Yaroslavsky on the Last Debate Before Super Tuesday

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With Super Tuesday a week away, Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, weighed in on the latest Democratic candidates’ debate in an in-studio appearance on KCAL9 News. “They came after Bernie tonight. He is the front-runner so they tried to knock him down a peg. I don’t think they drew much blood,” he said of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s debate performance was strong ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina primary, Yaroslavsky said. “If he wins, he’s got a second wind. If he doesn’t, he’s got some decisions to make,” he said. The debate, which included exchanges on coronavirus and Fidel Castro’s Cuba, often grew raucous as candidates tried to gain advantage. Yaroslavsky said the Democrats would be wiser to direct their attacks on the incumbent president. “Democrats have a way, after the nominating process is over, of coming together, but for tonight it didn’t look good for the Democrats,” he said.

 

Taylor on Creating a New Generation of Public Transit Users

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In a CalMatters article, Brian Taylor, professor of urban planning and public policy and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, weighed in on the prospect of offering free public transportation to youth to boost ridership across the state. Student ridership and overall ridership have increased dramatically in Sacramento following the implementation of a transit program that allows students in pre-kindergarten to high school to ride the region’s buses and light rail for free year-round. In an effort to emulate the Sacramento program at the state level, Assembly Bill 1350 would require all California transit agencies to offer free passes to anyone 18 and under in order to get state funding. Taylor said AB 1350 is a “small step in the right direction that could have positive effects,” although he believes “it would be best as part of a broader package to improve transit.”

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U.S. Senate Is Stumbling Block for Universal Health Care, Peterson Says

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Professor of Public Policy Mark Peterson was featured in a Health Affairs article discussing the feasibility of “Medicare for All” in the United States. Healthcare coverage has been a frequent topic of debate in the 2020 presidential campaign. The article takes a closer look at six significant efforts to advance universal health care since 1950 and finds that the only serious efforts to advance coverage have occurred during periods of unified Democratic control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, known as the Trifecta. “To explain in brief the problematic politics of [health] reform in the U.S., just enunciate four simple words: the United States Senate,” Peterson said. “It is likely to remain the biggest stumbling block in the years ahead.” While hopes for a Democratic supermajority in 2021 are low, the article points to alternative pathways to universal coverage that are less extreme than “Medicare for All.”

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Diaz on Surge of Latino Support for Sanders

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A New York Times article on the multiracial coalition of voters who propelled Sen. Bernie Sanders to victory in the Nevada caucuses for the Democratic presidential nomination cited Sonja Diaz, founding executive director of the Latino Policy & Politics Initiative (LPPI) at UCLA Luskin. Grassroots outreach to Latino and immigrant populations has been key to the Sanders campaign, the story noted. “If you have focused intention and ongoing support for Latinos and other voters of color, you can win,” Diaz said. “They did not take the Latino vote for granted.” Diaz also spoke with Newsweek about the influence of the Latino voting bloc. “Latinos are a very young and growing population, which means that new Latino voters will age into the electorate and have a critical voice for years to come,” she said. In addition, LPPI research about Latino voting patterns in Iowa and Nevada was highlighted by several news outlets, including Yahoo News.

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Wachs, Wasserman on Car-Free Streets

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Martin Wachs, distinguished professor emeritus of urban planning, spoke to Mashable about the effectiveness of car bans on selected urban thoroughfares. Cities such as New York, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as Oslo, Norway, and Barcelona, Spain, have banned cars from certain roads at certain times, with positive results. Wachs spoke about the growing support for people-friendly streets and unpolluted surroundings. “We are in a period of awakening over safety, quality of life and the nature of our physical environment,” he said. The article also quoted Jacob Wasserman, senior research manager at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin. A century ago, Los Angeles boasted the nation’s largest electric railway, but city planners abandoned the transit system to launch a system of concrete freeways, the article noted. “I’m a scholar of public transit, but I would never blame someone for taking a car to work because designers designed our city this way,” Wasserman said.

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Manville on Limited Success of Public Transit Projects in L.A.

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Associate Professor of Urban Planning Michael Manville spoke to the Economist about the limited success of recent efforts to improve public transit in Los Angeles. While voters have approved ballot initiatives such as Measure M that have increased funding for public transit, the number of people actually using public transportation has declined. Manville describes public transit as a “safety net for the poor, not a service for most people.” According to Manville, the proportion of households without access to a car has fallen from 10% in 2000 to 7% in 2015, with an even sharper fall among immigrant households. He explained that in order to persuade Angelenos to get out of their cars, “trains and buses must be almost as fast and convenient as driving.” At the recommendation of urban planning experts, the city is now planning a congestion pricing pilot program.

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Turner Explores Environmental Benefits of New Urbanism

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A CNU Journal article cited Assistant Professor of Urban Planning V. Kelly Turner, one of several scholars who contributed their expertise to the publication of A Research Agenda for New Urbanism. The book highlights research needs from the social, environmental and economic sides of New Urbanism, including transportation, diversity, accessibility and theoretical foundations. Turner highlighted the impact of urbanism on microclimate as a critical area of climate research and stressed the need for “studies that evaluate the role of design in adapting to hotter urban environments.” Some environmental benefits of New Urbanism, including transit-oriented design and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, have been well-established. However, Turner pointed out the “lack of empirical assessment of the relationship between new urbanist design and ecosystem services, climate adaptation planning and other environmental outcomes.” She recommended establishing field tests at new urban projects in the U.S. and abroad to gather valuable environmental data.

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Manville Links Poverty, Car Access and Transit

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A New Geography article on the links between car access and poverty summarized the conclusions of a paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Urban Planning Michael Manville. The paper, which was published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, argued that proximity to transit does not necessarily correspond with transit use and effectiveness. While 89% of workers live “near transit” in Los Angeles, only 5% of Los Angeles commuters use transit. Furthermore, Manville and co-authors David King and Michael Smart found that U.S. households without access to vehicles have a 70% greater chance of being in poverty than those that have access to vehicles. In addition, they found that the incomes of households without vehicles rise at a lower rate than households with vehicle access. The authors pointed to door-to-door access as the ultimate solution and concluded that universal auto access would lead to less unemployment, less poverty and higher standards of living.

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CalGang Stirs Distrust in Community, Leap Argues

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Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the secretive CalGang database. Fifteen individuals placed in the statewide database by the Los Angeles Police Department challenged the designation, and all of their names were removed. One was singer and anti-gang interventionist Larry Sanders, known for his work on Coolio’s hit “Gangsta’s Paradise,” who said he was shocked when informed he had been added to the database. The LAPD says it refers people to CalGang for legitimate reasons, and requests to be removed are rare. “There are very few stories of people getting off the CalGang database,” Leap said. “All of this creates a stew of distrust and people not trying and people not succeeding.”

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DeShazo on Future of Electric-Car Infrastructure in Indianapolis

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JR DeShazo, director of the Luskin Center for Innovation and professor of public policy, spoke to the Indianapolis Star about the demise of the electric-car-sharing service BlueIndy. The service allowed people to rent a car in one neighborhood and leave it in another for a relatively low cost, but the company never gained traction. After nearly five years of sluggish growth and financial losses, the car service will shut down in May, and the city must decide what to do with the 81 electric car stations that have already been built. City officials are debating between reverting the stations to parking spots or purchasing the charging stations and building upon environmentally friendly infrastructure. According to DeShazo, BlueIndy’s demise creates a potential opportunity for Indianapolis. “Even if the car-share isn’t successful,” he said, “they’ve created a network of charging stations, which can be repurposed to support other charging needs the community might have.”

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