Europe’s Bad Jobs are Better | BYU Radio
Chris Tilly, professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, was interviewed by Emily Rose of BYU Radio about his new book, “Where Bad Jobs Are Better: Retail Jobs Across Countries and Companies.” Retail is a tough way to make a living in America. The pay is low, benefits are rare and hours erratic. In a lot of other countries, working retail is a better gig. Tilly discussed this and other topics covered in the book during the interview.
Decriminalizing Prostitution Could Reduce Sexual Violence and STD Transmission | Scienmag
Manisha Shah, associate professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, is one of the co-authors of a new study published in the Review of Economic Studies, which found that Rhode Island’s six-year prostitution decriminalization policy increased the size of the sex market, but it also appears that during this period both rape offenses and female gonorrhea incidence declined dramatically. “We think this is a big finding in a world where good empirical evidence has historically been limited,” Shah said in an interview with Scienmag.
New York subway attack reveals security challenge for transport systems | The Guardian
In its coverage of a bombing attempt on the New York City subway, The Guardian spoke with UCLA Luskin Urban Planning Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris about efforts by some public metro systems to initiate mass screening. She notes that Shanghai’s metro now screens passenger bags and other carry-ons, and “There was not much of a delay.” High-speed rail lines in Europe do similar baggage screening, said Loukaitou-Sideris, who also spoke to CNN about transit safety in the wake of the NYC incident. “Thankfully, these are exceptional instances when you think about the millions of trips that people are doing every day,” she told the cable news network.
Michael Dukakis’s Last Stand | Boston Magazine
A reporter spends a day with former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who teaches at UCLA Luskin each Winter Quarter, and finds in the routine of his day-to-day life plenty of reminders why Dukakis remains a progressive political hero.
Why is LA traffic so bad? And is it getting worse? | KCRW
UCLA Luskin’s Brian D. Taylor was recently interviewed by KCRW on the current and future states of Los Angeles’ ongoing traffic woes. “We are urbanizing … over time, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and many things in-between … will look more like San Francisco,” said Taylor of the rising population density. Taylor, professor of urban planning and director of the Lewis Center and the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin, flagged this rising population as the core cause of the increases in traffic and housing costs. In turn, the result is that commutes for some L.A. residents are gradually becoming more time-consuming than ever before.
San Francisco’s plan to adjust parking prices based on demand | Wired
In a recent Wired article about San Francisco’s plan to alleviate the current traffic problems by adjusting parking prices based on demand, Michael Manville, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, weighed in. “You could have parking pricing reduce cruising for spots … but the road in San Francisco is still in high demand, so there’s no reason to think the road won’t fill in behind them,” he said. Manville added that road congestion is a greater result of a road not being priced accurately rather than being a function of parking prices.
Retail Jobs Don’t Need to Be Bad. Here’s Proof | The New York Times
Chris Tilly, professor of Urban Planning, has co-authored a new study that was published by the Russell Sage Foundation. The book seeks answers for a relatively urgent question: If retail work sets the standard for so many low-income families, why doesn’t it get more attention? The study explores the wages and working conditions of retail workers in Germany, Britain and other industrialized nations. While wages and working conditions have steadily deteriorated in the United States, the decline in Europe hasn’t been as general. “New regulatory initiatives, such as high minimum wages, have partially reversed trends toward falling compensation,” the researchers wrote. The book also received attention in Pacific Standard magazine.
The democratic socialist alternative: What is it? | LA Progressive
“The current unsettled and disturbing political landscape signals that it’s crucial for us … to consider organizing ourselves in ways that produce fewer poor and disadvantaged families and a decent standard of life for all, while also shaping a cooperative style and humane relationships among people,” wrote Jack Rothman, professor emeritus at UCLA Luskin, in his recent article for LA Progressive about the advantages of a democratic socialist economic and gubernatorial model. Rothman refuted common arguments in favor of capitalism and against socialism, concluding that the amassing of social ills (such as racism, severe economic inequality and commercial culture) could be remedied through adopting democratic-socialism in policy-making and social construction.
