Today on AirTalk, we examine if the hypocrisy of liberalism is to blame for our housing crisis; interview Governor Newsom about his recently launched housing task force; and more.
Interview with Governor Newsom After SB 50
Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched a task force to find solutions amid a housing crisis in the most populous state.
The Democratic governor said the state has lacked a strategy to curb homelessness but argued that answers will come from the local level. He said the group will work with cities and counties to develop regional plans for addressing the issue.
Newsom made the announcement in Oakland earlier this week, where county officials said the number of homeless people rose 43 percent over the last two years. Recent data from other counties has shown large increases, too.
Newsom tapped Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to chair the new Homeless and Supportive Housing Task Force. The governor's office said he will appoint other members later.
The group will meet around the state to see best practices and gather input to propose solutions, Newsom's office said. The task force will issue at least one report a year to the governor.
Urban planning experts join in the conversation to talk about the nature of L.A.’s housing crisis, the controversy around now-tabled SB-50 and the concept of preserving “local character.”
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Gavin Newsom, governor of California; he tweets
Joel Kotkin, Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and executive director of the Center for Opportunity Urbanism, a think tank in Houston; he is the author of “The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us” (Agate B2, 2016)
Paul Ong, research professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA; he is also the director for the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA
As Listings Rise Nearing Market Peak, A Check-In On SoCal Housing Market Heading Into Summer
Southern California’s much-maligned housing market may finally be nearing the breaking point as we head towards the summer months, often considered a hot time to buy a house.
Home prices in Southern California dipped this March from a year earlier, something that hasn’t happened in the last seven years, though the drop was only a tenth of a percent from $519,000 in March 2018 to $518,000 this year. Home sales also continue to fall, something they have done in 12 of the last 13 months.
Today on AirTalk, a trio of local housing economists will examine the state of the Southern California housing market, talk about the latest statistics on home listings, and explore whether the market is nearing its peak and what that means for both buyers and sellers.
Guests:
Steven Thomas, chief economist and founder of Reports On Housing, an Orange County-based firm that tracks regional home buying patterns
Jordan Levine, deputy chief economist with the California Association of Realtors
Climate Change Could Make LA’s June Gloom Disappear – And It’s Not A Good Thing
We all hate June Gloom and May Gray – but before you jump for joy at the idea of an even sunnier Southern California, skipping those months of cloud cover would be detrimental to the planet.
Cloud cover keeps the Earth cool, because it reflects sunlight. Without cloud cover, that sunlight is absorbed and makes the Earth warmer… which then leads to a thinner cloud cover… which then makes the Earth warmer… which then leads to thinner cloud cover… you get the gist.
One study from the California Institute of Technology found that when there are high concentrations of greenhouse gases (as there is now), the marine cloud layer starts to disappear. And, as shown by the cycle laid out above, the marine cloud layer would eventually disappear completely.
This wouldn’t happen any time soon. The study’s lead author, Tapio Schneider, said it would take at least 100 years, even with very high levels of greenhouse gases. But the study shows a direct connection between clouds and global warming – a factor many climate models overlook.
Larry sits down with Schneider to talk about his research and what it means for Southern California and the rest of the world.
Guest:
Tapio Schneider, lead author of the study; he’s also a professor of environmental science and engineering at the California Institute of Technology
The World’s Greatest Gate Crasher Lives Like A Millionaire Without Spending A Penny
Every Angeleno has a story about a celebrity sighting or encounter in Los Angeles.
But few come close to Dion Rich’s, the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest gate-crasher.”
Rich was a ticket-broker and a bar owner in San Diego back in the 1960s when the football team, the Chargers, had moved south from Los Angeles to San Diego.
His bar brought in a lot of athletes, so as he got to know the Kansas City Chiefs, he started hopping on their busses and walking into their locker-rooms unannounced, and the athletes did not stop him.
So began Rich’s career of crashing every high profile event from from the Super Bowl (35 times) to a handful of appearances at the Academy Awards.
Larry talks with Bill Swank, Dion’s good friend and coauthor of “The Life of Dion Rich: Live Like a Millionaire with No Money Down" to talk about the appeal of gate crashing.
Guests:
Bill Swank, San Diego-based baseball historian and coauthor of the book, “The Life of Dion Rich: Live Like a Millionaire with No Money Down” he’s also been friends with Dion Rich for 25 years.
Dion Rich, an 89-year old San Diego resident who is notorious for gate-crashing high-profile events like the Super Bowl