Don’t Break This Tax Promise
Voters are right to be wary of “temporary” tax hikes, and California’s Proposition 30, which passed in 2012, is no exception. Democratic lawmakers are already talking about the possibility of an extension of the tax increase, either through legislative action or in the form of a 2016 ballot measure. California fell into a significant budget […]
Setting up for the Coming Debates over Minimum Wage – Some History and Examples
With rallies in Los Angeles and Bay Area cities seeking a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers and Senator Mark Leno introducing a bill to increase the state minimum wage over the recent boost the legislature approved, the debate on the minimum wage is sure to heat up across the state. Arguments over increasing […]
Immigration Reform Deserves A Better Hearing And Californians Can Play A Major Role
The coming battle royal over immigration reform bears some of the same hallmarks as the high stakes slugfest over the passage of the Affordable Care Act—-much sound and fury but so far little substance on which to find common ground. As the nation’s most populous state, how these clashes play out in California will affect […]
Sources for Our “Southern California Stuck in Drive” Story
Joel Kotkin and I wrote in the Orange County Register that transit work trip market shares in the Los Angeles area had changed little, from 5.9 percent in 1980 to 5.8 percent in 2013. In a response, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACTMTA) noted that we did not cite sources. Fair enough. Our source […]
LA on the Hook for Humungous $10 billion Infrastructure Repair Bill
The City of Los Angeles is on the hook for an estimated $10 billion to repair its fractured infrastructure. This includes not only the City’s 6,500 miles of streets and 10,750 miles of sidewalks, but its curbs and corner access ramps, its more than 400 parks, its urban forest, its street lights, its fleet of […]