David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.
Published September 24, 2024 4:53 PM
A large single-family home is shown under construction in Brentwood this February
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Adam Mustafa
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iStock
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Topline:
Despite being widely described as L.A.’s “mansion tax,” recent data show most of the revenue from voter-approved Measure ULA is coming from buildings that are not mansions.
The details: A report last month from the city’s Office of Finance estimated that since the tax took effect in April 2023, about 46% of revenue has come from the sale of pricey single-family homes. About 54% has come from the sale of other types of real estate, such as offices, retail and apartment buildings.
Why it matters: Critics say the tax has broad effects on the local real estate market — including the development of new apartments — not just on millionaires and billionaires buying and selling lavish estates in the Hollywood Hills. Proponents defend the “mansion tax” moniker, saying single-family home sales make up a large chunk of the revenue going toward new affordable housing and homelessness prevention efforts.
Read on… to learn how much money Measure ULA has raised so far, and how that funding compares with original projections.
Measure ULA was pitched to Los Angeles voters two years ago under a much more catchy moniker — the "mansion tax." More than a year since it took effect, most of the money raised so far is not coming from pricey single-family homes.
The measure voters passed in 2022 funds housing and homelessness efforts in the city through a new tax on real estate selling for more than $5 million.
From the start, despite being widely described as a “mansion tax,” the measure has applied to most real estate transactions that meet the $5 million threshold. That includes apartment buildings, offices and retail centers. Recent data show most of the measure’s revenue so far is coming from buildings that are not mansions.
A report last month from the L.A. Office of Finance estimated that since the tax took effect in April 2023, about 46% of revenue has come from the sale of pricey single-family homes. About 54% has come from the sale of other types of real estate, such as offices, retail and apartment buildings.
Is “mansion tax” a misnomer?
Critics say the tax has broad effects beyond real estate deals involving millionaires and billionaires buying and selling lavish estates in the Hollywood Hills.
“Calling it a mansion tax is a misnomer, given the true economics involved,” said Eric Sussman, an adjunct professor in accounting and real estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
“When you already have a sort of slowdown in the economy and in real estate transactions, layering on taxes is just probably the last thing that you want to do,” Sussman said. “It's going to further exacerbate the slowdown and result in fewer transactions.”
Proponents say the tax is doing what it promised
Proponents defend the “mansion tax” moniker, arguing a large chunk of revenue does come from mansions, and it’s a pithy way to underscore the goal of requiring wealthy households to pay more to address the region’s housing and homelessness crisis.
“Mansion sales far and away are the single largest portion of the revenues that Measure ULA directs towards making housing affordable and protecting Angelenos from eviction,” said Joe Donlin, director of United to House L.A., the coalition that backed the measure.
Commercial and multi-family properties are the second and third largest money-raisers.
“The nickname captures the importance of putting the overheated market for the wealthiest Angelenos in service of those who are experiencing homelessness or living on its edge,” Donlin said.
Where’s the money going?
City finance officials say the tax has now raised more than $375 million. That’s far lower than the original revenue projections of up to $1.1 billion annually.
The money is being allocated to new rent relief efforts to compensate landlords with tenants behind on payments, an expansion of eviction defense programs, stronger enforcement of the city’s anti-harassment rules and the production of new affordable housing.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published May 22, 2026 6:42 PM
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.
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NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Topline:
NASA plans to open the contract to manage the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge to a competitive bidding process, according to a memo the lab released Friday.
The backstory: Since NASA was established in 1958, Caltech has managed JPL for the federal space agency "through a contractual relationship that has been regularly reviewed and renewed," according to Friday's memo. NASA began its regular process of evaluating the contract last year.
Why it matters: JPL has been through several rounds of layoffsin recent years. The lab and the university are leaders in civilian space science, with missions that have sent spacecraft into Earth orbit, to Mars and as far from Earth as any man-made object. The lab is also a major employer in the region and hosts massive classes of interns from around the world. The news about the contract was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which said opening the contract to bidding is a first in JPL's history.
