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Political Gumbo: COVID-19, Media Matters and the Koz

Published on Monday, March 16, 2020 | 8:11 am
 

One of the things that hurts the country the most during a crisis is denial and privilege — no not white privilege, but American privilege. Honestly I’m not sure if those are the same thing, but that’s a point for another pot of Gumbo.

COVID-19 was always headed here. Proclaiming, “We are the greatest country in the world,” and attempting to withhold information doesn’t help anybody.

Kudos to PIO Lisa Derderian and others that have picked up the phone and answered our emails during this crisis.

We have to look the devil in the eye.

It’s here, and it’s time to deal with it. It was time to deal with it when 35 million people were under quarantine in China.

There are 54 people known to be infected by the virus in Los Angeles, eight by community spread. Undoubtedly there are more, but enough people are not being tested.

The number of people that have been tested in the country is smaller than the number of students in the PUSD.

Think about that.

Even if this pandemic fizzles out, there will be one at some point that won’t.

The U.S. was woefully unprepared and decided to stick its head in the sand and say over and over “don’t cause a panic.”

It is not the job of our leaders or journalists to decide how people will or should respond to the news, see Watergate.

When officials withhold information in the interest of not causing a panic, it causes a panic.

Vice Mayor Tyron Hampton called for the closure of events at last Monday’s City Council meeting. It turns out his was the right call. Gordo’s call for a rent moratorium is also the right call.

It’s time for Water and Power to commit to keeping customer’s lights and water on during the crisis.

No school: Sixteen-thousand students are now out of school locally, some of them get their one meal a day from the PUSD. What’s the plan to feed them? Also, what’s the plan to educate them? The hotline is a great idea for parents, but we have to think about the children.

Incorrect assumption: After we broke the story the city had confirmed a local account of a patient with the virus, we posted a picture of Pasadena Public Health Director Dr. Goh. Shame that some people didn’t read the tagline and thought we were just putting a random Asian face with the story and started accusing us of racism.

No NBA: I thought the Lakers were going to win it all. They should test the Lakers and the Bucks, if every player tests negative, put them in an empty arena and let them play for the tile, or rerun some classic Lakers vs. Celtics series. I need to see some basketball.

The elections are over: There may be about 2,000 votes left to count in the city elections. There will be a runoff in the Mayor’s race. Felicia Williams wins District 2, Gene Masuda and Steve Madison cruise to victory in D4 and D6 respectively.

Mentioning the election: Former Vice President Joe Biden spent 11k to win the Massachusetts Primary. That’s less than Mayor Terry Tornek and Victor Gordo will spend to win Pasadena.

Last elections: Primaries in Louisiana and Georgia have been rescheduled. Don’t sleep on this.

Welcome the Koz: Former PW Arts Editor Carl Kozlowski is now writing for Pasadena Now. I’ll say this one time here, if I had my way, he would have never been exiled from the PW.

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