Healthcare Reform and the DWP in Transition
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The head of Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power walked out last Friday after just two years on the job. Was David Nahai too weak — or too strong — when it came to greening America's biggest publicly owned utility? Also, a look back at Bill Parker, LA's most controversial chief of police. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, healthcare reform is finally headed toward the floors of the House and the Senate, presuming Democratic leaders can cobble together five different proposals. What are the likely issues once debate finally gets under way?
Main Topic
Congress Lurches toward Healthcare Reform ()
As Congress grapples with five different proposals for healthcare reform, the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund reports that Americans are dying too soon. Despite spending vastly more than other industrialized countries, the United States is near the bottom and falling further behind when it comes to so-called "preventable deaths" from diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, influenza, ulcers and pneumonia.
Guests:
- Jonathan Cohn: Senior Editor, The New Republic, @CitizenCohn
- Henry Aaron: Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, @BrookingsInst
- Emily Friedman: Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bioethics, Boston University
- Megan McArdle: Business and Economics Editor, The Atlantic
Links:
Main Topic
DWP in Transition ()
Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power is looking for a new general manager after Friday's abrupt departure of David Nahai. He'll be going to work for former President Clinton. Today, the DWP Commission took up a contract that will pay Nahai $6300 a week as a private consultant, the same rate he earned while running the nation's largest publicly owned utility.
Guests:
- David Zahniser: Staff writer, Los Angeles Times, @DavidZahniser
- Ron Kaye: former Editor, Los Angeles Daily News
- Mary Luevano: Policy and Legislative Affairs Director, Global Green USA
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
LA Noir ()
The Los Angeles City Council still hasn't decided whether the new headquarters of the LAPD should named Parker Center after LA's most controversial former chief. In the meantime, a new book recounts the history of Los Angeles during the era of Parker and the notorious gangster, Mickey Cohen. John Buntin spent five years researching and writing LA Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City.
Guests:
- John Buntin: author, 'LA Noir'
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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