UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs
PROFILE
Michael Manville
Guest
FROM Michael Manville
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
A possible sales tax hike and the future of LA transit Los Angeles County Supervisors unanimously voted to place a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot . The tax is aimed at making it easier to get around southern California, by generating at least $860 million per year for the county’s light rail network and other transit projects. The tax would continue to fund Metro projects indefinitely. And it needs a two-thirds vote to pass – a hurdle that concerns mass transit proponents, particularly because the ballot will be crowded with other tax initiatives for voters to decide on. Will voters be willing to approve a tax hike without an expiration date? And if so, how much will the proposed transit projects actually alleviate traffic in Los Angeles?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Parking Tickets as a Moneymaking Tool The City of Long Beach has decided to make its parking rules less insane. Currently, street sweeping restrictions start at 4 a.m. , which means getting up before dawn to move your car. These restrictions led to plenty of tickets and plenty of cash in the city coffers. Parking tickets are one of the most reliable fundraising tools a city has, but definitely not the best.
Which Way, L.A.?
RIFT, A Fight Against Traffic, Creates Rift in Santa Monica Santa Monica is a city of 85,000 people that doubles in size with commuters during business hours. Traffic congestion is changing the nature of the city itself, but growth continues. Now the voters are faced with a measure on the November called RIFT, which stands for Residents Initiative to Fight Traffic. Supporters took just 10 days to raise 10,000 signatures, almost twice the number they needed. RIFT would fight traffic by limiting commercial development.
Recommended
Bookworm
Morgan Parker: There Are More Beautiful Things than Beyoncé Morgan Parker says that the poems in her book There Are Things More Beautiful than Beyonce take a stand against the clichés of the dominant culture.
Bookworm
Claudio Magris: Blameless In Claudio Magris' Blameless, a museum of the implements of war and destruction is created to inspire peace. But this conversation is not just about war and peace.
Design and Architecture
Farewell LA freeways, Peter Shire is back Angelenos don't want more freeways but we seem not to want mass transit either. Metro has killed the 710 freeway extension, and bus and train ridership is down across the region. What's the future of getting around in LA? And, Peter Shire is having a comeback. What attracts a new generation to his playful ceramics and furniture?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.