@Tawala SoulCal_Saturday (4/6/24) Hour 1

99 Cents Only stores closing all 371 locations, liquidation sales starting Friday. Investor Group Looks to Save the 99 Cents Only Stores in Southern California. As 99 Cents Only stores shutter across into private security to deter high-rise graffiti. LA City Council committee OKs temprary halt on animal breeding permits. The Olympics in SoCal: As Paris Olympics near, Los Angeles officals worry about preparations. The youth Voting in SoCal: New legislation seeks to increase registration among youth.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Los Angeles, Orange County, IE in the Valley. This is to
Wala Sharp and you're listening to kfI AM six forty Soul Cal Saturday on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. SaturdaySaturday is the Saturday. It's a Saturday,
is the Saturday. Saturday is theSaturday Saturday, the Saturday one Holiday.

(00:46):
Kf I AM six forty live everywhereon the Ihearted Radio app and acting
Leona Valley, Anaheim and Palm Desert. This is Soul Cal Saturday. I'm
your host, Twala Sharp. Startingoff with quite possibly one of the greatest
losses here in Southern California, andthat is the loss of the ninety nine

(01:11):
cent Store. The ninety nine centstore is an institution here in Southern California.
The ninety nine cent store gave usDollar Tree and every other you know,
discount shopping facility, location, store, whatever in Southern California. But
everything started with the ninety nine centstore. And the ninety nine cents Store

(01:36):
is a store that in its inceptionwould initially bring in products to test.
It was kind of like a testingground for products before they hit the market.
I guess the mass market you wouldsee you know what shopping patterns were
and things like that, and that'skind of how they would get a lot

(01:59):
of products that you would see,you know, be it. I remember
when Acts first debuted a debuted ninetynine cent store and you know several products.
Just point that out. But forme, beyond the closing of the
ninety nine cent store. And yes, I know there's reports now that the
founder and owner of Pick and Save. I don't know if you remember Pick

(02:22):
and Save, but the former ownerof Pick and Save is looking to actually
take over ninety nine cent store locationsand keep them open. We know that
places like Dollar Tree and other facilitiesare looking to maybe go up on their
prices. The thing that I don'tthink is being talked about enough in regards

(02:46):
to ninety nine cent store is theimpact that this is going to have on
our communities, on our neighborhoods.If we are constantly talking about the price
of inflation. You know, anotherbig story that was out this week was
how fast food restaurants are going upon the prices of their food because been

(03:10):
my wage has gone up and soforth and so on. When everything is
so expensive in California, why arewe not looking at how important a place
like ninety nine cents store is forthose who cannot maybe afford the prices of
Roups and Gelson's and Vond's and thelike. The ninety nine cent store for

(03:30):
many of our elder community is alifesaver individuals who are living on a fixed
income, who are not able tojust go splurging, like you know,
you and I and every other youknow, middle income family here in southern
California. Yeah, this is wherethey are going when you're on a fixed

(03:50):
income and you want to still beable to get some relatively solid quality groceries.
I mean like nine nine cents store. I've been in there before and
I've seen fresh produce, fresh meatand all that vegetables, everything that you
would need at these prices. Thisis a lifesaver for our elder community,

(04:10):
and even for those who are arenear and almost on their way towards being
unhoused. Where are they shopping at. They're shopping at the ninety nine cent
store. And I understand the ninenine cents store, you know, blaming
it on shrinkage and economy and COVIDand this, that and the other.
But for me, for especially inthe city of Los Angeles, Orange County

(04:33):
and beyond. I would think thatthe city actually needs to take a look
at what needs to be done tosave the ninety nine cents store. Just
the number of jobs that will belost within the ninety nine cents stores,
people out of work, that isworth where they're going unemployment. Then we're

(04:54):
going to be complaining about the unemploymentgoing up here in southern California. This
is bigger than then just these stores. And I know, look, I
I shop at nine n sinstore allthe time if I just need a bulk
or large qualities. So if I'mgoing to get paper plates or cups or
anything like that, you know,I'm stopped there first. You know,

(05:14):
we have all been in the ninecents store for something. Shore I remember
years back, there's a nine ninesens store in the West Los Angeles area.
I believe Janet Jackson was spotted innine nine sistore and people were freaking
out running to go to the ninecents store, like what is she doing?
What is she doing? I believeshe was buying party supplies, you
know. So it's like everyone hasbeen in a ninety nine cent store.