A new California gold rush for homeowners, the poorhouse for renters | Los Angeles Times
As California’s housing crisis deepens, possible solutions to manage spikes in rent and the growing inequality between homeowners and renters have gained new importance. “When we collectively decide not to build housing even as our economy grows, we deliver a windfall to people lucky enough to own homes and a punishment to those who rent,” Michael Manville, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, told columnist Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. Manville suggested a minor tax on home equity at the time of sale to fund programs to ease the crisis.
Lawmakers, experts eye Missouri as model for juvenile justice changes | Wisconsin State Journal
“The youth are being abused and the staff aren’t feeling safe — it seems like a colossal failure to me,” said Laura Abrams, professor of social welfare and department chair at UCLA Luskin, in a recent Wisconsin State Journal article about the Wisconsin system for juvenile detention and how it differs from the system now in use in Missouri. Wisconsin sends juvenile offenders to one sprawling campus that has been riddled with allegations of harm to both the staff and internees. Abrams added, “These large youth prison facilities are still having these types of issues because of the environment itself,” Abrams said. “There are fights between inmates … there’s fear among staff … it’s kind of an explosive environment.”
Free money: the surprising effects of a basic income supplied by the government | Wired
Citing a 2010 paper co-authored by Randall Akee, assistant professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, a recent Wired article took aim at the possible effects of a universal basic income in the United States by focusing on the story of the Skooter McCoy and his tiny town of Cherokee, North Carolina. This poor, rural town built a casino and divided its profits among its members, resulting in a town-wide improvement of health, well-being and socioeconomic status. Akee’s research concluded that there was no impact on overall labor participation due to casino payouts like those in Cherokee.
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UCLA students announce plan to split from Westwood Neighborhood Council over housing | Curbed Los Angeles
“It makes no sense that a handful of local homeowners should be able to block new student housing projects and prevent Westwood village from being a vibrant area that appeals to students with restaurants and bars,” said Paavo Monkkonen of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning in a recent Curbed article. UCLA students are breaking with the Westwood Neighborhood Council because of their rejection of multiple UCLA proposals to expand and redevelop student housing. To make this break official, the UCLA students will have to go through a multi-step process that includes approval from the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and finally a popular election open to UCLA students and all Westwood residents to confirm the proposal.
Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Gary Segura | Zócalo
As Gary Segura has settled in as the new Dean of the Luskin School, other universities have been taking notice, including Arizona State University and its Zócalo magazine, which recently published a Q&A with Segura. Segura answered questions about personal details such as the most recent book he has read and his favorite Supreme Court Justice, but he also went into some depth regarding his past research and new job position. Segura detailed his academic stance on war’s effect on public opinion as well as the greatest misconceptions of Americans regarding political polling.
How could the Supreme Court change gun laws? By ending gerrymandering. | Washington Post
“Partisan gerrymandering is one of the main reasons Congress has not enacted any significant new gun laws in recent years,” wrote Mark S. Kaplan, professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, in his recently coauthored Washington Post op-ed. Kaplan argued that the practice of partisan gerrymandering has nullified interparty competition in many congressional districts, which has in turn favored more ideologically “pure” candidates unwilling to compromise on key legislation such as gun reform. Kaplan concluded that the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on partisan gerrymandering could reverse this trend and promote bipartisan compromise.
‘Everyday Desistance’ Depicts Life After Juvenile Pasts | The Chronicle of Social Change
Authors Diane Terry and Laura Abrams, professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, received coverage by the Chronicle of Social Change, a website dedicated to solution-based news coverage of issues faced by vulnerable children, for their book, “Everyday Desistance.” Terry BA ’01 MSW ’04 Ph.D. ’12 and Abrams discuss the discourse surrounding the causes and perpetuation of recidivism within the L.A. County juvenile system. Abrams, whose research has catalogued the impact of incarceration on young people, said, “Our criminal justice system doesn’t always allow for [a] longer view because we’re concerned about more immediate outcomes and keeping people out of jail.”
Why the #MeToo movement is a public transportation issue | Washington Post
In a recent Washington Post piece about the experiences of violence and harassment that women face on public transportation, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, said, “These experiences that happen very early on — because they’re so dramatic and they make you so scared — they have quite a lot of impact. They may taint your use of public transportation and public settings for a very, very long time.” Trains and buses were deemed as frequent locations for the types of incidents that have been reported by #MeToo participants. Loukaitou-Sideris emphasized the importance of systems that encourage women to report incidents of harassment or assault without fear of belittlement or indifference.
