Segura on Broad Support for Immigration Reform

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The Mexican-American Cultural Education Foundation shared Dean Gary Segura’s insights about political support for immigration reform as part of a series of video highlights from the organization’s conversations with “Mexican-American History Makers.” Segura cited data showing that two-thirds of American voters — including 58% of Republican registered voters — favor comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. “It is not a divisive issue. We can agree on immigration policy,” said Segura, noting that polls show less disagreement on immigration than on 20 other issues at the national level. “But there is a loud chorus of anger that doesn’t agree.” Standing in the way of immigration reform is a hard-line right-wing movement that does not represent majority opinion, he said. This “last screaming vestige of the dying confederacy … is not not going to go easily,” Segura said. The full interview with Segura, conducted in January 2020, is available here.

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Tilly Describes Impact of COVID on Retail Sector

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A new Retail Dive article highlights Urban Planning Professor Chris Tilly’s research on the impacts of technology on retail in order to better understand pandemic job losses. Tilly and co-author Françoise Carré’s research paper “Change and Uncertainty, Not Apocalypse: Technological Change and Store-Based Retail” delves into the technological and structural shifts occurring within the retail sector. They found that e-commerce, decentralized checkout and other technologies could eliminate cashier jobs and even some management jobs. Tilly also noted the racial implications of such industry changes; job losses are prevalent in the general merchandise sector, which employs far higher percentages of women and people of color, while the growing e-commerce sector is considerably whiter and more male. COVID-19 has accelerated change within the retail sector as contactless checkout and curbside pickup options emerge and online sales skyrocket, heightening the uncertainties faced by retail workers.

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Park on Unintended Consequences of Development Restrictions

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy Jisung Park spoke to the New York Times about potential unintended consequences of climate change development restrictions on poorer communities. A new study found that many Americans support aggressive government regulation to fight the effects of climate change, including mandatory building codes in risky areas and bans on building in flood- or fire-prone areas. While development restrictions could reduce disasters in the future, Park noted that they could also hurt low-income and minority families who can’t afford to live elsewhere. If local governments follow public opinion and impose new restrictions on development, it’s important that they consider the effects of those changes on poorer communities, including communities of color, Park said. He suggested that governments could make it more expensive to live in vulnerable neighborhoods, but subsidize low-income residents who want to move. “Doing both is certainly possible,” he said.

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Shoup’s Impact on Parking in a Canadian City

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Canada’s National Post featured the work of Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup in a commentary about Edmonton’s decision to remove all minimum parking requirements from real-estate developments in the city. Renters and homeowners who receive a “free” parking space pay a hidden cost regardless of whether they use the space, he argues. Free parking also encourages people to drive to work instead of considering alternatives such as public transit. After decades of research, Shoup came to the conclusion that all public parking spaces should be metered, ideally from hour-to-hour or minute-to-minute, with the money being used in the neighborhood where it was generated. He has encouraged cities to stop requiring an arbitrary number of free parking spaces, arguing that most urban parking lots show less-than-optimum use. Edmonton will be the first city in Canada to allow builders to use their own judgment in allocating parking to housing units and offices.

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Data Informs Action as L.A. Approves Tenant Defense Fund

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Coverage of the city of Los Angeles’ new program to help low-income tenants defend themselves in court if threatened with eviction cited research from the Institute on Inequality and Democracy (II&D) at UCLA Luskin. The city ordinance creating the $10 million program specifically cited a May 2020 II&D report that warned of widespread evictions and homelessness in the city and county amid the persistent COVID-19 pandemic. Advocates and elected officials have pointed to the study to press for swift action. They include an official with the nonprofit Housing Rights Center, who urged the Los Angeles City Council to treat the new legal defense fund as “a down payment to greater and more permanent tenant protections,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Other media outlets citing the II&D research include Spectrum News, Telemundo, Fox11 News and the Outlook Newspapers.

