Kaplan on Rising Rate of Suicide in Older Americans

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Mark Kaplan, professor emeritus of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, joined a KCBS Radio broadcast on the increase in suicides nationwide, especially for those ages 45 to 64. Last year, more people than ever died by suicide in the U.S., with a significant increase for that age group, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kaplan noted that from 2000 to 2018 there was a 37% increase in national suicide rates for men and women of all ages. Despite a drop seen between 2018 and 2020, a reversal followed, said Kaplan, “so long-term trends don’t look very good.” He added, “The suicide rate increases especially for men. It goes up as you get older. … So perhaps the population that deserves to be looked at with a closer lens is the older adult group.”

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Loukaitou-Sideris on Transit-Oriented Development and Displacement

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Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of UCLA Luskin, appeared on the CitySCOPE podcast to discuss the benefits and unintended consequences of transit-oriented development. Denser development around transit hubs can help accommodate a city’s growth while meeting mobility and sustainability goals. Yet Loukaitou-Sideris’ research also shows that transforming these neighborhoods can have a negative impact on longtime residents. These risks “should be a red flag for planners and policymakers to be able to protect these neighborhoods from the risk of gentrification and displacement,” she said. Over two episodes of the podcast, Loukaitou-Sideris and research partner Karen Chapple of UC Berkeley shared findings from their book, “Transit Oriented Displacement or Community Dividends? Understanding the Effects of Smarter Growth on Communities.” They discussed topics including the heightened risk of displacement experienced by communities of color, the commercial and cultural gentrification that takes place when mom-and-pop stores lose their leases, and instances when grassroots local opposition has succeeded in holding back gentrifying forces.

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On the Benefits and Challenges of Going Car-Less in L.A.

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A Los Angeles Times article on the benefits and challenges of going car-less in Los Angeles cited UCLA Luskin urban planning experts Evelyn Blumenberg and Michael Manville. Going without a car is a choice for some and a necessity for many who cannot afford car payments, insurance and gas. Blumenberg, director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, has conducted research showing that car ownership can have enormous benefits for low-income people. “Just imagine even looking for a job, right?” Blumenberg said. “Going to multiple destinations, trying to figure it out, going to interviews, all of that. … It’s very difficult to do without an automobile.” Manville, chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, pointed to the trade-off between efficiency and equity in transportation and called for “policies that convince the majority of us to just drive a little bit less, while allowing some people who right now have legitimately constrained mobility to drive a little bit more.”

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Astor on Clashing Strategies for Making Schools Safer

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UCLA Luskin school safety expert Ron Avi Astor spoke to USA Today about dueling strategies for addressing gun violence on campus. Many schools have increased the presence of police officers and metal detectors, while others prioritize social-emotional learning, which teaches students self-awareness, empathy and resilience. “You have these two genres – the zero-tolerance policies and making each school look like a little prison on one side. Ironically, you have – at the same time – the opposite vision of making school a more loving and caring and supportive place,” said Astor, a professor of social welfare and education. Tapping into both methods at once may create an atmosphere that is confusing to students, he said, recommending that schools adopt a single, consistent approach. Astor added that rates of bullying, fights and drug use in schools have significantly decreased over the past 20 years, largely due to a stronger connection to community resources, the hiring of more social workers and prioritization of student empowerment.

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Segura on Expanding Representation and Accountability in L.A.

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News outlets covering testimony before the L.A. City Council’s ad hoc committee on government reform carried the comments of Gary Segura, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin. Segura is co-chair of the L.A. Governance Reform Project, a group of university scholars drafting recommendations to increase transparency and accountability at L.A. City Hall. A preliminary report from the project called for several reforms, including the creation of 10 additional City Council seats for a total of 25, including four at-large seats. “The purpose of that was to have an additional cohort of members of the council who had a citywide constituency and therefore were interested in advancing the interests of everyone in the city,” Segura said. He added that the Governance Reform Project is continuing research into the value of at-large seats and conducting further conversations with community-based organizations and members of the voting rights community. The group expects to issue its final report in November.

