Alissa, Scott and Hayes talk about snow, Thanksgiving traffic, emergency shelters, Herb Wesson stepping down as Council President, the percent of City Council votes that are unanimous, Wesson's latest campaign ad, a cancelled bus shelter contract, a new wrinkle in the Huizar saga, and that vacancy rate report.
Scott and Hayes talk to the great JESSICA MEANEY of Investing in Place on the need and the path to building out a network of dedicated bus lanes all over the city. But first: a series of homelessness columns by Steve Lopez and a study about vacant units.
Alissa, Scott and Hayes talk about the CA Dem Convention, the evolving status of street vendors, the new phase of the Marciano Union protest, the #PayUpHollywood movement, a new buck-passing anti-homelessness proposal, and the tragedy at Saugus High in Santa Clarita.
Alissa and Hayes are joined by HALEY POTIKER and RACHEL REYES of Fair Workweek LA, the movement to change how retail jobs work in the city. But first -- Southern California cities chose how to allocate their housing, and coastal cities are getting a lot more. A group of museum employees attempted to unionize, and what happened next was dramatic. The Public Utilities Commission moved to keep some natural gas plants open. And LA Taco digs deep on sidewalk planters.
Why is prestige media declaring that California is unlivable? How did the first few days of the A Line go? What did the LA Times Guild achieve with their ratified deal? Who's covered by the City Council's new rent gouging fund? Did that LAX-It rollout really go that badly? But first: the most action-packed LA Story yet.
Little fires everywhere in LA County this week, but much bigger ones in the Bay Area -- what lessons can we learn from those fires and the report on what went wrong during the Woolsey Fire? Herb Wesson's son got breaks on his rent because Wesson was helping the developer -- why will probably nothing come of this? Plus new shade umbrellas on bus benches, Katie Hill's evolving crisis, more corruption from the assessor's office and a new DA candidate from San Francisco.
A deadly week on Los Angeles's streets -- what roads should we be making car free? As AB 1482 moves toward implementation, how is the City Council protecting renters from revenge evictions? Vox publishes an article about how LA is looking to safe parking as a homelessness solution -- are we really? Plus the controversy over AB 5, the victory of the LA Times Union's bargaining team, and a controversial ballot measure.
The Saddleridge Fire forces tens of thousands to evacuate. Gavin Newsom gets his veto pen out and uses it on a complete streets bill. The LAPD changes its ways thanks to an LA Times investigation. And we talk to Times reporters BENJAMIN ORESKES and DOUG SMITH about their eye-opening new analysis of LAHSA's Homeless Count data.
A bunch of presidential candidates blew through town. Uber and Lyft get thrown off the LAX horseshoe. A freeway in the middle of nowhere finally got scrapped. The state made big moves toward a public bank. The 2nd District County Supervisor race pulls in big money. Kathryn Barger takes a firefighting helicopter to work. Scott and Hayes discuss these things!
County supervisors freeze funding for the sheriff's department! Metro board members use Measure M money to pay the South Bay's Internet bill! The City Council brings up 41.18 again! And the Expo Line moves toward signal preemption!
Ed Buck is finally arrested -- what took so long? AB5 is passed -- what happens next? Trump came and left -- how did our local officials respond? A South LA development gets slammed -- what is the council president doing about it? Plus a few pieces of good news from last week.
We're joined by Ciclavia Chief Strategist TAFARAI BAYNE, trauma-informed care educator CHAVONNE TAYLOR, and Streetsblog writer SAHRA SULAIMAN for a conversation about Nipsey Hussle: his work, his legacy, the aftermath of his death, and what he meant to them. But first: the President is threatening to bulldoze people who are homeless into federal camps, and almost no LA elected officials seem alarmed.
A full-episode interview with Los Angeles City Councilmember MIKE BONIN. We talk with the Councilmember about a nonprofit's campaign to fight the city over a density program, his recent break with the rest of the council over homelessness criminalization policies, and why a record-cheap solar deal is being held up.
Scott and Alissa talk to LA Times reporter MAYA LAU about Sheriff Alex Villanueva's busy couple months. Before that: John Lee gets right to work on the city council, the city wants to pull encampments off the hills, the Controller gives LAHSA a failing grade, and Paul Koretz opens up to Curbed about scooters.
A Lancaster deputy shooting is revealed to have been fake, the amount of new housing Southern California has to build is revealed to be huge, a French restaurant in Echo Park is revealed to be sold to a luxury developer, the new version of LA's sidewalk-sleeping laws are revealed to be cruel and unconstitutional, and a new elite scooter enforcement squad is revealed by Paul Koretz.
