Get Ready for 'Rampture'
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With a lot of advance publicity and smart planning by savvy drivers, "Carmageddon" turned into a happy weekend. "Rampture" will be a different story. All the on-and-off ramps will be closed at the intersection of the 405 Freeway and Wilshire Boulevard – two at a time --for as long as 90 days each. That will mean months of continued disruption where maddening congestion is already a fact of daily life. We hear the bad news — and some good news, too -- for commuters and neighborhood residents. Also, Steve Jobs, Pixar and the last word in digital animation. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, executive pay and corporate failure.
Making News
Feds Warn Pot Dispensaries to Shut Down ()
The Obama Administration is warning California's medical marijuana dispensaries they have 45 days to shut down, even though they're legal in this state. Lisa Leff is reporting the story from San Francisco for the Associated Press.
Guests:
- Lisa Leff: Associated Press, @scoopscout
Main Topic
'Rampture' on the 405 at Wilshire Boulevard ()
There are eight on-and-off ramps where the 405 Freeway meets Wilshire Boulevard on the West side of Los Angeles. Built for a different era, they are notorious for dangerous and time-consuming congestion. In the next few months, all of them are going to be closed for reconstruction — two at a time. It's all part of the commuter-lane addition that brought us three days of Carmageddon. The "Rampture" will go on a lot longer.
Guests:
- Michael Barbour: Metro
- Stephen Resnick: Westwood Homeowners Association
- James Brasuell: Curbed LA
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Steve Jobs' Hollywood Legacy ()
The late Steve Jobs had the patience of Job when it came to Pixar, which he bought from Lucasfilm for $5 million in 1986. Ultimately, it was Pixar that made Jobs a billionaire, but it took $50 million and a decade to do it. A critic and historian of animation, Charles Solomon is the author of The Art of Toy Story 3.
Guests:
- Charles Solomon: critic and historian of animation
Main Topic
Executive Pay and Corporate Failure ()
One of the reasons for income inequality in the US is the skyrocketing pay of corporate executives, even when their companies are not doing well. At the same time, the wages of workers are on the decline. Shareholders in Amgen, one of America's largest biotech firms, lost three percent of their investments in 2010, seven percent overall in five years. Located in Thousand Oaks, the company was closing plants and trimming the work force from 20,000 to 17,400. Chief Executive Kevin Sharer had been making $15 million a year, with perks that included two corporate jets. We hear what goes on in corporate boardrooms and what it means for the economy.
Guests:
- Peter Whoriskey: Washington Post
- Robert Monks: corporate governance activist and investor
- Edward Wolff: New York University
- Brad Klontz: clinical psychologist and author
Links:
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert 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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