In tax conscience California, a split in attitude: the granddaddy of taxpayer protections looks safe while a threatened new gas tax increase might feel the same way according to the latest Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll. Proposition 13, the nearly 40 year-old taxpayer shield, is being threatened with a proposal to split property […]
U.S. cities dominate the world’s top 10 most-traffic-congested urban areas, with Los Angeles leading in mind-numbing and costly gridlock, according to a new report issued Tuesday. La La Land, with its jam-packed freeways and driving culture despite billions being poured into rail transit, emerged from the 1,360 other cities in 38 countries to claim the […]
Lawmakers spent more than six hours reviewing some of the problems that have accompanied RecycLA, the commercial trash program that has sparked months of complaints from landlords, condominium owners and the city’s business groups. The feedback they received was frequently angry. One speaker accused the city’s private trash haulers of engaging in price gouging. A […]
The average car on the road consumed 4,700 British thermal units (BTUs) per vehicle mile in 2015, which is almost a 50 percent reduction from 1973, when Americans drove some of the gas-guzzliest cars in history. The average light truck (meaning pick ups, full-sized vans, and SUVs) used about 6,250 BTUs per vehicle mile in […]
When Los Angeles imposed a new trash-collection program last summer, supporters said the public would benefit from reduced landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions and improved worker safety. Six months later, RecycLA has clearly benefitted the green and labor special interests that backed it, but for much of L.A. the experiment has been a dumpster […]
California drivers could see the price of gas soar to $4 a gallon by May, a price point that hasn’t happened in the state since July 2014, analysts said this week. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at Boston-based GasBuddy, told Bloomberg on Thursday that with gas prices at their lowest for the year, they […]
Heat maps of where last year’s 30,000 police reports were taken in San Francisco show car break-ins are concentrated in tourist hot spots — from the Beach Chalet to Fisherman’s Wharf, from the Academy of Sciences to, yes, Lombard Street. Sometimes, the losses are major: passports, cash, laptops, entire packed suitcases. Other times, they’re small […]
Technology alone isn’t going to be enough to save the world from the very real dangers of climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown told an audience of environmentalists in San Francisco on Wednesday night.
Wildfires continue to ravage California, and the bravery of firefighters trying to prevent damage to homes and property has been inspiring. But this being 2017 in America, the state’s progressive politicians are blaming the fires on humanity’s sins of carbon emission. To the contrary, the conflagrations should be a wake-up call to regulators and politicians who have emphasized acts of climate piety over fire prevention.
Over some 50 consecutive months of drought, California did not start work on a single major reservoir — though many had long ago been planned and designed. Instead, given the lack of water-storage capacity, and due to environmental diversions, tens of millions of acre-feet of precious runoff water last year were simply let out to the ocean. This year, the state may want all of that water back. Silicon Valley is the state’s signature cash cow, emblematic of progressive-cool culture and tech savvy. Yet many streets around high-tech corporate campuses are lined with parked Winnebagos that serve as worker housing compounds. In nearby Redwood City, World War II–era cottages have become virtual hostels. Trailers, tiny garages, and converted patios serve as quasi-apartments. California may offer the world a smartphone app for every need, but it cannot ensure affordable shelter for those who help to create the world’s social-media outlets and smartphones. How can so smart be so stupid?
You’ll pay more to renew your car’s California registration in 2018, as part of a new law to help pay for deferred maintenance and roadwork. The deal approved by Gov. Jerry Brown also increased the state gas tax on Nov. 1. The new registration fee depends on what the car is worth, ranging from $25-175.
U.S. housing starts rose last month to the highest level in more than a year, driven by gains in single-family home building in the South and West.
The California Public Utilities Commission has amended its long-standing mission statement, leaving out the idea of ensuring “reasonable rates” for the water and power used by the public. The change comes as state utility regulators have been under criminal investigation for potentially improper backchannel dealings with the utility companies they oversee and facing multiple lawsuits alleging they failed to protect the people they serve. For more than 20 years, the agency mission statement said, “The CPUC serves the public interest by protecting consumers and ensuring the provision of safe, reliable utility service and infrastructure at reasonable rates, with a commitment to environmental enhancement and a healthy California economy.” Under a recent revision, the statement now says: “The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services.”
Leonard McBean had been told for months that his south Los Angeles home was a firetrap. Decades-old wiring had never been replaced, a common situation in his low-income neighborhood. One Tuesday morning, McBean asked a friend about the electrical contractor working on their house. By Wednesday night, the same contractor—a man who gave his name as Yogi—had approved the Jamaican immigrant for $18,000 in energy-efficient improvements. “I said, ‘I don’t have that money,” McBean, a 67-year-old retired medical shuttle driver, told me. “He said, ‘Mr. McBean, don’t worry, you’re not going to pay a lot, just $100 a month.’ He said it was an Obama program.” When McBean electronically signed the contract two years ago, he didn’t realize he was consenting to have a lien placed on his house, meaning the county could take the home away for lack of payment. He didn’t know the escrow payment attached to his mortgage would jump $400 a month. He didn’t know the lien would make the home difficult to sell.
The weekday commute to the Bay Area from the Sacramento region isn’t easy. It can range from a 90-minute train ride to Richmond to a multi-hour slog to Silicon Valley. More than 17,000 Sacramento-area residents make the commute anyway, according to a Bee review of the latest census data.
