Mayor Garcetti looks to Hollywood for help on his run to the White House, Brits in L.A. prepare for the royal wedding, birth rates on the decline in California.
Why the Koch brothers are supporting CA Dems
The billionaire Koch brothers usually bankroll Republicans, so why are they shelling out for two California Democrats in advance of the June 5th primary?
Carla Marinucci, senior editor for Politico's California Playbook, explains the strategy of the Koch brothers' LIBRE Initiative -- its Hispanic outreach arm:
The unusual thing about this, when you talk about the Koch Brothers, to many progressive Democrats those two words are synonymous with Satan. David and Charles Koch are sending out mailers helping two California Democrats -- House members Pete Aguilar, former mayor of Redlands, and Raul Ruiz, of Coachella. These are two Southern California pro-immigration Democrats, and they're probably as surprised as anyone to be given a boost by the Koch brothers network.
The strategy seems to be pro immigration. LIBRE supports a permanent, bipartisan solution that would provide certainty for dreamers and strengthen our border. That is a code word for not a border wall necessarily but border security. It is an interesting strategy because the Koch brothers have given lots of money to candidates that are hardliners on immigration.
Raphe Sonnenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA, explains the guiding principle of the Koch brothers mailers:
I think the Democrats are chum. They threw out some chum to get the attention of the media, which I hate to say has worked: the Koch brothers support Democrats. These Democrats neither need nor want their support. The Republicans need and want their support, and the guiding star of the Koch brothers network is keeping majority control of the House and Senate in Republican hands. They're consistent and they play a long game.
The idea is to convince Latino voters in some of these districts in Southern California with very large Latino populations that the surest way to get the dreamers protected is to keep these incumbents in office even though it would retain a majority in the House, and that majority would be unlikely to support the dreamers. These folks are really smart. This is a very subtle move by the Koch brothers, but the Democrats in this are a head fake.
You don't need a plane ticket to celebrate the royal wedding; there's plenty to do in LA
As you may have heard, England's Prince Harry is marrying American actress Meghan Markle this Saturday.
The festivities across the pond will of course be massive, but Southern Californians are also getting into the royal wedding excitement.
Watch Parties
For British ex-pats living in L.A., this royal wedding carries special significance, said Craig Young, founder of Brits in L.A., a group that helps Britons moving to Los Angeles adjust to life here and find a sense of community.
"When Harry first announced he was going to marry an American, Meghan Markle, we were very excited and very happy because most of us have made America our home and everyone seemed to be excited about the fact that America and Britain are going to be united in some way," Young said.
Brits in L.A. often celebrates events related to the royal family, like the birth of Prince George, and the upcoming wedding will be no exception.
"Brits in L.A. have partnered with the Cat and the Fiddle pub in Hollywood. We're going to do a royal slumber party because obviously it's in the middle of the night for us. We're suggesting that people wear fascinators, onesies or pajamas and we're going to give prizes to the best dressed," Young said.
https://soundcloud.com/taketwoshow/brits-in-la
Tickets for the slumber party are sold out, but you can head over to the Cat and the Fiddle for an 'Afternoon Tea Party' Saturday afternoon from 2-5 p.m.
And if you're set on a live viewing party, the White Harte Public House in Woodland Hills is hosting their own celebration from 3-6 a.m. on Saturday; tickets are $25.
If you want to host your own royal wedding viewing party, plenty of networks will broadcast the event and for all the cord-cutters, websites will stream it too. We've got a list here.
The Markle Connection
Meghan Markle is about to become British royalty, but her roots are right here in Southern California.
Her alma matter, Immaculate Heart High School, took some time this week to celebrate her with festivities on the school's grassy quad.
Honoring Markle isn't just about celebrating her wedding, said Callie Webb, communications director for the school. It's about her other achievements up to this point.
"Immaculate Heart has been proud of Meghan long before she met Prince Harry. She did an incredible job of speaking before the U.N. on behalf of women's rights and education for girls several years ago. So many of our students were aware of Meghan through that U.N. speech, as well as some of her humanitarian efforts," Web said.
Markle is a good example of Immaculate Heart's core values, which is why students there look up to her, Webb said.