Why now: NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in "a long letter discussing organizational changes" to staffers Friday that the space agency intends to issue a request for proposals for management of JPL. "This process will take several years, and I do not anticipate it having any impact on the projects underway or the location of the facilities," Isaacman wrote. "It does, however, provide an opportunity to evaluate management costs, overhead burdens and ideally find ways to get after the science faster and more affordably."
What's next: Caltech's contract runs through the end of September 2028. "This announcement comes as no surprise," Caltech's president and JPL's director wrote to staffers Friday. "Caltech is well prepared with a team established last summer to ensure we are positioned for success, and we will respond to the request for proposal (RFP) once released."
Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published May 22, 2026 4:21 PM
A recently released juvenile southwestern pond turtle swims in the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
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Topline:
There’s a day for everything, and Saturday is World Turtle Day. This is the story of how humans helped a vulnerable native California turtle.
The backstory: Southwestern pond turtles in the San Gabriel mountains were almost wiped out by the Bobcat Fire in 2020. But biologists rescued 11 adults that were held at the San Diego Zoo until 2024, when they were released.
The baby boom: But then something happened that scientists didn't expect: "One baby, two baby, three baby, four baby. Fifteen babies later," is how a wildlife care manager at the zoo described it. Yes, the rescued turtles had laid eggs in their temporary home, and the hatchlings were emerging.
A new generation: Once they'd grown a bit, the zoo released the young turtles into San Gabriel River where they belong in April.
Read on ... for more about this conservation success story.
After fires and floods, Southern California’s only remaining native freshwater turtle recently got a boost.
Just last month, 15 southwestern pond turtle hatchlings were released into the San Gabriel River — a major milestone in an effort to restore the vulnerable turtle population.
But this wasn’t a typical raise-and-release scenario.
These turtles’ parents went on a harrowing journey before they were born.
The fire eventually scorched more than 180 square miles — mostly forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. For comparison, the 2025 Eaton Fire burned about 22 square miles.
Lights from a fire truck illuminate firefighters working the Bobcat Fire in September 2021.
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Frederic J. Brown
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Getty Images
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As the Bobcat Fire spread, biologists grew worried. The fire was burning in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, a biodiversity hotspot and refuge for bears and mountain lions, the federally protected Santa Ana sucker fish and the mountain yellow-legged frog.
It’s also home to the largest remaining — and possibly only — population of southwestern pond turtles in the entire watershed. Their exact numbers aren’t known, but it’s likely less than 200.
What is a southwestern pond turtle?
The small, shy turtles grow to about 8 inches and range from Baja California to just south of the San Francisco Bay. They spend most of their lives in streams, rivers, lakes and other watery environments. They primarily eat small insects and plant matter.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists them as a Species of Special Concern, and they're being considered for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
“Because this hadn’t burned in decades and decades and decades, there was big concern about debris flows,” said Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientists hoped the turtles would be able to ride out the fire itself by staying in the water, but any rain after would likely lead to a deluge of mud, trees and other burned materials. That would be akin to an avalanche for the turtles in the river, and it had the potential to wipe out the entire population.
Once the flames died down, Fisher and a team of biologists, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service, trekked to the home of the pond turtles.
“It was a moonscape,” Fisher said.
They waded through ashy, murky waters, eventually collecting 11 adult turtles.
World Turtle Day’s SoCal cred
There’s a day for everything these days, but World Turtle Day (May 23) has surprisingly local roots.
Susan Tellem and her late husband, Marshall Thompson, coined the day in 2000 after founding a turtle and tortoise rescue 10 years earlier at their home in Malibu.
“When I first started helping turtles, there were hardly people helping the needs of turtles,” Tellem told LAist. “We decided to help educate people internationally so that turtles can live a longer and happier life.”
A temporary home and 15 surprises
The turtles were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where the plan was to hold them until their mountain habitat recovered enough for them to return.
By 2024, the San Gabriel Mountains were looking far better — biologists even found some pond turtles that survived major debris flows.
But right before the turtles were set to go back home, scientists got a surprise.