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A Cautionary Note on the Easing of Water Restrictions

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Gregory Pierce, co-executive director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the easing of water conservation orders by the L.A. Department of Water and Power. The DWP’s 4 million customers may now water their outdoor landscapes on three days a week, up from two days, thanks to a wet winter that replenished reservoirs that had been drained amid drought. Pierce said the DWP’s action is “reasonable as a short-term measure,” but he cautioned that residents should prepare to be flexible as global conditions grow hotter and drier. “I would prefer if the language were more like, two days is what you should expect — it’s going to be more common in the future — but we can allow three in the short-term because of this unusual water year,” said Pierce, who directs the UCLA Human Right to Water Solutions Lab. “I’d prefer the framing of two days as default, three as exceptional.”

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Shade as an Essential Solution for Hotter Cities

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V. Kelly Turner, associate director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, shared her expertise on the impact of extreme heat on people’s well-being with a wide range of media outlets. In a CNN interview, Turner said one of the most effective ways to keep people cool is often neglected in urban planning: simply providing shade. “A person standing in the shade can feel 20 to 40 degrees Celsius cooler than someone who’s standing in the sun just a few feet away,” she said. Turner is also lead author of a Nature article calling on policymakers to remove bureaucratic barriers to installing shade structures: “It is important not to make something as simple as shade-building financially or legally impossible.” She also spoke to the Los Angeles Times, KCRW, NPR and LAist about issues including the federal government’s new measures to help Americans adapt to extreme temperatures and the intentional removal of sources of shade in the midst of dangerously high temperatures, which Turner called “climate violence.”

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Building Youth Power to Influence Policy

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UCLA Luskin Urban Planning Professor Veronica Terriquez and UCLA undergraduate Kahlila Williams wrote a Stanford Social Innovation Review article on the importance of supporting youth who are joining together to work for a more equitable future. The number of youth-organizing groups in California grew from 10 to 15 in 2010 to 171 by 2019, in part due to heightened engagement from undocumented youth and the Movement for Black Lives, the authors write. This mobilization led to calls for change that included a campaign to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, which Williams participated in as a leader in the Students Deserve group. In addition, massive voter registration and education campaigns contributed to a near tripling of youth voter turnout between 2014 and the 2018 midterm elections. “By embedding young people in relationships and activities that help them constructively respond to hardships and trauma, youth organizing can channel their energy toward building a multiracial democracy,” the authors write.

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Lens on L.A.’s Skyrocketing Home Prices

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A Los Angeles Times article and KNX News report on L.A.’s soaring housing prices turned to UCLA Luskin’s Michael Lens for context. The newspaper reported that the median home price in Los Angeles had risen to just under $1 million, a 30% increase over the past five years. “Even if it is an arbitrary number, it’s an astounding one,” said Lens, chair of the Luskin School’s undergraduate program and a scholar of urban planning and public policy. Driven by scarcity and demand, the rising prices also impact the rental market, Lens said – but he added that state programs to increase the overall housing stock are falling short. His proposed solutions included “getting rid of single-family zoning and upzoning those neighborhoods,” removing “onerous parking requirements,” and scrapping rules on minimum setbacks and other burdensome mandates. Altogether, the state should fix “a lot of boring zoning things that together make the cost of building more housing more expensive,” Lens said.

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Kaplan on Rising Rate of Alcohol-Related Deaths Among U.S. Women

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Mark Kaplan, professor emeritus of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, commented in a WebMD article on a new Hofstra University-based study that found U.S. women are dying of alcohol-related causes at a growing rate. Overall, men were nearly three times more likely to die from alcohol-related issues, but the rate of increase in alcohol-related deaths in women grew at a faster pace in the latest years studied. Kaplan said the new study was strong and recommended that future research “focus on some of the issues that may have to do with social circumstances.” The article also cited a 2022 study co-authored by Kaplan, who was not part of the Hofstra study. Kaplan and fellow researchers analyzed more than 115,000 deaths by suicide from 2003 to 2018 and found that the proportion of those deaths involving alcohol at a level above the legal limit increased annually for women in all age groups, but not for men.

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