You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Saturdays, it is time to on one.
The week's been hot. Time to ease my mind.
Turn on my radio.
Just inside. Tiffany Hobbs got.
Me feel fine. Yay Saturday, KFI AM s forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany Hobbs here with you. It is Saturdays with Tiffany. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the program. The city, the city definitely has its moments right as you look outside.
We had stormy weather this morning.
I woke up and went, what it's April, But April showers, right, and then we do get our May flowers in the sense of we do see the brighter side of things. We can go from gray and gloomy to sunny and beautiful like it was earlier today.
And you know, on behalf of everyone in Los Angeles. You know what we have to say now, now that's rain, what do we have to say? Yeah, we needed this, we needed this, we needed this, we needed.
This, And I'm sure we'll hear that a few more times before the end of the weekend.
Right.
It reminds me the rain and then the aftermath with a beautiful sky that things can in fact get better, and we're going to actually start today's show off.
We're going to start the show off.
With something that has gotten better for a whole lot of kids in the Palisades area. We're talking about Palisades High School. Specifically, they went back to school for the first time since those January fires practically destroyed their campus, and they didn't go back to Palisades original site. Of course, we now know that that was practically decimated and again the forecast for when it will be rebuilt is showing
a multi year project. But they were able, these students to come back together at their new repurposed building, and that building is the old Seers Building in downtown Santa Monica, and this now ends their very first week back at that building. And these kids have been through a hell of a lot, a hell of a lot, but it's good news after a tough start to the year. And we have one of those students on tonight with us.
Her name is Jean Haney.
She's a senior and the daughter of my buddy Marvin, and she is here. She's going to talk to us about what Palisades students like herself have gone through and what this first week back has been like, because can you imagine she was a senior, she's a senior now she's spent the last few months doing remote learning. And then you think about these kids and what they've dealt
with the last five years since the COVID closures. These are the students who had remote learning be a cornerstone of their education of their entire school year from twenty twenty to about twenty twenty two.
In all honesty, so this is a lot. This is a.
Lot, and they're getting a restart. We're going to talk to Jeane just in a moment.
I think she is. She ready for US Raoul. She's on Geen Hani.
Basketball player extraordinaire, senior at Palisades High School and all around cool kid.
Welcome to KFI.
Thank you, thank you for having me.
You are so welcome.
The last time I saw you, and you might not remember this, you were probably eleven or twelve, and I got to see you then and I saw a bright student, really really sweet young lady. And now you are a senior embarking on the final push, the final stretch of your senior year. Congrats on practically being finished with high school.
Gene, Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
As we said, it's been an unprecedented year. It's a term that we've used far too much in the last five years. Unprecedented because these things keep happening that are out of the norm. After dealing with those COVID closures when you were in middle school, and now this tell me about those first few days in January with the fire.
How did you find out?
Oh, so I found out about the fires. Actually, even though we were on winter break. I was at school when the fires started because we had basketball practice, and I remember driving up to Med School and just seeing this big cloud of smoggers humongous. I was in the car with all of my teammates and we get out the car and they're telling us, Oh, it's fine, like you can just go to the gym. So we go to the gym, and then like practice hadn't even started.
We were just putting on our basketwatches, and then they tell us you have to evacuate the fires. They're getting too close, and they're making sure everyone has rides and making sure everyone is.
Out of the palace. Stage is crazy.
Wow, It definitely sounds chaotic, and there's been lots of stories about what people experienced, but we haven't heard very many stories from students like yourself.
And you're on the basketball team.
You got some skills, my friend, And how did this affect your team with practices and games?
Well, our games were affected. We honestly couldn't have any home games. So all the other schools we just played at their gymnasiums and they were honestly really kind giving us backpack school supplies. All the schools that we played were very helpful, especially Fairfax and UNI.
They were all very kind letting us u.
Their gyms practices we had at Brentwood. Brentwood Basketball has been so helpful, letting us practice their joint practices.
Whatever we needed. They were always there to help.
And our teammates we were just there for each other emotionally and just there together.
It's just yeah, beautiful, beautiful.
And you guys spent months doing remote school, so when you resumed after Christmas break winter break, you guys immediately went online after kind of working out the kings and figuring out how you were going to do it. When did you hear of the possibility of starting at the Sears building.
I heard about it.
Maybe it was after the first month of us being online because they were looking for other locations anywhere we could have school. I know there was talk about West La College and getting trailers out there for our classrooms, but I mean Indiana. Ultimately they decided on Sears just because it was easier.