Alissa and Hayes are joined by the NRDC's CARTER RUBIN (@CarterRubin) to talk about the results of last Tuesday's special City Council election, the racist serial killer that didn't make the news, the City of Industry kicking out a third of its residents for political reasons, the LA city planner who was too eager to become a lobbyist, the newest turns in the AHF/Amoeba Civil War, and Carter's thoughts on the California Air Resources Board's newest emissions report.
What Stephen Ross-owned properties do we have to boycott in LA? What amenities can you expect in your new $7,000-a-month downtown one-bedroom? Whose house did Mayor Garcetti ask the fire department to check on during the Woolsey fire? Why are so many city councilmembers staying out of the CD12 race? Why did USC not respond to complaints about yet another rapist doctor? And what is the current status of the Kanye Domes and Emoji House?
City Hall re-re-criminalizes sleeping in cars, and Mayor Garcetti's office has a woman's cart thrown away after she posed with him for a photo op. Uber and Lyft sweat the possible passage of AB 5, and high-speed rail might come to LA, but a lot slower and shorter. Guest ALBERT CORADO joins Scott and Hayes to talk about preserving his sister Mely's memory after she was killed by LAPD at Trader Joe's one year ago, and talks about why his family is suing the city.
The FBI raids the DWP and City Hall again, turns out the LAPD and the city were investigating Nipsey Hussle all along (and still are), SoCalGas set up a "grassroots" front group to get people excited about balanced energy solutions, another group fights to preserve the historic Amoeba building, and the NYT is going to LA summer camp.
A song parody submittied by a listener, the city opening a new natural gas plant in Utah despite its "Green New Deal," a coalition sues the city for throwing out the property of people who are homeless, a bunch of people want to build a gondola to the Hollywood Sign, LAPD sent an officer to spy on some leftist protestors, and somehow more bizarre behavior from Sheriff Villanueva comes to light.
Residents fight over bus rapid transit in Eagle Rock! The IBEW fights Garcetti over his Green New Deal at the IBEW! LA fights "party houses" with new AirBnB regulations! Alissa fights for the truth about the ShakeAlertLA app! The Sheriff's Department fights an FBI investigation! And all of us fight to breathe air that's getting worse every day!
Recording just after the Friday earthquake, the hosts open up about how they personally reckoned with death two days in a row and discuss why the #ShakeAlertLA app didn't alert anyone. Then they get into the automation fight at the Port of LA, Trump's comments on LA homelessness and Garcetti's polite response, and a new wrinkle in the fight over whether people who are homeless can keep their possessions.
New state budget -- how much money is LA getting? Why do councilmembers want more? Grocery store strike -- is it going to happen? What would it mean if it does? New encampment sweeps policy -- why is LAPD still a part of it? Could that change? And Metro bus ridership -- why is it cratering? How do we fire everyone who let this happen?
Alissa tells a harrowing LA Story, Northridgers have a meltdown about a rapid bus line, local officials don't do much about Trump's announced ICE raids, the LA Times laments the loss of Weird LA, and DR. PAAVO MONKKONEN (@elpaavo), Associate Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA's Luskin School, joins the show to tell stories from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)'s efforts to figure out how much housing cities need to build.
Alissa, Scott and Hayes get into scooter numbers that came out this week, take the listener to City Hall to hear the council explain why they're continuing to punish people for being poor, congratulate Inglewood on its new rent control, and break some actual good news live on the show.
LA Podcast does its first live show at UCLA's Lewis Center! The audio is not great! We get into what's happening in lawless Westwood and the audience brings the heat with some Big Questions!
The homeless count results are in, and they're brutal. Scott, Alissa and Hayes go through the numbers and look at how different LA public officials responded to them, then get into the fallout from Measure EE's failure and Loraine Lundquist's victory in Tuesday's election. Plus: a bizarre Sheriff's Department And 1.
A big housing episode! Scott, Alissa and Hayes perform an autopsy on all the victims of the CA legislature's May Massacre, try to figure out what is going on with AHF and the high-rise on Sunset and Gordon, look at the first supportive housing building built with HHH money after more than 900 days, and anticipate the numbers of the homeless count coming this week.
All three hosts reunite to discuss the big cuts to Metro service, the newest incarnation of Boring Company technology, the Commerce City Council brawl, yet another task force, some of the housing bills still alive in the state legislature, and the Freehand hotel.
Hayes is in Florida so Scott and Alissa get into the shelving of SB50, newly free admissions at MOCA, Metro and Garcetti's flip-flop on the bus lane pilot, difficult questions for Sheriff Villanueva, big tourism numbers for LA, and not-so-big weed numbers for the state.