"The school is really big on community service and Meghan, when she was here, she worked at a soup kitchen down on Skid Row... She represents what we teach all of our students, that we want them to become women of great heart and right conscience," Webb said.
https://soundcloud.com/taketwoshow/immaculate-heart
The school's "Here's to Meghan" party included tea party-esque refreshments with cookies and lemonade and speeches recognizing what Markle has accomplished.
Tea and Treats
If you're looking to salute Meghan and Harry's nuptials in proper British style, look no further than Pasadena. The Rose Tree Cottage will be serving a special royal afternoon tea on Saturday.
When Rose Tree's owner, Edmund Fry, moved to Los Angeles from London, he was disappointed by the tea selection so he decided to create his own.
"I used to work for Fortnum and Mason. Their specialty was their tea, and when I came here I couldn't find a place with a really good cup of tea with a really good tea leaf, and that's how it all started," Fry said.
This weekend's menu will include Rose Tree's special tea blend as well as a full spread of British specialties fit for a princess.
"[There will be] an assortment of finger sandwiches from Scottish smoked salmon, to roast beef to obviously English cucumber. And roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. We follow that with our scones, we go through 500 or 600 a day, and then we follow that with desserts. People don't go away hungry when they come to Rose Tree for tea," Fry said.
https://soundcloud.com/taketwoshow/rose-tree-cottage
And those aren't the only local treats being cooked up to honor the royal couple. Cupcakery, Sprinkles, will have a special Royal Wedding cupcake on their menu this weekend. It's a lemon blueberry cake with St. Germaine vanilla buttercream frosting topped with edible flowers.
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, which has several shops and food trucks across L.A., will also be mixing up a special flavor. It's got a sweet cream ice cream base, with swirls of elderflower buttercream frosting, and house-made lemon pound cake pieces.
And if you're more of a savory treat fan,
Countdown is on! #PinksHotDogs is serving up the #RoyalWeddingDog! Come and enjoy #2DogsIn1Bun #royalwedding #WhenHarryMetMeghan pic.twitter.com/8M0CIRPiLH
— Pink's Hot Dogs (@pinkshotdogs) May 16, 2018
has you covered. They're serving up a Royal Wedding Dog with two hot dogs in one bun.
There's a baby bust in California, and it's hurting the economy
Having a baby just isn't a priority for a lot of Southern Californians right now, and baby, that's a problem.
The state has hit a record low birth rate that's even lower than during the Great Depression.
While that means fewer diapers to change, it can also lead to adult-sized economic problems.
"I think what's pretty clear is that with the cost of living," says Joel Kotkin, professor of Urban Studies at Chapman University, "people are looking at their situation and saying, 'I can't afford to have a kid!'"
Kotkin gave Take Two an explanation of how a low birth rate has pros and, mostly, cons.
Con: 30-year-olds are more likely to leave
On the one hand, SoCal has no problem attracting young 20-somethings drawn by the scenic beaches, great food and warm weather.
The economy suffers, however, when 30-year-olds start thinking about buying a home and having families.
"Employers are finding it very hard to hold on to people in their 30s," says Kotkin.
If the state can't hold onto those people as they head into their prime earning years, it loses out on their productivity, spending and tax contributions.
Con: any "boom" you see right now only benefits the rich
California's economy recently grew to become the world's fifth-largest economy if it were its own country.
Sounds like great news, but that wealth mostly benefits the very rich in the tech sector.
"Almost all the income growth and high-end job growth took place in Silicon Valley," he says.
Con: communities are less likely to support each other
With fewer children in a city, a community's commitment to education for everyone wanes.
There's less of an investment in parks, too, and fewer neighbors meeting each other through their kids.
"It's really a self-absorbed society," says Kotkin, who's written more in the article, "The Childless City."
Pro: kids aren't great for the environment, or avant garde communities
"Each one of those little kids are [greenhouse gas] emitters," says Kotkin, echoing a sentiment by some environmentalists. "Plus, there's a certain advantage to not accommodating children."
People won't be annoyed by crying children in restaurants, for example. And taking part in NSFW festivities gets easier. "You can be a little edgier."
New CEO of California's bullet train project explains his plan to get back on track
The board that oversees the California bullet train approved a new business plan for the controversial project this week. The plan says the high-speed train to connect L.A. to San Francisco will be finished by 2033 for a total of $77 billion.
It’s the biggest infrastructure project in state history, but when Californians were first asked to vote on it ten years ago, the price tag was $32 billion less and the timeline for when the train would be up and running was much earlier. Until March, the train was expected to be built and functioning by 2029.
