LA Podcast

Alissa, Godfrey, and Loraine go deep on LAUSD’s many changes and challenges as this new school year begins. LA’s City Council is set to make big shifts on how to address homelessness, but the hardest part might be getting everyone to agree. And what will actually get Angelenos out of their cars?

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, on the web at Think Forward, or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

SHOW NOTES

Andres Chait has been officially appointed LAUSD superintendent and has some plans to address the slew of issues ahead

Declining enrollment is creating a big financial challenge for LAUSD. One new income supplement: using vacant classrooms as childcare centers

If the budget deficit isn’t resolved, the county will step in

Some good student transportation news: speed cameras are being installed around schools

More students are taking the bus to school, which is helpful amid continuing ICE raids

Newly approved screen time reforms are in place, eliminating digital devices for first graders and younger, setting age-specific time limits on older students, blocking YouTube access, and more

Unfortunately, Boyle Heights kids have more grounds than most to say going back to school stinks — the odor of rotting food is not going away anytime soon

(Relatedly, Lineage will fail to meet Mayor Karen Bass’s 45-day clean up deadline, so she is directing city lawyers to pursue civil litigation — but Lineage claims the city has the deadline date wrong)

LAUSD says schools near the Lineage fire are safe from contaminants, though two tested positive for above-average levels of lead

Councilmember Nithya Raman has been removed as chair of the Homelessness and Housing committee, which was then split into two separate committees

Raman and Bass will surely discuss housing among other issues during their debate hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association on Wednesday evening

Many councilmembers made rather, er, harsh comments about this, which happened to coincide with news of Bass and Councilmember Imelda Padilla’s tiny home village opening

Speaking of scathing remarks, Judge David Carter didn’t mince words as he blocked Trump’s attempt to take over LAHSA, criticizing both HUD and LAHSA

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced an interestingly timed motion to get rid of all of the 41.18 zones in his district

Turns out an accounting glitch skewed numbers from this year’s homelessness count, inflating the rise in the unhoused population by almost 1.5%

Newsom announces a new EV tax credit for first-time buyers but what about that e-bike credit?

Metro is piloting a program that will pay you not to drive for 5 weeks and DOT is piloting mobility walletsto reimburse all types of modes in low-income communities

More on homelessness and visits from the Trump administration on the new L.A. World podcast, a project of L.A. Material, hosted by Hayes Davenport, Antonia Cereijido, and Julia Turner

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Thank you to Sophie Bridges for producing this episode and to our production assistant Bianca Cockrell

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

Alissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched, tracking LA’s megaevent progress. Find her at @awalkerinla on Instagram and @awalkerinla.bsky.social on Bluesky

Loraine Lundquist is chair of LA Forward’s board, an astrophysicist, and a sustainability policy expert who earned 49.4% of the vote as a candidate for LA City Council

Godfrey Plata is the deputy director of LA Forward and is @godfreyplata on Instagram