Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas during session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on April 29, 2024.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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CalMatters
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Topline:
It’s been five months since California’s legislative leaders deemed affordability an “urgent” issue for the session. So far they've formed committees and introduced bills, but results are still to come.
Select committees: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said that four new select committees will tackle the “biggest cost drivers for Californians.” The committees will focus on four areas: Lowering the cost of child care for babies to 3 year-olds; making food more affordable and enrolling more people in CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program; exploring financing options for affordable housing; and examining the effectiveness of the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a clean energy incentive program that some argue could raise gas prices.
Read on ... for more details on the committees and proposals focused on housing.
In December, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas assigned his members an “urgent” task: Make California cheaper to live in.
“Californians are deeply anxious. They are anxious about our state’s cost of living,” he told his colleagues in the wake of an election where concerns about the economy were top of mind for voters. “We must chart a new path forward and renew the California dream by focusing on affordability.”
Five months later, the state Legislature has little to show for it.
Just last week, Rivas announced four new “select committees” tasked with pitching ideas to lower the cost of housing, fuel, child care and food, but they won’t meet until June, and Rivas did not specify when he expects legislation from the committees. Some of the lawmakers assigned to chair them say they want to develop “practical” solutions but did not articulate what those would be.
Similarly, Senate Democrats unveiled just three legislative proposals as their “opening salvo” to affordability last week, focusing on reducing energy costs, increasing housing supplies and boosting job training.
Economic justice advocates argue that Californians need immediate relief. Anya Svanoe, communications director for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said renters are still feeling the pinch.
A customer walks by a display of fresh eggs at a grocery store in the San Anselmo area of Marin County on Sept. 25, 2024. Egg prices surged last year, largely due to avian influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu.
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Justin Sullivan
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Getty Images
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“Putting together a committee that comes together months from now that won’t even do anything until the following year does not seem to me that [lawmakers] are treating it with real urgency,” she said.
Democratic leaders told CalMatters good policies take time to develop. They noted that lawmakers had to shift their focus earlier this year to Los Angeles wildfire victims and counter Trump’s policies, and it took time to onboard freshman lawmakers.
“I have never been one to simply do something to get clicks or make headlines. I want substance and impact,” Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire said in an interview. “My philosophy is: Do it right, not fast.”
Rivas spokesperson Nick Miller also said the select committees — essentially working groups established to tackle niche policies — will allow lawmakers to gather more public input and drill down on specific issues during the summer recess without feeling swamped by the regular legislative schedule.
Some analysts are skeptical that any proposals could actually make California more affordable, anyway. Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist, said affordability is a problem “too large for legislative solution,” especially when compounded by Trump’s tariff policies.
“It’s political optics to some degree,” South said. The bills "all sound good on the surface, but I don’t think there’s any predictability that if any of them pass, or all pass, that all of a sudden we are going to be out of the housing crisis in California.”
Tackling the 'biggest cost drivers'
Rivas said that the select committees will tackle the “biggest cost drivers for Californians.”
The committees will focus on four areas: Lowering the cost of child care for babies to 3-year-olds; making food more affordable and enrolling more people in CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program; exploring financing options for affordable housing; and examining the effectiveness of the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a clean energy incentive program that some argue could raise gas prices.
Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Northern California Democrat who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee and will chair the select committee on fuel, said lawmakers have had a packed calendar.
“How could you even fit these types of conversations at the same time we are actively doing committees?” said Wilson, who sits on six committees.
Lawmakers don’t need a new committee to develop solutions, because they are already introducing proposals in the current legislative session, said Mike Gatto, a former Los Angeles Democratic assemblymember who chaired the appropriations committee.
“Every single member of the Legislature has a pretty good understanding of what is causing this affordability problem in the state of California,” he said. “This information is out there.”
Select committees have traditionally been used to “give individual lawmakers who care about an issue … greater portfolio and greater exposure,” Gatto said. But he said they’re rarely effective.
“I don’t think too many veteran Capitol watchers can recall a select committee that produced significant results on an important issue,” he said.
But Miller pointed to last year’s select committee on retail theft, which produced laws to clamp down on organized shoplifting and toughen penalties on property thefts.
Proposals largely focused on housing
Optics or not, state Democrats’ affordability agenda appears clearer than a few months ago.
Led by Rivas, a strong ally of the YIMBY movement, Assembly Democrats are pressing for fewer regulations in exchange for quicker, more abundant new construction they argue would ultimately lower housing costs.
Lawmakers in early April approved a four-bill package to expedite building by streamlining the approval process for new housing and halting most changes to building standards for six years. One proposal would allow renters to take in people at risk of homelessness as long as their landlords agree.
Housing construction in a neighborhood in Elk Grove on July 8, 2022.
