Today on AirTalk we'll discuss Orange County's Great Park proposal, new teacher evaluations for LAUSD, the effect of super PACs on the election, New York City Mayor Bloomberg's crusade against large sodas, and the movement of men into job sectors traditionally dominated by women.
Grand plans for OC’s Great Park in trouble
Plans to build one of America's greatest urban parks in the heart of Orange County hit another stumbling block today. Funding for the 1.4 billion dollar transformation of a former Marine base into a thirteen hundred acre leisure complex was pulled by the state's Department of Finance on Friday.
This morning, officials in Irvine learned that a temporary restraining order preventing the state from removing the funds was denied. What was dubbed the 'Great Park' complete with a lake, canyons, athletic fields and an extensive network of pathways, would be flanked by a ring of almost five thousand homes. Property taxes were expected to be used to fund the project developed by Fivepoint Communities Inc.
Should the state's financial needs come before creating areas of relaxation for urban areas? Southern California has a number of great urban parks, including Griffith Park in Los Angeles and Balboa Park in San Diego. Why do we need another one? If you live in Orange County, would you have used the Great Park for leisure? What suggestions do you have for a scaled down park?
GUESTS
Jeff Gottlieb, Senior Writer for the Los Angeles Times
Beth Krom, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Irvine and Chair of the Orange County Great Park Board
HD Palmer, deputy director of external affairs, California Department of Finance
Can new teacher evaluation proposal bring LAUSD and UTLA together?
A coalition of teachers, parents and advocates today will present a new proposed evaluation system for L.A. Unified School District and teachers union to agree on.
Organizers report that both groups are in 85% agreement on what a new teacher evaluation system should look like. Notable elements reported include: 25% of a teacher’s evaluation should be student test data and rewarding teachers who close the achievement gap by raising the score or collective scores of chronically low-performing students.
Does the proposal go far enough? Is this really an effort to bring LAUSD and UTLA together or bypass the union?
GUESTS
Mike Stryer, Director of New Unionism for "Future is Now," he is also part of "Our Schools, Our Voice"
Bill Lucia, President and CEO, Edvoice
John Rogers, Professor of Education and Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA)
The $1 billion campaign
There is new dollar figure attached to the debate over super PACs. “POLITICO” reporters have crunched the numbers from various Republican groups and learned they plan to spend a "record $1 billion blitz" on the races for the White House and Congress.
That number is separate from monies being raised by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee, which is pegged at $800 million. All of these numbers for 2012 dwarf the 2008 spending, when candidate Barack Obama raised a seemingly impressive $750 million and John McCain tallied a pittance of $370 million for his presidential campaign.
As for Democrats' super PAC cash for 2012, “POLITICO” reports, "If the GOP groups hit their targets, they likely could outspend their liberal adversaries by at least two-to-one." So what will it all buy? More ads, better ads, more direct mail, more robocalls and more ballot drives. Will they also buy politicians and influence? That has been the worry of critics since Citizens United – the Supreme Court decision that inspired the creation of super PACs (political action committees).
What will be the effect of gargantuan spending really? Will 2012 look so different from 2008? What saturation level of ads do we expect? When does the law of diminishing returns kick in? And how will it change who has influence over politicians compared to yesteryear?
GUESTS
Tom Perriello,President and CEO, Center for American Progress Action Fund – described as a progressive advocacy organization; former Democratic Congressman
Allison Hayward, Vice President of Policy, Center for Competitive Politics – an advocacy group critical of campaign finance reform
Bloomberg goes Taliban on large sodas
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is getting tough on sugar crime. Yesterday, he announced a first-in-the-nation plan to ban the sale of large-size sodas and other sweetened beverages. Anything bigger than 16 ounces will be off-limits at restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas and more.
It's the latest policy fix in New York's aggressive effort to combat America's growing weight pandemic. "Obesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the United States, public health officials are wringing their hands saying, "Oh, this is terrible," Bloomberg told The New York Times. He continued, "New York City is not about wringing your hands; it's about doing something. I think that's what the public wants the mayor to do." A spokesman for the soda industry says Bloomberg's tactic won't work. "The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates," Stefan Friedman wrote in a statement from the New York City Beverage Association.
However, numerous studies have shown that portion size affects how much we eat. The Washington Post cites an experiment on a group of Philadelphia moviegoers. They were given two-week old popcorn in either a medium or large bucket. Even though the popcorn was stale and kind of gross, those with the large bucket ate 34 percent more popcorn.
How much soda and other sweet drinks do you consume? Do you think New York's plan will work? Would you want to see your city follow their lead?
Why are men moving into female dominated jobs sectors?
Men are flocking to jobs that have typically been held by women. From 2000 to 2010 according to an analysis of census data by the New York Times, occupations with more than 70 percent women in them provided almost a third of all the jobs that men got, double what it was in the decade before.
This trend may be a reflection of the change in gender stereotypes or it may be driven by financial concerns but in Texas, for example, the number of male registered nurses nearly doubled in the last decade and the percentage of men in first time school teaching jobs is also on the increase. Apparently this trend started before the recession but has been exacerbated by high levels of unemployment in traditionally male occupations.
For men without a college degree these jobs have great appeal. They often require less than two years of training, offer an hourly starting wage in the double digits and provide the stability of steady work when so many men are being laid off. Is this a long term shift or just a temporary response to the recession? No one seems to know but male nurses recently interviewed on the topic said economic considerations weren’t essential to their choice of profession. Rather, they emphasized job stability, personal satisfaction and fading stigma associated with choosing a female dominated field of work.
If you are a man who has recently chosen to pursue a job in a traditionally female profession, tell us about your choices and your experiences. What motivated you to train for a job in a female dominated field?
GUEST
Heather Boushey, Senior Economist at the Center for American Progress. Her research focuses on employment, social policy, and family economic well-being.