California’s Goodreads and the New Economic Order
Michael Larsen is one of the deans of literary agents in the United States, who established Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972 and has represented hundreds of books since. Last month, at the sold-out San Francisco Writers Conference he acknowledged the mounting challenges facing authors in the past few years—the stagnant book industry sales, the shuttering […]
Hollywood’s Self-Inflicted Wounds
No industry is more identified with Southern California than entertainment. Yet, in the past, the industry’s appeal has lain in identifying with the always-changing values and mythos of American society. But, today, that connection is being undermined, not just by technology, but also by a seemingly self-conscious decision to sever the industry’s links with roughly […]
Recycling Program’s Untruth And Consequences
It’s an old story. A problem arises and government steps in to fix it. A bureaucracy forms, and long after the problem is fixed, disappears or changes, the bureaucracy – unable to adapt or phase itself out – continues to grapple with the fiction of the original problem, creating distortions and waste in the process. […]
Poll: Jobs, Regulations, Taxes and Trains
Many business people have raised concerns over excessive regulations hampering business growth and job creation. However, at first glance, it appears that California voters don’t make the connection between regulations and job creation in a new Public Policy Institute of California survey. According to the poll, a plurality of likely voters and all adults picked […]
The Brown Act Is a Gag Rule
The Ralph M. Brown Act, first approved in 1953, is celebrated for its supposed guarantees that we citizens have a voice in the decisions of all our local governments. But today, it is little more than a gag rule. Over the past six decades, the Brown Act—famous for its guarantee of a 72-hour notice for […]
Rent Control’s Dirty Little Secrets
The debate over rent control has been predictable. On one side, lower-income activists (proponents) argue it’s the only counter to soaring, increasing, unaffordable rents. They insist on arbitrary caps on rents, regardless of the consequences. On the other side, housing providers (opponents) assert damage to their bottom line and their diminished ability to offer adequate […]
Legislature is Ignoring Lessons of the Housing Bubble – And It’s Going to Hurt Californians
Californians learned something profound about the perils of housing insecurity when the housing bubble burst almost ten years ago. Foreclosures and evictions devastated the finances of millions of families, of course, wiping out the savings of entire generations. But as researchers began to sift through the wreckage of the recession, they found the acute anxiety […]
A stronger Zero Emission Vehicle program will help us all breathe easier
As a doctor in Southern California specializing in pediatric asthma, I see the toll pollution from petroleum-based cars, trucks and buses takes on children’s health every day. Air pollution makes kids sick. They miss school, and their parents miss work, so air pollution can threaten a child’s health and educational development and a family’s financial […]
What Kind of Compromise is Key to Fixing Roads?
At a press event for the Fix Our Roads coalition on Monday, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti called on legislators to compromise on legislation to fix the state’s roads and highways. But what kind of compromise is needed to secure funding? Is compromise contemplated to include Republican ideas, or is compromise just between the Democratic […]