 

Matute on Metro’s Fareless Transit Initiative

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Juan Matute, deputy director of the Institute for Transportation Studies, expressed his support for fare-free transit in a new Streetsblog LA article. Metro CEO Phil Washington announced a new task force that will plan and implement a fareless transit system pilot program in Los Angeles County. The COVID-19 pandemic has cut fare revenue to an all-time low due to decreased ridership, back-door boarding and half-price fares. Metro described the pilot initiative as a “moral obligation to explore how a fareless system can aid those that have been hit hardest by the pandemic.” However, some have expressed concern over Metro’s proposed 20% bus service cuts, which would diminish the benefits of free transit service. The article cited data shared by Matute on social media that illustrated that Metro is among the state’s best-suited agencies to attempt fare-free transit.

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The Stock Market Is Not Your Friend, Jacoby Says

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Public Policy Professor Sanford Jacoby spoke to WalletHub about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on American workers’ sense of job security as Labor Day approaches. A WalletHub survey found that 75% of people will not travel this Labor Day weekend, and Jacoby predicted that reduced revenue for those in the vacation industry will hit small businesses the hardest. Jacoby recommended helping small businesses and restaurants through government subsidies of restaurant meals, as well as the elimination of fees at state and national parks and campgrounds. He also argued that big shareholders have taken advantage of labor during the pandemic, contributing to the staggering inequality in the American economy. “The top 10% of the wealthiest American households own 93% of the stock, while the bottom half of U.S. households own no stock whatsoever,” he said. “It’s time to educate Americans that the stock market is not their friend and that it mostly benefits America’s wealthiest.”

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Few Trying to Skip Out on Rent During Pandemic, Study Finds

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A new UCLA-USC study that took a deep dive into how Los Angeles County tenants are handling rent and finances during the COVID-19 health crisis was covered by media outlets including the Orange County Register. Since the start of the pandemic, landlords have argued that tenants who were shielded from possible eviction would refuse to pay rent, the article noted. In fact, while the study showed that many have struggled to make rent, most tenants have not used the pandemic as an excuse to take a rent holiday, according to the study conducted by scholars from UCLA Luskin’s Lewis Center for Regional Studies and USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. One factor measured in the study was the impact of direct assistance to renters who need it. The findings showed that tenants collecting unemployment insurance were 39% less likely to miss rent payments. The report’s findings were also highlighted in Courthouse News, Commercial Observer and Pasadena Now. 

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Umemoto Remembers Mentor Lane Hirabayashi

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A Rafu Shimpo obituary of renowned scholar and author Lane Ryo Hirabayashi included a tribute from Urban Planning Professor Karen Umemoto. Hirabayashi, professor emeritus of Asian American Studies at UCLA, died Aug. 8 at age 67. “We will sorely miss Lane Hirabayashi, a beloved teacher, mentor and friend,” said Umemoto, director of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center. “He left us a priceless gift in his lifetime of scholarly research and writings on Japanese American history, and World War II incarceration history in particular.” Hirabayashi authored over 30 scholarly articles, taught courses on the Japanese American experience and Asian American studies, and worked with many community-based organizations. “His work advanced the field of Japanese American studies and also community-driven public history,” Umemoto said. “We are humbled by his selfless contributions to the community as well as to the generations of students and colleagues who were transformed by his wisdom and generosity.”

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Tilly Co-Authors New Report on Future of Retail

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New technologies in the retail sector are likely to mean more monitoring and coercion of workers, and a stronger advantage for large companies like Walmart and Amazon, according to a new report co-authored by Chris Tilly, professor and chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning. E-commerce has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, but stores have still remained an important way of selling goods, according to Tilly and co-author Françoise Carré, research director of the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. “During the peak of the lockdowns, 70% of people in the U.S. were still buying groceries in stores,” Tilly said. “And for those that order groceries online, a worker collects their goods from the store and makes them available for curbside pickup or delivery. This shows how technology is in many cases changing workers’ jobs rather than eliminating them.” In addition to changing the mix of tasks that workers are expected to carry out, employers are likely to deploy new technologies in ways that increase the monitoring and surveillance of retail workers. “We have been hearing about e-commerce wiping out retail stores and jobs, but our two years of research tell a very different story,” Carré said.  The report is part of a broader multi-industry research project led by the UC Berkeley Labor Center and Working Partnerships USA that examines the impact of new technologies on work. The project is supported by the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.