LA Podcast - ULA Confidential

Mike, David, and Carla do a deep-dive on state and local efforts to build and fund — and also stop and kill — housing, while changes are proposed to LA city’s ULA transfer tax, also known as the “mansion tax.” More charter reform proposals advance. Are 23 councilmembers enough? Should 16-year-olds get the right to vote in local elections? Then: California’s mountain lions might finally get endangered species protection.

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

SHOW NOTES

2025 was a pivotal year for housing legislation in California and Los Angeles, with a slew of new laws and rules taking effect this year to spur housing construction — and the coming year might see even more, as KQED reports

Politico’s Liam Dillon reports on LA’s latest strategy to stop/subvert SB 79, the new state law allowing more density in transit-rich areas. Metro also weighed in against SB 79, expressing concern that transit-oriented housing creates opposition to new transit. Reminder to Metro board members that building housing near transit increases transit ridership, which you think would be their goal? 

Metro also voted on this as they approved the Sepulveda subway and potentially stall the C line extension to Torrance. Time to dissolve (or seriously reform) the Metro board?

Liam also reports on the high-stakes staredown between the state and the city trying to kill affordable housing in Venice

Meanwhile, YIMBY Law has filed a lawsuit to overturn Gavin Newsom’s executive order exempting Pacific Palisades from SB 9, which allows new duplexes by-right

The fight over Measure ULA has been brewing for months. Affordable housing advocates proclaim success with more than $1 billion raised. Opponents of the measure contend it’s killing development of multifamily housing in Los Angeles.  Conflicting reports — even in the same publication — argue new apartment construction is down and that multifamily investment is on the rebound

Councilmember Nithya Raman, a longtime supporter of Measure ULA, is proposing a ballot measure to exempt multifamily and commercial housing from the transfer tax for 15 years after construction. Raman’s proposal is getting a lot of attention. The council has until February 11 to put something on the June ballot

State lawmakers are mulling a proposal to put a $10 billion affordable housing bond before voters in November

LA’s Charter Reform Commission is weeding through various proposals. If you can’t find anything to binge on Netflix, watch the full 6 hour, 22 minute meeting — the commission is likely to recommend expanding the size of the City Council from 15 to 23 

The commission also seems poised to recommend lowering the voting age for Los Angeles city and LAUSD elections to 16.  There is a national movement to lower the voting age and extend the franchise to 1-6 and 17-year-olds. Liz Chou recently looked at the issue in her LA Reporter newsletter. A ballot measure to lower the threshold to 16 in Culver City failed narrowly last year, getting 49.5% of the vote

Here’s the Charter Reform Commission website. Stay involved with LA Forward’s governance reform and CIP working groups. Topics coming up: police reform; the removal/replacement of elected officials for misconduct; establishment of a 2-year budget cycle, ethics, and neighborhood councils

California wildlife officials are considering listing mountain lions as threatened. Advocates of the protected status point to the hazards encountered by LA’s beloved Hollywood Hills mountain lion, P-22

In 2022, the wealthy Northern California town of Woodside declared its entire jurisdiction a mountain lion habitat to pause all new housing projects under SB 9 — yep, the same duplex bill that’s being exempted in Palisades — but the decision was later reversed

This week’s episode was produced by Sophie Bridges

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

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