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You know where a nine nine centstore is but to think about a business
like this shutting down. And Iknow there are a lot of businesses right
now facing closing here in southern California, especially with the increase for minimum wave
for fast food locations. I believethere's a pizza chain out here that's closing

(05:58):
like five or six locations. Ican't remember for which one it was.
It's one of the smaller new chainsthat's closing down. It was called months
Montsno Mondo Pizza or something, oneof those places they're closing. Yeah,
Mod Mod Mod Pizza. They're shuttingdown. I believe it was. Is

(06:19):
it Amazon that just fired some sixhundred people. Amazon is another one that
Apple was one of those, Yeah, one of them. Yeah, they're
just firing a bunch of people.So we get it. We are going
through it here in southern California.There there's there's a lot of businesses that
are still leaving California, a lotof businesses that are struggling to stay open

(06:42):
in California. But an institution,and I'm a call in an institution like
the ninety ninth Sense store absolutely mustbe saved. There's no way that that
local city government here in southern Californiacan allow the ninety nine sense store to
shut down the impact of this storeshutting down on what it is going to

(07:05):
do, uh to be it anysocial services here in southern California. You
just watch, these offices are goingto be inundated with calls for help,
for financial assistance, because if you'renot being able, if you're not able
to go to the nine nine centsstore, you know and pick up these
items, and you know where you'regoing. Are you're going to Social Security?

(07:26):
Are you going to the Wick officesing that like, hey, you
know we need something? Yes,exactly, That's exactly where they're going.
And then you and I will fillthis When taxes go up or whatever,
you know, prices go up forus here living in Southern California, this
will be a cyclical effect that isgoing to impact everyone beyond just the This
isn't about you know, going tofind in great deals or finding cheap products,

(07:50):
No, damn that. I'm talkingabout people here. I'm talking about
jobs. I'm talking about lives thatwill be impacted with this store shutting down.
And we can't have it. Weabsolutely can't have it. This is
something that we cannot let go of. Here in Southern California. And I
know the Mayor's office listens to KFIreligiously. I'm sure she's probably tuned in

(08:13):
right now. So if you are, make sure that you are aware of
the fact that this is something weare telling you cannot go. All right,
if all the things you're working on, and all the things we may
applaud and all things where you knowin support of this is something we need
you to add to your docket.All right. You're listening to soul cal
Saturday with Tawala Sharp on demand fromKFI AM six forty AFI Am six bardy

(09:03):
live everywhere on the ipart radio app. And I'll go Dulce, Monrovia,
Dana Point and San Bernardino. Thisis soul gal Saturday. I'm your host,
Twyler Sharp taking a look at someother things happening here in southern California.
Don't know if you missed it,but this past week La County was

(09:24):
offering free gunlocks in an effort todecrease fire arm violence. Survivors of gun
violence gathered at a news conference atthe Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center this
past week to share one message.It is preventable. To that end,

(09:46):
Los Angeles County public health officials announcedthat the county is offering free gun safety
locks to residents designed for use toun oh, i'm sorry, designed for
use on unloaded weapons. Gunlocks coverthe trigger and require a key or combination
to open. Interesting. I'm notmad at that this gunlock or free gunlock

(10:09):
program is, I guess established toreduce accessibility of guns at home. Okay,
I can see that. I cansee that when you think about all
the gun buyers that we've had recentlyhere in Southern California, it's probably more
attributed to lack of safety around gunsand kids getting into guns, all that

(10:31):
kind of stuff. So yes,I can see the need for this.
I don't see a reason to pushback on this either. I actually didn't
see any gun activists or gun enthusiastsup in arms about this one. There
was no counter protests or any encounterdemonstrations screaming about taking away my gun.

