Manville on the End of an Era for Carpool-Lane Access

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Michael Manville, chair and professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about new rules that are kicking solo drivers of clean-air vehicles out of California’s carpool lanes, raising questions about how commute times and traffic will be affected.

The carpool lane perk was used to promote the adoption of clean and zero-emission vehicles. As of Aug. 14, more than half a million motorists statewide had an active decal on their vehicle to access the lanes.

That privilege ended Oct. 1, and experts say it will take time to see how clean-air vehicle drivers might adapt.

“Will they just throw up their hands and get in traffic with the rest of us in the three [other] lanes, or will they actually do something else, because they really do value not being in traffic?” Manville asked.

He added that, on an already gridlocked freeway during peak drive times, commuters might not even notice one more car that merges in.

Steinert-Threlkeld: Most Angelenos Support New Housing, Survey Shows UCLA data reveal broad support for apartment construction, challenging the notion that Los Angeles is dominated by NIMBYism.

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In a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece, UCLA associate professor of public policy Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld pushes back against the assumption that Angelenos broadly oppose new housing developments in their neighborhoods — the so-called “NIMBY” stance (short for “not in my backyard”). His commentary comes in response to Mayor Karen Bass’s decision to scale back her signature fast-track housing policy, Executive Directive 1 (ED1).

Steinert-Threlkeld points to data from UCLA’s annual Quality of Life survey that suggests the backlash may not reflect broader public sentiment. The survey found that 86% of respondents supported building apartments in at least one type of setting (such as commercial corridors or existing apartment zones) while 64% supported apartments even on streets dominated by single-family homes. A majority, 59%, said they were comfortable with apartments in their own neighborhood. This support spans nearly every City Council district and spread across the city.

“These findings overturn the outdated perception that Los Angeles is a city of entrenched NIMBYism,” Steinert-Threlkeld says. “As a professor of public policy, I have to listen to data, and the data say Angelenos do want these developments.”

He argues that leaders should act on this broad consensus by restoring and expanding affordable housing policies. “More broadly, city leaders should develop the habit of evaluating policy options using representative survey data rather than responding to the vocal minority,” he adds.

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris on How Hostile Architecture Shapes Our Cities How public spaces are designed to exclude certain groups—and what that says about our cities.

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Hostile architecture, sometimes called defensive design, is becoming increasingly common in cities and public spaces. At its core, it’s an urban design strategy meant to discourage certain behaviors, subtly shaping who gets to use spaces and how. Sometimes it’s as discreet as a bench split by armrests to prevent lying down, other times it’s as blatant as rows of metal spikes installed beneath an awning to keep people from sitting.

“Through design you are making them uncomfortable so that they leave, or you’re making particular activities that they tend to do uncomfortable,” explained Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Interim Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a Distinguished Professor of urban planning and urban design at UCLA.

These design strategies may deter unhoused people, but they also affect everyone. For example, planters or boulders placed to block tents also make sidewalks harder to navigate for parents with strollers or people with disabilities.

Hostile design is not as obvious sometimes either, says Loukaitou-Sideris. “Another example is there was a Skid Row park in Los Angeles where the authorities would start the sprinklers at night so people could not sleep in the park,” Loukaitou-Sideris said.

The controversy is especially sharp when public transit spaces are involved. “You can consider bus stops public spaces because everybody can sit there and they should be open and accessible to the public, right? And unhoused people often use the bus — sometimes they use it as shelter but sometimes they use it to go to work, or reach a destination. So by excluding them from these spaces, does it retain the publicness of the bench?” she asked.

But on the other hand, Loukaitou-Sideris acknowledges competing pressures: “Local governments would say that if the space is occupied constantly by an unhoused person, then other legitimate riders will not be able to use it.”

To read the full article about hostile architecture, please visit here.

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris on Why Transit Safety Must Balance Security and Accessibility

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The fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train has reignited national debate over transit safety. Security footage showed the unprovoked attack, prompting federal investigation and sparking broader questions about how to protect riders in open, accessible public transit environments.

While some argue for airport-style security measures, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a transit safety expert, cautions against solutions that could slow down the very systems meant to move people quickly.

“Transit systems have to be open and accessible. It’s very difficult to install measures that you put, for example, in airports because the public is not going to accept such delays,” Loukaitou-Sideris explained.

She suggests exploring advanced scanning technologies at major hubs that can detect weapons without lengthy lines, though such systems remain costly. Loukaitou-Sideris also noted the limits of any single measure: even with cameras and increased patrols, unpredictable incidents can still occur. The tragedy underscores the tension between maintaining accessibility and ensuring safety in public transit.

New Mexico to Become First State Offering Free Universal Child Care

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NBC reports that New Mexico will become the first state in the U.S. to provide free universal child care, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced. The program, expanding an existing initiative, will cover all families starting in November, regardless of income, saving households an average of $12,000 per child per year. The expansion also includes a $13-million fund to build, expand, and renovate child care facilities.

The initiative reflects New Mexico’s ongoing commitment to early childhood education, following the 2019 creation of the Early Childhood Education and Care Departmen.

