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.”
Turner on How Cities Can Help Shape Responses to Heat
A Smart Cities Dive brief on heat resilient cities cites V. Kelly Turner, associate professor of urban planning and associate director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI). The brief provides information from the federally funded Center for Heat Resilient Communities to cities interested in financial and technical assistance for extreme heat planning. Communities are eligible to apply by Jan. 24 for $10,000 and assistance to determine the impact of extreme heat on their area, assess their capacity to respond and design a “locally tailored blueprint for heat resilience,” according to the brief. Up to 10 cities will be selected. The center will “also be able to highlight how the experiences and local knowledge of diverse communities can help shape federal responses on heat,” said Turner, the center’s principal investigator. The Los Angeles-based Center for Heat Resilient Communities is one of two heat resilience research centers established by the Biden administration in May.
A Cautionary Note on Policies to Curb ‘Vehicle Miles Traveled’
Research by professor and chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning Michael Manville is the focus of Reason Foundation articles on state policies aimed at reducing the growth of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on California’s roads. Manville is among transportation professionals in the U.S. concerned about current state policies enacted to reduce VMT. California has the most ambitious goal of reducing VMT by 20% by 2030, while other states including Washington, Colorado, Minnesota and Massachusetts have set their own reduction targets. Manville’s work on VMT is reviewed in the October issue, and the November review takes a detailed look specifically at California’s VMT-reduction policy. In creating his report, Manville used input from a panel of experts from academia, as well as transportation practitioners to examine current practices for estimating induced travel from freeway expansions, to resolve areas of disagreement and to provide recommendations.
A Post-COVID Change in How We Live Our Lives
Media outlets in the United States and around the world have spotlighted new research showing that Americans are spending more time at home since the COVID-19 pandemic. The study by Brian D. Taylor and Sam Speroni of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and Eric A. Morris of Clemson University reveals an overall drop since 2019 of about 51 minutes a day in time spent on out-of-home activities and an almost 12-minute reduction in time spent on daily travel such as driving or taking public transportation. The authors conclude that the trend calls for a rethinking of many planning policies, including repurposing office and retail real estate given the increase in working and shopping from home. News media including Health, Earth.com, Consumer Affairs, ZME Science, Manchester Evening News and National Geographic Germany are among the more than 400 outlets covering the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Planning Association.
Shoup on New York City’s Plan to Make Curbs Smarter
Distinguished Research Professor of Urban Planning Donald Shoup commented in a Gothamist article on a plan to modernize and better utilize curb space in New York City’s Upper West Side. The “Smart Curbs” program, which is already being implemented, is designed to dramatically change parking rules in the Manhattan neighborhood, reducing double parking, increasing public seating and providing space for bike racks normally used for parking cars. The program is part of a larger effort to control traffic and increase safety, including designated curb space for delivery trucks and for-hire vehicles, according to transportation officials. However, Shoup, an expert on parking, described the plan as only a mild change and argued that the city should be more ambitious. “The curbs could be even smarter,” he said. “On every street there should be loading zones. They should be charged by the minute.” Shoup added, “It’s the most unsophisticated city on earth for curb parking.”
Anheier on Next Steps for Germany’s Next Government
Helmut Anheier, adjunct professor of public policy and social welfare at UCLA Luskin, co-authored a Project Syndicate commentary about what Germany must do for its next government to succeed following its recent political collapse. The shake-up, which has precipitated a “snap election” set for February 2025, and the political arguments that have followed — while not desirable — present opportunities for Germany moving forward, according to Anheier. While Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government did propose reforms following years of relative stagnation under former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership, Anheier writes, “some initiatives were introduced too hastily, and others are still awaiting implementation.” Others were derailed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he explains. “The competing pressures to make progress on pre-agreed reforms and achieve a fundamental policy reset — combined with budget constraints and ideological differences — ultimately tore the coalition apart,” Anheier argues, offering four key areas that new German leadership will have to address.
Yaroslavsky on Expanding the L.A. County Board of Supervisors
And then there were nine. With the passage of Measure G, L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors will grow by four new members. Former longtime supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky commented in the Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the historic shift in the county government’s makeup. Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, expects that the new seats will attract an army of candidates, and the new position of chief executive position will be “the most powerful elected local government official in the state of California.” The chief executive post could prove alluring to sitting supervisors, he added, which would grant one “lucky politician” what he described as “the biggest bully pulpit in Southern California.” Yaroslavsky, who served on the board for two decades, added that, at nearly 76 years old, he’s not interested. “There might have been a time, but not now.”
