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 Message from the Director: Highlighting Solutions and People
Greetings!
As we step into the New Year, the Lewis Center invites you to join us in tackling some of the biggest challenges facing California. We start this spring with a symposium on "Solving California's Foreclosure Crisis: Local Impacts and Strategic Responses," which will bring together top policymakers, private sector representatives, and non-profit organizations to chart a course for housing market recovery.
We then host a symposium on how the current economic downturn and the Obama stimulus package are likely to shape the future of California cities. The symposium will feature strategies for promoting sustainable urban growth in an economic downturn in the California regions of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
In late spring, our Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) affiliate will host an executive education program for transportation policymakers in Sacramento that explores solutions to our broken system of transportation finance. We are also in the planning stages of an UCLA-wide initiative to help prepare transportation and land-use policymakers to comply with new Climate Change initiatives in California.
Finally it is my great pleasure to welcome Dr. Allison Yoh as the Lewis Center's new Associate Director for External Affairs. A graduate of the Urban Planning Department, past Board Member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and long-time affiliate of the Institute for Transportation Studies, Dr. Yoh is a veteran of the transportation policy world.
Please contact me if you would like to become more involved in any of these events or if you have ideas for initiatives that translate cutting-edge research into policy solutions.
Warm regards,
J.R. DeShazo, Director
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  Solving California's Foreclosure Crisis on May 1, 2009
Save the date on May 1, 2009, for a day-long conference on "Solving California's Foreclosure Crisis: Local Impacts and Strategic Responses." The conference will showcase emerging research and innovative responses to the foreclosure crisis. Invited panelists include academics, community-based practitioners, policymakers, and private sector representatives who will discuss the causes and effects of the foreclosure crisis, showcase current policy efforts, identify where more foreclosures are expected to concentrate, and together chart a new course for California's recovery. The event will be held at the Tom Bradley International Hall at UCLA; more information will be available on the Lewis Center website: http://lewis.spa.ucla.edu, but mark your calendars now.
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 Sustaining Urban Growth in an Economic Downturn: What the Obama Stimulus Package Means for the Future of California Cities
On May 29, 2009, economic development policymakers and researchers from California's cities will discuss strategies that can and are being used to ensure that Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, and other metropolitan regions remain vibrant during the turbulent economic downturn. California - like many states - faces rising unemployment, widespread foreclosures, the end of the easy credit era, and state and local budget crises, all in a vastly more competitive, interconnected and fast-moving global environment. Nationally renowned experts will discuss how cities can weather the global economic crisis, identify the factors that most crucially drive economic growth, and suggest ways that policymakers can use this knowledge to stimulate growth. As the Obama stimulus package unfolds, experts will map how the package is likely to shape the future of California.
The symposium, "What the Obama Stimulus Package Means for the Future of California Cities," will be held at UCLA. More information will be available soon at the Lewis Center website: http://lewis.spa.ucla.edu/stimulus.
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Tackling the Future of Cities and Travel: Randall Lewis and Highlights from the 2008 Lake Arrowhead Symposium
Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners met in October for the annual Lake Arrowhead Symposium on the Transportation, Land Use, and Environment Connection. The event focused on "The Future of Cities and Travel," and sought solutions for meeting long-term needs in light of current economic, political, and fiscal uncertainties. Randall Lewis of the Lewis Group of Companies and Advisory Board Member for the UCLA School of Public Affairs shared his observations as a private developer. He urged that compact, dense, and mixed-use development is no longer an alternative lifestyle choice, but a necessity in light of the worst levels of traffic congestion seen in decades. The Lewis Group has been developing housing with amenities such as gym facilities, home offices, and telecommunications centers to reduce residents' transportation costs. Lewis called for more flexible transit systems, and innovative development efforts that will provide multiple benefits in housing, environment, and transportation.
Following Lewis's call, speakers from a variety of industry groups spoke about new solutions, lessons learned, and emerging questions. John German, Manager of Environmental and Energy Analyses for American Honda Motor Company, reported strategies for producing fleets with mixed fuel efficiency targets to better respond to consumer demand and the current instability of fuel prices. Dario Hidalgo, Senior Transport Engineer at EMBARQ, a nonprofit institution that develops sustainable transportation, discussed the high benefits and relatively low costs of implementing flexible bus rapid transit systems around the globe. Political demand for these projects has been driven as much by resource constraints as the demand from riders for flexible services.
Conference proceedings will be available online in early 2009, through the Institute of Transportation Studies website: http://www.its.ucla.edu/events/.
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 Calculating the Cost of Climate Policy
Upcoming climate change legislation that adds costs to coal and natural gas could also raise household electricity costs. To understand the magnitude of such financial costs on households, Urban Planning graduate student Mike Sandler and Lewis Center Director J.R. DeShazo estimated that a tax or price increase of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide from burning coal would increase average annual household electricity bills by 15 percent. Households in coal-rich states could see increases of 65-105 percent in annual electricity bills, while those in low-coal-burning states could increase by one percent or less. DeShazo and Sandler warn that absent other policies to help states and households cope with short-term price increases, rising electricity prices will most significantly hurt states with higher poverty rates, as these states are likely to experience a larger increase of costs as a share of median income. Although carbon pricing policies may help push the economy toward energy efficiency, job creation, and sustainability, states should consider assistance measures such as revenue recycling to mitigate the short-term costs to consumers - especially to those residing in coal-dependent states. You can read the full findings here.
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 The Lewis Center's New Associate Director
The Lewis Center welcomes Dr. Allison Yoh as the new Associate Director for External Affairs. Allison is a long-time member of the UCLA School of Public Affairs family, having received her master's and doctoral degrees from the Department of Urban Planning. While at UCLA, Allison has evaluated the costs of implementing bus rapid transit, provided Caltrans with policy recommendations on the use of interoperability standards for new transit fare collection technologies, and published journal articles and reports on how transit agencies increased ridership. Allison served as a member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors for two years as a mayoral appointee. In her new role at the Lewis Center, Allison will work with public agencies, organizations, and stakeholders to communicate the Center's research and foster ongoing efforts to bridge research and practice.
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 Congratulations to our Graduate Student Grant (GRG) Awardees!
The Lewis Center supports graduate education with small grants for capstone research projects. We are pleased to announce this year's recipients of the Graduate Student Grants:
Stephen Brumbaugh, Department of Urban Planning,
"Approaches to Congestion in Public Transit Advocacy"
Mark Conolly, Department of Public Policy
Dustin Maghamfar, Department of Public Policy
Nisha Mehling, Department of Public Policy
Julie Munjack, Department of Public Policy
Kyle Slocum, Department of Public Policy
"Reducing the Environmental Impact of the Production Cycle of Print Media"
Zoe Elizabeth, Department of Urban Planning
"Indicating Progress: A proposal for sustainability indicators for Los Angeles Metro"
Christopher Gladora, Department of Urban Planning
"A Right to the City: Building a Los Angeles Tenant Union."
Lisa Han, Department of Public Policy
Vivian Hsu, Department of Public Policy
Derek Ishikawa, Department of Public Policy and School of Law
"Fostering Connections: Transitioning Aged Out Foster Care Youth"
Jamillah Jordan, Department of Urban Planning
"Improving Fresh Food Retail in South Los Angeles"
John Petrilla, Department of Public Policy
Kenji Sato, Department of Public Policy
Andy Sywak, Department of Public Policy
"Clearing the Air: Analysis of the Port of Long Beach's Clean Trucks Program"
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