And do you think it actually has been easier since you've been there? Has it been easy to navigate? Has it been easy for you to find your classes kind of reacclimate to the environment.
Honestly, yes, Like the first day of school, I had all of my classes, and at.
First it was tough because they didn't really draw a map or anything.
But with the help of ASB and like the security guards, we were able to find all our classes. And it's pretty easy to locate them. There's only four floors including the basement, and it's just a circle, so all the classoms are pretty close to each other.
And you got that nice small right there and the third street promenade right so you guys can live and head over there and have a good time.
Right.
Campus lunch off campus lunch is really amazing, so many options.
It's delicious.
Oh Gene, that makes me so happy to hear that not only is your first week back a welcoming one, but that it is giving you so much joy and optimism, and you and all of your fellow students deserve that.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Gene, and we wish you collectively from our station and all of LA and Orange Coli and everyone who's listening a wonderful scene your year.
Thank you so much. It means a lot.
You are so welcome, sweetie.
We've been talking to Gene Haney, she's a senior at Palisades High School, and she just gave us a bit of a rundown on how that first week back after the fires actually went as they acclimated to the Seers Building in downtown Santa Monica. When we come back, we're going to talk more about how malls around Orange County specifically are being repurposed to be used as apartments and
entertainment centers. So and speaking about these malls, these department buildings, they can't just sit dormant forever, and now local city legislation, local city leaders are using these buildings for housing and other ways that can benefit the community. And we'll talk about all of that on the other side of the break it's KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Its Saturdays with Tiffany.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to Saturdays with Tiffany and a beautiful Saturday it is.
We just talked to Gene Haney.
She's a senior at Palisades High School and as we now know, Palisades doesn't have their home school operational because of the fires, and they have since moved to that Sears building in downtown Santa Monica near the Third Street promenade, and they just finished their first week back. So we heard from Jane about her experience as a senior, as a basketball player, big star on campus that gene Haney and how that experience has been and fortunately she said
it's been great. She even said they get to go off campus for lunch. So some perks definitely being there over at that Seers building. And in talking about malls, malls around the country, department stores that stand alone promenades, all of these places are struggling to keep to get and to keep foot traffic.
The decline is.
Evident whenever you walk into a mall, I know when I do, it feels like a relic of years past, and yet I love it.
I love the nostalgia of malls.
I love the feel of malls, the size, the accessibility, everything that goes along with malls.
I love.
But I am in the minority because malls are failing well. Vacant malls around the country, and specifically in Orange County, are being repurposed for housing and entertainment.
Let's hear more about that.
This morning, the sound of an excavator echo through what's left of the Orange mall, specifically the former JC Penny. The mall shut down a year ago. Now just two structures remain, a crumbling shell of JC Penny and an empty Sear's.
A lot of our residents have a lot of memories that are wrapped up in this amazing property.
But unfortunately, with changes in the retail landscape, this has become a blighted building.
Aaron Schols what the city says, what was once a dying mall is now a site of transformation. The owner, Integral Communities, plans to redevelop JAZ Penny into a mixed use space.
Our plan is to bring residential here.
We're still working with the city.
It's a ways off twenty miles west. The Westminster Mall is eerily quiet. Lights are on, but most stores are gone. The city is also eyed. Redevelopment proposals from the mall's owners are under review.
Motion carries five zero.
One proposal to add three thousand residential units just cleared the Planning Commission and now heads to the City Council. And it's not just here, dead and dying. Malls across the country are being reimagined and everything from Chula Vista to to Brea to Crenshaw, I mean and name a location, you can find some redevelopment activity centered.
Around the mall.
But Scott wild A real Estate consultants, as malls aren't dying, they're evolving.
Still experiences that people get when they go to the mall that you just can't replicate anywhere else.
It's a part of the landscape that I think is going to be here.
But mixed use portions of that are the way of the future.
And I think that's what you should.
Expect going forward. Nationwide, more than two hundred malls have added housing on sites once home to department stores. That's according to Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham Jones, who studies small redevelopment.
All right, so in talking about malls, as you can hear, we don't want to just let them late dormant.
We want to.
Repurpose them because they are huge swaths of land and they have the resources, they have the infrastructure already built in to be able to make them usable. I'm hoping that that is something that can be repurposed more in the future, especially with our homeless problem. Hello, no surprise to anyone. And in speaking even more about our homeless problem, remember that situation with the trees being chopped down in
downtown LA. A person going around with a chainsaw and chopping down trees and really messing up the visual landscape of downtown LA and the Westlake district. Well, he's been caught and unfortunately he is a part of the homeless population.