More zero-emission vehicles will mean better air quality, Gov. Jerry Brown promises while signing new laws | Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown has recently signed into law a bill whose legislative analysis cites a UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation study. This study found that access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes has played a role in the purchase of 24,000 plug-in electric cars and hybrids. The bill will extend the ongoing program that allows access of single-occupant, zero-emissions vehicles to carpool lanes until 2025.
Bad traffic in L.A.’s toll lanes? Blame the 25% of drivers who don’t pay to use them, officials say | Los Angeles Times
“It’s a threat to the validity of the whole program. You can’t charge people to use a system that you’re not willing to enforce,” argued Martin Wachs, distinguished professor emeritus of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, in a recent Los Angeles Times article regarding the recent finding that 25 percent of drivers in toll lanes are avoiding the single-driver toll. When asked about LA Metro’s plan to start charging a discounted toll to single-drivers in zero-emission vehicles to help reduce the current congestion problem, Wachs added, “The idea that we would give discounts based on what fuel the vehicle uses is a distraction from the main purpose of the policy, which is to manage highway capacity. They’re competing goals.”
Amid the ongoing national debate about health care policy, UCLA Luskin Professor Mark A. Peterson was asked to comment on an idea floated by Republican Sen. Rand Paul that would legalize nationwide health associations in an effort to allow people to get group health insurance across state lines. Peterson expressed doubt that insurance prices would be reduced by such a change. “What drives cost of care is the cost of medical care. If I’m in California, which is an expensive medical care state, and I buy my insurance from Delaware, which is not, I’m still going to doctors and hospitals that are very expensive and the insurance plan is either going to cover that or not,” Peterson said.
In a story about efforts to create a policy that will guide the Los Angles Police Department regarding when and how videos of critical incidents will be released, Jorja Leap of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare says every police video of critical incidents should be released, but she believes the timing should be determined on a case-by-case basis. Leap cautioned that video should be released with appropriate explanation and context because the footage may not tell the whole story.
President Donald Trump’s decision to criticize professional athletes carries political risk, says Gary Segura, dean at UCLA Luskin and professor of public policy and Chicana/o studies. Even though players kneeling for a national anthem or otherwise protesting police brutality and racism are predominantly African American, the NFL and NBA have fans from all racial backgrounds. “When you tell somebody they can’t speak their political mind, it cuts pretty hard in suburban, middle-class, white communities — even if they disagree with players taking a knee,” Segura said.
In a commentary, author Jack Rothman, UCLA Luskin professor emeritus of social welfare, writes: Sure, there’s more sophistication and social weightiness in the new style of comedy. It has a cutting edge and pushes for greater social awareness. But I really wish the old school had continued and we could have side-by-side comedy forms that include just plain fun and ironic scorn.
The radio program “AirTalk” featured Micheal Manville, assistant professor of urban planning, in a discussion of the pros and cons of congestion pricing as a way to help reduce traffic gridlock in Los Angeles.
In the Crenshaw District, which many view as the heart of L.A.’s black community, residents are wrestling with the evolving identity of the 70-year-old Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and surrounding neighborhoods. Paul Ong, director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA Luskin, says, “The challenge facing this particular area is how to manage some of those changes so the benefits are generated in a way that it doesn’t just displace people who cannot afford to remain there.” An interview with Ong about gentrification in Los Angeles is also part of a new series of stories by KCRW radio.
In a radio interview, Michael Stoll, who teaches public policy at UCLA Luskin, says that the disproportionate share of people leaving L.A. for cities like Las Vegas are lower-to-moderate income renters and house hunters who are most intensely feeling the brunt of high housing costs. But Stoll said they have to weigh a move against family ties and social connections that they would leave behind if they relocated.
In a blog item, Kelsey Jessup of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation writes about the long and sometimes contentious history of the Los Angeles River. The river, which winds through 51 miles of industrial lots, open space areas and residential neighborhoods, has the potential to serve millions of people, she notes.
