KCET
D.J. Waldie is a writer and commentator on Los Angeles, and a historian emeritus, for the City of Lakewood, California. An essayist, poet and historian of Los Angeles County, Waldie is the author of several books including Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, Where We Are: Notes from Los Angeles and California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission-Style Houses. He is a former blogs for public television station KCET.
Farewell LA freeways, but what takes their place? San Gabriel communities have fought for years over a long-planned 6.3 mile extension to the 710 Freeway, connecting it to the 210. Last week the Metro Board killed it off for good and Mayor Eric Garcetti called it a sign of times, noting that “Los Angeles has moved on from freeways.” LA Metro Rapid Line 760 at Flower Street and Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles. Photo by George Instead, miles of new mass transit is planned for the region, along with improved streets for pedestrians, cyclists and cars, all paid for by Southland voters most recently through Measure M. But it turns out Angelenos are not using the transit they have paid for. Ridership has dropped, especially on LA-area buses. We look at why, how the humble bus could deliver a better experience, and why freeways -- once part of an optimistic vision for the future -- have reached the end of the road.
Which Way, LA? The Question that Won't Go Away 23 years ago, the fires of the Rodney King riots were burning and the sirens wailing when KCRW first asked, WWLA? We've been through fires, floods, earthquakes and massive social, cultural and economic change. While this is the last program titled WWLA? the question still needs to be asked. We talk with a group of important and thoughtful people about what LA has become and about the challenges to be faced in the future…as we continue.
The “Crisis” of the Big Blue Bus Stops Santa Monica’s new Big Blue Bus stops are intended to provide comforts for riders and an iconic look for the transit agency. But the new stops have ignited complaints from many of its riders about minimal shade and uncomfortable seating. Were they designed too “defensively”? Are critics overlooking their benefits?
Do Angelinos Have a Bias against Mass Transit? Mass transit needs frequency, reliability and access to job centers. That's all it will take to transform drivers into riders of busses, streetcars and trains. That's the mantra behind high density development in LA and elsewhere. Turns out, that's wrong, according to a comprehensive study of the matter by the Neighborhood Travel and Activities Study at UC Irvine, where Steven Spears is an assistant project scientist.
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Wilshire Boulevard PSTP has sponsored another exploration of a defining Los Angeles boulevard, but it's one you'll be able to take in outside of the museum space, and not at the speed or kind of mobility it was built for. We are talking Wilshire Boulevard and on June 23, bikers and walkers are invited to join in CicLAvia: Modern Architecture on Wilshire Boulevard . Part of the project is an accompanying series of stories, about Wilshire's iconic buildings, produced by veteran radio producer and architecture writer Edward Lifson. We are airing some of them on DnA, starting today with "Tar Pit Death Trip," told by memoirist D.J. Waldie, set against original music by Steve Wight. Waldie takes us back to the primordial ooze of LACMA's tarpits , a reminder that despite Angelenos conviction to the contrary, death is not an option and we will be one day replaced by new generations who will have stories to tell about us.
Los Angeles: Eastside versus Westside Remember " Carmaggedon ?" That's when the 405 Freeway was shut down completely for entire weekends for replacement of the Mulholland Drive bridge. There were predictions that the entire Westside would be unavailable to the rest of the city. There now exists between people in Los Angeles a kind of rivalry — like the one between LA and San Francisco, or between New York and LA. To get a sense of how and why, we reached out on line, using the Public Insight Network and Facebook to contact our audience. We asked a series of questions. Which side do you prefer? Where's the boundary? Which is the "real LA?" We received hundreds of answers.
Less School for LAUSD; Student-based Teacher Evaluations The Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers' union, UTLA , have agreed to shorten the next school year by five days, for a total of 18 days in the past four years. Another three weeks could be lost if Governor Brown's tax package doesn't pass in November. Combined with larger classes, less counseling and cuts in campus management, nobody disagrees that students will suffer. So what has been gained? We hear from educators and attorneys. Education isn't the only thing that's suffering from state budget cuts. Parks are closing, layoffs and court closures are making justice less accessible, and support for the bullet train is on the decline. D.J. Waldie, who's retired as Deputy City Manager for the City of Lakewood, is a prolific writer and commentator about Los Angeles who blogs for KCET .
