The Machinery Is in Place to Make Trump Protests Permanent | Wired
Today’s technology is an advantage for organizers of protest rallies, says Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld, a UCLA Luskin assistant professor who studies mass protests and authoritarian regimes. “Like almost all things computer based, it speeds up the process,” he told Wired magazine. The varied nature of the impromptu protests against policies announced by President Donald Trump also may be an indication that such rallies will become a routine aspect of his term in office. “This is a pretty new phenomenon,” Steinert-Threlkeld says of the multi-pronged approach that organizers have taken. “If anti-Trump protests are driven by sub-issues, then that has the potential to last much longer.”
Rural women in five countries spend more time than men caring for others | Phys.org
The cap-and-trade solution to our trade dispute with China | Zocalo
In an op-ed column in Zocalo, Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a professor in the UCLA Luskin Department of Public Policy, argues that financier Warren Buffett’s 1987 proposal for a market-based system based on the cap-and-trade arrangements currently being used to control greenhouse gases and other pollutants might be the best solution to our trade troubles with China. “In short, it’s time to dust off the Buffett plan of three decades ago before the U.S. embarks on a road to frictions with China and other trade partners,” Mitchell said.
Hawaii grandma’s plea launches women’s march in Washington | VOA News
In a story about the Women’s March on Washington planned for Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration, Mark Peterson, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy, is quoted as saying that, unlike a protest march after the election of George W. Bush in 2001, the Jan. 21 march appears to be focused entirely on the incoming president. He also said that logistical challenges, including heightened security during presidential inaugurations, could hamper the women’s march.
The newest Americans, getting off the bus | The Atlantic/Citylab
In a story about how immigrants are beginning to change their public transit habits, writer Tanvi Misra cites a graphic presented at a 2016 transit conference by Evelyn Blumenberg, professor of Urban Planning. “It (the graphic) shows that immigrants experienced the highest decline in transit ridership (16 percent to 10 percent) between 1980 and 2014, whereas the trend for other groups is more or less flat.,” Misra wrote.
Is a higher standard needed for campus sexual assault cases? | The New York Times
In a column for The New York Times opinion page, John Villasenor, a professor in the Department of Public Policy, joins Nancy Chi Cantalupo, a professor at Barry University in Miami, in debating the question of whether there should be a higher standard for campus sexual assault. Villasenor makes the point that “Title IX tribunals that have proliferated on U.S. college campuses since 2011 have been enormously problematic.”
Prosecutors: Tattoos tell the whole Aaron Hernandez story | Boston Herald
Can tattoos be viewed as evidence of guilt? Prosecutors in the case of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez say yes. But Jorja Leap, adjunct professor in the Department of Social Welfare, disagrees. “I think its kind of preposterous,” Leap said. “Traditionally people do not put smoking guns to show they’ve killed someone. They are not that literal about their crimes. I have students at UCLA who have gun tattoos and they’re not gang-affiliated.”
Mike Davis: An interview with Jennifer Wolch and Dana Cuff | Boom California
Dana Cuff, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning, interviews Mike Davis, one of California’s great storytellers and the author of “City of Quartz,” for Boom California. Remaining a central figure of a discipline at the intersection of geography, sociology, and architecture known as the Los Angeles School of Urbanism, Davis is now in retirement from the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. Last summer, he invited Cuff and Jennifer Wolch, the dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, into his San Diego home to discuss his career, his writings, and his erstwhile and ongoing efforts to understand Los Angeles.
Giving in L.A. | Los Angeles Magazine
Bill Parent, a lecturer in the Department of Public Policy, is quoted in a special issue of Los Angeles Magazine focusing on philanhropy. The magazine cites the two-year study of individual giving in Los Angeles that was led by Parent. It showed that while wages, disposable income and overall giving are recovering, people are giving less to charitable causes. “People will change what they give to, but the give more or less the same amount,” Parent said.
Los Angeles drivers on the 405 ask: Was $1.6 billion worth it? | The New York Times
Three UCLA Luskin faculty members were quoted in a New York Times story about the impact of the $1.6 billion renovation of the 405 freeway. Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at Luskin, called it “the most disruptive project” he had seen in his 40-year political tenure in Los Angeles. Martin Wachs, distinguished professor emeritus of Urban Planning, commented on how the latest budget overruns associated with the 405 project were announced after voters had approved the Measure M transportation tax. And Brian Taylor, director of Luskin’s Institute of Transportation Studies, discussed how he and other experts knew that the overhaul of the freeway would have little effect on easing congestion.
