Shoup on Cities’ Attempts to Take Back Curb Space

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CNN spoke to UCLA’s Luskin’s Donald Shoup about why cities across the United States are cracking down on free curbside parking. Curb space is prime real estate for pedestrians crossing the street, residents looking for parking, workers dropping off food and deliveries, bicyclists, emergency vehicles, garbage trucks, sidewalk restaurants, electric vehicle charging stations and more. So a growing number of cities are removing free parking and charging for spots based on demand. Shoup, the dean of parking researchers in America, has been an advocate of such reforms for decades. “You pay for everything else related to cars. The one thing you don’t pay for — curb parking — is a mess,” he said.

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Pierce Says Think Again if You Believe El Niño Means No Water Worries

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The last 12 months have been wetter than normal in California. And the traditionally wet season of mid-October to April arrives with predictions of a normally rainy El Niño climate pattern. Does that mean state water officials can take it easy because we’ll be seeing another robust Sierra Nevada snowpack, rapidly filling reservoirs and no need for drought mitigation measures? Unfortunately, no, said Greg Pierce, the director of the Human Right to Water Solutions Lab based at UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation. As he told LAist, “We may be right back in the situation we were before this last wet year in a year or two.” If the rains do come over the next few months, that’s an opportunity for conservation. “That should set us up again to avoid desperation for maybe, instead of one to two years, maybe three to five years,” he said.

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If L.A. Crime Is Down, Why Is Fear Rising?

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Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about perceptions that L.A. crime is on the rise despite statistics showing that the city is getting safer. Data alone don’t shape perceptions of safety, Leap said, noting that a person’s environment and biases are crucial factors. “When they show the films of Nordstrom being broken into … there is a sort of ‘Oh my god, that’s not supposed to happen here,’ “ Leap said. “Whereas if there’s a smash-and-grab at the Food4Less in Pacoima, then there’s the sense of, ‘Well, it’s a high-crime area.’ ” The sensationalization of high-profile, if statistically rare, crimes such as flash-mob robberies can help stoke fear, as can ominous campaign messaging about public safety during an election season, she said.

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Matute Takes Waymo for Driverless Taxi Rides and Likes the Result

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You can count UCLA Luskin’s Juan Matute among those excited about the potential of driverless vehicles, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times that rounded up reaction to a 24/7 robotaxi service recently launched in Santa Monica by Waymo.  The Silicon Valley-based driverless car company began offering Waymo One to the public in mid-October, and the reaction has not been universally positive. Matute, deputy director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, decided to experience it for himself, taking three rides with Waymo already. He’s a safe streets advocate who thinks self-driving vehicles are probably safer than human drivers. Vehicle automation can “help with some of the issues we have with distracted driving because an autonomous vehicle is never distracted,” Matute told the Times.

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Roy on Repeated Displacement of L.A.’s Unhoused Population

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Ananya Roy, director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, spoke with Spectrum News 1 about the sweep of an encampment of unhoused people on Aetna Street in Van Nuys. The sweep was part of the city of Los Angeles’ “Inside Safe” initiative, which aims to rapidly move people living in encampments indoors. Some Aetna residents who accepted hotel placements have reported dealing with sub-par conditions and strict rules, complaints echoed by other “Inside Safe” participants, KCRW’s Greater L.A. reported. Without a pathway to permanent housing, the participants could soon be back on the street, said Roy, a professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography. “Our concern about the kind of repeated displacement is that people end up more precarious than before,” she said.

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When Personalized Service Collides With Staffing Cuts

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Urban Planning Professor Chris Tilly spoke to Forbes about staff cuts at Petco, whose business model relies on drawing customers into brick-and-mortar stores for services such as grooming, training and veterinary care. The staffing reductions come as Petco announced that it would be far less profitable this year than previously expected. “It’s ironic because Petco, like lots of other retailers, is saying our competitive advantage is we have stores where you can actually talk to somebody and they know your pet’s name,” said Tilly, co-author of  “Where Bad Jobs Are Better: Retail Jobs Across Countries and Companies.” “But it’s completely at odds with what they’re actually doing with their staff.”

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Europe’s Challenge of Fostering Growth, Sharing the Wealth

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Michael Storper, distinguished professor of urban planning, spoke to the podcast Regio Waves about strategies Europe can employ to foster growth without exacerbating social inequality. In parts of Europe, participation in the labor force is flagging and wages are stagnant. One factor contributing to the malaise is the rise of artificial intelligence. “This is the moment for Europe to shape its future with artificial intelligence and to make sure that it is deployed in a way that augments people’s skills,” Storper told the podcast, which is produced by the European Commission. “We have to think about the interconnectedness of all territories,” he said. “That means that even as we focus on making Europe dynamic and innovative, mostly in the big and middle-sized cities, we want to make sure the other territories are maintained in a way that makes their conditions of life good and makes the human potential of every new generation there ready to contribute to the overall European dynamic.”

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Yin on L.A. County Proposal to Erase Medical Debt

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UCLA Luskin Public Policy Professor Wesley Yin spoke to the Los Angeles Times about a proposal by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to purchase and forgive more than $2 billion in medical debt owed by constituents. A growing number of local and state governments have launched similar efforts to purchase such debt at a steep discount, relieving patients and their families of a heavy burden. Yin, who has researched the impact of these programs, said they are particularly beneficial if they erase debt early on, when patients are still working to pay it off. If L.A. County focuses on purchasing the cheapest debt, the kind of years-old medical bills that most people have long forgotten about, “it might not impact people’s financial situations that much anymore,” he said. In addition to debt forgiveness programs, solutions such as hospital financial assistance programs and health insurance expansions would help ensure that bills are paid more quickly, Yin said.

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Reforming the L.A. City Council to Give Diverse Communities a Voice

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UCLA Luskin’s Gary Segura spoke to the L.A. Times about a proposal to expand the Los Angeles City Council in an effort to boost representation and discourage unethical behavior. Nearly a century has passed since L.A. residents approved the current number of council districts, 15. New proposals would increase that number to somewhere between 21 and 31. “Los Angeles is a complex city, far more diverse than most cities in the United States,” said Segura, a professor of public policy. “With huge numbers of ethnic and racial populations, it has become increasingly difficult to give different communities a voice.” Any change would require voter approval. Opponents of council expansion often cite concerns about higher costs, but “the truth of the matter is we spend very little on governance in Los Angeles,” Segura said. Even if the council more than doubles in size, the cost of staff, office space, cars and other needs would represent less than 1% of Los Angeles’ annual $13-billion budget.

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On Palm Trees and Climate Resiliency

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A Los Angeles Times article on cities reconsidering the value of Southern California’s iconic palm trees checked in with V. Kelly Turner, associate director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Planting trees is a key element of many climate resiliency plans, but the towering palms don’t provide much shade or sequester carbon well. “A pole on the side of the street isn’t providing much shade. And a palm tree is kind of similar,” said Turner, whose work focuses on how cities adapt to hotter conditions. The article pointed to Center for Innovation research showing that shade can reduce heat stress in the human body from 25% to 30% throughout the day. Turner also spoke to Resources Radio about how heat impacts U.S. schools. The conversation touched on architectural and landscape design choices that can mitigate hot temperatures, funding sources for improving infrastructure and issues of equity in allocating such resources to schools. 

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