The Brief

There is broad scientific consensus that pollution from human society is driving long-term changes in our climate. Those changes are already happening — more frequent and hotter heat waves, longer and drier droughts, more intense wildfires, among other extreme weather events.

But President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change “a hoax” and many Republicans increasingly downplay the threat it poses to human health and nature. The partisan divide on climate action has only grown wider over the last decade, according to the Pew Research Center.

Most Americans actually agree that global heating is a problem and that it’s going to worsen within their lifetimes without more action from governments, corporations, and society in general.

A brief history of Republicans and the environment

Environmental protection wasn’t always so politically divisive.

“The environmental movement historically is very much a Republican movement,” said Francisca Martinez, deputy chief of staff at the University of Southern California’s Schwarzenegger Institute.

Ronald Reagan

She pointed to how former Gov. Ronald Reagan established the California Air Resources Board, which regulates air pollution, in 1967.

“This was long, long before much of the country was really thinking about regulating air pollution and emissions,” Martinez said.

President Richard Nixon signed the federal Clean Air Act into law in 1970 and was instrumental in establishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger helped California become a leader in rooftop solar by signing the Million Solar Roofs Initiative into law in 2006. That same year, Schwarzenegger also signed into law California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act.

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006. The landmark legislation set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while growing the economy.

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These are just a few examples, but there’s a long history of bipartisan support for environmental protection, Martinez said.

“It's not a new thing for a Republican leader to come in and lead on climate, and I think that's been lost throughout the years,” Martinez said.

Still it's something happening under the radar. For example, during Trump's last administration, nearly a third of some 400 state-level bills to reduce carbon pollution passed through Republican-controlled legislatures. And some Congressional Republicans are leading efforts to talk about climate action more.

What changed? 

Under his previous administration, Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental protection rules and attempted to repeal dozens of others. He’s said he will gut the EPA, which is in charge of enforcing clean air, water and pollution regulations, among other things.

Martinez said a big reason for the increasing partisan divide on climate action has been disinformation and lobbying from the oil and gas industry influencing politics over decades — something that is now well-documented.

But Martinez said there's a broader communication problem too.

“If you are having issues paying your groceries, paying for gas, you're not going to be prioritizing something like climate change,” she said. “I come from first-generation everything. I come from an immigrant family that struggled to make ends meet in my childhood, so I can relate to that.”

But in reality, there’s a lot of common ground no matter people’s political beliefs or lived experiences.

“When you talk about [climate change] through the lens of air pollution…Nobody wants to breathe dirty air,” Martinez said. “When you talk about access to clean water, that's different. I think that resonates with more people.”

Finding common ground

Craig Preston would agree. The Costa Mesa resident is a lifelong Republican and chair of the Conservative Outreach Action Team for the nonpartisan, volunteer-run Citizens' Climate Lobby chapter in Orange County.

“If we think more long term, then I think we're more aware of how an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and so we're willing to put some money and effort into preventing harms,” Preston said.

Craig Preston, left, at a Citizens Climate Lobby event about the cost effectiveness of solar and battery storage, electric vehicles, heat pumps, induction stoves, and more.

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“But if we're more short-term focused, if I'm living paycheck to paycheck, then people are just not able to really think long term because they're just trying to feed their kids today,” Preston continued. “So then the discussion is more focused on the economics and even the short term benefits of moving to a clean energy economy.”

For example, he said how solar panels or highly-efficient appliances, such as heat pumps and induction stoves can help people save money. He talks about how solar and wind power has gotten cheaper than fossil fuel power.

“I often bring an induction stovetop to my meetings, do a demonstration on how to boil water in 30 seconds, and then say, who wants to take it home and try it out for two weeks?” Preston said. “Just make it fun for people to move to an electrification economy.”

A banner at a Citizens' Climate Lobby event that Craig Preston helped lead.

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He said he also emphasizes the resilience of cleaner technologies to cross partisan divides.

For example, he shared an anecdote of two friends who recently experienced the devastating flooding in Asheville, North Carolina, due to Hurricane Helene. Attribution studies found the rainfall was 10% heavier as a result of human-caused climate change.

One friend had a diesel backup generator and was stranded for 11 days, during which the generator ran out of fuel. The other friend had solar and battery storage and was able to support neighbors since their power stayed on.

“Just an example of the resiliency we need, because climate change is here,” Preston said. “We recognize market forces and clean energy are something people aren't opposed to, and so going into a clean energy future is good for their grandchildren, good for their children, good for themselves.”

