Yaroslavsky on Expanding the L.A. County Board of Supervisors

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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.”

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Mixed Results on Housing Initiatives

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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.

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Peterson on Future of the Affordable Care Act

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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.

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Shoup on Philadelphia Plan for Downtown Arena

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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.

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A Backlash Against Policing and Criminal Justice Reforms

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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.’”

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Fairlie on Hispanic Business Ownership

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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.

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On the Political Use of Pseudoscience

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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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LAX’s Long-Awaited Rail Connection

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UCLA Luskin’s Brian D. Taylor and Zev Yaroslavsky commented in a Los Angeles Times story on L.A.’s long-awaited rail connection to Los Angeles International Airport. A link to the region’s famous air transportation hub, while contemplated for decades, has faced a number of obstacles. “To not have public transportation at one of the busiest airports in the world … is a major faux pas,” said Yaroslavsky, the longtime county and city official who now directs the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin. The project is now set to open in 2026, with an Automated People Mover connecting LAX to the Metro rail system. The 2.25-mile system also is expected to reduce traffic at the airport. “When the trains are essentially running every couple of minutes, that tends to reduce the transfer burden,” said Taylor, professor of urban planning and public policy, and research fellow in the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin.

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Wray-Lake Pens Commentary on Lower Voting Ages

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A Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) commentary by UCLA Luskin Professor of Social Welfare Laura Wray-Lake highlights the first time that 16- and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote in school board elections in two California cities. Oakland and Berkeley teens will be the youngest voters in California, joining a growing number of under-18 youth nationally and internationally who have gained that right. “Policies to expand voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds are being actively debated in cities and states across the U.S.,” Wray-Lake said. Since 1995, California has considered statewide policy to lower the voting age 12 times, including in 2023 with proposed legislation that would have lowered the voting age to 17 for all elections. Wray-Lake outlines four arguments for lowering age requirements related to capacity, rights, developmental timing and civic engagement. “Lowering the voting age could also be a catalyst for greater investment in statewide civic education.”

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