Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association
President of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association and an attorney in private practice; former member of the Los Angeles City Redistricting Commission (2001); former co-chair of Valley VOTE, the group that spearheaded the San Fernando Valley secession
Breaking Point: Housing, density and the future of LA Angelenos will vote next week on Measure S, which restricts development in the city for two years. It’s stirred up a heated debate: Should LA build higher, denser developments near public transit, or stay as a network of neighborhoods with single family homes and small apartment buildings? Press Play hosts a special broadcast live from Hollywood’s Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, exploring how the housing crisis in LA has caused an identity crisis for Angelenos.
Is an App to Blame for Neighborhood Traffic Jams? There's a new voice in town, that of the smartphone app called Waze , which crowd-sources GPS signals from moving cars to guide drivers away from heavy traffic. More and more LA commuters are devoted to Waze to find alternatives to busy freeways. The downside is that narrow streets in some residential neighborhoods are now being turned into highways. That's according to Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association. His neighborhood abuts the 405 Freeway in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Will a Half-Penny Tax Fix LA's Budget? Los Angeles could see a half cent rise in the city's sales tax, if Proposition A is adopted on the March 5 ballot. The city is facing a budget deficit of more than $200 million, and top city officials, including Mayor Villaraigosa, want the sales tax increase to avoid cutbacks in police and other key public safety services. We hear from a reporter covering the story and from proponents and opponents of the measure.
LA Supervisors and Latino Voting Rights After a long and passionate hearing last night, LA County Supervisors rejected a move to radically redraw their district boundaries by a vote of four to one. Gloria Molina and Mark Ridley-Thomas wanted to create a new, Latino-majority district, by drastically changing districts now held by Zev Yaroslavsky or Don Knabe respectively. Yaroslavsky and Knabe opposed both plans, along with Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe. But four votes were required, and Ridley-Thomas finally joined them to produce a majority for a plan by Knabe, which pretty much maintains the status quo. We hear from Ridley-Thomas, Knabe and others. (Supervisor Yaroslavsky declined our invitation to participate in this discussion.)
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.
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.