Background Briefing Snapshot of L.A.’s Economy The L.A. Metropolitan Region’s GDP (2017) is $1.04 Trillion, a 30 percent increase since 2009. It is home to 5 million jobs, 900K have been added in the last decade and tens of thousands are created each month. Driving growth is a broad and…
Economic Updates
Can the Redevelopment of Malls Help Close California’s Housing Gap?
There is an enormous opportunity in a handful of communities throughout California to support the transformation of significant real estate space, now occupied by shopping malls, into housing units, at both market and affordable rates. Since malls were first conceived in the 1950s by Victor Gruen, an Austrian immigrant, their…
The Looming Labor Shortage
Last week an L.A. Times article entitled L.A. Metro’s downtown subway project may not open until mid-2022 highlighted a handful of challenges L.A. Metro’s $1.75 billion Regional Connector is having, chief among them, its contractors inability to secure enough skilled labor, including management and craft labor such as concrete workers,…
Beyond Free Tuition: Early Signs of a Strategy that Works
Timely graduation of higher education, whether it be from a 2-year or 4-year institution, has been a persistent challenge within our region and beyond. Community colleges in particular have reported historically low and seemingly intractable rates of students that earn an Associate’s Degree or workforce certification, or move on to…
Does the Future of Public Education in the City of L.A. Depend on Measure EE
On June 4, voters in the city of Los Angeles will have the opportunity to vote on Measure EE, a local-school funding measure, that if approved by 2/3 of voters, would levy a 16 cent per-square-foot parcel tax on commercial and residential properties within the boundaries of the Los Angeles Unified School…
NGSS Update: Empowering Teachers to Empower Students for the Future of STEM
Last year, we partnered with the Center for Innovation in STEM Education (CISE) at CSU Dominguez Hills to expand our teacher training pilot on the state adopted, industry recognized Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to more teachers in the LA region. We successfully secured a $200k grant from the Goldhirsh…
Shaping the Future of Los Angeles: Housing, Land-Use & Transportation
There is a growing body of evidence that shows that increasing housing density in high-opportunity neighborhoods – places near good paying jobs, good schools, public transportation and urban amenities – will provide residents of Los Angeles better access to more affordable housing opportunities and a better quality of life. In order to…
CA Water Update – The November 2018 Ballot
Los Angeles County Measure W – The Safe, Clean Water Act The Los Angeles County Flood Control District, with the support of the LA County Board of Supervisors (4-1 vote), put Measure W on the November 2018 ballot to create a special tax for parcels located in the District to…
Weekly Economic Update – October 1, 2018 – CA and Taxes
The L.A. Times is publishing a series called The Next California and part one, Can California’s next governor fix the state’s problems? was released last week. Not surprisingly they have pointed out something that the majority of public officials, business and civic leaders have known for years – CA’s tax system is…
The Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs – Weekly Update – September 11, 2017 September 12, 2018
Last month I wrote a weekly update on the emergence of Smart Cities in a few forward looking cities in the United States and decided to look into who may be focused on this issue in the L.A. region. I have discovered, working with two FUSE Corps Fellows, that though…
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