Zev Yaroslavsky: A pragmatic Los Angeles politican | KCRW
In an interview with Robert Scheer, Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, said he believes anxiety about the future led to the election outcome in November. Yaroslavsky also discussed the value California places on immigrants as the state continues to move in a more progressive direction than much of the rest of the country.
For California, fighting climate change is good for the environment and the economy | Los Angeles Times
In a letter to the editor about a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times, J.R. DeShazo, the director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, reminds readers of California’s aim to protect moderate- and lower-income consumers during the transition to a clean economy. “The Times’ article fails to recognize the resulting clean technology innovations and job creation, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands, that are now signature features of California’s economy,” DeShazo wrote.
How do you ease traffic in Los Angeles? Make it harder to park | Los Angeles Times
In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Juan Matute, the associate director of the UCLA Luskin Lewis Center, and his co-authors point out how parking policy is a key part of realizing Measure M’s success. “Only by making parking more scarce will we give drivers a reason to switch to buses or subways — and achieve Measure M’s promise of reducing traffic,” Matute and his colleagues wrote.
Smog city: Why Paris made public transit free for a day | Christian Science Monitor
In a Christian Science Monitor story about what Paris is doing to combat its worst air pollution in a decade, Madeline Brozen, the associate director for external relations in the Lewis Center and the Institute of Transportation Studies, said that quality of service impacts whether environmentally conscious commuters use public transportation. Brozen told the Monitor that while free public transportation is a strategy that has worked on a smaller scale, it is incredibly hard to achieve in a city of more than 2 million people.
‘Decolonizing’ the university: race, research and resisting displacement | PolicyLink.org
In an interview, Ananya Roy, the director of the Institute on Inequality and Democracy, discusses the mission of the institute, displacement, eviction, financialization and how the institute is addressing displacement challenges in Los Angeles. “We’ve set out an intention to journey with social movements and to journey with particular forms of activism and organizing,” Roy said in the interview.
Trump’s health pick will likely hurt his supporters the most | Global Citizen
In a story about Donald Trump appointing Georgia congressman Tom Price to be his secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services, Public Policy chair Mark Peterson is quoted as saying that Trump’s plan to repeat Obamacare could benefit upper middle-class Americans but “the expectation would reasonably be several more million people returning to the uninsured ranks, who will then rely on free and uncompensated care or delaying care or going bankrupt.”
Trump may have just built his first bridge to Silicon Valley | NBC News
In a story about Donald Trump appointing Elaine Chao as transportation secretary, Wach discussed the impact that Chao might have on companies like Uber and Lyft. “Elaine Chao is a conservative by nature, and that would suggest she might prefer to see the drivers treated as contractors rather than employees,” Wachs said. “She has experienced some of these labor issues and that will affect the positions that she takes.”
The rebirth of Watts make Jordan Downs uneasy | Los Angeles Times
In an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times, UCLA Luskin’s Jorja Leap writes that the supposed “rebirth” of Watts just adds to the growing unease around Jordan Downs. Many residents worry that the neighborhood’s affordable real estate and proximity to both downtown and Los Angeles International Airport render it ripe for gentrification. Residents are fearful that they will lose control over their community, or be displaced entirely.
Stand clear of the doors: TV finally gets on board with mass transit | KCRW
In an interview for KCRWs “Morning Edition” that focuses on how public transportation is often used as an interesting backdrop for character interaction on television shows, UCLA Luskin’s Michael Manville notes that, dramatic potential aside, mass transit does have its shortcomings. Privacy is compromised, plus riders “pay a time penalty in most places for riding public transportation,” says Manville, assistant professor of Urban Planning and a researcher with UCLA Luskin’s Institute of Transportation Studies.
Labor prepares to defend its victories on higher wages and worker rights | Los Angeles Times
Chris Tilly, an economist and professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, is quoted in a story about whether the Trump administration will seek to undo recent policy changes that favor workers, including increases in minimum wages. “There’s a whole set of areas where I think we’ll have to expect rollbacks,” said Tilly, former director of the university’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. “Labor will hope the Democrats fight for some of these things, but some of them are very much under the discretion of the administration and their appointees.”