Mixed Results on Housing Initiatives
An LAist article on local and state ballot measures addressing housing and homelessness called on UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens and Shane Phillips for perspective. The latest returns show that more than 56% of L.A. County voters supported Measure A, which increases sales taxes to fund homeless services and new affordable housing development. However, Measure H, the initiative that first established the tax back in 2017, drew 69% support, noted Phillips, a researcher with the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. The dip in support may signal fatigue with funding homelessness efforts through the ballot box. Lens, a professor of urban planning and public policy, weighed in on Proposition 5, the state initiative that would have made it easier to pass affordable housing bonds. Angelenos joined other Californians in voting Prop. 5 down, perhaps because they found the initiative confusing. “A lot of times the default, I think, goes to ‘no’ because you’re suspicious if you don’t fully understand something,” Lens said.
Peterson on Future of the Affordable Care Act
Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented in a Los Angeles Times article about how the next presidential administration could impact health in California, from food and medicine to medical costs. California lawmakers already have announced steps to block attempts to interfere with the current state agenda. Among areas of concern are former President Trump’s attempt to roll back the Affordable Care Act during his first term, which was ultimately unsuccessful, and his more recent position of replacing the historic legislation only if a better plan is created. “It’s very unlikely that Republicans will want to take on the Affordable Care Act,” Peterson said. “It did not go well for them last time … and now the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever.” Peterson, a senior fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, has a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Shoup on Philadelphia Plan for Downtown Arena
UCLA Distinguished Research Professor of Urban Planning Donald Shoup commented in a Next City story on a proposed plan for a new downtown sports arena in Philadelphia that has raised a number of concerns, including expectations of an increase in game-day traffic congestion. A traffic analysis commissioned by the city projects that avoiding “catastrophic congestion” would require at least 40% of game attendees to take public transit to the stadium, according to the story. One proposed solution, which has shown some success in cities in the U.S. and other countries, is transit validation — free transit with each game ticket sold. “If you were going to drive to the game, wouldn’t you be happy if you thought that everybody else was taking the bus? So who’s losing? Nobody’s losing,” Shoup said. At the same time, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) faces a $240 million deficit with state leaders grappling with how to avoid service cuts.
A Movement to Lower the Voting Age
Social Welfare Professor Laura Wray-Lake spoke to CBS News’ Bay Area affiliate about efforts across the country to lower the voting age. In some cities in California, Maryland and Vermont, youths as young as 16 or 17 are permitted to cast ballots in local elections. “There’s brain research showing that young people have the decision-making capacity, particularly for reasoned and planned decisions, which voting is,” said Wray-Lake, who researches youth civic engagement. Some critics of a lower voting age note that teenagers tend to be more liberal and that could tilt elections. Wray-Lake said that that argument doesn’t hold up. ”Not all young people are liberal,” she said, “and we don’t give rights or deny rights based on people’s political orientation.”
A Backlash Against Policing and Criminal Justice Reforms
Jorja Leap, an adjunct professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, was a guest on a recent KCRW radio feature on criminal justice reform in the 2024 election season. The discussion focused on crime trends in Los Angeles, described as a muddled picture. Los Angeles Police Department data show that violent crimes including homicide have dropped in the last few years, but property crimes and smash-and-grab mob retail thefts have increased. “We’re looking at the landscape of panic, and I don’t know any other way to put it,” Leap said. Unlawful acts that go viral have contributed to an atmosphere of crime anxiety, while often quieter criminal justice reform success stories get little to no attention, she added. “We are not interested in the good news,” she said, “and we’ve all been raised up on ‘if it bleeds, it leads.’”
Fairlie on Hispanic Business Ownership
UCLA Luskin Public Policy Chair and Professor Robert Fairlie was quoted in a ShareAmerica feature on the growing number of Hispanic and Latin American entrepreneurs in the United States and how their contributions are boosting the economy. The story cites research from Stanford Graduate School of Business’s “State of Latino Entrepreneurship” report published in March 2024 which showed a 57% increase in Hispanic entrepreneurship between 2007 and 2022, with about 5 million Latino-owned businesses contributing $800 billion to the U.S. economy. The story also cites U.S. Department of the Treasury data showing that almost a quarter of new entrepreneurs in the U.S. were Latino in 2021. Fairlie suggested that this increasing entrepreneurship is partially due to immigrants who start businesses at a higher rate than non-immigrants. “Immigrants take some initiative to leave [their countries of origin] and come to the U.S., and thus might be more risk-taking and entrepreneurial,” Fairlie said.
On the Political Use of Pseudoscience
Professor of Public Policy Aaron Panofsky commented in a STAT article on the rise and use of eugenics — pseudoscientific genetic and racial theories popularized around the turn of 20th century — in the 2024 race for U.S. president. Former President Donald Trump’s use of this language in regard to immigrants and minorities underscores a larger trend in which eugenics is being revived in the U.S. in immigration policies, campaign rhetoric and academic literature. Panofsky, director of UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics, said that through the Human Genome Project — the mapping of the human genetic code in the 1990s — it was hoped that the idea that genetics was responsible for significant differences among various groups would end, creating a post-racial world. “But it turns out that both scientists and the public spend all their interest in the 0.1% of genetic variation that makes us different, not the 99.9% that makes us the same,” he said.
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