The Brief

In a city that thrives on blockbuster sequels, the November election is set to plunge Los Angeles voters back into a heated debate around the city’s “mansion tax.”

The California secretary of state on Tuesday verified that backers of a statewide initiative to overturn the tax have collected enough signatures to place their measure on the ballot.

But other efforts to reform the tax — without ending it — may also end up going before city voters. Here’s what Angelenos need to know to make sense of the various efforts to re-do or nix the tax.

‘Mansion tax’ basics

Measure ULA was passed by city voters in 2022. It raises money for tenant aid programs and affordable housing construction by taxing real estate that sells for more than $5 million, annually adjusted for inflation.

It was widely pitched as a “mansion tax.” But it also applies to apartment buildings and other commercial properties. Economic studies have linked this additional cost with depressed housing development in the city relative to other parts of Southern California without the tax.

Measure ULA backers dispute those findings, blaming high interest rates and other economic trends for L.A.’s housing slowdown.

Supporters initially said the measure would raise up to $1.1 billion per year. But actual revenue has proven far lower. Three years after it first took effect, the tax has raised just over $1.1 billion total.

Some of that money has gone toward defending tenants in eviction court, as well as relief to struggling tenants through the city’s ULA Emergency Renters Assistance Program and ULA Income Support Program.

On the construction side, Measure ULA has helped subsidize about 800 units of affordable housing so far. The City Council will soon take up approval of a new round of developments, largely funded by Measure ULA. In total, those new projects seek to build 1,528 units of affordable housing and preserve affordability in 3,713 existing units.

Proponents of the measure say these numbers prove Measure ULA is working, and voters should not exempt new apartment buildings from the tax or overturn it.

Joe Donlin, director of the United to House L.A. coalition, said the initiative backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association poses a real threat to the city’s progress on addressing housing affordability.

“They want to eliminate revenue for affordable housing, the type of housing that makes it possible for working families, working people of California, to live here and work here and thrive here,” he said.

The measure that just made the ballot

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has opposed Measure ULA from Day 1. The organization joined a 2022 lawsuit seeking to overturn the tax, which ultimately failed.

In recent months, the association has been collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that seeks to invalidate Measure ULA and other such transfer taxes in cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Monica and Culver City.

Howard Jarvis organizers turned in those signatures last month. Now, state election officials have verified the organization has collected enough signatures to put the measure on the statewide ballot.

The measure seeks to limit transfer taxes to no more than 0.11% (Measure ULA’s tax tops out at 5.5%). It also seeks to counter recent court rulings, which have allowed California voters to pass new taxes with simple majority support as long as ballot initiatives are driven by citizens, not elected officials.

The measure would require future taxes to achieve more than two-thirds support from voters. Measure ULA, which was passed with nearly 58% support, would have failed to meet that threshold.

“California is very unaffordable, and the courts have made it easier to raise taxes,” said Susan Shelley, a spokesperson for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “We don't think that's right, and we are going to make it harder to raise taxes.”

According to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, the measure’s passage could lead to “a couple of billion dollars” of lost local revenue, plus potential losses from future taxes that could pass under the lower voter-approval threshold but won’t muster two-thirds support.

The ‘Mend It, Don’t End It’ option

Voters will get a simple binary choice on the Howard Jarvis-backed measure: “yes” to end the taxes and raise the threshold for approving new taxes or “no” to keep the taxes and the threshold as they are.

But to complicate matters, L.A. city voters may be confronted with yet another choice: to keep the tax mostly in place, with some new limits.

Affordable housing developers, business leaders and academics have formed a new coalition they’re calling “Mend It, Don’t End It.” They’re pushing the City Council to place a measure on the November ballot that would potentially exempt new apartment buildings from the tax, among other changes.

“The Jarvis measure is a blunt instrument that would harm our city,” said Melanie Mendoza, a spokesperson for the coalition. “We stand for surgical fixes that can be made to Measure ULA to build more housing, increase affordability and reduce homelessness. The qualification of the Jarvis measure adds urgency to act to make L.A. affordable.”

The City Council recently created an Ad Hoc Committee on Measure ULA, which is tasked with developing reforms that could potentially go to voters in November. The committee will also have to consider whether the tax should apply to Pacific Palisades homeowners who may end up selling their properties after 2025’s devastating fires.

Proponents of the reform-not-repeal approach say they hope that if local officials and voters get behind efforts to carve out new apartment projects, some developers will choose not to pour money into an expensive Howard Jarvis-led campaign.

Shelley, the organization’s spokesperson, said developers can choose to spend their money however they want, but the taxpayers association has no plans to back down from this fight.

“The courts have made it easier to raise taxes,” Shelley said. “We don't think they have any authorization to do that.”

The City Council’s Measure ULA committee is scheduled to meet Friday and has a deadline of the end of April to finalize its recommendations.

Southern California was built on radio.

"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote  Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”

Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.

The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.

Radio, a daily ritual

The construction of KNX

(

Herman J. Schultheis

/

Los Angeles Public Library

)

Michael Jackson, a well-known KNX, personality

(

Los Angeles Public Library

)

Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.

“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”

Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:

A love for radio, then and now  

A pilot of KMPC's traffic alert helicopter pictured with his daughter and grandson.

(

Los Angeles Public Library

)

A 1963 picture of Valley State College (now Los Angeles Valley College) preparing to launch KVCM

(

Larry Leach

/

Los Angeles Public Library

)

“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said  Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.

 Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”

 Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."

"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said  Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."

"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations —  Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said  Carrie in Desert Edge.

“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”

The question remains…

An 11-year-old winning a car in a KMPC contest in 1963.

(

Los Angeles Public Library

)

Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.

As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.

Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…

“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.

After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.

According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.

The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.

The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.

Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.

Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.

"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.

But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Organizers are counting on the federal government to pay for public safety at Olympic venues that are considered part of a "national special security event." That includes costs for LAPD staffing. LA28 has not included security costs in its $7.1 billion budget — a fact that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto criticized earlier this year.

The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.

To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.

But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.

" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.

The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.