Silicon Beach Brings Change to Westside
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LA's elected County Assessor, John Noguez, was arrested, handcuffed and jailed this morning on 31 counts for allegedly lowering property values in exchange for cash contributions. Also, the digital world is moving south — from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, the heart of the entertainment world. We hear how content and technology are gentrifying what's now called Silicon Beach. Will Venice ever be funky again after Google? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, Obama and Romney in the battle of the candidates.
Banner image: Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Photo by Tom Karlo/flickr
Making News
LA County Assessor Arrested ()
LA County's elected Tax Assessor, John Noguez, did the perp-walk in handcuffs early this morning from his home in Huntington Park to a waiting patrol car. He's in custody with bail set at $1.3 million. Along with two co-defendants he faces 31 counts filed by District Attorney Steve Cooley. We hear from the DA and from Gene Maddaus who's following the story for the LA Weekly.
Guests:
- Steve Cooley: Los Angeles County District Attorney
- Gene Maddaus: LA Weekly, @GeneMaddaus
Main Topic
Silicon Beach and the Perils of Gentrification ()
For a long time, people in Silicon Valley would fly to LA when they had to. Then it occurred to them that people who work in technology and content could actually live in the same place. Now, Google has come to Venice, greeted warmly by the Chamber of Commerce, but regarded by some long-time residents as an unwelcome invader. We look at the changing nature of that formerly funky community with 300 new high-tech companies altogether. But that only accounts for half of the new, mainly Westside, phenomenon called Silicon Beach. (Parts Two and Three of KCRW's series on Silicon Beach will run on All Things Considered tomorrow on Friday. You can hear them all at KCRW.com/siliconbeach.)
In addition to our guests, we also hear the voices of Jonathan Gold, food critic for LA Times and KCRW's Good Food; Marissa Gluck, tech consultant for Radar Research and Oscar Hermosillo, owner of Venice Beach Wines and Oscar's Cerveteca on Rose Avenue.
Guests:
- Steve Chiotakis: Afternoon News Anchor, @RadioChio
- Kristen Moore: Demand Media
- Wayne Ratkovitch: Ratkovitch Company
- David 'Preacher' Ewing: Venice Action Alliance
- Colleen O'Mara: Hype Media, @hypeworld
Main Topic
Obama-Romney Town Hall: The Thrilla in Nassau County ()
Last night's presidential debate turned into a prime-time political confrontation, this time including a president fully engaged with a challenger ready for action. President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, his Republican rival, touched on what seemed like dozens of issues, from contraception to immigration to the deadly attack on the Libyan consulate. We hear excerpts and contrasting assessments.
Guests:
- Molly Ball: The Atlantic, @mollyesque
- Paul Glastris: Washington Monthly, @glastris
- Jonathan Tobin: Commentary magazine, @TobinCommentary
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Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation.
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