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 Message from the Associate Director: Looking Forward to a Green California
The Lewis Center serves as a catalyst between the university and our state. Through our support of research and events we help to bring the talent and passion of the faculty and students in the UCLA School of Public Affairs to bear on the pressing issues facing our region.
This quarter our efforts have had a decidedly "green" hue. In this issue we report on efforts to promote greening buildings in Los Angeles, linking land use and transportation in climate action planning, developing sustainability indicators for public transit, the promise of more environment-focused transportation taxes and fees, and the links between local parking policies and greenhouse gases.
As always, we continue to look for ways to enhance and expand our catalytic role at UCLA and in California. We welcome your ideas and suggestions for Lewis Center research and events in the coming months and years.
Many Thanks,
Brian D. Taylor
Associate Director
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 Register Now: Leon Hoffman Event on "Transportation + Land Use Strategies in Climate Action Planning," May 27th, 2009
Assembly Bill 32 and Senate Bill 375 have mandated greenhouse gas emissions reductions, but in many ways state legislation has raised more questions than answers. Now that guidelines for climate action planning are emerging from state agencies, how do environmental, land use, and transportation planners incorporate these guidelines into practice? What are the requirements? What transportation and land use planning strategies are most promising? How can we evaluate the effectiveness of climate action planning efforts to be sure that such actions prove increasingly effective in the months and years ahead?
The bi-annual Leon Hoffman Urban Technology Conference will be held on May 27, with a particular focus on these questions. This year's event will feature speakers from various agencies and research communities who will prioritize the transportation and land use strategies most likely to influence greenhouse gas emissions, discuss the economic and political feasibility of these measures, and provide strategies for overcoming challenges to implementation. To register for the event and for a full list of speakers, please visit the conference website
Registration ends May 21, and space is limited.
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 SPA Day in LA City Hall: How Green is Building in Los Angeles?
Lewis Center Director J.R. DeShazo led a group of 17 graduate students from the UCLA School of Public Affairs to Los Angeles City Hall to answer the controversial question, "Is Los Angeles Green Enough?" Invited by LA City Councilmember Wendy Greuel, the students assessed the effectiveness of the mandatory and voluntary strategies of LA's Green Building Ordinance. Students conducted a series of interviews with city and county officials and civic and nonprofit leaders, engaged in public debate, and presented their findings and policy recommendations. Among their recommendations:
- Align the city's Green Building Plan with other city policies
- Strengthen the program's incentives
- Improve organizational capacity to ensure long-term viability of the program
- Expand the program to cover sustainable community development and expanded energy and water efficiency standards
The event was co-organized by the UCLA School of Public Affairs and UCLA Local Government and Community Relations. The Lewis Center congratulates the multi-disciplinary group of students who participated in this successful event.
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 Zoe Elizabeth Develops Sustainability Indicators for Los Angeles Metro
Zoe Elizabeth, an Urban Planning graduate student and recipient of a Lewis Center Graduate Research Grant, is developing a set of sustainability indicators for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). As one of the nation's largest land-owners, electricity consumers, and vehicle fleet operators, Metro's activities create serious environmental impacts in the region.
Elizabeth's research project, Indicating Progress: Metrics and Methodologies in Sustainability Reporting, will provide: 1) fifteen recommended sustainability indicators; 2) a sustainability report, including seven years of analysis on the 15 indicators; and 3) an implementation plan and data collection system that will streamline future reporting efforts.
Elizabeth, with assistance from Graduate Student Researcher Eric Yurkovich, will complete the report in June and present it to the Metro Board of Directors to assist them in measuring the agency's environmental performance and comparing the cost effectiveness of various resource management projects.
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 Jennifer Dill on California's Support for "Green" Taxes and Fees
Jennifer Dill, Associate Professor in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of the Center for Transportation Studies at Portland State University, spoke to a group of UCLA students and faculty about her findings from a 2008 poll of Californians about their support for "green" transportation taxes and fees. Green taxes and fees are set at variable rates, with higher rates for more polluting vehicles and lower rates for those that pollute less. This approach to transportation taxes and fees encourages drivers to choose more sustainable travel options and at the same time raise revenue for needed transportation programs. Dill reported that respondents preferred "tiered" green taxes and fees over flat-rate versions, and that this support did not vary greatly by population subgroups. Green vehicle registration fees and feebates had support levels of over 60 percent. Not surprisingly, people were less likely to support green fees if they drove less efficient vehicles or pickup trucks, or if they lacked accurate knowledge about how vehicle use impacts pollution.
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  Donald Shoup and Allison Yoh Testify on Reducing Congestion and Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Parking Policy Reform
Invited by California Senator Alan Lowenthal, ITS faculty member Donald Shoup and Lewis Center Associate Director Allison Yoh testified before the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing at a February hearing on reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions through parking policy.
Donald Shoup reported that free parking and minimum parking requirements distort urban form, skew travel choices, raise the cost of housing and other goods, and harm the environment. He proposed that cities charge the right prices for curb parking that leave one or two spaces open at all times, return meter revenues to neighborhoods that generate them, and reduce or remove off-street parking requirements. Allison Yoh presented parking strategies for reducing congestion, based on a recent RAND report that she co-authored. She reported that the use of pricing - including the pricing of parking - is critical to meeting congestion reduction goals. Although often controversial, pricing strategies are cost-effective to implement, equitable when implemented widely, and can raise revenues to address impacts on lower-income drivers and support other alternatives such as transit.
Senator Lowenthal subsequently authored and introduced Senate Bill 518, which passed in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee in April. The bill requires that cities and counties adopt various options from a menu of parking-related policies, ranging from unbundling parking prices in residential rental developments with five or more units, to eliminating minimum parking requirements.
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 Rediscovering the Urban River: Los Angeles and Beyond
Undergraduate minors in Urban and Regional Planning have developed a public awareness exhibit documenting urban impacts on rivers and restoration efforts. Students consulted with various stakeholders of the L.A. River, and documented through photography and archival research the changing uses of urban rivers and the effects of restoration efforts.
Accompanied by Professor Paul Ong of the Department of Urban Planning, a group of students also traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, while others traveled to other U.S. cities to draw comparative lessons across the nation and the world. The project is co-sponsored by the Lewis Center, and was recently on display as part of UCLA Day and the School of Public Affairs reception for alumni and distinguished achievement awardees. Students are working closely with L.A. City Councilmember Ed Reyes, and will display the exhibit in City Hall in June.
Click here to see the posters.
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