Dock workers, nearly 45,000 of them from as far north as Maine to as far south as Texas, have dropped their hardhats for a hard stance as they begin walking the picket line. 

But the strikes haven’t had any direct impact on the West Coast, including the Port of LA — at least, not yet.

Ports in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and British Columbia are unionized under the “International Longshore and Warehouse Union” instead, or ILWU. The ILWU isn’t expected to hold a similar stoppage. It ratified its most recent six-year contract last year, which garnered 75% overall approval from workers. 

The potential long term effects on the West Coast are still ambiguous. In an interview with CNBC Tuesday morning, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said several importers have “fractionally shifted” some of their allocations to the twin ports of LA, busiest container port in North America, and Long Beach.

Seroka said the ports are prepared if the strike forces a diversion of shipments from the East and Gulf coast ports to Southern California.

“The underlying US economy remains strong,” Seroka said on CNBC. “These purchase orders that go in from retailers and manufacturers typically start off the process 90 to 100 days before cargo makes its way here to the West Coast. Those numbers continue to be strong.

“On the ground, for about a year and a half now, folks have been a little bit worried about protracted labor negotiations, and have told me they fractionally shipped some of their allocations over the past months here to Los Angeles and Long Beach.”

Seroka also said Southern California ports are currently operating at 80-percent effective capacity and that they “still have room to grow.” There are no backlogs, he said.

CNBC reported the areas most affected by the strike stand to include auto parts, apparel, home furnishings, and sporting goods. 

NBCLA has reached out to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for more details.

According to NBC News, the work stoppage is expected to cost the U.S. economy between several hundred million, and $4.5 billion per day. 

About $34 billion in cargo is currently en route to East Coast ports. Just a one-day strike could create nearly a week of congestion. If the strike reaches two weeks, congestion could extend as far as 2025, deeply affecting the upcoming holiday season. 

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a full size model space shuttle?

While it never quite made it to space, the full-size original space shuttle prototype built in 1972 as part of Rockwell International’s eventually successful bid to build NASA’s shuttles will move through the streets of Downey this month. It’s headed to the Columbia Memorial Space Center three blocks down the road, where it’ll call its newly expanded exhibit hall home for the foreseeable future. 

The model, later named the “Inspiration” in 2012, measures 122 feet-long by 35 feet-tall (37 by 11 meter). After receiving the contract to build the real space shuttles, Rockwell used the mostly wood and plastic model rocket as a fitting tool before adding and adjusting the real deal. 

After the end of the shuttle program, however, the “Inspiration” was tucked away for storage where it sat for the past decade in pieces. Earlier this year, the city of Downey approved plans for a roughly 20,000-square-foot facility expanding the Columbia Memorial Space Center to house the “Inspiration” alongside other science-education exhibits.

In preparation of the project the shuttle, in pieces, will make a two-day move spanning three city blocks on Oct. 17 and 18, according to the city and Space Center. Space Center officials say the public will be invited to line the streets as the “Inspiration” makes its move. Details surrounding the exact timing and route are expected to be announced soon.

The prototype will go under restoration from a team of experts before finally being unveiled to the public. 

The space center will also be embarking on a $50 million fundraising campaign to help cover the costs of construction of the new facility, along with the specialized exhibits and science-education programs.

Prompted by an excessive heat warning, the city of Los Angeles will open and operate cooling centers through Wednesday evening, Mayor Karen Bass’ office announced.

The city has hundreds of free locations open for residents to find an escape from the heat, such as recreation and parks facilities and local library branches. For locations and hours of operation, visit laparks.org/reccenter or lapl.org/branches.

Cooling centers are accessible to people with disabilities. They also provide charging devices for phones and some medical equipment, as well as refrigerators for medication.

Starting Tuesday, five cooling centers will be available:

• Fred Roberts Recreation Center, 4700 Honduras St.;
• Mid Valley Senior Center, 8801 Kester Ave. in Panorama City;
• Sunland Senior Center, 8640 Fenwick St. in Sunland;
• Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, 4000 S. La Brea Ave; and
• Lincoln Heights Senior Center, 2323 Workman St.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Homelessness, in coordination with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, began outreach with unhoused residents to provide them with hotel vouchers.

In Skid Row, three climate stations will be available for unhoused residents to grab cold beverages and sit in the shade, at the following:

• Towne Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, across the street from the ReFresh Spot;
• San Pedro Street, mid-block between Sixth and Seventh streets; and
• Fifth Street and Maple Avenue

The ReFresh Spot, located at 544 Towne Ave., is also open and provides the Skid Row community access to drinking water, restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. The ReFresh Spot is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is open to anyone in the community, free of charge, according to Bass’ office.

LA pools will also be available for residents. Hours of operations can be found here

The Department of Water and Power is prepared to work around the clock and meet customer demand. Crews are ready to respond to possible power outages, and additional staff are on standby. Power outages can be reported at ladwp.com/outages or by calling 1-800-DIAL-DWP (1-800-342-5397).

LADWP customers can sign up to receive outage alerts via text or email at ladwp.com/outagealert.

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings from 11 a.m. Tuesday until 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys, and other areas in Southern California.

Temperatures are expected to cool down starting Thursday.