City Council is considering two measures that would help officials expedite housing solutions while circumventing current protocol, raising a plethora of concerns from those in government and local communities. We debate the pro's and con's. We also conduct our weekly political roundtable; take a look at Amazon's new delivery service; and more.
Week in politics: What to expect from the White House and Congress during ‘infrastructure week,’ how the debate over DACA is shaping up and more
Today on our weekly political roundtable, our experts preview the week ahead in national and state politics. Here’s what we’re watching out for:
Budget deal (also here), lack of immigration framework in it, and the political dimensions of the spending
Infrastructure plan rollout today
Immigration discussion
Rob Porter saga continues, how Gen. Kelly plays into it all
CFPB future
Justice Ginsberg argues sexism is to blame for HRC loss
NASA future (especially in wake of successful SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch)
PPIC poll on CA gov’s race
Status of Delta Water Tunnel & high speed rail status
Cristina Garcia takes leave of absence from CA legislature
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies; he is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
LA is considering fast tracking some homeless housing projects, but some community members push back
Los Angeles City is considering allowing homeless housing projects to circumvent certain review processes, but some community groups don’t want to cede local control and are afraid that this might result in housing that’s too concentrated in specific geographic locations.
City Council will be considering two measures Tuesday. One ordinance would help permanent supportive housing circumvent certain review processes, such as environmental review, and would allow them to bypass certain parking requirements. The other would facilitate the process of turning motels into temporary supportive housing.
Certain community groups such as Venice Vision have pushed back on the measures, saying that they take too much power away from local communities and might result in concentrated homeless housing in some neighborhoods and not others.
We discuss the measures and take you calls at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Mark Vallianatos, co-founder and policy director of the group Abundant Housing L.A., a volunteer pro-housing organization that advocates for housing in LA County; he tweets
Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, a neighborhood organization
Could Amazon’s new delivery service cut into the FedEx, UPS oligopoly?
It comes as no surprise that Amazon may have plans to compete with FedEx and the United Parcel Service.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the tech giant is planning to launch a delivery service for businesses, which means it could eventually rival other services that have dominated the shipping market.
Amazon is certainly poised for the move. The company is known for its one-day package delivery for third-party sellers. But expanding Amazon’s reach to the national shipping business is still an ambitious plan. They have leased up to 40 planes and about 300 warehouses in the U.S., and that is a far cry from what they need to compete with UPS and FedEx, which dominate the delivery service market. FedEx has about 650 aircraft and 4,800 operating facilities, which ship internationally.
But this isn’t the first time Amazon has taken on a well established industry. Remember brick and mortar bookstores? While there wasn’t an oligopoly there, it just goes to show how far Amazon could go.
Larry speaks to a reporter and an e-commerce analyst to find out more about the company’s future in the delivery world.
Guests:
Laura Stevens, a San Francisco-based e-commerce reporter for the Wall Street Journal; she co-wrote the article, “What It Would Take for Amazon to Become UPS or FedEx”; she tweets
Sucharita Kodali, e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research, a technology research and advisory firm based in Cambridge, MA; she tweets
Celebrating ‘30 Years with Val Zavala’ on KCET’s SoCal Connected
For three decades, Val Zavala has been the voice of Southern California on KCET.
From her defining roles as reporter, anchor and executive producer of many series, including “SoCal Connected,” “Town Hall Los Angeles” and “Life & Times,” Zavala’s influential tenure helped shape independent and unique coverage across the region.
The veteran Latina journalist retires this year. She first joined KCET in 1987, reporting on topics such as Los Angeles’ first Mexican-American mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, to the 9/11 attacks, along with winning dozens of awards that include Emmy’s, Golden Mikes, and most recently, the Walter Cronkite Award for her informative digital series on California’s 2016 ballot measures.
On Tuesday, February 13, KCET will air its special tribute, “30 Years with Val Zavala,” hosted by KNBC’s Fritz Coleman. The half-hour feature is joined by a long list of guests including KPCC’s own Larry Mantle. February 13 will also be declared “Val Zavala Day” in Los Angeles in a presentation by the Los Angeles City Council.
Zavala joins Larry to talk about the defining moments of her career. Call us at 866-893-5722 to share your appreciations.
KCET’s SoCal Connected airs “30 Years with Val Zavala” on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, at 8:00 p.m. PT, and will encore on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Guest:
Val Zavala, award-winning journalist and former anchor and executive producer of KCET’s “SoCal Connected”; she also served as Vice President of News & Public Affairs and many other roles during her time at KCET