Shoup Talks Parking With NYC DOT

/0 Comments/in /by

UCLA Luskin’s Donald Shoup was a guest on the New York City Department of Transportation’s “Curb Enthusiasm” podcast. The distinguished research professor of urban planning and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking” shared insights on his favorite topic — parking benefit districts in which cities charge market prices for curb parking and then use all or most of the revenue to pay for added services on the metered block. Shoup also provided a bit of history behind his curb price calling, which he says started in Manhattan when he was a PhD student in economics writing his doctoral dissertation on the land market. “I did notice that almost all cars parked free on some of the most valuable land on Earth. And I thought, well, how would a land economist explain this? It is very puzzling. And I have been sort of following with that insight for about 60 years.”

Listen to the podcast

 

What to Do About Unpaid Bus Ridership

/0 Comments/in /by

Jacob Wasserman, a research project manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented in a Washington Post story on bus fare evasion on the D.C. Metro system and what public officials are doing to address the cost of unpaid rides. Transit systems nationwide are considering the pros and cons of imposing measures to reduce nonpayment rates, including stopping collection fares. In the D.C. Metro region, unpaid fairs represent nearly 70% of ridership, according to the story. A new plan under consideration by D.C. Metro would reduce contributions from jurisdictions based on the amount paying riders contribute. “Bus operators have really mixed feelings,” Wasserman said. “Some don’t like fares because it often escalates into confrontations. On the other hand, fares are one of the few levers they have to control who is on their bus. It’s a complicated issue.”

Read the story

 

Manville on California’s Proposition 33

/0 Comments/in /by

Michael Manville, chair of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented on a KQED podcast on California’s Proposition 33, which would repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. The state law prohibits local ordinances that limit initial residential rental rates for new tenants as well as rates for current tenants in certain residential properties. Pro-Prop. 33 advocates cite the state’s sky-high rents, while anti-Prop. 33 proponents characterize the ballot measure as a corporate anti-housing scheme. “If we’re serious about helping our most vulnerable tenants, that’s really going to involve some combination of making housing in general just much more plentiful, and spending money in targeted subsidies for low-income people,” Manville said. In a Caló News article, Manville said that Prop. 33, while well intended, could have a number of untended consequences. “Prop. 33 does not offer rent control to more Californians. It removes a law that limits how strong a rent control law can be right now.”

Listen to the KQED podcast
Read the Caló News story

 

Hecht on Brazil’s Powerhouse Soybean Industry

/0 Comments/in /by

Susanna Hecht, professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented in an Americas Quarterly feature on the history of Brazil’s soybean industry and its half-century of expansion to become one of the leading producers of soy worldwide. Hecht, an expert on the political ecology of Latin American tropics — specifically Amazonia — commented on how Brazil became a soybean powerhouse, producing more than half of the global soybean supply. The story details the sector’s origins and growth under the country’s 1964-85 military dictatorship. In the 1976-77 harvest, Brazil produced 12 million metric tons of soy, nearly all of it in the south. By 2000-01, production tripled to 38.4 million, with Brazil’s center-west emerging as the lead soy-growing region. “It was [an attempt] to try to create a Midwest in Brazil,” said Hecht, a specialist on Latin American tropical development. “It’s national capital, government capital stimulating the growth.”

Read the article

 

Health Care Policy and the 2024 Election

/0 Comments/in /by

The Los Angeles Times asked health care experts to comment on health policies proposed by the two major candidates running for U.S. president. Topics included the Affordable Care Act, the cost of prescription drugs and Medicare. Both candidates have signaled that they would attempt to lower prescription drug costs as well as protect Medicare, but have been light on details during a campaign season in which Americans have ranked health care high on the list of important issues, according to the story. Mark A. Peterson, professor of public policy at UCLA Luskin, discussed risk pooling, which involves sharing medical costs to calculate insurance premiums. Peterson, who also holds appointments in political science and law at UCLA, said a plan that included risk pooling could lower insurance costs for the young and healthy but the practice also risks driving up rates for older people, especially those with chronic conditions.