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Rahul Lal
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CalMatters
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“These bills will alter the trajectory of the housing crisis,” Rivas said in a statement.
Later that month, Rivas said he supported nine other “affordability” measures on housing, wage theft and broadband. One of them, introduced by Oakland Democrat Buffy Wicks, a major supporter of easing construction restrictions, would exempt most urban housing projects from the California Environmental Quality Act, making it all but impossible for environmentalists to sue to block developments.
It’s hard to know if any of those measures will lead to more housing construction, much less if they will make housing cheaper, said Bill Fulton, former director of planning and economic development for the city of San Diego and a fellow at the University of California-Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
“In spite of the fact that all those bills have passed (in past years), we have not seen overall housing production increase very much or overall housing affordability go down very much,” Fulton said.
“The Legislature passed lots and lots and lots and lots of laws … without actually doing a careful analysis of what’s working and what’s not, and they continue to pass more laws.”
Fulton said other factors discouraging building in California include the high cost of labor and building materials and high interest rates, which are not addressed by the current raft of housing bills.
Svanoe, who champions tenant protections, said state lawmakers are streamlining housing development while doing little to make rent affordable. She supports Assembly Bill 1157, a progressive proposal to lower the cap on rent increases. Faced with pressure from YIMBY-aligned Democrats, the measure is now delayed until next year.
“There’s no room to give [on] any rent increase at this point,” Svanoe said. “It’d be the difference between someone staying in their home and someone becoming homeless.”
The housing measure included in the Senate Democrats’ affordability package is much more skeptical of new construction. While Sen. Aisha Wahab’s Senate Bill 681 would streamline some development, it would also restrict landlords from charging extra fees and crack down on homeowners association fees.
“We’re reinforcing the state’s housing production goals, but not at the expense of the Californians who are barely hanging on,” Wahab, a Fremont Democrat who chairs the Senate Housing Committee, said in the legislative analysis.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published March 1, 2026 7:39 AM
A man raises the historical Iranian Lion and Sun flag during a rally in the Westwood neighborhood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
Details: Local demonstrations protesting U.S. intervention took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties. In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned for today and tomorrow.
Read on to see photos from Saturday's demonstrations.
Angelenos took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on Saturday in response to the U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran.
A coalition of organizations, including the National Iranian American Council, the ANSWER coalition and 50501, held protests nationwide to oppose U.S. intervention.
Local demonstrations took place outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, as well as in Ventura and Orange counties.
In Westwood, Iranian Americans gathered to celebrate the strikes. More demonstrations are planned for today and tomorrow.
In LA
An outsized portion of the Iranian diaspora make their homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
As of 2019, nearly 140,000 immigrants from Iran — representing more than one in three of all Iranian immigrants in the U.S. — lived in the L.A. area.
More than 500,000 people of Iranian descent are estimated to live here, which is why a part of the westside of Los Angeles is known as Tehrangeles.
More than half of all Iranian immigrants to the U.S. live in California overall.
Here are photos from Saturday.
Westwood
Hundreds rally seeking regime change in Iran in Westwood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. The rally was organized after word spread that the U.S. and Israel had bombed Iran overnight, Pacific time, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among others.
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Genaro Molina
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/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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Hundreds rally waving the historical Iranian Lion and Sun and American flags in Westwood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times
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Hundreds rally in Westwood seeking regime change in Iran.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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A man walks under the colors if Iran while joining hundreds in a rally seeking regime change in Iran in Westwood on Saturday.
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Genaro Molina
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Image
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Downtown Los Angeles
A protester holds a poster reading "drop the files not the bombs" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 2026.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A crowd gathered at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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A protester holds a portrait of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a flag of Iran during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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Protesters hold placards reading "no new US war in the Middle East" during a demonstration against the war in Iran in front of City Hall.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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A man holds a sign at Los Angeles City Hall to protest against United States and Israel bombing Iran.
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published March 1, 2026 6:08 AM
L.A. street artist S.C. Mero stands next to her latest installation in the Arts District, a utility box theater.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Topline:
Utility boxes are a popular canvas for public art, but a Los Angeles street artist has taken the idea further — transforming one into a miniature theater.
Why now: Since S.C. Mero installed the box theater just a few weeks ago, dozens of performers have already reached out and begun using the space, ranging from poets to musicians and clowns.
The backstory: Mero often transforms overlooked street fixtures into pieces about urban life. A previous installation at the same corner — an oversized mailbox symbolizing the elusiveness of homeownership — stood for about five years.
Walk through cities around the world and it's easy to spot the trend: utility boxes painted and transformed into public art to spiff up neighborhoods.