“Just before we were getting to release, we found a baby turtle, which is amazing,” said Brandon Scott, wildlife care manager of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “You don't know how long it's going to take to restart that process of them actually being able to breed, with the stress and it's a new habitat.”
A juvenile southwestern pond turtle is weighed before being released to the wild.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
)
The turtles and the new baby were all returned to their home in the San Gabriels. But then came another surprise. And another.
“We just continually, every day, started finding a baby in that habitat,” said Scott.
Female southwestern pond turtles lay and bury their eggs in late spring or early summer. Juveniles emerge months later, only about the size of a quarter.
Fifteen babies later, conservation staff were shocked and pleased.
Their goal for the 11 rescued turtles was to make sure they could thrive before being released back into their habitat. “But in the process,” Scott said, “yes, we made it comfortable enough for them to breed.”
A hopeful release
The new generation of southwestern pond turtles was released in April near the spot their parents were rescued from in the San Gabriel River.
Such rescues of vulnerable wildlife are becoming increasingly common in the face of more catastrophic fires. All but two of the biggest fires in recorded history have been in the last 20 years.
Fisher said a similar rescue of pond turtles had occurred only once before, after the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriels. That time, the turtles were quickly returned to their habitat.
A staff member of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance releases a juvenile southwestern pond turtle into the San Gabriel River.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
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That rescue, in part, inspired the U.S. Geological Survey to work with the San Diego Zoo to build a conservation habitat for southwestern pond turtles nearly two decades ago. And the Bobcat Fire became the first time it was used for wild rescues, Fisher said.
Ironically, the Bobcat Fire could eventually help the local population, Fisher said.
“We’ve known about [the population] for decades, but it’s not really thriving,” he said. “So this helped give it a head start. And because the fire was so intense, it opened up a lot of habitat.”
With less tree canopy and more sunlight, the cold-blooded reptiles could thrive in warmer waters and on sunnier rocks.
Threats to southwestern pond turtles
Southwestern pond turtles have lived here for millennia, but invasive species and habitat destruction have nearly wiped them out. They’re currently being considered for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Nonnative turtles — such as red-eared sliders, many of which are abandoned pets — are outcompeting them in their habitats. And native pond turtle hatchlings are easy prey for invasive animals such as bullfrogs and crayfish.
On top of that, pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts, which dries out the streams and rivers where they live. Worsening “weather whiplash” means more dangerous mudflows after fires, which can wipe out entire aquatic animal populations.
But the new generation is key.
“Because the site was so forested and hadn’t burned in so long, we don’t think they were having good success at breeding,” Fisher said. “Now we think we’ve really enhanced the population by putting more animals out there, especially young animals.”
Scott and Fisher said the saga has inspired preliminary conversations about formalizing breeding efforts to support the population. The little turtles' myriad threats have yet to let up, so they’ll likely need more help in the future.
But at the moment, there’s a little more hope — at least 16 hatchlings and 11 adults' worth of hope, to be exact — for California’s only native freshwater turtle.
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Crews clean the scene along Cesar E. Chavez and Eastern avenues, where gallons of crude oil spilled onto the street.
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Andrew Lopez
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The LA Local
)
Topline:
Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River. The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line.
Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affectedareas. If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.
Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.
Health officials are advising residents to take precautions after a ruptured pipeline released more than 2,000 gallons of crude oil in East Los Angeles on Friday, with oil entering nearby storm drains and the Los Angeles River.
The pipeline burst near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues as crews were installing a fiber optic line, according to the LA County Fire Department.
The leak has been controlled and is no longer releasing crude oil in the streets, health officials said.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued guidance for residents as agencies continue with cleanup efforts.
Avoid contact: Do not touch or walk through spilled oil or contaminated debris. Keep children and pets away from affected areas.
Skin exposure: If your skin comes into contact with oil, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing.
Odor exposure: If you smell odors outdoors, close windows and doors, turn off HVAC systems and air conditioners that pull in outside air and stay indoors until the odor has passed. After the odor outside is gone, open the windows and doors to air out your home and turn on fans or HVAC system to help ventilate indoor air.