Are the NFL and MLB Putting the Squeeze on LA City Hall? Mayor Villaraigosa and members of the Los Angeles City Council have been jumping through hoops to get the National Football League to field a team in downtown Los Angeles. They've made concessions to Phil Anschutz of AEG, the developer of Staples Center and LA Live. But Anschutz himself is driving a hard bargain with the NFL, and the much-ballyhooed $2.15 billion deal for the Dodgers — more than anybody has ever paid for a sports franchise -- could complicate matters still further.
Northrop Says Goodbye to Southern California Northrop Grumman is the last of the big-name aerospace companies headquartered in Southern California, and now it's going, too. Like others before it, Northrop will move its top executives closer to the action in Washington, DC. In this case, to Falls Church, Virginia. D.J. Waldie is a historian, poet and author of many books on many subjects. He'll have an essay in the forthcoming book, Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California.
Split Board Considers Changes to Supervisorial Districts A new, independent citizens committee is re-drawing boundaries for California's legislative and congressional districts to accommodate the 2010 census. LA County Supervisors still reapportion their own. In 1990, reapportionment created the majority Latino district won the next year by Gloria Molina . This year, the Board appointed a Boundary Review Committee , which recommended that districts stay pretty much as they are. But Molina and her colleague, Mark Ridley Thomas , say it's time for a second Latino-majority district. Don Knabe and Mike Antonovich like the Committee plan, and Zev Yaroslavsky is leaning that way. That's a 3-to-2 majority. But it takes four votes for a final decision. Author, historian and long-time Lakewood official D. J. Waldie is a senior authority on County politics and blogger for KCET .
Are Hotels in Downtown LA Getting Taxpayer Money for Free? The LA Times reports that two building inspectors have been arrested and a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas seeking personnel records of at least 11 current and former employees. David Zahniser co-wrote the story. He also wrote a Times' story about tax breaks for massive hotels in booming downtown Los Angeles. J.W. Marriot, which opened last year, is reportedly doing well enough to produce some much-needed city revenue in a cash-strapped city. But the Anshutz Entertainment Group, AEG, will be able to keep some $270 million in taxes through 2035. Combined with two other such deals, the city could end up giving away $640 million in the next 30 years. The Mayor and City Council approved the subsidies after analysis by PKF Consulting , which calls them "incentives" and says they're common where they will stimulate new business.
New Leadership for a Powerful Institution On his 75th birthday, Cardinal Roger Mahony retired yesterday as Archbishop of Los Angeles and turned America's largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese over to José Gomez , recently the Bishop of San Antonio. There were masses in both English and Spanish at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, which overflowed with the faithful.
Encino Residents Fight to Save Local Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble is one of the big chains that have pushed independent bookstores out of many neighborhoods. But Barnes & Noble tries to be different, with author readings and other events that provide a similar sense of community. It may be hard to escape the irony, but now Barnes & Noble is being pushed out of the San Fernando Valley community of Encino. Recently, a group of angry readers formed Save Our Encino Barnes & Noble .
The Bard of Lakewood Announces His Retirement D.J. Waldie is an award-winning writer whose essays, articles and books have helped many readers better understand Southern California. Some essays are collected in Where We Are Now : Notes from Los Angeles. His most recent book is California Romantica . He co-wrote Real City : Downtown Los Angeles Inside/Out with photographer Marissa Roth. In 1996, he published Holy Land : A Suburban Memoir about Lakewood, the LA suburb where he was born, has lived all his life and has worked for 34 years as Public Information Officer. Last year, Waldie said he would retire. This year, he says he really means it.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?