Large-Scale Retreat from Fire Not an Option
Liz Koslov, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin and UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, co-authored a New York Times opinion piece on the path forward after recent wildfires in Los Angeles. Koslov and co-author Kathryn McConnell of the University of British Columbia address questions about the wisdom of rebuilding and whether “managed retreat” from wildfire is even a realistic alternative. “We need a serious discussion of how to live with fire in this new era,” they write. The notion of “let it burn” is not a “realistic or humane response to the destruction of homes and communities — in either urban or rural places.” Retreat from fire risk is “a fantasy” and could, in some places, increase the danger, according to the scholars, who have published research on managed retreat from wildfire. What they do recommend is greater investment in preparing buildings as well as community-led experiments in new ways to protect neighborhoods.
Millard-Ball on Fire, Sprawl and Car Dependency
Research by UCLA Luskin’s Adam Millard-Ball, professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, is cited in Next City, Bloomberg and Streetsblog articles on traffic gridlock that occurred amid the devastating fires in Los Angeles. During the fire, motorists evacuating their neighborhoods were forced to abandon their cars, which had to be pushed aside by bulldozers. Millard-Ball’s paper on street-network sprawl, released on Jan. 13, notes that neighborhoods where residents struggled to flee have some of the county’s least connected streets with limited access in or out. Millard-Ball and his colleagues mapped street connectivity, not just in L.A. but worldwide. “We found that the U.S. actually has some of the least connected streets in the world,” they noted. While L.A. does have a generally well-connected grid system, the researchers found exceptions including Pacific Palisades. They added that building the streets back exactly as before would be a lost opportunity to improve disaster preparedness.
How California Health Programs Could Change Under Trump
UCLA’s Mark A. Peterson appeared on KQED’s “Forum” to talk about what could happen to California health care programs as the Trump administration takes power. The Republican Party has signaled plans to overhaul the federal Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income people, possibly leading to billions of dollars in cuts to California. Trump policies could also have major implications for the state’s health insurance marketplace as well as programs addressing homelessness and reproductive health. “The reality is that the delivery of health care is a rescue operation. That’s what we do when people become ill,” said Peterson, a professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin and senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “Well, what if we can prevent people from becoming ill in the first place? Which would be both enhancement for their lives and their economic productivity. It would also mean we’d be spending less on health care.”
Lens on L.A.’s Spiking Rental Housing Prices During Wildfires
UCLA Luskin Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning Michael Lens commented in an LAist story on skyrocketing rental housing prices in Los Angeles amid the region’s devastating wildfires. The article cites examples of online listings nearly doubling since the fires broke out, while thousands of residents who have lost their homes or been displaced are now scrambling to find alternative places to live. California Gov. Gavin Newsom already has imposed an emergency declaration that includes a ban on price gouging — any price increase above 10% of pre-disaster rates. In another LAist story, Lens said homeowners who’ve paid off their mortgages and long-term renters who were paying below market rates could particularly struggle to get back on their feet. “Folks who haven’t had to really think about where they’re going to live next — who may have been living in, fortunately, stable housing situations for the last couple decades — are going to see a lot of sticker shock,” Lens said.
L.A.’s Sprawl Into Fire-Prone Areas
Michael Manville, chair of Urban Planning at UCLA Luskin, spoke to Reason about land-use policies that have led to the outward spread of housing in Los Angeles, including into fire-prone areas. For decades, state policymakers have been aware of the risk to homes in the “wildland-urban interface,” the zone of transition between unoccupied land and human development, where man-made structures intermingle with vegetation that can fuel fires. Manville says the sprawl arises from “the desire to have … the most in-demand kind of housing, which is a nice little family home with a backyard, [and] you can’t do that without expanding outward.” Nearly 78% of residential land in Greater Los Angeles is reserved for single-family housing, the article notes, impeding any effort to relocate homes from the flammable outskirts toward urban centers. Manville called for zoning reforms to “take these areas that are zoned for very low density and allow them to build four or five units.”