(10:54):
So I think this is something thatwe are all in favor of. Gunlocks,
probably more so than the gun buybackprogram. I would rather just you
know, if you are able to, if you're a parent and you have
a gun, if you're an adultwith a gun in the house with a
child, get one. Get one. Actually, I wanna see if if

(11:18):
super producer Kayla can actually put thewebsite where you can actually apply for a
free gunlock on our page. Yeah, this is some time down. I'm
down with this, Kala, I'mdown with this. I do not like
gun violence. No, And itsounds like it should have been a no
brainer. We should have always hadthat, you know, ruin a lot

(11:39):
of accidents. Yeah, yeah,yeah, let's do it. Put it
on the page, all right.Well. Also, the La City Council
is looking into hiring private security todeter taggers from further tagging the now famous
or infamous high rise in downtown Lathat is covered from top to bottom with

(12:05):
graffiti. In a thirteen to zerovote, council members approved technical changes to
the city's abatement process related to theenforcement of building standards. Specifically, the
city wants to hire private security tosecure buildings that have become a present,
imminent, extreme and immediate hazard ordanger to life, limb, health and

(12:31):
safety. Why because there were peoplegoing into this building and actually trying to
parachute off of it. They weretrying to do some free jumping or whatever
it's called. And it's all forthe GRAM. You know, the kids
are doing it for the GRAM.Tagging crews are going up there like this
is Beach Street or something, sothat's a deep cut. Not everyone else

(12:52):
who Beach Street is okay, Butyeah, they were tag mis place up
you knows they're going and crews breakinginto the fence and all that. So
no, the city council had approvedfunds to hire private security to make sure
that the tagging stops. Doesn't meanthat buildings are going to stop getting tagged

(13:15):
or trains, schools, local businesses. Now, doesn't mean that's going to
happen. But this business here,this building, abandoned building, this will
not get tagged anymore. So hooray. But twala, what about those buses
and schools and trains and all that. No, no, there's no security
for that. There's no security forthat, No need to even ask.

(13:37):
That's not a part of this.We just want to make sure this building
gets private security. Azzah. TheLA City Council, and this is interesting.
They also put a temporary halt onanimal breeding permits. Interesting. The
Los Angeles City Council they met thispast week and approved a temporary moratorium on

(14:01):
breeding permits in an effort and aneffort to prevent further animals from entering the
city's over populated shelters. I lovethis one. Why because during COVID,
yes, people were going and buyingdogs galore, and they were getting all
of these bread dogs, all thesecute little teacup dogs. And what are

(14:24):
those dogs that are getting stolen?The pudge dogs, the French bulldogs,
frenchies, yes, all those.And now all of a sudden you had
all these breeders going breed crazy,and now everyone is like, eh,
dogs aren't keidingy maar, Our catsaren't keidennymar. I don't want one.
I don't need one in my purse. Even though there's still a few people
who are getting, you know,support dogs. You know, we have

(14:48):
a crisis on our hands with ourshelters here in Los Angeles County and in
Orange County. I mean, somany animals are being put down, and
a halt on animal breeding permits isjust one step towards us not just ending
the live senselessly of these beautiful catsand dogs and rabbits. I know there

(15:15):
are still a few people out therebuying rabbits this past weekend for Easter.
Shame on you buying rabbits. Youknow you're not going to take care of
that rabbit. So I'm glad thatthat's going down. And in Orange County,
they have a new program which isplacing homeless individuals in jobs. Yes,

(15:35):
a new program in Orange County.I believe it is called the Chrysalis
program, and they are partnering withcal Optima to make sure that the homeless
residents of Orange County are put intojobs. So yeah, so this program
is more than just one of twodozen participating programs in the area at easing