Suspect now facing charges of felony vandalism. I witnessed user port Leo Stalwarth is live in downtown LA where police officials just released details on this arreth.
Well, my friend, detectives released everything except on motive. I haven't covered a story this bizarre. I gotta be honest with you, since old Yeller was a puff. Yeah, it's been a minute, okay. And in terms of detectives, they are searching for a motive, they don't have one. I just mentioned that. Here's more. Detectives say multiple trees chopped down since mid last week in downtown LA and it was not part of some city cleanup or other project.
Police napping a suspect, forty five year old Samuel Groft, who was arrested yesterday, which was Earth Day.
How ironic arrested on Earth Day? Right? The stories right themselves? What is that? What is poetic justice is what it's called.
It is poetic justice in every sense of the word. And you know, but it doesn't change the fact that these trees are now gone.
You know.
Of course, we can celebrate that the person has been found, and that's great, and I also worry about copycats because we know that our city loves a copy cat. But now what then goes in place of those trees that are gone? And I know Mayor Bass has pledged, she's pledged that trees will be those trees will all be replaced. But it's kind of one of those things where you go don't hold your breath, because who knows how long
that's going to take. But the optics are so important that those trees probably will will be replaced quicker than say, in other areas that aren't getting the same sort of coverage, wouldn't you say, Andrew, Yeah, yeah, easy, easy yeah. When we come back, we're going to talk more about city projects, and this one does not have the same sort of
happy ending. Unfortunately. This one is in fact perpetrated or orchestrate it by our city leadership under Mayor Bass, and it has to do with Los Angeles unfortunately being victim to these budget cuts that Mayor Bass described in the press conference earlier this week, because we are in a huge deficit in the City of Los Angeles, and in this case, these budget cuts are going to affect many, many, many,
many departments, including Los Angeles Animal Services. So I'll tell you what's actually going to happen, who is standing up and trying to fight back, and what we can expect unfortunately in the near future, if these proposed budget cuts go through. All of that and more. On the other side of the break, it's KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app Saturdays with Tiffany here with you until seven pm on this beautiful Saturday.
You're listening to KFI six forty on demand k if I Am.
Six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app Saturdays with Tiffany Okay Raoul Okay Raoul on the board with the music. I feel like I'm in like a like at a festival, but there's not nearly enough smoke in the air for me to be able to, you know, fully enjoy this sort of music. This comes with a drink and some
extracurricular activity, if you will. And if you do do that, then I suggest you do that for our next story, because you might need something to bring you down from the anxiety this may cause if you are an animal lover like myself. And a few weeks ago, about a month ago in fact, we had Judy Mancuso of Social
Compassion and Legislation, remember her. She was on talking about the legislation that her organization has enacted has created to respond to the fires, specifically in other disasters in terms of being able to make sure that animals are searched for during and after disasters with ample time, not just to rush and move on to the next thing or form of cleanup or recovery, but to make sure that
these animals on properties are able to be recovered. And they have posted at nauseum social compassion and legislation about this next story. This next story comes from Mayor Bass and Mayor Basses saying that because the city of Los Angeles is broke and beyond broke, we are boroke two syllables boroke.
We will need to cut.
They will need to cut many different departments and many different facets of different departments as well, including Los Angeles Animal Services.
And what does that amount two?
Well, it amounts to the closure of lots and lots of shelters and LA.
Mayor Karen Bass's proposed budget could hit LA Animal Services hard.
Tonight, animal advocates are speaking to Fox Lovin's Genus Silva. These budget cuts are a knee jerk reaction.
This is not leadership.
Leadership finds ways to increase revenue. Animal advocates are pushing back against proposed budget cuts from Mayor Karen Bass.
What is going on is disgusting and we need to do something about this.
This we cannot let we cannot allow this to happen.
Susie Ross, a volunteer at a local animal shelter, and Renee Rustin, founder of Starred Rescue Exam, are both alarmed by this letter from the Interim General Manager of the Department of Animal Services. The letter outlines the serious consequences of the mayor's proposed budget cuts, including the closure of three animal shelters, Harbor West Los Angeles and West Valley.
It also details that one third of the department's positions fifty seven filled jobs and sixty five vacant ones, will be eliminated.
This shelter system is so overburdened and to cut the budget and fire staff members is.