A Test of Los Angeles’ Fire Preparedness
Edith de Guzman of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation spoke to National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” about the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles. The program, part of a special series on California wildfires, focused on L.A.’s preparedness for the fires — made worse by Santa Ana wind conditions — which have led to loss of life, burned thousands of structures and displaced thousands of Angelenos. De Guzman said that the past week has tested L.A.’s otherwise high level of fire preparedness. With “embers flying miles apart, fire ignition is extremely difficult to predict or control and it’s happening simultaneously in so many places,” said De Guzman, a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist on water equity and adaptation policy. She added that climate change and the fact that much of L.A.’s housing stock is built with wooden construction for seismic safety have made things worse.
Pierce on State of L.A.’s Water System
Gregory Pierce, director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab at UCLA Luskin, commented in media outlets including POLITICO, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Reuters and LAist on the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles region. Firefighting — already hampered by strong Santa Ana winds — has been further diminished by lack of water, which has left some fire hydrants dry. While local and state leaders are receiving criticism for the area’s lack of preparation, some fire experts and urban water experts have described the situation as “the perfect storm” and “the worst-case scenario,” which no city could have fully prepared for. “I don’t know that any place in the world has a system like that,” said Pierce, who also serves as co-director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Pierce explained that such a system for fighting wildfires would be extremely expensive as well as come with potentially negative climate impacts that could create further fire risks.
Learning More About the Water We Drink
Gregory Pierce, co-executive director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, spoke to Women’s Health and Voice of San Diego about the relative safety of tap, bottled and filtered water. “On average, the water in the United States is held to a higher standard and tracked more closely than that in other high-income countries,” said Pierce, who directs the center’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab. Compared to tap water, “bottled water has less oversight and fewer rules. It’s usually not safer,” he said. But Pierce added, “It’s a good idea for everyone to look into the quality of the water coming out of their tap, as water quality often varies even within the same city.” If tap water, looks, smells or tastes bad, residents should contact the local water agency, government offices or advocates, he said.
Torres-Gil on President Jimmy Carter’s Legacy
Fernando Torres-Gil, director of UCLA Luskin’s Center for Policy Research on Aging and professor emeritus of social welfare and public policy, appeared on a KABC Eyewitness News television broadcast in an interview about the legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away Dec. 29 at the age of 100. Torres-Gil, who was appointed to the Federal Council on Aging by the 39th president in 1978, commented on Carter’s views on aging and support of older Americans, saying that improving the lives of older Americans was a “process Jimmy Carter truly believed in.” Torres-Gil, who went on to serve in the Clinton and Obama administrations, credits Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter with helping to launch his career in public service. Carter “saw old age not as one segment of life but as a continuation of life,” Torres-Gil said. “He would say, ‘I have no regrets.’”
Newsom’s Health Care Initiatives in Peril
UCLA Luskin health policy expert Mark Peterson weighed in on prospects for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s health care agenda in a story by the Los Angeles Times and KFF News. Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents and launched initiatives to make health care more affordable, but some of his most sweeping initiatives have faltered. Under the next Trump administration, the governor’s signature health initiatives, as well as his own political future, are likely to become a target. For example, California became the first state in the nation to allow immigrants without legal status to enroll in free health care under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. “That is fuel to feed the Republican MAGA argument that we are taking tax dollars from good Americans and providing health care to immigrants,” said Peterson, a professor of public policy with a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Gilens on Trump, Musk and Conflicts of Interest
A Washington Post story on tech billionaire Elon Musk’s outsize influence on the incoming Trump administration cited UCLA Luskin’s Martin Gilens. Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter less than six months ago and spent $277 million to back Republican campaigns in this election cycle. Now, he’s playing an unprecedented role in shaping Trump’s administration, weighing in on Cabinet picks, joining meetings with heads of state and, this week, sparking a showdown on Capitol Hill by attacking a spending bill that would forestall a government shutdown. Musk is also the target of multiple government investigations and party to many lucrative government contracts. His business empire’s dependency on the government creates a conflict of interest, said Gilens, a professor of public policy, social welfare and political science. “It’s kind of a perfect storm, in the sense that he’s unelected and in a seemingly very influential position,” he said, “so that’s problematic to begin with.”