(16:00):
the homeless crisis in Orange County.So bravo, bravo to both of these
organizations for the work that they aredoing to help alleviate, if not you
know, outright in but to helpalleviate homelessness within our cities, but to
also be able to provide jobs andjob trainings for individuals. So bravo to

(16:25):
the Chrystalist program and cal Optima.Alrighty, coming up on the other side
of the break, I want totake a look at as I was discussing
with the folk reporter Neil Savadra andour cross, I want to take a
look at Southern California's readiness for thetwenty twenty eight Olympics. You're listening to

(16:45):
soul Cal Saturday with Tawala Sharp ondemand from KFI AM six forty KFI AM
six for me Live everywhere, Ohthe iHeart Radio app in Alhambra, San

(17:08):
Dimas, Bulletin and Redlands. Thisis soul Cal Saturday taking a look at
Southern California's readiness for the twenty twentyeighth Olympics. Yes, the twenty twenty
eight sumber Olympics will be coming toLos Angeles and are we ready? Is

(17:32):
the question? Is our Metro systemready? Have we done enough to alleviate
the situation regarding homelessness in and aroundthe Olympic campus? Not sure? Not
sure. After visiting Paris last month, Mayor Bass has said that the magnitude

(18:00):
of the task that weigh on herregarding getting ready for the twenty twenty eight
Olympics is steep. Quote. Itput a fire under us to realize that
we need to get far more involvedin Olympic preparation and all that it might

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mean in quote, said Mayor Bass, who is the chair of the Metro
Executive Board and the seventeen day OlympicGames that will generate some billion dollars and
produce quote unquote legacy infrastructure projects suchas rail lines and more in Southern California.

(18:44):
That is a serious, serious undertaking. Now. The LA twenty eight,
which is the organizing committee that isbringing the Olympics to Southern California,
in Los Angeles particular, they havea six point nine billion dollar budget to
do so, and that's largely goingto pay for orchestrating the games. One

(19:04):
thing to know about this budget isthat it does not include the twenty seven
hundred buses, which are Double Metro'scurrent fleet, that are projected to need
to move the millions of spectators aroundthe Olympic campus. Why because no cars

(19:26):
whatsoever will be allowed damn near inthe area. All right, So this
is a car free zone for youknow, I believe a quarter mile or
more in all directions outside of notnot on the Olympic campus, but even
outside of Not only that, wehave to worry about homelessness. That is

(19:51):
a major major concern for the OlympicCommittee making sure that they have done enough
to alleviate homelessness in downtown La inthe Los Angeles area surrounding where the Olympic
campus is going to be, becauseyeah, that's not something that you want

(20:12):
for every camera to pick up theOlympics in southern California and the sheer mass
homelessness that we face out here,it's not something that you want on the
world stage. So you have thecar free zone, you have the struggle

(20:33):
of dealing with establishing a metro systemthat people are going to want to ride
on, because Lord knows, wehave enough issues dealing with Metro as it
is. People do not like ridein the trains. People are feeling unsafe.
And this isn't everyone. I'm justtalking about those who have born witness

(20:56):
to the attacks, the homelessness,the drug use, and the violence on
metro. It's a lot that hasto go into fixing up our metro system.
And then there are a lot ofbusinesses that are run down in the
area, so there's a lot ofa cosmetic makeup that needs to happen there.