Zev Yaroslavsky tells KPCC’s AirTalk that any attempt to withhold federal monies from Los Angeles because of the city’s stance on immigration could backfire on the Trump Administration. Yaroslavsky is the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Department of History, focusing on the intersection of policy, politics and history of the Los Angeles region.
Some suburbanites to sidewalk backers: ‘Stay off our lawns’ | Salon
In an Associated Press story published on Salon, UCLA Luskin’s Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris notes that privacy has always been a selling point for suburban residents, dating back a century or more. “Suburbs were marketed as completely different from the evil urban settings,” said Loukaitou-Sideris, an urban planning professor. “Private, rural, very green areas.”
Could a Trump presidency hurt or help California’s high speed rail project? | KPCC
Martin Wachs, distinguished professor emeritus of city and regional planning at UCLA Luskin, recently spoke with KPCC radio about the plan to build a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco and whether Donald J. Trump will support the high-speed rail line. Wachs tells A Martinez of “Take Two” that he thinks ongoing disagreement among Californians about the project may hinder efforts to obtain federal funds despite Trump’s campaign vow to spend billions to improve the nation’s infrastructure.
/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7417743/the_big_idea_wide_2.jpg)
Trump’s economic proposals and what to watch for | Vox
Writing for Vox, UCLA Luskin’s Wes Yin takes a close look at Donald J. Trump’s economic policy, offering advice on key issues that will likely take center stage as the president-elect seeks to act on his campaign promises. Yin, an associate professor of public policy and management, notes that Trump has signaled a less-extreme approach on some issues, including deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants and dropping the idea that Mexico would pay for a “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it would be a mistake to view these reversals as a sign that Trump will pursue a moderate or populist agenda, Yin writes.
Reacting to the Trump selection | Quartz | Daily Breeze
In the aftermath of the election of Donald J. Trump as U.S. president, news media reached out to UCLA Luskin’s Mark Peterson for comment. The chair of the Department of Public Policy says controversy is likely to keep haunting Trump. “We have never had a president-elect like Donald Trump, who in the course of his career and the campaign has done so much to be offensive to such a large range of groups,” Peterson said.
Surging Latino vote could spell trouble for Trump | MSNBC
Gary Segura, who will become the new Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in January, appeared on MSNBC on the eve of Election Day to talk about the Latino vote and how it might impact the results of the U.S. presidential election.
Social media helps U.S. millennial voters register, turnout worries linger | Reuters
With Election Day looming, Reuters talked with UCLA Luskin’s Laura Wray-Lake, an assistant professor in Social Welfare, about whether an increase in millennial registration could benefit Democrats seeking to use social media techniques to motivate voters in swing states. “Young people have huge potential for political impact” Wray-Lake said. “I think eventually these millennials will be deciding the future of the country.”
Can Californians handle direct democracy? | Los Angeles Times
In a recent Op-Ed piece, Zev Yaroslavsky of the UCLA Luskin Department of Public Policy says that a good deal of the grumbling about California’s initiative process is either misinformed or misdirected — starting with the length of the 2016 ballot and its 17 statewide measures. In fact, 30 times in the last century there have been 17 or more state propositions on a single ballot, the record being 48.
What If Trump Wins? What If Hillary Wins? | WalletHub
UCLA Luskin professor Wes Yin was among the featured experts in recent articles on WalletHub that discussed the probable economic impact of each of the presidential candidates, Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Want to create a park by the LA River? There’s a guide for that | KPCC
Southern California Public Radio covered the release by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation of its Los Angeles River Greenway Guide, a roundup of small and large projects that have been implemented all along the the river. Kelsey Jessup, project manager at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, is quoted in KPCC’s online story, saying that “future project proponents can use that information and don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time they’re working on something new along the greenway.”
More middle schoolers are dying of suicide than of car crashes | Reuters
A recent Reuters wire service story quoted Mark Kaplan, a professor in the UCLA Luskin Department of Social Welfare, about a new study by the Centers for Disease Control that found the suicide rate among U.S. middle school students surpassing the incidence of youngsters ages 10 to 14 who died in car crashes. In the story, which was picked up by the Washington Post and Canada’s CBC News, Kaplan says any rise in youth suicides “should be of concern.” Yet, he noted, the underlying causes of suicide are highly complex, making it difficult to explain the findings without more research.