Try to limit exposure to strong odors as much as possible. Odors may cause or worsen:
Headaches
Nausea
Eye, nose, throat irritation
Dizziness
Breathing problems (asthma)
Brief exposures usually do not cause long-term health effects, but if you experience severe or persistent symptoms, talk to your medical provider. If you don’t have a medical provider, call the Public Health – Community Health Complaint Line at (626) 430-9821.
Indoor air precautions: Local residents should do their best to prevent odors inside their homes by closing windows and doors and turning off HVAC units until the odor outside has dissipated. After the odor outside is gone, ventilate the home by opening windows and doors, and keep the HVAC system blowing air to vent the home. Limit exposure to odors as much as possible.
At-risk individuals: Monitor those most at risk of developing symptoms, such as older adults, children, pregnant persons and those who are immunocompromised.
Report odors: Complaints of odor can be reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD): (800) 288-7664
Manny Valladares
is always looking for the next tasty bite to feature on "AirTalk" Food Friday on LAist 89.3.
Published May 22, 2026 2:35 PM
Lucky Baldwin's most popular dish is their fish n chips.
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Lucky Baldwins
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Top line:
With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but Lucky Baldwins Pub — with locations in Pasadena and Sierra Madre — brings you close.
What makes their fish and chips special? Using a British favorite — cod — and dipping it into their special beer batter.
Their ultimate experience: Sit on their patio with a Belgian beer in hand on a sunny day.
"Listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," says owner-operator Peggy Simonian.
Read more ... for more of their food and details on the events they host.
With the early history of soccer first documented in England, that's where you'll find the roots of the sport. Not always easy to get there from Los Angeles — but a local British pub with a few locations to choose from brings you close.
The operators of Lucky Baldwins Pub joined AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to explain what makes their atmosphere special — it's all about the sports and traditional British bites, pints and pasties.
About the owner
Owner-operator Peggy Simonian was working for the British Tourist Authority when they decided to bring a pub to Pasadena. Three years after opening, they got their following after hosting their first Belgian Beer Festival.
Listen
13:39
World Cup pub crawl: Lucky Baldwins Pub
What sets their food apart? The beer batter
"I think there's this stigma around British food that it's a little bland," said general manager Patsy Sutton.
She says the fish and chips knock people's socks off — and it all comes down to the beer batter.
They use locally sourced Pacific cod instead of its Atlantic relative and an undisclosed pale ale. This combo drives the taste.
Lucky Baldwins' most popular dish is the fish 'n' chips.
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Courtesy Peggy Simonian
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The ultimate experience in the eyes of the owner
"I like it when it's a nice sunny day outside our patio in Old Towne ... enjoy a nice Belgian beer ... listen to the music and enjoy the California weather," Simonian said.
She added that her go-to beers currently include a Belgian lager, blonde or tripel. It's all about the mood.
Restaurant details
Lucky Baldwins Pub first opened in 1996 and now has two Pasadena locations and one in Sierra Madre.
They're an official bar partner with LAFC.
They host: Pasadena Reds, a local Liverpool FC support group; Los Angeles Hammers, a West Ham FC support group; and Eastside Gooners, a local support group for Arsenal FC.
They also have special events tied to the Belgian Beer Festival and Oktoberfest.
Menu items we tried
Fish 'n' Chips — cod dipped in ale batter with a side of steak fries and tartar sauce
Bangers and Mash — two pork sausages with peas and mashed potatoes (also available with fries).
Cornish Pastie — a handheld pie with minced meat
Chicken Curry Pastie — a handheld pie with traditional British chicken curry
How to visit
Address (Old Town Pasadena): 17 S. Raymond Ave, Pasadena
Hours: Monday–Sunday: 9 a.m.-1:30 a.m.
Cost: Fish 'n' chips cost $18; bangers and mash cost $19; and the pasties (with a choice of crisps or fries) cost $14.
You can find the times for their Delirium Pub by clicking here, and their Trappiste Pub by clicking here.
What should we try next?
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