Just Economy as well as Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education, along with local Alexis Jackson, helped organize a cooling kit distribution event in South LA.
LADWP and SoCal Edison both have programs to help residential customers with increasingly high bills. According to a study from Caltech, surface temperatures in low-income areas of LA County can measure up to 36 degrees hotter at noon on a summer day than in wealthier neighborhoods.
The City of Los Angeles has cooling centers at local libraries but has yet to pass a safe indoor-temperature ordinance, like the one the county implemented last year. The motion established a maximum indoor-temperature threshold of 82 degrees for all rental housing units in the county.
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