“New Mexico is creating the conditions for better outcomes in health, learning, and well-being,” said Neal Halfon, UCLA Luskin professor of public policy, calling the program “a model for the nation.”

From the Chicano Moratorium to Today: Zepeda-Millan on Boyle Heights’ Legacy

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Chris Zepeda-Millan, UCLA associate professor of public policy and Chicana/o and Central American Studies, emphasized the Chicano Moratorium’s role in shaping immigrant rights activism in a recent article by Boyle Heights Beat. He explained that Boyle Heights–based organizers like Bert Corona and Chole Alatorre developed strategies to defend undocumented communities and trained activists to see migrant rights as human rights.

“Chicanos and Mexican immigrants in Boyle Heights can be credited for laying the foundation for the modern-day national immigrant rights movement,” Zepeda-Millan said, underscoring the community’s pivotal role.

He pointed to young people continuing this legacy: “Today’s activists in Boyle Heights and the broader East L.A. area are carrying on that legacy of fighting to protect and expand the rights of all members of our community, regardless of their citizenship status.”

Perception vs. Reality: UCLA Luskin’s Jorja Leap Talks Crime Coverage with ABC7

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Social Welfare Professor Jorja Leap was quoted in an ABC7 News story examining crime trends in Los Angeles. While data shows violent and property crimes are down 17% in the city, Leap explained that the rise of social media, true crime entertainment, and political rhetoric amplify fear, creating a perception of rising crime despite the statistics.

“I think we’ve got a collective PTSD, and I’m not being flippant,” Leap said.

“You go to divert yourself, and what do you watch? A murder mystery,” Leap added.

Zev Yaroslavsky, UCLA’s Jewish community unite against Trump’s $1B demand

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Over 350 Jewish faculty and community members at UCLA have come together to oppose the Trump administration’s demand that the university pay a $1 billion fine over allegations of campus antisemitism. The “Jews in Defense of UC” letter also decries the government’s freezing of $584 million in research grant funding.

Zev Yaroslavsky, former L.A. County supervisor and director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, was an early signatory of the letter. In the article, he said, “the federal actions are not going to address the issue of antisemitism on campus,” but that they will “blow a hole through” the school’s finances.

“It’s the existence of the institution — that’s what’s at stake here,” said Yaroslavsky.

“Cutting off hundreds of millions of research funds will do nothing to make UCLA safer for Jews nor diminish antisemitism in the world,” the letter said. “It will not benefit Jewish Bruins nor Jews beyond campus who make extensive use of its first-rate medical facilities, ground-breaking scientific innovations, and cutting-edge cultural institutions.”

Zev Yaroslavsky is a former faculty member at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and currently serves as director of the Los Angeles Initiative. A longtime former member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, he continues to contribute to the school’s research and public engagement through his work with the Quality of Life Index, which is highlighted each year at the annual Luskin Summit.

Manville: Ventura’s Main Street Debate Oversimplifies Downtown Challenges The UCLA planning scholar warns that business depend on many factors beyond the street closure.

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As Ventura’s City Council prepares for a final vote on whether to keep Main Street closed to cars or reopen it, business owners and residents remain deeply divided. Some credit the pandemic-era “Main Street Moves” closure with creating a lively, family-friendly downtown, while others say it’s driven customers away and hurt businesses.

Michael Manville, professor and chair of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, commented in an article published by the Ventura County Star against drawing direct conclusions about the closure’s impact. He notes that downtown retail across the country has faced long-term challenges, from e-commerce to competition with big box stores, making it hard to isolate the effect of Ventura’s street closure.

Manville frames the debate as less about hard data and more about perception.

“Downtowns and businesses in downtowns have good and bad periods for all sorts of reasons,” Manville said. “Isolating the amount of good or bad luck that you can attribute to the street closure is difficult. If someone owns a business and the business is flagging a little bit and there happens to be a street closure, it makes sense to blame the street closure and see if changing it up can change your fortunes.”

Cycling Toward Stability: How Bikes Help the Unhoused UCLA ITS’s Jacob Lawrence Wasserman highlights bikes as a low-cost mobility lifeline.

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In San Diego, Deacon John Roberts leads a weekly cycling program that gives homeless participants more than exercise. It offers mobility, community, and a sense of freedom. For many of the participants in the program, cycling is a lifeline for job searches, addiction recovery, and access to services, despite unsafe riding conditions, theft, and persistent stigma.

Transportation is a major barrier for the unhoused, and advocates say bikes should be part of broader mobility strategies. “Bikeshare passes are dirt cheap compared to giving people cars or giving people transit passes,” said Jacob Lawrence Wasserman of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies in a new Bloomberg CityLab article. “But it requires getting over that stigma of thinking every unhoused person on a bike must have stolen it.”

Homeless cyclists. part of the “invisible cyclist” population. often face unsafe riding conditions, theft, and stigma, with limited inclusion in policy discussions. Despite risks, bikes offer independence, health benefits, and social connection.