Ludicrous, perfect absolutely and then some this is a terrible consequence of not having any money. And it seems that again our most vulnerable in our population will fall victim to these sorts of cuts, in these sorts of quote unquote helpful strategies, and who is it helping? Who is it helping when it in fact is hurting or it has the potential to hurt so many So, just to recap what you heard, LA Animal Services may be one one of the departments hit the absolute hardest, hit the
absolute hardest, and three shelters. At least three shelters would be closed. That would result in an uptick in animals being put to sleep. There's just not the manpower, just not the staffing ability to be able to maintain something like this at this size. And if all of this does in fact go down, there will be money saved, yes, but at what cost? And they're looking at about sixteen hundred layoffs in total to mitigate the one billion dollar budget deficit one billion dollars?
How are we paying for the Olympics? Can someone tell me if.
We are in the hole one billion dollars And that's a conservative estimate, because if it's one billion they're telling us it's probably two billion really on the books. And then some how are we able to then pay for the Olympics and all of these things that are supposed to welcome thousands and thousands and thousands of people in tourism over the next few years. I don't know Laasla Animal Services would see a nearly five million dollar cut. Have you been to an animal shelter lately? They seem
like they're already dealing with the cuts. And that's the that's just their status quo, that's their baseline. They are often understaffed, there are long lines, long wait times, Facilities aren't always the most modernized or updated. Resources aren't the most plentiful. And if you've visited any sort of La Animal Services shelter, God bless them. They're doing the best they can with what they have. But it already seems like they don't have a lot.
So to cut.
Even more than to close fully these shelters would be absolutely devastated. And that is also according to City Controller Kenneth Mehea, who says that this is something that should not happen. What shelters would close, the Harbor Shelter, West LA and West Valley Shelters, Harbor, West LA and West Valley Shelters would close.
In total.
That means that sixty two employees would be laid off. That may not sound like a lot, but that number includes animal care technicians, animal control officers, veterinary technicians, and even more. And it doesn't stop there because there are vacant positions that have been sitting unfilled for a while. All of those sixty in total would be eliminated. So we're talking one hundred and two positions within Laasla Animal Services that would go out the door as soon as
these budget cuts are instituted. It seems very hypocritical. Right after the fires, we had our legislation, we had our LA leadership touting the response that they feel they gave through LA Animal Services when it came to recovering the pets who were affected by the fires. Yet and still they're looking at closing so many shelters. It makes me
think of Pasadena Humane. Pasadena Humane Society, they just had their wiggle waggle walk right, raised all that money, lots of press out there saying how valuable animal shelters are. And while Pasadena Humane is not on this list, they are not in danger of being closed. So many others are not being given that same sort of respect, that same sort of consideration, and now this is what is looming. And one person, Susie Ross, who's a volunteer at a
local animal shelter, said that the situation is unacceptable. She said, quote what's going on is disgusting and we need to do something about this. We cannot allow this to happen. The organization's Social Compassion and Legislature who we had on Judy Mancuso, the executive director of that about a month ago. They have shared ways in which you can contact your
local leadership. You find out who the representative is in your district, and they are saying reach out to that representative and make your voice heard.
Tell them this.
Is unacceptable, it's disgusting, and that you don't want to see this sort of thing happen. There are also quite a few petitions circulating. They're trying a social media push to draw attention to this, and I'm being told as well that Monday will be the next hearing about whether or not these proposed budget cuts will result in the closure of three of these animal shelters that we have listed.
So hopefully Monday we'll get good news, and then on next Saturday, I'll be able to tell you that none of this is happening and we do care about our animals, and that we'll have to move on to another way to earn money for the city. Here's the way you want to earn money for the city.
Have a baby.
If you have a baby, President Trump is saying he'll give you a five thousand dollars baby bonus, and if you donate it to the City of la He's not saying that I am. If you donate it to the City of La then maybe you can help with the deficit. I'll tell you more about that when we come back. It's KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Kf I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App. It's Saturdays with Tiffany until seven o'clock and producer Kayla and I are having a little chat about a movie that we saw this previous weekend or I did last weekend. You saw it a few days after I did. And the name of that movie is Sinners. Sinners a very good movie. Would you recommend it? Kaylen, ten out of ten will recommend.
I need to see it again, and I want to see at least two or three times in the theatersang.
I loved it.
And the fact that we're willing to put ourselves back into theaters where people are where they have very little etiquette, very little theater etiquette says a lot about the caliber of the movie. And Kayla was describing her experience really quickly.
Kayla, was it a good experience at the theater for you? I spent I went to ipic.
So that's a pretty penny and the dinner was even more so. But the crowd was a little bit, a little bit rowdy, a little bit responsive to the movie, as if the movie could hear what they're saying, and a lot of side conversation every single time something happened in the movie just hear oh this is is like, oh God, be quiet please. So that was a little fun.