In February, the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors selected a new chief executive to oversee the project.
Brian Kelly previously served as the first secretary of the California State Transportation Agency and brings nearly 25 years of transportation policy experience to the position.
Kelly told us more about the direction he's taking the massive project.
What changes Kelly has made as CEO so far
We’re expanding the capacity of the organization to better deliver the project. I brought in a Chief Operating Officer. I brought in a new chief deputy to oversee some of our administrative functions like contract management and other things – and my Chief Operating Officer is focused on delivering our construction projects that are underway in the Central Valley and getting the environmental documents completed statewide. So we have a renewed management focus on really getting the project delivered.
The construction mistake Kelly won’t repeat
This is a unique project in many respects. One of the unique elements is that we got federal money for the project, which is always a good thing, and that came with very strict timelines to spend the money. All the money we received from the federal government needed to be spent by September of 2017 and, in that, I think they entered the construction contracts a little bit early. We didn’t have all of the right-of-way in hand – that is, the parcels that you have to purchase before you can get fully through construction. And I think the biggest lesson we have is we won’t repeat that.
I think the next big construction contract that we let, those things will be covered on the front end. So that is a key lesson, because much of the cost driver now is assigning costs to risks that were unknown at the time they went into construction.
How he plans to secure the necessary funding
I’m going to do it like you do almost any other massive transportation or transit project: you do it in building blocks. And what we put in our business plan is recognizing the money we do have.
We’re looking at whether we can open a Central Valley line early, expand what we call the “Electrification of the Caltrain Project” in the San Francisco Bay Area down to a city called Gilroy and get those two lines going, and then focus our unfunded needs on a tunnel in the middle. At the same time, we’d finish our environmental work statewide and then we’ll work with local, state and federal partners to find additional funding as we go.
My objective and my goal here is to really get the organization delivering – seeing those construction projects in the Central Valley move forward. Get them done under the timelines in our federal grant agreement. And I think if we start to show that success, we’ll be able to expand going forward and we’ll find additional funding as we go.
Kelly’s response to claims the new plan is “not viable”
Well, I think that has to be put in context – what [the Legislative Analyst’s Office and the state-appointed peer review committee] pointed out is we don’t have all the money for the entirety of the Phase 1 program, and that has never been the case. The day the voters voted for Proposition 1A in 2008, they provided $9 billion for a project that was estimated at $45 billion – about one fifth of the funding.
Today we have about one third of the funding that we need for the project. But they’re right that it’s difficult to build a project without having all of the funding in place.
The upcoming end of Governor Brown’s term and working with California’s next governor
I think people forget that the bullet train got to the ballot under the prior administration, the Schwarzenegger administration back in 2008. So Governor Brown didn’t start the project, but certainly he’s been our best advocate while he’s been the governor.
In terms of the next governors, I feel pretty good about what I’ve heard from them. I’ve been doing transportation policy for about a quarter of a century now and I do think this is a very, very important project for the future of the state, and I’m happy to hear that most of at least the Democratic candidates are saying the same thing.
Kelly’s response to the possibility California’s next governor could end the project
Should that happen, I think it would be a sad state of affairs because I think you would stop the economic benefits we are seeing with construction now. You would deprive Californians of the mobility benefits of this project.
I guess we’d go back to building only highways and trying to expand more and more car use, and I’m not sure that that’s going to help our congestion, our air quality or our mobility issues in California.
How he’s going to meet the 2033 deadline
The first thing is meet our commitments and perform. And then we look at which assets we can put into use as soon as possible and we move forward in a building block approach.
Why the high-speed rail should still be a priority for California
I’ve been doing transportation policy for some time in this state and I’ve never come across a single project than can reduce our travel times, given our choices for traveling today – by car, by current rail options – like this project can. We’re talking about cutting travel times by at least half and mostly more between destination points. That mobility benefit you just don’t get. And the simple truth is, while cars can’t do it, these trains can travel at 220 miles per hour – and that means we can connect cities and connect the state in a way that we never have before.
And I’m in love with the economic benefits of this project. I’ve seen what it’s doing in Fresno and the Central Valley, where construction is underway. Two and a half billion in federal dollars invested has resulted in about $6 billion in economic output, and that’s a project that I have no problem supporting and wanting to see in place in California.