Frank Gehry’s towering Sunset Strip project faces a fight from two cities | Los Angeles Times
In a story about a proposed development project in the Hollywood Hills and whether it is simply too large for its location along the Sunset Strip, professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, associate dean of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, explains that increasing density is an ongoing issue in L.A. and in many other cities that are grappling with a housing crunch. “What are you going to do? Build a wall and say people cannot come to L.A.?” Loukaitou-Sideris said. “It’s a huge battle because the city is growing and it needs to house people.”
Can granny flats help solve the housing crisis? | KCRW
Dana Cuff, a professor of Architecture/Urban Design and Urban Planning at UCLA, recently spoke with KCRW radio about so-called granny flats, which are detached second units that some homeowners build on their properties. City officials are scrambling after a recent lawsuit threw the structures’ legality into question. Click here to listen as Cuff tells “Press Play With Madeleine Brand” why she thinks granny flats can help alleviate the housing affordability crisis in Los Angeles.
Ensuring cybersecurity in fintech | Forbes
John Villasenor, a professor of Public Policy and electrical engineering, in his regular column for Forbes, writes about the key challenge facing the fintech revolution: cybersecurity. “Simply put, given the growth, dynamism, and complexity of the digital financial ecosystem, it is inevitable that some solutions will be insufficiently secure against cyberattacks,” Villasenor writes.
The next big fight over housing could happen in your back yard | The Washington Post
Vinit Mukhija, a professor of Urban Planning, is quoted in a story about the controversial addition of second homes — sometimes called “granny flats” — on single-family lots in Los Angeles. Mukhija said opposition to second homes often involves calls to preserve a neighborhood’s “character,” a sweeping word that can refer as much to the social character as to the physical design of a community.
Stigma, stress and fear: Faculty mental-health services fall short | Chronicle of Higher Education
Mark S. Kaplan, professor of Social Welfare, is quoted in a Chronicle of Higher Education story about the lack of quality mental health services for university faculty. “Not only are there these mounting stressors in academia today,” Kaplan said, “but opportunities to share those with somebody and being able to have a dialogue is often not there.”
Jailed Indiana teenagers reach a crossroads | Indianapolis Star
UCLA Social Welfare professor Laura Abrams is quoted in a story in the Indianapolis Star about the challenges faced by juveniles once they’re released from detention. In recent years, juvenile correctional systems across the country have placed greater emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment, said Abrams, a UCLA professor who studies juvenile justice. Rehabilitation and treatment, she said, fall more in line with the commonly held idea that children can be retaught and guided back to a better path. “That’s the whole reason we have a juvenile justice system,” Abrams said, “is because supposedly juveniles are deserving of a second chance.”
Urban Planners’ new enemy | Governing
UCLA Urban Planning distinguished professor emeritus Donald Shoup’s 2005 book, The High Cost of Free Parking, is the subject an article in Governing Magazine by Alan Ehrenhalt. Reflecting on the state of parking in U.S. cities more than a decade since the publication of Shoup’s book, Ehrenhalt writes, “Shoup’s ideas have taken root in cities all over the country. Urban Planners who scarcely gave parking a second thought in the pre-Shoup era have come to regard it as a crucial force in determining the future of their cities.”
‘Granny flats’ – a solution to housing crunch – come under fire | The Christian Science Monitor
UCLA Luskin professor of urban planning Vinit Mukhija is quoted in The Christian Science Monitor on the controversy over ‘granny flats,’ or second homes, on single family home lots in U.S. cities. “Most important is the cost of housing is so high now…I think we may be reaching a point where [our perspective around housing] has to be rethought.”
Smartphones are key to banking in the developing world | Buzzfeed
In a new study by the Center for Technology Innovation, researchers found that smartphones are one of the key tools for giving women access to banking — but much of the world is still a long way from widespread financial inclusion. “There are still roughly 2 billion people in the world that are excluded from financial participation,” John Villasenor, professor of Public Policy and one of the study’s authors, told BuzzFeed News.
Higher education becomes poster child for overtime rule concerns | Bloomberg News
Chris Tilly, professor of Urban Planning and director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, is quoted in a story about how opponents of the Labor Department’s overtime rules argue that it holds disadvantages for colleges and university. “Part of the reason that higher education works as a poster child for the opposition is that some universities have been outspoken against” the rule, “and universities, unlike a lot of large institutions, are relatively well-respected at this time,” Tilly said.