In downtown Los Angeles, street artist S.C. Mero has taken the idea of the utility box as art in a different direction with one she’s installed in the Arts District.
“Would you like me to open it up and you can see?” she asked on a recent morning.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary electrical cabinet — gray, about the size of a refrigerator, with slotted vents. But instead of the usual fire-resistant metal, this one is made of wood with a faux concrete base.
The box theater incognito.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Mero spins two combination locks and pulls open the door.
A hidden theater
Inside, instead of a tangle of cables and cords, red crushed velvet covers the walls from top to bottom.
A gilded clock and gold-framed pictures of two other electrical boxes (“possibly its mother, and its great-grandfather”) adorn the tiny interior, inspired by one of downtown’s oldest and grandest movie palaces, the Los Angeles Theatre.
“The first time I went into that theater, the feeling that I had, I wanted people to have a similar feeling when they opened this up,” she said.
Like the theater, the box is meant to bring audiences together. Mero invites performers to step inside, and since its installation a few weeks ago, some 30 poets, magicians, puppeteers and clowns have reached out about using the space.
Many are female artists.
“Maybe it's because of the scale of it, they feel like they can actually have a chance to get inside,” Mero said.
A tradition of unexpected art
The box theater sits on the 800 block of Traction Avenue, across the street from the historic American Hotel, an early hub for artists in the neighborhood.
Jesse Easter, the hotel’s night manager, has a front-row seat to the box theater performances.
“The Arts District is still alive,” he proclaims.
Easter first arrived in the neighborhood in the 1980s, a blues and rock musician who also professionally installed art.
He said the Arts District has long been known for unconventional public art. Famously, in 1982, artist Dustin Shuler pinned a Cessna airplane to the side of the American Hotel with a 20-foot-long nail.
“I was one of the people that was in the hotel that saw the room that the nail came down into, went through the brick wall, into the floor and stopped,” Easter recalls.
Easter says Mero’s installations boldly continue that tradition of guerrilla street art in the neighborhood.
After graduating from USC in 2011, she started to make sculptural works with overlooked street fixtures, exploring issues such as addiction and homelessness.
Before the box theater, there was a giant mailbox.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Before the theater box, Mero installed an oversized mailbox at the same corner, towering over passersby, symbolizing a housing market that remains out of reach for many Angelenos.
Elsewhere in the Arts District on Rose Street, she has installed a 13-foot-tall parking meter sculpture, commentary on the overwhelming nature of parking in the city.
Realizing a dream
The box theater is perhaps the piece that has invited the most participation.
Jesse Easter, a musician and night manager at the American Hotel, prepares to perform at the box theater.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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Last week, Mero asked Easter and other local artists to perform there. He played a blues song he wrote more than 40 years ago when he first moved to the Arts District.
“It was sunset, and I was thinking, this kind of is the bookend,” he said.
Other participants performed spoken word poetry and played saxophone.
One performer, Mike Cuevas, discovered the theater by accident.
An Uber driver, Cuevas was waiting for his next delivery order by the box theater as it was being prepped ahead of the night’s performance.
Mero recalls him getting out of his car to look at what she was doing.
“He's like, what's going on here? This looks so cool,” Mero said. “He said as he's driving throughout the city, in between his rides, he writes poetry.”
Cuevas, who goes by the pen name Octane 543(12), left to make a delivery in East L.A., but he said “something in his heart” told him to return that evening.
After watching others perform, he stepped up to the box and read his poetry in public for the first time, a piece about Latino pride.
Mike Cuevas, aka Mike Octane 543-12, publicly reads his poetry for the first time.
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Courtesy of S.C. Mero
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“Another generation will pass through,” he recited. “And they'll understand why we honor with proud delight, the continuous fight for the history of our brothers and sisters.”
Cuevas didn’t know Mero by name or anything about her work, but thanked her for giving him a venue.
“I just felt something beautiful with her art,” Cuevas said. “It's time for me to start expressing myself. She inspired me to do exactly what she's doing, but through poetry.”
He now plans to read again at an open mic in downtown L.A. next week.
An overture to look inside
Mero says the project has spoken to her personally, too. Growing up in Minnesota, she loved art as a child but later focused on playing lacrosse and hockey. At USC, she studied public relations.
“Once I started getting so into art, everyone was kind of shocked,” Mero said. “That's why I really want to encourage people to go inside themselves and see what's there, because you never know.”
Mero is hoping for a long run for the box theater. Its predecessor, the supersize mailbox, stayed up for five years, only toppled, she heard, after skateboarders accidentally ran into it.
In the meantime, the small theater sits unassumingly on the sidewalk waiting for its next performer, its exterior starting to collect graffiti like any other utility box.
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A Super Blue Blood Moon hovers over Los Angeles in 2018.
