Today on KPCC, Larry Mantle's program had two segments that were more closely related than many would realize.
There's more rumor than fact swirling around the deal to have the "living wage" ordinance for LA Airport area hotel workers become reality. One business owner last weekend huffed he would be forced to lay off a number of his employees if the minimum wage was raised.
Like Manhattan, San Francisco and the Florida Keys, the cost of living --especially housing-- has risen so dramatically that service sector employees can no longer afford to live in the communities where they work. Los Angeles is seeing more and more workers being nudged into virtual slavery for a job. A minimum wage worker in L.A. basically has to work more hours in a week than exist just to afford rent.
Of course, they could always do away with that cumbersome little amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery. It isn't like the conservatives haven't tried over the last 25 years to gut the rest of the Constitution as well.
Larry Mantle's program also focused on the gridlock that grips much of Southern California, further complicating the commute of service sector employees, and the quality of life for all residents.
Contrary to popular opinion, LA hasn't always been at the mercy of runaway sprawl. There have been many attempts to look at regional and local planning issues together in a way that improves the urban environment for everyone.
Too many individual stakeholders have been allowed variances or the permission to opt out of certain conditions, like having a reasonable number of parking spaces, or offsetting the impact of new projects on traffic and utilities. The Hyperion sewer project, years in the planning and construction, was obsolete almost as soon as it was online.
Although the time allotted to the topic was brief for the scope of the issue, I'm sure Larry Mantle is still hearing from listeners. He probably has enough material to devote to a full length book by now.
Getting the stakeholders involved to see how their individual actions impact the whole would be a Herculean task, at best.
There's more rumor than fact swirling around the deal to have the "living wage" ordinance for LA Airport area hotel workers become reality. One business owner last weekend huffed he would be forced to lay off a number of his employees if the minimum wage was raised.
Like Manhattan, San Francisco and the Florida Keys, the cost of living --especially housing-- has risen so dramatically that service sector employees can no longer afford to live in the communities where they work. Los Angeles is seeing more and more workers being nudged into virtual slavery for a job. A minimum wage worker in L.A. basically has to work more hours in a week than exist just to afford rent.
Of course, they could always do away with that cumbersome little amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery. It isn't like the conservatives haven't tried over the last 25 years to gut the rest of the Constitution as well.
Larry Mantle's program also focused on the gridlock that grips much of Southern California, further complicating the commute of service sector employees, and the quality of life for all residents.
Contrary to popular opinion, LA hasn't always been at the mercy of runaway sprawl. There have been many attempts to look at regional and local planning issues together in a way that improves the urban environment for everyone.
Too many individual stakeholders have been allowed variances or the permission to opt out of certain conditions, like having a reasonable number of parking spaces, or offsetting the impact of new projects on traffic and utilities. The Hyperion sewer project, years in the planning and construction, was obsolete almost as soon as it was online.
Although the time allotted to the topic was brief for the scope of the issue, I'm sure Larry Mantle is still hearing from listeners. He probably has enough material to devote to a full length book by now.
Getting the stakeholders involved to see how their individual actions impact the whole would be a Herculean task, at best.
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