Read the story

 

Astor on Wave of False Threats of Violence in Schools

/0 Comments/in /by

School safety expert Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, spoke to Axios about the recent wave of false threats of violence directed at schools across the United States, which have caused numerous police responses, evacuations and temporary closures. “The goal for some of these [perpetrators] is to create anxiety and a sense of terror,” said Astor, noting that false threats can lead to copycat threats. In addition to disrupting learning, false threats through social media can lead to heightened community fears as well as time-consuming and costly government and police responses. The article cites data that education facilities are the most targeted locations for threats and that false reports were responsible for nearly 30% of school violence incidents nationally in 2023-24. False reports have included threats of shootings, bombs and a variety of other dangers. Arrests have been made in some jurisdictions while others are increasing consequences.

Read the article

 

 

Taylor on Cutting Transit Service

/0 Comments/in , /by

Brian D. Taylor, professor of urban planning and public policy and a research fellow at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin, spoke to Marketplace about what transit agencies are doing as federal aid provided during the pandemic is running out. Federal aid helped agencies — including those that lost ridership — during the last few years, but now those agencies are having to consider cuts on some routes. A good transit system that attracts ridership requires reliable and frequent service, Taylor said. “You need to have a network of service that reasonably covers an entire urban area,” he said, explaining that some parts of the system will make money while others with less ridership won’t. “But those who are there need to get to destinations, to get to work on time, to get to the doctor, to get to things that they need to get to,” Taylor said.

Listen to the podcast

Evoking the Essence of L.A.

/0 Comments/in /by

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of UCLA Luskin and a distinguished professor of urban planning, was one of several public intellectuals enlisted by the Los Angeles Times to describe “The Real L.A.” ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games the city will host. “The flashy Hollywood imagery of L.A. is often what the world sees. It’s the CityWalk and the Disneyland versions of sanitized public spaces,” Loukaitou-Sideris wrote. “This imaginary world gives you elements of our streets and public spaces, but a lot of the reality of what is out there — the real people going about their everyday lives, the street vendors, the unhoused — is missing.” She called on the city and its residents to focus on the multiple identities and cultures that make L.A. unique. “We have a city that is a fusion, a mix of many things. It would be great if we could highlight our collection of diverse neighborhoods and not show only the cliches or put everything under a bright, sanitizing light.”

Read the article

 

Testing the Effectiveness of Big Government

/0 Comments/in /by

An Economist article about “Lumbering Leviathans” — governments around the world that are growing bigger and bigger with little benefit for their people — cited research from the Berggruen Governance Index. While it can be difficult to measure the efficiency of government bureaucracies, the article credits the index with devising a cross-country analysis of state capacity using objective measures, such as tax revenue, and subjective measures, such as perceptions of corruption. The Bergguen Governance Index, directed by UCLA Luskin Adjunct Professor Helmut Anheier, issues reports on its major findings as well as on individual countries. The team recently released “Tunisia’s Autocratic Resurgence” ahead of the country’s Oct. 6 elections. The report examines Tunisia’s democratic rise and possible fall in the 14 years since the “Arab Spring.”

Read the Economist article
Read the BGI report on Tunisia

 

Gilens on the Role of Money in U.S. Elections

/0 Comments/in /by

UCLA Luskin’s Martin Gilens was a guest on the UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation’s “Talking Policy” podcast on the role of money in U.S. elections. Gilens, a professor of public policy, social welfare and political science, and the author of “Democracy in America? What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It,” addressed how Americans feel about the current political system. “People are just … very unhappy with the state of our politics. They think the parties would rather fight against each other than work together to address America’s problems,” Gilens said. “And frankly, they’re right about that.” Gilens said Americans are extremely disillusioned, which is not new. “Our policy has, in many dimensions — whether it’s regulation, taxation and so on — shifted in ways that are beneficial to business and to owners and to the rich, and harmful to the middle class and to the poor.”

Listen to the podcast