Trusting the science 

Buena Park resident Dominic Bendinelli grew up in a Republican household and led his college’s Republican student group. But since Trump’s first election in 2016, he said he feels like “a Republican in exile.”

“I feel like the party has moved away from me, rather than me moving from the party,” he said.

He’d grown up spending time outdoors and has long had a love of nature, but he didn’t learn much about climate change until a biology course in college.

This graph compares atmospheric samples in ice cores as well as more recent direct measurements, showing how atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.

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Courtesy NASA

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He said the science denial that has taken over the mainstream Republican party has been “devastating” — and a reason for that feeling of exile. His work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has only solidified that feeling.

“Scientists are not this giant organized group of people who are all driven to do one thing,” Bendinelli said. “They're my co-workers, they don't have hidden agendas, they don't care about politics really at all, generally. A lot of scientists tend to just focus on their own work, really passionate and smart people who dedicate their lives to studying things. And I hope that we as a country can get back to trusting those kinds of people.”

Particularly as a young person — he’s 29 — Bendinelli said addressing climate change feels more personal.

Dominic Bendinelli on a recent trip to Vienna, Austria.

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“I absolutely feel like my life will be greatly impacted by climate change and that's not even to mention the life of any future children I may have,” he said. “I think we somehow need to build that coalition of leaders from both sides to really start seeing some strong movement in this country.”

Bendinelli said he’s not hopeful for that to happen under a Trump administration. He’s especially concerned about Trump’s proposals to dismantle the EPA and repeal much of the Inflation Reduction Act, which has primarily benefited clean energy projects in red states and generated hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“When you can really get down to people's concerns…that's when we can come together because we tend to have the same concerns…we just maybe don't have the same solutions,” Bendinelli said.

He said those concerns include things like the economy and quality of life and that climate action can be a part of addressing those concerns, for example, by helping people save on electric bills through efficient appliances, bringing good-paying jobs, and protecting the natural spaces we all love.

“People across the country,” he said, “if given a very clear choice of ‘would you like to protect the environment around you, or would you like to destroy it’... that would be a really easy decision.”

Pollution isn’t partisan

Elizabeth Fenner grew up in Westchester in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 80s, when smog pollution was at some of its worst.

She remembers playing in an AYSO soccer game one day and afterwards she and her teammates all came off the field coughing.

“We just didn't know the damage that smog was doing to us,” Fenner said. “I grew up with stinging eyes…there was that thick blanket of smog that we all just lived in.”

Fenner, who now lives in West Adams and works as a library aide, identifies as conservative and a climate advocate. She doesn’t support Trump, but is a registered Republican.

Elizabeth Fenner, a conservative climate advocate in Los Angeles.

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Courtesy Elizabeth Fenner

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“I grew up in a liberal environment with conservative parents,” Fenner said. “So I just had this thing of, what's the real story here? It's something in between.”

She said she hopes Democrats and Republicans can find some common ground when it comes to climate action, but she doesn’t think it’ll happen anytime soon.

“The two parties have been at each other's throats for decades now — ‘If you're going to do one thing, I'm going to do the absolute opposite,’” Fenner said. “But one thing I think is that a Democratic supermajority does not create heaven on Earth here in California.”

She said that’s why she hopes people with different political views can approach each other with “humility and curiosity.”

“The impasse is that anyone that doesn't know me well and finds out I'm conservative and registered Republican believes I'm a Trump-voting conservative, and that I want to ban books, and that I am against transgender rights, that I'm ‘drill baby drill,’” Fenner said.

“I'm not OK with that,” Fenner added, “but my values are towards incremental change, small government, jobs, and the economy. I think we can work with that….but let's work together towards solutions.”

The 99 Cents Only chain may be gone, but a new art exhibit at its former store at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue is keeping its legacy alive in the most eccentric way possible.

From shopping carts suspended upside down to video art at the checkout counters to paintings and graffiti in every nook and cranny, this is not the same 99 Cents Only store where you used to buy your cleaning supplies.

The curators behind 99CENT, which is on display through the end of this weekend, have filled the space with artwork and L.A. artifacts for a free exhibition. So I had to check it out:

99CENT's art

Many of the involved artists used practically every square inch of parts of the store.

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The artists on display at 99CENT work across mediums.

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Art and graffiti were both on full display at 99CENT.

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Many of the works of art look like regular street signs ... until you look a little closer.

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Presumably, this fruit wasn't bought at the 99 Cents Only store, which closed last year.

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Many different art styles were on display at 99CENT.