For its Labor Day weekend coverage, the San Francisco all-news station spoke with Chris Tilly, professor of urban planning, about recent job creation numbers and whether the United States is creating the right types of jobs for a sustainable and prosperous economy. Two news pieces based on the interview can be found here.
The Los Angeles public television station includes Gilda Haas, an urban planning expert at UCLA, in its new multi-platform documentary series about California communities that are fighting gentrification. Check local listings to see when the documentary is airing, or view it online. “The question isn’t whether everybody has the right to a house,” Haas says during a video interview. “The question is whether everybody has the right to a home.”
Catching up with former Massachusetts governor and U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, a Globe columnist asks about Donald Trump as president. The statesman-turned-educator draws upon his experience teaching at UCLA Luskin and at Northeastern for an answer. “Most of my students in both universities — at least the ones taking my courses — think he’s crazy,’’ Dukakis said of Trump. “But he has in a funny way dramatically increased interest in public service on the part of these students. They now understand that elections matter.’’
Kian Goh, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, says flooding in Texas neighborhoods near dams and levees as a result of Hurricane Harvey is an example of America’s inability to control how developers build. “Many urban designers have acknowledged that leaving out natural systems is actually a big problem, and the reasons why these cities are flooding is because we have taken away wetlands; we have paved over rivers, we have largely ignored the interaction between physical and natural systems,” Goh says in a text piece accompanying video story.
Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young has kept plenty busy during his retirement. His latest challenge? Running a K-12 school district in his adopted hometown. “I wouldn’t have taken a job anywhere else,” said Young, who is now 85. “I did this because I thought it needed to be done and I could do it.”
News media and public interest groups continue to seek out Laura Abrams, professor and chair of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin, for interviews based on her recent book, “Everyday Desistance: The Transition to Adulthood Among Formerly Incarcerated Youth.” In addition to a video interview with the Vera Institute of Justice that is available via YouTube, she recently spoke live on-air with KCBS Radio, an all-news station in San Francisco.
KPPC spoke with UCLA Luskin Urban Planning expert Michael Lens for comment on reporters’ analysis of records that show nearly two-thirds of projects funded by a tax credit program were built in L.A.’s poorest neighborhoods. “You can look at it innocently and say there are plenty of cities that feel like they don’t have much of a housing supply problem,” said Lens. “But on the flip side there are many places that just don’t want low-income people living within their boundaries.”
Research about gentrification by UCLA Luskin’s Paul Ong is cited in an online story and accompanying audio piece about the challenges of providing high-density housing near transit lines. For example, Metro’s future Crenshaw rail line is already raising concerns about home prices and displacement of current residents. “There’s no question. There is a link between public investment in transit and gentrification and displacement,” says Ong, a professor of urban planning.
In an interview with BYU Radio, Laura Abrams, chair of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin, discussed the challenges for young people who have been incarcerated in the juvenile justice system and then released back into society. For those trying to leave their criminal pasts behind — which social scientists call “desistance” — the way forward is even more fraught and confusing. Abrams discussed her new book, “Everyday Desistance: The Transition to Adulthood Among Formerly Incarcerated Youth,” during the interview.
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The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2017, to charge developer fees to help pay for affordable housing. In a letter to City Council members, assistant urban planning professors Paavo Monkkonen and Michael Manville warned that the linkage fee, as drafted, might backfire. They proposed four amendments, including swapping the fees paid for by commercial and residential developers, so that commercial developers pay more.
In an op-ed written for Medium.com, Michael Manville, assistant professor of Urban Planning, addresses the question of whether charging tolls for roads is punitive for the poor. “Many low-income people do drive, and tolls may burden them. Fortunately, tolls also come with a built-in solution to this problem: revenue. Toll revenue can offset costs for low-income drivers. This is how we help low-income people afford other forms of priced public infrastructure, like heating, gas, electricity, and public transit.”
How far can you get in one hour if you leave at rush hour in some of the biggest cities in the U.S.? The Washington Post decided to do the math on this, with help from measurements from cellphones and traffic sensors. Los Angeles, of course, is one of the areas covered, but L.A. is “particularly tricky,” said Madeline Brozen of UCLA Luskin’s Institute of Transportation Studies, because it’s “a city of a thousand villages without a center.” She noted that jobs have cropped up in the adjoining coastal towns without affordable housing in those areas, exacerbating the problem.