(21:18):
And I know that there's a lotof businesses that are are worried about
just you know, staying afloat.Are you going to be able to stay
open? That needs to be lookedat that actually needs to be looked at.
We cannot discount the fact that theI guess, the cost of operating
a business in that area is goingto go through the roof. But I

(21:40):
think that this is something that herein Southern California. For all of the
talk of leaving Southern California, forall the talk of the high cost of
living here, the reason that thetwenty twenty eight Olympics is happening in Southern
California, the reason that World Cupis happening in Southern California in twenty twenty

(22:03):
six, I believe it's because ofwhat Southern California has to offer. This
is still, without a doubt,the greatest climate in any city in the
United States, I believe, justjust across the board. Yes, you
cannot beat maybe summers in Miami,but you know, we pretty much have

(22:29):
summer ish weather year round. Youknow, I know we're getting past our
winter with our rain here and there, But yeah, is that really is
that really something to frown about?I mean, you know, yeah,
I know, we've got our earthquakes, But hello, New Jersey. Did
you feel that did you feel thatNew Jersey? You felt that New York.
I know you did, because everyonewas going eighte poop on social media.

(22:56):
It was heling here while there.So yeah, that's crazy. Hell,
that's all we get a little bitof hell, I know. But
look, you know, no onewants to get into, you know,
climate issues and things like that.All I'm saying is the reason that everything
is coming to Southern California is becausethis is where you want to be.

(23:19):
Soul cal is literally the best statein the entirety of the entire Union.
All right, it just is,It just is. I'm looking at East
Coast Transplant right now, who hasmade her home here while making faces about
me bragging about Southern California. SoI'm just saying, I'm just saying,

(23:41):
while we are all here loving it, I look forward to the summer Olympics
happening. I don't doubt for asecond that Mayor Baths and her team will
be able to get us ready forthe games. We know this is gonna
happen. They're gonna throw every singlething they can at making this happen.

(24:03):
You know, there will not bea single street takeover happening leading up to
this. There will be no homelessnessin the area That is why I think
she's even got more money for insidesafe and things like that. RVs are
getting picked up and cleaned up outof different areas. But you know,
we have to look at that thiscould actually be a boom for just employment,

(24:25):
the number of jobs that can bemade available for something like this.
This is a win win for everybody. So this is yet something else that
we can cheer on here in SouthernCalifornia. And I don't think it's something
that we need to worry about.I know that there are several articles and
several news outlets pointing to our readiness, but you best believe if six point

(24:48):
nine billion dollars are being spent tobring the Olympics to Southern California, trust
and believe we'll be ready. You'relistening to soul Cal Saturday with Tawalla Sharp
on demand from KFI AM six fortykfive AM six forty live everywhere all the

(25:15):
iHeart Radio app in Elserno, sawTel, Laguna Miguel and Marino Valley.
This is soul Cal Saturday. I'mhust Twaller Sharp taking a look at oh
now new legislation seeking to increase voterregistration among youth and by youth, we're

(25:38):
talking sixteen seventeen years old. Wait, what what are we saying here?
All right? So look, anew bill that is being introduced this year
by Assembly Member Elouise Gomez Rez,a Democrat from San Bernardino, is aiming
to get high school students, yeah, high school students, the opportunity and

(26:07):
the resources necessary to pre register tovote at least once by the end of
their eleventh grade, starting with thetwenty twenty six twenty twenty seventh school year.
This new bill, dubbed the HighSchool Voter Registration Act, would ensure
that millions of California's youth sixteen toseventeen year olds, are pre registered to

(26:37):
vote. According to this bill,assembly Member Gomezrayez wants to focus on our
youth and bringing the resources to themat their high schools so that we can
ensure more Californians, especially young Californians, are voting and developing a habit of
doing so at an early age.Interestingly enough, what this does not make

(27:06):
clear is whether or not there's goingto be more education for young people letting
them know what various offices in localand state government do. This does not
make clear if they're going to helpto educate our youth as far as what

(27:32):
local civics are, because I thinkthat is probably more important than just the
idea of voting. I know somepeople go and they vote and it's just
voting on name recognition alone, possiblybecause they don't know what specific offices do.
I know there are several times Ihear people saying things like I'd like

(27:55):
the mayor's office to take care ofthis, that or the other, not
knowing that it's not the mayor's officeto take care of everything, that there
are different departments than handle this thing. That mayor is like a manager of
all these various departments in Southern Californiaor not, I'm sorry, not Southern
California, but for the cities thatthey oversee. Right, there are state