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The exhibit makes creative use of space, including hanging things from the ceiling.

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Despite this sign, the inside of the store was covered in graffiti, though some staff members could be seen cleaning up graffiti on the outside.

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Many of the items on display were carefully crafted. The $9.99 sticker may not be accurate pricing.

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What you can see

As soon as you walk in, you’re treated to a complete reimagining of the 99 Cents Only store. This former site of the modern big-box discount chain has been infused with a healthy dose of the West Coast art styles that sprung up from places like the Mission District, Haight-Ashbury and Venice.

One of many sections of the repurposed store that showcases objects, graffiti and artworks.

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Artists whose work was on display used all kinds of mediums. In this case, mirrors and wheelchairs.

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All the original shelving is there, but nearly every nook and cranny has been filled with art.

Inside the old freezer

Even the store's freezers were fair game to show off art at 99CENT.

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The inside of the store's freezer, which was repurposed as a gallery space.

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But look close and you’ll see cheeky nods to the 99 Cents Only store of yore. Much of the old shelving and signage is still there, even if slightly rearranged. On some shelves, hygiene supplies sit side by side with artworks and found objects.

99CENT displays

Some parts of 99CENT even loosely resemble the former store.

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Though this is an artists' flea market, these works of art presumably would cost more than 99 cents to buy.

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Many books on display this week, like this one, probably never went for sale at the original 99 Cents Only stores.

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These curated vintage shirts presumably were also not for sale at the original 99 Cents Only store.

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Some old shopping carts have been converted into suspended sculptures. In between songs, the loudspeakers play what I’m pretty sure are authentic 99 Cents Only in-store announcements in English and Spanish.

One major auditory difference — and I can confirm this as a former 99 Cents store shopper — the music on the store’s PA system is much more lo-fi and homespun than the radio pop the old store used to have on.

Inside the "tent"

In the background, behind the hanging shopping cart, you can see the entrance to an improvised structure in aisle 11.

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Inside the improvised structure in Aisle 11.

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Since this is a self-described “artist flea market of sorts,” many of the artists have also scrawled their phone numbers and Venmo usernames near their works, and walking through different stations at the store really does feel like walking through different stations of a carefully curated swap meet or flea market.

Many works of art coexisted with produce and groceries, like this work held down by two Grey Poupon bottles.

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Even for works that aren’t on sale, most paintings and sculptures I saw identify the artist, though it’s admittedly a little more haphazard than most galleries I’ve been to.

About the curators

Representatives for the gallery The Hole, which curated this exhibit, said that the works in the store pull from its “West Coast network of artists and outsiders.”

These paintings share wall space with this sculpture made of repurposed blue jean fabric.

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One artist in particular takes the spotlight: The walls are covered by paintings by the San Francisco-based street artist Barry McGee and works from his personal collection — people who parked in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s garages in the early 2000s may remember his now-lost murals. All told, the curators say over 100 artists were represented.

With so many artists on display, very little space in the former store goes unused.

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How to visit

You can see “99CENT” for yourself at the former 99 Cents Only store at 6121 Wilshire Blvd., a stone’s throw away from LACMA.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday.

In her State of the City address this month, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass boasted that her administration had fast-tracked the construction of more than 30,000 affordable housing units.

A Crosstown analysis of the data indicates the pace of actual building may be considerably slower. Bass’s Executive Directive 1 was supposed to slash red tape and accelerate approval times for housing projects that consist entirely of affordable, or below market rate, units. She said builders already had broken ground on 6,000 of them.

Of the 32,838 units plan-approved under ED1 through the end of last year and listed on the case summary dashboard, 4,993 have been issued building permits for new construction, a Crosstown analysis found.

Just 26% of affordable units entitled during ED1’s first year, 2023, have been granted building permits, all of which have been approved for two years or more.

“Mayor Bass was correct in her statement that 6,000 units are currently under construction,” the mayor’s press office said in a statement to Crosstown. The mayor’s office did not provide a clear explanation as to how that total was calculated.

The slower-than-advertised pace of affordable units is just one part of a broader stagnation afflicting the city’s home-building sector. Last year, a total of 7,892 apartment units were permitted, according to data from the Department of Building and Safety. That includes everything from affordable units to luxury apartments. It represents a 1% increase from the year prior but a 34% decrease from 2019.

Los Angeles faces an acute housing shortage, a problem that has exacerbated a longstanding homelessness crisis and has contributed to rising unaffordability that burdens many of the city’s residents. According to the Southern California Association of Governments, the city of Los Angeles must produce 456,643 housing units during the decade, a pace it now appears certain to miss by a wide margin.