Michael Storper, professor of urban planning, is quoted in a story about how the Bay Area’s technology-centered economy is far surpassing the Los Angeles region’s lackluster economic performance. Storper likens what happened in Los Angeles to the decline of the industrial upper Midwest. “Across these larger cities, Los Angeles most closely resembles Detroit,” he said.
The growth of toll lanes in the Inland Empire reflects a national trend in which transportation agencies are turning to toll lanes to finance freeway improvements and manage congestion. Martin Wachs, professor emeritus of urban planning, explains why toll lanes are booming. “The only way to ensure that traffic is moving more swiftly is to charge people for it,” Wachs said. “It can always reduce congestion because you can raise the price higher and higher until some people choose not to use it.”
Is the Trump administration making it easier for the notorious MS-13 gang to recruit new members? That’s the premise of a story in The Economist. Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare, says MS-13 targets undocumented immigrants because it knows they may hesitate to report crimes for fear of deportation. “They might threaten to kill an aunt, an uncle, a grandma back in El Salvador or Honduras,” Leap says.
There’s talk of converting the Orange Line bus rapid transit system that connects Chatsworth to North Hollywood into light rail. But Juan Matute of UCLA Luskin’s Lewis Center says the existing bus line is a success on multiple levels, moving more than 25,000 daily riders at speeds that are 30 to 50 percent quicker than conventional L.A. buses. “The Orange Line has been an extremely cost effective transportation amenity,” he says. “You could build five Orange Lines for the cost of a light rail corridor.” The article also cites research by Anne Brown, a PhD candidate in urban planning who studied neighborhood change around the Orange Line.
GlobeSt.com continues to highlight the thinking of UCLA Luskin’s Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning. A recent piece asks for his thoughts about why local governments and lobbyists seem to miss important academic research and the potential solutions therein related to L.A.’s housing shortage. “Academics are not the most convincing people to elected officials. I think it really takes interest from journalists, who can spread ideas in simple terms,” Shoup says in the article, which can be read in full by those who register for the site.
Writing about her own search for a new home, CurbedLA writer Danielle Directo-Meston worries about contributing to gentrification and seeks advice from UCLA Luskin’s Dana Cuff, director of cityLAB and professor of architecture and urban design at UCLA. “The displacement issue is absolutely critical in defining [gentrification],” Cuff says. Most people want to see their neighborhoods improve, but Cuff notes that “the problem is people are displaced unwillingly and they’re priced out of the market in one way or the other.” Also quoted in the article is Rudy Espinoza MA UP ’06: “It’s a system that helps people who already have money,” he says about the current local housing crunch, “and it’s leaving the majority of us behind.”
Mark Peterson, professor of public policy, is quoted in a Voice of America story about President Trump’s vacation in New Jersey. Discussing Trump’s proclivity for using Twitter, even while he’s on vacation, Peterson said: “I doubt that anyone is surprised that President Trump would continue his use of Twitter or has not shifted away from the tone and style that have come to define the way he usually communicates with that medium.”
Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the Luskin School, is quoted in a story about what impact the 2028 Olympics might have for L.A. Yaroslavsky provided some context for the issue by looking back at the 1984 Olympics. “In 1978, we had no term limits in the City Council,” Yaroslavsky said. “We would be held accountable for success or failure of the Games. There was a political survival instinct to protect us from a fiasco that would be detrimental to us.”
Ian Holloway, assistant professor of social welfare, is co-author of an op-ed appearing in the Take Care blog focusing on President Trump’s tweets about transgender service members. “In 417 characters, he jeopardized the livelihoods of committed soldiers serving our country at home and abroad,” Holloway and co-author Jody L. Herman of the Williams Institute wrote. “While the numbers may seem small, the impact of President Trump’s tweets could be quite large in their toll on service members, their families, and the progress that has been made toward inclusion. … The President’s decision is not supported by credible scientific research or facts.”
J.R. DeShazo, chair of public policy and director of the Luskin Center for Innovation, is quoted in this story/podcast about the debate over whether electric vehicles are responsible for as much pollution as internal combustion engines. “If driving electric vehicle reduces the number of people exposed to harmful pollution, then that improves people’s health and society’s well-being,” DeShazo said.