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FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP
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Topline:
A total lunar eclipse is happening this Tuesday. That's when the earth will move directly between the sun and moon, casting a “blood” red color onto the moon.
What: It's going to be the first lunar eclipse of the year. The process is slated to start around midnight and last until dawn on Tuesday. It’s called the “Blood Moon” because of the red hue the earth’s atmosphere refracts onto the lunar surface as light from the sun passes through it.
When: Although the eclipse begins around midnight, it won’t reach totality until 3:04 a.m., at which point it will be visible to the naked eye for about an hour. All of Southern California should be able to see it.
How else can I watch: The Griffith Observatory will be hosting a live virtual broadcast of the celestial event from midnight to dawn.
What's next: This isn’t the only lunar eclipse happening this year, but it is the only “total eclipse,” according to NASA. Another one is set to occur in August, but it will only be partially visible in North America. A solar eclipse will occur Aug. 12.
An adult gray whale and its calf approach tourists.
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Courtesy José Eugenio Gómez Rodríguez
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Topline:
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
What might you see? Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school-bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
Read on ... for tips on where and how to spot whales near you.
It’s whale watching season, which always makes me think of the novel Moby-Dick.
In the book, Captain Ahab chased a whale for vengeance. I recently chased whales off the coast of Los Angeles, but in my case, it was in pursuit of the beauty and majesty of the natural world.
With warm — relative to Alaska — spring waters, migratory rest-stops and great feeding grounds, Los Angeles County’s coast is considered part of the “Blue Highway,” a crucial whale migration corridor and one of the best places to spot the gentle giants.
According to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium program director Jim DiPompei, many whales can be seen right in our backyard.
“There’s a little over 90 species of cetaceans (marine mammals) in the world, and we see about 30% of the species we could possibly see here in Southern California,” DiPompei told The LA Local.
Cetacean species you may spot in our waters include humpback whales, orcas, blue whales and dolphins. Your best chance, however, is spotting a gray whale. As school bus-sized gray whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Baja, they consistently hug LA’s coastline.
But where should you go to actually get a good look at whales? Don’t worry — I got you. Here’s The LA Local guide to cruising the Blue Highway.
Top spots to watch whales from shore
Point Vicente Interpretive Center 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes Free, laid-back, on the mountains!
At the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, you’ll find an overlook dedicated to whale watching. While this is a great free spot for amateurs to come and look out for whales, this is no playground. Professionals conduct the annual whale census here, tracking the migration of whales.
This is a great place to bring a picnic basket and some binoculars to relax while scanning the ocean. Even if you don’t spot any whale action, you can visit the free natural history museum inside, which focuses on the region and its most famous inhabitants: whales. Afterward, step outside and chat with a museum docent accompanying the census watch.
If you want to see whales, stick to the coastal canyons. Canyons aren’t just massive structures above water — they are also mountains beneath the surface, offering depth, cold water and nutrients that attract food for whales. Gray whales tend to follow the canyons to stay away from the dangerous orcas.
Whale spotting 101
Whale watching season typically runs from December through May. It peaks from January to March.
When looking for a whale, try to spot their water mist blowing above the water. Gray whales typically surface for air every five minutes. When they do, they’ll blow out a water mist — that’s your chance to spot and track them until they surface again.
Get on a boat!
If you want to get eye-to-eye and really feel a cetacean’s scale, there are plenty of whale-watching cruises. They typically depart from Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point and almost anywhere with a port.
Many cruises have a naturalist on board to answer questions and provide expert context to ocean wildlife.
On my tour departing from Long Beach, we saw five gray whales and a swarm of common dolphins feeding.
But be warned: If you get seasick easily, this trip might not be for you. On our two-and-half-hour trip, the boat rocked emphatically as we approached feeding sites. It’s fun if you can imagine yourself on a see-saw, but it might not be that enjoyable if that sounds nauseating.
While boat captains are not allowed to approach the whales too closely due to environmental protections, the whales can approach the boat if they choose. Sometimes the whales seem curious and watch us in return — it’s up to them and how they are feeling.
Get involved
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro
If you really catch the whale-watching bug, you’re in luck.
At the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, they offer a whale-watching naturalist program where you can volunteer and train to be a naturalist on board whale-watching cruises.
DiPompei said they train anyone over the age of 18 “who’s interested in learning about whales and volunteering their time to be on these whale-watching boats to talk to the general public and to talk to students.”
This program was started in the 1970s by John Olge, one of the founders of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, with an emphasis on education and showing schoolchildren the beauty of our natural world.
The aquarium is also a great place to introduce whales to children. With kid-sized exhibits and educational programs throughout the year, it’s an ideal way to show young ones just how big and beautiful our oceans are.