What would you say, your ticket, dinner, everything cost you?
Well, the dinner was about one hundred and thirty, but I like to eat.
So I treated radio money is good.
And the tickets were about fifty five okay my partner and I okay.
What's that about two hundred?
About two hundred with a nice tips for a movie. Yeah, so okayle if you wanted to make that money back, or or just have an extra stream of income, would you be interested in possibly getting pregnant for a hefty sum of five thousand dollars?
Noah, put you on the spot. Now, five thousand dollars isn't really a lot. It doesn't go far, it doesn't go and especially in la oh, you know.
It takes about what two three hundred dollars just when you wake up exact la, just to enjoy your day. If you're just living a normal existence, isn't it worth if you have a child, I imagine it costs a lot more rawul you have a child. Does five thousand dollars go far? How far does five thousand dollars go?
I mean it's like five dollars in today's economy. Yeah, I'm not doing it, no way, I'm just no way.
You think about school, if you go to public school, then sure you're not necessarily paying, but you're paying for all of the things that go along with having the child at school, all of their clothing and all of their food and everything. You talk about medical expenses, insurance, you talk about unforeseen circumstances, birthdays, Christmases, all the things in between. Five thousand rau woll you're saying doesn't stretch. It's practically nothing.
Nope, Because if it's like say, I'm a single dad, or we break up or whatever, eighteen years, five thousand dollars, No, it doesn't even equate.
I saw a stat and I don't have it pulled up in front of me. So if you want to go into our lovely talk back and correct me, you can do that.
I give you permission.
But I saw that it says that the average cost of raising a child from birth to eighteen hovers around two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
No, well it's three times at at least.
See, I thought he was going to say that was too high. You're saying that's lowballing it.
That's low balling.
I tell my daughter all the time, I'm like, you're the Ferrari that I'm supposed to be driving for sure.
She's like, thanks, Dad, that makes me feel great. Yeah, no pressure.
She ignores me.
So if two hundred and fifty is low balling it, and rauh wool our resident child expert, and I see you in there too, Regita Diagasino is saying that it's three times as much, then this proposal by President Trump to give a five thousand dollars baby bonus is not a good idea, which contradicts.
The fact that he is saying that it.
Is a good idea ten thousand dollars just to have the baby in the hospital.
If you don't have health insurance, so you're not even getting a free baby.
You don't even have you can't even have your baby for five thousand dollars. Right, Okay, that's good to know that that's a wonderful form of birth control.
Well, thank you.
President Donald Trump has expressed support for a proposal to offer a five thousand dollars baby bonus to new mothers. So if you are a mom or want to be a mom, and you have a child, he is saying that this could be a gift to you in the form of five thousand dollars, and not because he wants to reward you for your pushing or reward you for all the.
Pain and all the everything.
No, it's to reverse declining birth rates in the United States because we are not having enough babies. You look around and you think it's crowded. I look out at the freeway right now, and I say, there are way too many babies. But apparently we're not having nearly enough babies to keep up with the rest of the western world. And President Trump proposed the idea last Tuesday, April twenty second, and he said, quote sounds like a good eye idea
to me. It's part of a broader discussion to encourage more Americans to have children because there's been that decline in birth rates with the numbers plummeting since nineteen seventy nine. Well, if it's any indication what Raoul and Brigita said and of how much a child, one child today could potentially cost you from zero before zero. According to Brigitta, you can't even have the baby. They're gonna stuff that thing back up in you can't even have the baby until you have ten thousand dollars.
Then five thousand dollars is probably.
A kind of an insult to what it actually does, in fact cost to have a child. So we'll stay tuned on all of the pushback and see if that number inflates any I highly doubt this will go through.
It's a stipend.
They're going to have to rename it, of course, and say that it's something else and hopefully pair and we'll get some sort of assistance. But you know, we'll stay tuned on that. And five thousand dollars isn't going to buy you many I Pick visits, according to Kyla, saying that they're about one hundred dollars a pop. But I think the moral of this entire segment is go see cinners. That's the moral of the entire segment. Obviously, Yes, dah.
When we come back, we're going to jump into our Deeper Dives segment and we're going to talk about prom. It's prom season, talk about spending money on your children.
We're gonna talk about.
The history of prom, the traditions, and also the average cost of prom in twenty twenty five. As they said in Jurassic Park, hold on to your butts because you're not gonna like this information. K if I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
App, KFI AM six forty on demand,