Torres-Gil on Providing Culturally Competent Care
Fernando Torres-Gil, director of UCLA Luskin’s Center for Policy Research on Aging and professor emeritus of social welfare and public policy, commented in an article published by The World about aging immigrants and their health care needs. The story notes that the number of foreign-born older people in the United States is quickly increasing and projected to reach 23% of the total older population by 2060. However, the U.S. health care system is not fully prepared to meet the needs of this aging population. The story focuses on a hospital-based fall-prevention class for Spanish-speaking older adults. Torres-Gil said that care programs where language and culture are shared and understood are vital to immigrants “because that way, they’ll age healthier and be less of an economic health burden on the community.” At the same time, he said that providing culturally competent care may be difficult to fund considering the incoming presidential administration’s attitude toward immigrants.
Manville on L.A.’s Spot Street Widening Regulations
Michael Manville, professor and chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, is cited in a Los Angeles Times editorial on the city’s longstanding street-widening requirements, so-called “zombie regulations” that are now getting the attention of local lawmakers. Under these regulations, in place since the early 1960s, new apartment and commercial developments are often required to dedicate part of the property to the city for road expansion. Road expansions account for L.A.’s “jigsaw-puzzle” configuration of widening and narrowing streets, according to the editorial. While intended to improve traffic flow, whether roads are congested or not, the editorial argues that the parcel-by-parcel widenings provide little or no congestion relief while they take out mature trees, parkways and sidewalk space. “I’ve studied urban regulations for 20 years, and this is probably the dumbest regulation I’ve ever encountered,” Manville said. The editorial also cites research by Manville showing that the road widening regulation increases the cost of housing.
Shoup’s Strategy to Fix L.A.’s Broken Sidewalks
Donald Shoup, distinguished research professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, wrote a Planetizen article about his proposal for the best way to address the broken concrete and uprooted trees causing hazards on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. Shoup says that Los Angeles should enforce the city and state laws that require property owners to maintain the adjacent sidewalks. The city can then partner with banks to allow the property owners to delay paying for any repairs until they sell their properties. He suggests that banks loan people money for repairs, to be repaid when owners sell their properties. With this policy, Los Angeles can repair its 4,000 miles of broken sidewalks that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Failure to make all the sidewalks accessible for people with disabilities before the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028 would give Los Angeles a catastrophic black eye on the world stage, he says. Shoup also spoke with KCRW and The Times of London.
Recycling Wastewater to Protect Clean Water Supply
Gregory Pierce, co-executive director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), spoke to the Los Angeles Times and LAist’s AirTalk about a new study that assesses Los Angeles’ plan to invest in a $740-million facility to recycle wastewater into clean drinking water. “Any way you slice it, our estimates are that the benefits are going to vastly outweigh the costs,” Pierce said. LCI researchers examined about 100,000 potential scenarios, including shortages caused by droughts or major earthquakes that could rupture aqueducts and cut off outside supplies. “Because climate uncertainty will be the largest driver of the city’s water shortage, the city must adapt by developing more local, reliable supplies,” he said. “It’s worth making that investment even though it’s a high cost up-front.” In a separate AirTalk appearance, Pierce, who also directs LCI’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, weighed in on the historical and contemporary importance of the century-old L.A. aqueduct.
Zepeda-Millán on the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall
Chris Zepeda-Millán, associate professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, commented in an Independent story on the current status of the U.S.-Mexico border wall eight years after President-elect Donald Trump made it a central part of his 2016 campaign. According to the story, illegal immigration increased during Trump’s major border wall construction push and hit record levels in 2023 during the Biden administration, with the wall “neither preventing nor deterring the things it was designed to stop.” Zepeda-Millán, who has conducted public opinion polling about why people support the wall, said, “Most Americans, even those who support the wall, know that it’s not going to produce the claimed effect, which then leads to the question: Why support it? Why build it?” Zepeda said he sees a parallel with Trump’s promises to deport millions of undocumented people: “The economy would collapse if he actually deported 11 million undocumented people. … Inflation would skyrocket.”
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