Despite the chronic need for more housing, builders say they are up against an array of obstacles in Los Angeles. Production costs are more than double the average costs in Texas, according to a RAND study. The controversial Measure ULA, informally known as the ”mansion tax,” has also been blamed for construction slowdowns. The levy, which went into effect in April 2023, adds a 4% tax on residential and commercial properties sold for $5.3 million or more, and a 5.5% tax on properties sold for over $10.6 million, including apartment blocks. The revenues are intended to be put toward affordable housing. But the extra tax makes building an apartment project and then selling it particularly burdensome.

Ari Kahan, principal of California Landmark Group, said his development firm has significantly scaled back their Los Angeles projects.

“We still explore unique opportunities, but we cannot afford the risk of both ULA and the inevitable other shoe dropping on another related issue in the city of L.A.,” Kahan said.

The city’s housing crisis has been at the forefront of Bass’s first term agenda. ED 1, which went into effect in 2023, was intended to fast-track construction by reducing approval times for affordable housing projects and shelters to 60 days. The directive prompted a flurry of new proposals. But moving those proposals from the drawing board to actual construction has been slow.

Building struggles

ED1 and programs that encouraged affordable housing, such as bonus diversity programs and the Transit Oriented Communities Incentive Program — which incentivizes low-income housing near bus and train stations — have been big enticements for new development. However, Kahan said Measure ULA has made it difficult for developers to turn a profit on those projects, and he predicts that most of them will never be built.

The measure has generated over $1 billion through January 2026. Critics assail the nickname “mansion tax” because the levy equally applies to multifamily apartment buildings and commercial properties, not just expensive single-family homes. Fifty-nine percent of transactions are single-family residences, 25% are commercial properties and 13% are multi-family residences, according to the ULA Revenue Dashboard.

Joe Donlin, director of United to House LA, the coalition of housing, labor and renters groups behind the measure, defended the tax and said it’s important to let the policy “breathe and take effect” to understand its full impact. He called the measure an economic engine for the city, adding that $400 million in ULA revenue went out to affordable housing developers last fall.

“We’re talking about hundreds of new homes being built, thousands of new construction jobs, investment in neighborhoods that haven’t seen investment like this in a long time,” Donlin said.

Donlin said Los Angeles’ housing struggles are likely due to stubbornly high interest rates, insurance costs and construction material costs around the time Measure ULA went into effect.

Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president of LA Family Housing, said she has been able to sidestep Measure ULA because she manages the properties she builds instead of selling them. For her, one of the biggest affordable housing hurdles is a lack of federal assistance to help low-income tenants pay rent.

“[Los Angeles’s] largest housing gap is for our extremely and very low-income households. In order to make housing affordable to that target income group, it would require a larger allocation of rental subsidies,” Klasky-Gamer said.

President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal aimed to cut over $26 billion from federal rental assistance programs, but the House Appropriations Committee rejected the cuts and increased funding for housing assistance programs. Tenant-based vouchers received $2.4 billion more than they did in the 2025 fiscal year, and the project-based rental assistance program received an extra $1.65 billion.

Westchester grows, downtown dwindles

In a rocky year for issued apartment permits, some Los Angeles neighborhoods showed marked increases, while others saw steep declines.

Westchester had 787 apartment units permitted last year, the most of any neighborhood. North Hollywood had the second most at 502, and Mid-City had the third most with 449.

Downtown saw a substantial dip in permits issued. Last year, 207 units were approved, nearly half as many as the year before and an 87% decrease from 2022.

The regression comes as downtown contends with a massive homelessness population. Downtown had the most non-emergency calls for homeless encampments, 8,417, of any neighborhood in 2025, according to MyLA311 service data.

How we did it: We examined all ED1-related projects on the city’s case summary dashboard and compared those with the Department of Building and Safety’s permits issued for new apartments. In addition, we compiled the number of apartment new units permitted for construction in the city over the past decade. In a previous article, Crosstown used a slightly different methodology to determine the number of permitted apartments in the city. The slight changes in methodology account for the difference in numbers in that article.

Have questions about our data? Write to us at askus@xtown.la

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Feb. 24, 2026.

East Los Angeles is home to nearly 119,000 residents, but the community has no mayor or city hall.

So who makes decisions? Who fixes potholes? Who gets called to report illegal dumping?