(28:18):
senators, there are governors and everything, and I just want to know if
within this bill there is more goingto be done to help educate young people
on what the power of their voteactually means. Also something that I think

(28:40):
that we do need to be notnecessarily concerned about, but I think it
can't be lost on any of us, or especially Assembly Member GOMEZRAI is how
impressionable our young people are. Andif we are going to start actively engaging

(29:03):
young people, if we're going tostart getting young people sixteen seventeen years old
in their final year of high schoolready to vote, getting them registered to
vote by the time they are legallyable to do so, does that mean
we are also going to make surethat social media or at least that there

(29:26):
are also a strong system of checksand bounces on social media. Because if
we are saying that we want toget young people at least ready and activated
and you know, prepared to vote, we have to think about how impressionable
they are. You know, Ithink about my son, and you know,

(29:48):
he's on social media and he's onthis app or that app talking to
his friends all the time. Ithink about my daughter, even who's a
little further away from voting than heis, and how now she's on TikTok,
you know, all day long orsomething or another, you know,
posting or chatting with her friends.And I know that there is a lot

(30:08):
of influence that happens in social media. And I think if we start to
really actively engage young people and gettingthem ready to vote earlier, we got
to think about what that means foreven companies, companies that may start getting

(30:29):
information out, you know, tohelp cultivate the minds of young people,
to get them to wanting to votein a specific direction. Things like this
need to be considered. You know, I'm not gonna uh well, I
guess I have to put my sonon blast. But there was a point
in time where he believed that birdsweren't real. I kid you go.

(30:49):
He was arguing with me, tellingme birds are not real. And this
is a conspiracy theory that was floatingaround social media. I know a lot
of people that don't believe birds arereal. This is insanity. Birds might
not be real. That that uncomfortablepause silence. That was me visually looking

(31:11):
at Kyla. I'm like, ifyou don't giggle or laugh or something,
I need something. All jokes untilit's not okay, okay, okay,
Kayla. Right, I will talkto you in a moment, young lady,
about your conspiracies. See but yousee you see right here. You
see Kayla is a young person.Kayla is a young person, and Kayla's

(31:37):
on social media a lot. Okay, she She is active on social media.
She has a podcast, Pettish,which deals a lot in things that
are happening on social media. Soyou gotta think, if we are going
to actively engage young people to vote, we've got to make sure that they
know what's going on in the world, what they're vote means, how their

(32:01):
vote works, how different offices work, and all of that. So I
think that these are things that needto go beyond just so we want to
pass this bill and then what leaveit up to the schools. Okay,
Okay, I mean, look,I trust my children schools. I have

(32:22):
no qualms about the schools engaging mychildren in politics. As long as we
are actively going to start bringing backcivic lessons, I think that's important.
I think it's important that young peoplestart knowing how their local and state government
works. So if all that isa part of this bill, huzza,

(32:45):
bravo. If not, I don'tknow, maybe we need to stop and
think about it, and we willand we will be keeping an eye on
it because that's what we do hereOn soul Cal Saturday. Coming up at
the top of the hour is oursoul Cal Saturday Small Business Spotlight where we

(33:05):
will be welcoming the owner the founderof b Williams Mobile Notary, Miss Bernice
Williams will be joining us. Whatthey do at B. Williams Mobile Notary
is they serve the Los Angeles andOrange County areas with expert mobile notary,
Public Apostle, and Trust document servicesand they bring notarization to your doorsteps.

(33:32):
And I have a lot of questionsas far as what and notary actually is
because I've always thought it's someone whojust brings paper to you for you to
sign. So I'm curious about thisand I hope we walk away learning something.
So make sure you tune in andstay tuned in for that coming up.

(33:53):
You've been listening to Soul Cal Saturday. You can always hear us live
on KFIM six forty five pm toseven pm on Saturday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app