The capital of car culture, Los Angeles warms to mass transit | New York Times
Brian D. Taylor, UCLA Urban Planning professor & director of the UCLA Lewis Center, is quoted in The New York Times on the expansion of 13 new stations along the Expo and Gold lines. “In incremental terms, these new lines aren’t revolutionary,” he said. “They are more revolutionary in symbolic terms. They are a very public and specific commitment to spending on public transit.”
Don’t change the Orange Line to rail — improve it first | LA Times
In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Juan Matute, associate director of the UCLA Luskin Institute of Transportation Studies and the Lewis Center, argues that Los Angeles should not give up on its most successful rapid busway, the Orange Line, and convert it to a rail line.
Did anti-police rhetoric fuel violence against Baton Rouge, Dallas officers? | LA Daily News
Jorja Leap, adjunct professor in the Department of Social Welfare, is quoted in a story about whether verbal attacks on police by politicians, Black Lives Matter and the media might have caused the attacks on police officers. Leap said just because someone expresses outrage over the behavior of certain police and advocates for accountability — even with the most vitriolic language — doesn’t mean they are advocating murder. “Take an organization like Black Lives Matter. They are demanding accountability,” Leap said. “They are not saying, ‘Let’s kill cops.’ ”
Boyle Heights activists take aim at art galleries in fight against gentrification | LAist
In an article about the gentrification of Boyle Heights, ”
Shoddy forecasts could waste billions on infrastructure | Huffington Post
UCLA’s Martin Wachs, professor emeritus of Urban Planning at UCLA Luskin, is quoted in a blog post by Murtaza Haider, associate professor at Ryerson University, about infrastructure spending in Canada after years of neglect. In the article, Haider describes Wachs as being gravely concerned about inflated ridership forecasts. Wachs’ advice to forecasters: “Never put a number and a date in the same sentence.”
TTC board takes up women’s safety | Toronto Star
UCLA’s Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, a professor of urban planning and associate dean at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, was quoted by the Toronto Star in a story about steps being considered to improve safety for women who use the city’s public transit system. Anxiety about the use of public transit is “quite universal” among women around the world, said Loukaitou-Sideris, who has spent more than a decade studying women’s safety and transportation. The story noted that her research has shown that fear of harassment cuts across lines of marital status, nationality and sexual orientation, and makes women much more likely than men to confine their use of public transit to certain hours of the day or to situations where they’re accompanied by a friend or partner.
L.A. County sheriff admits flaws in deputy evaluations ‘need to be rectified’ | Los Angeles Daily news
In a story about ongoing efforts to reform the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the wake of a high-profile jail abuse and corruption scandal, UCLA’s Jorja Leap was asked to comment on efforts to improve the assessment of new deputies. She noted that this is a necessary step, but it will not change the department’s long-standing culture of secrecy and abuse. “If you don’t change that culture, it doesn’t matter what you do with deputies,” said Leap, an adjunct professor of Social Welfare in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
A generosity gap: Not on our watch | Jewish Journal
A column written by Marvin Schotland highlights a recent study by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs: For anyone concerned about the future of Los Angeles and the role of charitable giving in creating a healthy community here for us all, a recent study, “The Generosity Gap: Donating Less in Post-Recession Los Angeles County,” documents a decline in local giving of nearly 16 percent, from $7.16 billion to $6.03 billion, from 2006 and 2013. The Generosity Gap was drawn from a research project developed by Bill Parent, lecturer in the Department of Public Policy, and Urban Planning professor Paul Ong.
UCLA study shows more AAPI voters is what really counts | Asian Fortune News
Paul Ong, professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare and Asian American Studies, is quoted in an article about the influence of Americans who are of Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage. “The tipping point is the increase in the voting population,” Ong said. “If you don’t believe that, wait till November.” Ong stressed that population increase alone would not translate to individuals achieving the American Dream, or attaining equity for AAPIs as a minority group.