East L.A. is not a city, and it’s not part of the city of L.A. Instead, it’s an unincorporated part of L.A. County, and even though it’s the most populous unincorporated area in California, community organizers say many residents are unaware of the problems that raises.

According to the L.A. County Planning Department, there are approximately 120 to 125 unincorporated areas in the county, which altogether represent two-thirds of its total area and one-tenth of its population.

“For the 1 million people living in these areas, the Board of Supervisors is their ‘city council’ and the supervisor representing the area is their ‘mayor,’” the department website says.

So what does it mean to live in an unincorporated community?

Let’s break it down:

What is an unincorporated community?

An unincorporated area is land within a county that has not been designated to be a city, meaning that it relies on county services, including for law enforcement, public works and local government.

Instead of being governed by a city council and a mayor, major decisions for East L.A. residents fall under the authority of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

East L.A. residents have called for representation that’s more closely tied to their community and financial transparency, saying they want to know how their tax dollars are spent locally.

Who represents East LA?

East L.A., located in Supervisorial District 1, has been represented by County Supervisor Hilda Solis since 2014. Her term is set to end this year.

Solis also makes decisions for the nearly 2 million other residents who live in District 1, which covers more than 20 cities, stretching from Silver Lake to Pomona, as well as various neighborhoods of the city of Los Angeles, including Boyle Heights and downtown.

On a state level, East L.A. is represented by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza and state Sen. María Elena Durazo. Rep. Jimmy Gomez represents East L.A. in Congress.

Who provides key services for East LA residents?

Independent cities often provide residents with their own municipal services such as law enforcement, firefighting, animal control, trash collection, road maintenance, library services and parks.

Here’s a list of services available to East L.A. residents:

• First District Field Office – East Los Angeles
  
  • Services: Here’s how you can get in touch with Solis’ office if you have questions or concerns.
  • Location: 4801 E. Third St., Los Angeles
  • Contact: (323) 881-4601
• East LA Sheriff’s Station 
  
  • Services: In addition to serving East L.A., the station also serves the cities of Commerce, Cudahy and Maywood, as well as unincorporated Belvedere Gardens, City Terrace, Eastmont, Saybrook Park and Union Pacific.
  • Location: 5019 E. Third St., East Los Angeles
  • Contact: (323) 264-4151. For emergencies, call 911. 
  • Website: lasd.org/east-los-angeles
• LA County Fire Department
  
  • Services: The L.A. County Fire Department serves all of the unincorporated area within Los Angeles County, as well as 60 incorporated cities, 59 of which are in Los Angeles County and one in Orange County. 
  • Contact: (323) 881-2411. For emergencies, call 911.
  • Website: fire.lacounty.gov
• Public Works
  
  • Services: L.A. County Public Works responds to calls about graffiti, potholes, illegal dumping, homeless encampments, transportation services and building and safety permits, among other things.
  • Contact: Reports can be submitted online. Urgent requests can be made by calling the 24-hour line at (800) 675-4357.
  • Website: pw.lacounty.gov
• 211 LA County
  
  • Services: 211 L.A. County provides health and social service resources, including housing support, mental health care, financial assistance and recovery resources. During disasters, like wildfires and other crises, the line provides real-time information and can help people find shelter, food, financial help and emotional support.
  • Contact: Dial 211. Those unable to reach 2-1-1 service can call (800) 339-6993. TTY/TDD# (phone for hearing impaired): (800) 660-4026
  • Website: 211la.org

For a full list, check out this guide to unincorporated areas services for District 1.

Why isn’t East LA its own city?

Over the decades, multiple efforts to incorporate East LA into a city have failed. A recent fiscal analysis concluded that cityhood remains financially unviable for the region. Residents have continued their calls for more financial transparency and better representation. A new effort on the horizon may allow citizens to directly advise the county on issues unique to East LA.

How can residents make their voices heard?

The report that deemed cityhood unfeasible for unincorporated East LA last year recommended the formation of a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) — a formal, citizen-led body that would provide residents with a structure for public input and give stakeholders a direct line of communication to county leadership.

At the first of six community forums on Saturday, Feb. 21, some residents deemed the MAC a stepping stone towards proper incorporation down the line. Others asked for better economic investment and access to a localized, itemized budget every year for residents to understand how their tax dollars are spent on improving social services and local businesses.

“Every problem we have, can be solved if we have a local government,” resident Francisco Cardenas. “We have nobody to complain to.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the MAC and the upcoming community forums where residents are invited to weigh in. The next meeting will take place Thursday at East L.A. Library, located at 4837 E. Third St. Register here.