Manisha Shah, vice chair of public policy, was quoted in a story/podcast about efforts to decriminalize prostitution in Rhode Island. “I think more people should be talking about Rhode Island,” Shah said. “I think, for me, the biggest takeaway is that decriminalization really does improve public health outcomes.” For Shah, the Rhode Island experience was pure gold in terms of its research opportunities. “I was like, we can do really, really great research from, you know, from this natural experiment.”
Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare, was quoted in The Weekly Standard’s story about the MS-13 gang in Los Angeles. “It is neither completely disorganized nor highly structured,” says Leap, an anthropologist at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs who studies gangs. “When we go beyond the main story and look at processes and the dynamics and the hierarchy, MS-13 is very reminiscent of a fraternity or a start-up business.”
Mark Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, is quoted in a story about President Trump’s threat to pull health insurance for members of Congress. “Stripping away this subsidy would mean that members of Congress and congressional staff would be treated entirely differently from almost every other person in the nation working for a large employer,” Peterson said.
Los Angeles redefines compromise in latest Olympic bidding duel | ESPN
Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, is quoted in ESPN’s story about L.A. being awarded the 2028 Olympics. “[LA2024 chairman Casey Wasserman] and the mayor, they know their success will not be measured against Tokyo [in 2020] or Rio, but rather that of Peter Ueberrot,” said Yaroslavsky, who spent 40 years as an elected official in Southern California, including 19 on the L.A. City Council. “They know that, and they want to do an even better job than Ueberroth.”
Some Jewish business owners wary of L.A. minimum wage increase | Jewish Journal
In a story aboutraising the minimum wage in Los Angeles, Chris Tilly, professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, said the minimum wage law won’t trigger any big impact that many business owners are anticipating. Business owners in other states that passed minimum wage increases were nervous, Tilly said, but once the laws went into effect, they found ways to adapt to the increases.
Colleges should change how they handle sexual assault | Washington Post
An op-ed piece by UCLA Luskin’s John Villasenor and Lara Bazelon of the University of San Francisco School of Law addresses an effort by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to revise current federal policy regarding the handling of sexual assaults on college campuses. The legal scholars detail various shortcomings of the current policy and call for a major overhaul that will ensure fairness to both sides after a sexual assault accusation. “Due process must be the core component of any campus adjudicatory system,” the authors write. “Otherwise, on-campus sexual assault proceedings will continue to be rightly challenged as lacking in fairness and legitimacy.”
The high cost of free parking | Vox
No discussion of urban America’s parking woes is complete without UCLA Luskin’s Donald Shoup, and Vox provides a particularly creative summary of his research on the topic in a new video produced through Mobility Lab. Meanwhile, another online news outlet, GlobeSt.com, cited Shoup in a piece about land use and zoning.
A study by UCLA Luskin’s Gregory Pierce in conjunction with C.J. Gabbe of Santa Clara University is cited in a piece about the negative impact of requiring developers to provide a set number of parking spaces for every new unit of housing. Parking should be thought of as an equity issue, according to the authors. “The provision of parking supply without associated demand can only be characterized as wasteful,” they write. “While many households might have chosen to pay for on-site parking in a free market, this proportion is surely lower than what has been mandated.” The same study is also cited by Wired in a recent story about a reduction in parking spaces in Mexico City.
2017’s Best Big Cities to Live in | WalletHub
Joan Ling, lecturer in urban planning at UCLA Luskin, answers five questions about the livability of major cities in a piece that offers a statistical comparison of 62 U.S. cities regarding factors such as affordability, quality of life and safety. What is the biggest mistake that people make when moving to a new place? “Not having a job lined up,” Ling says.
Riverside woman hops aboard tiny house trend – by living in old school bus | The Press-Enterprise
In a story about a young Riverside woman who is converting a school bus into a home, Vinit Mukhija, who chairs UCLA Urban Planning, says the small home concept has evolved beyond its roots in environmental activism. Although the overall cost of such homes is low, Mukhija explains that necessary customizations can lead to a cost per square foot that is higher than in a standard home.