Would you live in a city made of bone? | The Daily Mail
J.R. DeShazo, professor of Public Policy and director of the Luskin Center for Innovation, is quoted in a sidebar to a story about a scientist in the UK who wants to use bone as a building material. The sidebar in which DeShazo is quoted focuses on the UCLA effort to transform greenhouse gas emissions into a new environmentally friendly buiding material, CO2NCRETE. “What this technology does is take something that we have viewed as a nuisance, carbon dioxide that’s emitted from smokestacks, and turn it into something valuable,” DeShazo said.
A by-women, for-women driving service is coming to Toronto | Toronto Star
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, professor of Urban Planning and associate dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, says there’s definitely a market for women-only driving services, particularly late at night. “There is a lot of fear in terms of issues like serious crimes, like rape — it’s the first thing on women’s minds — but women are also intimidated by sexual comments, harassment, groping,” says Loukaitou-Sideris.
Public housing promises in Watts | KCET/SoCal Connected
Social Welfare adjunct professor Jorja Leap is interviewed in this segment that aired on KCET’s SoCal Connected about the plans to tear down the Jordan Downs housing complex in Watts and build a new model for public housing. Leap’s interview begins at the 10-minute mark. The project, which has been stalled for many years, is scheduled to break ground in 2016.
Parking denied, but maybe not for long | Portland Tribune
Urban Planning Professor Emeritus Donald Shoup is quoted in a story about the lack of parking spaces in Portland-area neighborhoods. Shoup, a parking expert, suggests making the process easier for accessory lot owners to share their excess spaces with residents, area employees and valets. “If the city allows those spaces to be made available to the general public, it will reduce the shortage of parking.” Shoup added, “It doesn’t increase the incentive to provide more parking. It does the opposite.”
Grocery strike ahead? Union workers authorize walkout if contract negotiations fail | Orange County Register
A story about labor negotiations at Southern California supermarkets included comments from Chris Tilly, professor of urban planning and head of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. “What you saw over the last 10 or 15 years was that grocers adopted a negotiating stance toward the union which was, ‘We have to be competitive with Wal-Mart and there have to be major concessions,’” Tilly explained. Union workers who took a hit during the Great Recession are now trying to “regain lost ground,” he noted.
Why New Zealand’s largest city is paying its citizens to leave | Christian Science Monitor
UCLA Luskin’s Paavo Monkkonen, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Planning, was quoted in a Christian Science Monitor story about the housing crisis in New Zealand and its similarities to the affordable housing shortage in U.S. cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. “People are already leaving the Bay Area and Los Angeles,” Monkkonen said, “these cities are losing lots of low income families just because they can’t afford to stay anymore.”
How cap-and-trade may help wallets of residents | San Bernardino Sun
Is the state’s cap-and-trade climate change program hurting or helping residents of San Bernardino? A UCLA study reveals that San Bernardino households benefit financially under cap-and-trade. The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation estimates that the average household could gain approximately $50 per year as electricity consumers and $7 per year as natural gas consumers under the state’s cap-and-trade program. By Colleen Callahan, J.R. DeShazo and Julien Gattaciecca.
Weakened grocery companies, workers square off over contract | Los Angeles Times
In 2004, the UFCW represented 59,000 workers at Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons. Now the union has about 12,000 fewer members at those and affiliated stores. “Grocery store jobs look much more like fast-food jobs than they used to,” said Chris Tilly, director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. “Lower pay, fewer benefits, more people part-time.”
Teaching financial know-how needs to be a part of L.A. County’s social safety net | Los Angeles Times
About a third of county residents worry about being pushed to the brink of hunger or homelessness, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs an Zev Yaroslavsky. Nearly half lack sufficient savings or assets to stay above poverty for even three months after losing a job.
Could Los Angeles effectively regulate Airbnb | The Real Deal
In some parts of L.A., it’s already illegal to rent out a residence under current zoning ordinances, technically. Depending on where you live in the city, the disparity can be wide, UCLA urban planning professor Paavo Monkkonen told The Real Deal. “Most single family zoning prohibits it, and some multi-family zoning does but not all. And when I say illegal, it’s a zoning code violation rather than a criminal infraction,” he said. “But the codes were written 60 years ago, and the legality of it in many cases can be murky.”
The 7th most common killer of men — and how to avoid it | Men’s Health
Each year, over 33,000 men die from suicide each year, according to data from the CDC. This accounts for 2.5 percent of all deaths among men, making it the 7th leading cause. What’s more, suicide actually ranks as the second most common cause of death for every age group for men 10 through 39, the data shows. “I think there’s a silent epidemic of male suicide,” says Mark Kaplan, Dr.P.H., a professor of social welfare at UCLA. “For as common as it is, you don’t hear many people talking about it.”