As O.J. Simpson Wins Parole, a Quick, and Divided, Reaction | New York Times
The New York Times turned to UCLA Luskin’s Jim Newton as part of its coverage of the decision to release O.J. Simpson on parole. “When I first started covering the LAPD in the early 1990s, officers would not hide their racism, even from a reporter from the Los Angeles Times,” said Newton, who covered Simpson’s murder trial and 1995 acquittal. “The short code for a spousal abuse episode involving a black couple was N.H.I., which stood for ‘No Humans Involved.’ That was something they transmitted to each other on police radio.”
Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and America’s suicide crisis | Mercury News
In its coverage of the suicide death of Chester Bennington from the band Linkin Park, the San Jose-based news outlet repeats an earlier quote to the Guardian from UCLA Luskin’s Mark Kaplan. “Suicide is a big problem, but it’s under-resourced and under-funded,” said Kaplan, a professor of social welfare.
A better way to solve the housing crisis — tax land, not development | Los Angeles Times
Writing together in an op-ed piece, three UCLA Luskin urban planning experts argue that the best way to address Los Angeles’ housing affordability crisis is to tax land, not development. The mayor’s plan to finance subsidized affordable housing with a “linkage fee” is well-intentioned, write Michael Manville, Paavo Monkkonen and Michael Lens. But it won’t raise as much money or produce as much benefit as would a nominal land tax. “Land taxes put the responsibility for solving our housing crisis where it belongs — on every property owner in the city,” the article notes.
Study: GPS Rules Send California Juveniles Into Jail Cycle | Associated Press
In an Associated Press story picked up by multiple news outlets, UCLA Luskin’s Laura Abrams talks about the lack of consistency in a California practice that impacts juvenile offenders. In an effort to keep juveniles out of detention centers, judges can instead sentence the youths to wear GPS ankle monitors and abide by rules set by probation officials. But those rules vary by county, and some young offenders end up back behind bars for minor offenses as a result. Centralized probation systems in some smaller states ensure that juvenile offenders follow the same rules, said Abrams, a professor and chair of Social Welfare. “I’m not sure disparities are this large in other states, partly because California is so diverse,” she said.
A Muslim and a Jew Urge the Supreme Court to Strike Down the Muslim Ban | Los Angeles Times
In an op-ed column for the Los Angeles Times, UCLA Luskin’s Zev Yaroslavsky and co-author Salam Al-Marayati write: We are an American Jew and an American Muslim. Because our communities are well versed in the pain of discriminatory and exclusionary policies, we are fiercely committed to protecting, defending and upholding the American democratic ideals under threat by President Trump’s travel ban. … Muslims and Jews together are derived from the stock of Abraham. Drawing on our shared roots, we look on with trepidation at the risks facing our country.”
San Francisco’s Civil War | Slate
In a Slate story about how the only thing that Bay Area tenant activists hate more than high rent is each other, UCLA Luskin’s Michael Manville is mentioned in a discussion about housing growth in Los Angeles. “Everyone wants more affordable housing,” Manville, a professor of urban planning who says the fee is a bad idea, told the Los Angeles Times. “On this policy issue, there just isn’t a clear consensus on whether this is the way to get there.”
The Next Crisis for California Will Be the Affordability of Water | Los Angeles Times
In a Los Angeles Times story about how water is looming as the defining economic problem in the coming years, UCLA Luskin’s J.R. DeShazo talks about the lack of a state program to guarantee the affordability of water for all California residents. “We have lifeline rates for electricity, weatherization, even telephones,” says DeShazo of UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, “but we do not have a statewide program that ensures that people have affordable water.” The recent drought, he observes, “has thrown that need into relief.”
Who’s Afraid of Donald Trump? | U.S. News & World Report
In a story about the tactics of President Trump when dealing with other world leaders, UCLA Luskin’s Mark A. Peterson compares him to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who also lacked political experience before taking office. Eisenhower “knew how to compromise, negotiate with people. Trump has none of that capacity,” said Peterson, an expert on the interaction among the president, Congress and interest groups. “That’s going to be a problem with Congress [and] the G-20,” a group of world leaders. “Already our allies are feeling pretty uncomfortable about his positions and approaches.”