How good environmental legislation goes wrong | Los Angeles Times
The California Environmental Quality Act is a valuable protector of this state’s resources, says Jim Newton, lecturer in the Department of Public Policy, in a recent Op-Ed piece. It guides planning by forcing agencies to consider the environmental implications of proposed projects. CEQA is also a woefully blunt instrument that thwarts economic growth and, perversely, can actually harm the environment. That’s exactly what’s happening with a proposed switching yard at the Port of Los Angeles.
The diverging economies of L.A. and San Francisco | The Atlantic/Citylab
In a recent book, The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies, the economic geographer Michael Storper — along with his colleagues Thomas Kemeny, Naji P. Makarem, and Taner Osman — explores why and how San Francisco has performed so much better than L.A. Storper is one of the world’s leading urbanists, and has conducted definitive research on both regions in addition to authoring some of the most important books and articles on urban development of the past few decades.
Could a prison gang be behind Corrections chief’s murder | Colorado Public Radio
Three years after the March 2013 murder of the head of Colorado’s Department of Corrections, speculation remains that a prison gang ordered the murder. Tom Clements was murdered at his home in Monument, Colo. by parolee Evan Ebel, a member of the prison gang known as the 211 Crew. Jorja Leap, an adjunct professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, studies gangs and serves as a policy adviser on Gangs and Youth Violence for Los Angeles County. In this interview, she discusses the case.
The latest on the closing of Mesabi Academy | Minnesota Public Radio
The parent company of Mesabi Academy, a 123-bed juvenile treatment facility on the Iron Range, said today it was closing the facility by the end of June. UCLA professor of social welfare, Laura Abrams, discusses whether the problems at Mesabi Academy are felt nationwide, or if the situation is anomalous.
Whither Bernie: scanning the political landscape | Huffington Post
The Sanders candidacy combines an election campaign with a social movement, writes Jack Rothman, professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. The size of this movement is unprecedented. Going against the odds, Sanders has revealed and activated a significant left in America and altered the political dialogue in the country. The movement he has generated is, in itself, an historic achievement and the instrument for a continuing potent shift to the left in America.
As L.A. expands rail, people should be reexamining how they think about transit | Marketplace
“There’s a tendency we have in general to focus on the big new capital projects,” said UCLA’s Brian Taylor. “What does public transit provide in a congested area? It provides an opportunity to get around by means other than driving. It gives people choices.”
Ill-advised bill would decentralize L.A. Metro board’s authority | Los Angeles Times
(Op-ed co-written by UCLA’s Zev Yaroslavsky) For Metro to succeed, everyone has to collaborate. Mendoza now proposes to pack the Metro board with eight more members: one new Los Angeles seat, one new Long Beach seat, four additional small city seats and two new members appointed by the Legislature’s leadership in Sacramento. Under this scheme, Los Angeles, with 40% of the county’s population, would have only 24% of the board’s 21 votes, while the outlying cities would more than double their current representation.
Large-scale solution to homelessness in Los Angeles has public support | Huffington Post
A survey by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs found that 6 in 10 County residents consider the lack of affordable housing for low-income families a very serious problem, and that many County residents are worried about going hungry or becoming homeless themselves.
L.A. mayor proposes revising more than 30 community plans | Los Angeles Times
Former County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who spent nearly two decades on the council, said Wednesday’s announcement is clearly a response to the proposal drafted by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. That proposal has given a voice to residents who feel the planning process is “rigged in favor of developers and against communities,” said Yaroslavsky, director of the L.A. Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and Department of History.
Baltimore steel mill site repurposed for logistics | Wall Street Journal
The distribution system and warehouses have employment, and so logistics is viewed as a kind of savior,” said Goetz Wolff, a professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “But it’s not a solution in the sense of a real transformation.”
How zoning promotes economic segregation | The Atlantic
A new study by Michael C. Lens and Paavo Monkkonen from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Health, published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, takes on the precise nature of the connection between land-use restrictions and the economic segregation of metros. The study uses new and better measures for both segregation and land-use restrictions to examine this relationship in 95 large metropolitan areas in 2000 and 2010.
