Letters to the Editor: Here's the hard question about homes that burned on PCH
To the editor: The Palisades fire was a tragic event for everyone involved — not just because of the loss of life, but also because of the destruction of homes and businesses and all that accompanies that loss. So, what I suggest will surely be met with scorn and derision. ("Parts of Pacific Coast Highway reopen Sunday amid interagency chaos," Feb. 2)
For the first time in more than 100 years, it is now possible to drive along Pacific Coast Highway west from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Malibu and have an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean. A quick check on Zillow reveals estimated sales values of the properties in the range of $2 million to $10 million.
Money is spent every year on mitigating the effects of erosion on the cliffs above PCH as well as on the damage caused by the ever-encroaching sea. As sea levels continue to rise, the structures along the highway will come under increasing threat.
Perhaps it's time to consider this question: Should the structures that burned down along PCH be rebuilt?
John Trask, Thousand Oaks
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Homeless numbers hit all-time high in Worcester County with 20% spike over 2024
WORCESTER — The latest homeless numbers are stark in Worcester County. In fact, they're record-breaking. The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance annual homeless count released on Wednesday, June 4, showed an all-time high of 3,110 people are homeless in the county, a 20% increase over the 2024 count (2,600) and an eye-popping 93% jump over 2023 (1,607). Of the 3,110 homeless, 41% (1,262) are children and 52% (1,629) are Black, African American or African. The report noted another record that was shattered. On average, a household in Worcester County is homeless for more than half a year (213 days). "That's longer than we've ever seen," said Jack Moran, director of research and data analysis at the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance. Longer than the average of 207 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Moran, when policies focused on the homeless remaining in shelters to help prevent viral spread. The alliance's 'point in time' homeless count is not exact science. It's a snapshot because the count is taken one day out of the year, this year on Jan. 29. The figures were reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The count is reliable, said Leah Bradley, chief executive officer of the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance. However, it doesn't capture every homeless person, she said, because Worcester County is a large land area and it's possible not to count homeless who sleep in cars versus those living in known encampments. There's a lot of data in this year's report, but two numbers stand out as primary reasons for the record-high homeless number. One is the county's rental vacancy rate of 2.9% — around 1% in Worcester — that is below the 5% generally needed to keep rents somewhat affordable, said Bradley. Second, the county's market rate for an apartment is $2,205, according to Zillow figures, double that of a decade ago. A rent that is unaffordable for many in the county, because it takes an annual income of $86,000 to make the monthly payment. However, the county's median renter household income is $51,300, according to the U.S. Census. As Bradley sees it, there's an urgent need to build more affordable housing to fix the homeless crisis. "The lack of housing that's being built, so the supply is not matching the demand right now," she said. "That's the biggest thing, because that creates the high median rent and the low vacancy rate, and those are the two indicators that we know are the causes of homelessness.' When Housing Secretary Edward M. Augustus Jr. was in Worcester last month to tout what the Healey administration is doing to boost supply, he mentioned the Affordable Homes Act, which Healey signed into law last year, that allocated $5.3 billion to boost affordable housing. Zoning changes, streamlined permitting and state subsidies were also cited by Augustus as ways the state is upping housing supply. It won't be easy to meet the demand. Massachusetts needs to build 222,000 new homes by 2035 to fill a statewide supply gap, according to a Housing Advisory Committee formed by Healey's administration. Even if those units are built, there are more than 400,000 families who qualify for affordable housing but can't access it, according to a study by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council and Housing Navigator Massachusetts. More multifamily housing is needed in smaller communities, said Bradley. She also noted the 'not in my backyard' opposition is an impediment to expanding affordable housing supply. Bradley is particularly concerned about the rising number of older people who are homeless. Fifty-one people over 64 are in this year's count, including 32 in shelters and five on the streets. Some are homeless because they can't afford to make repairs so their homes are condemned. Others can't make rent, so they're evicted and live in cars. It's not just Worcester that sees the homeless crisis. Smaller towns are also feeling the impact, a situation Bradley said is 'most concerning.' Sturbridge had 14 homeless individuals without shelter and Webster had eight, according to this year's count. Some are living in parking lots, others in tents, said Bradley. Of the 221 homeless in the county who are 'unsheltered,' according to this year's report, the largest communities dominated the numbers: 120 in Worcester and 56 in Fitchburg. Meanwhile, 53% of renter households in the county spend more than 30% of their income on rent. That's roughly 58,000 households, and the danger is if something unexpected happens, like losing a job, that family could be evicted and become homeless. Eviction numbers in the report show 2,800 new cases filed in the past 12 months. One number that stands out in the report is families with children identified as homeless: a total of 2,368 people, a 19% increase over last year and an alarming 146% spike compared to two years ago (963). Housing advocates say permanent housing with the necessary social supports is needed to break the cycle of homelessness. Bradley stressed that if the focus remains on shelters, the cycle will continue. A data point in this year's report could support that thinking. For the past two years, 24% of the county's homeless residents have found permanent housing. That compares to 43% in 2016. Besides more affordable housing, Bradley said changes to local zoning regulations and streamlined permitting to cut costs for developers will boost housing supply. She cited Austin, the Texas state capital with nearly 1 million residents, as a prime example. Zoning changes in building heights and parking requirements cut rents by 22% in that city, according to Bradley. While Bradley praised Worcester for its inclusionary zoning and housing trust fund to increase housing stock, she said surrounding towns have to do their part. 'If we don't address this, it's going to get worse, We need housing of all types.' When asked where the money will come from to swell the amount of affordable housing, Bradley said local, state and federal governments must pitch in. Funds are coming from other sources, and Bradley noted the Determination of Need Program at UMass Memorial Health. Whenever the hospital system builds a capital project, Bradley said, UMass has to set aside money for community needs. Families who pay 30% to 50% of their incomes for housing and experience a financial crisis have benefited from the UMass program to pay rent, said Bradley. While the state has programs to build more housing, Bradley said, it can't control interest rates and home prices. In the interim, Bradley said, "We need to help people stay in their housing. We need more subsidized housing and prevention programs so people are not leaving their housing." Contact Henry Schwan at Follow him on X: @henrytelegram. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Homeless numbers hit all-time high in Worcester County with 20% spike
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Contributor: Every shooting reflects our culture of violence, which the president cheers
On May 21, as they left the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were fatally shot, and because they were employees of the Israeli Embassy and the suspect was associated with pro-Palestinian politics, the story was reported in the familiar mode of Middle East politics. The questions that reporters and pundits have been asking are: 'Was this antisemitic?' 'Was this killing a direct result of Israel's starving of Palestinians in Gaza?' 'Was this another act of pro-Palestinian terrorism?' 'Is this the direct result of 'globalizing the intifada'?' While these are valid questions, they miss a central part of the story. Only in the eighth paragraph of the New York Times report are we told that the night before the shooting, according to officials, the suspect 'had checked a gun with his baggage when he flew from Chicago to the Washington area for a work conference' and, further, that officials said 'The gun used in the killings had been purchased legally in Illinois.' (The Los Angeles Times article does not mention these facts.) This tragic shooting, however, is not unique. In November 2023, a Burlington, Vt., man was arrested and charged with shooting three Palestinian college students without saying a word to them. (He has pleaded not guilty.) In October 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and shot and killed 11 Jews at prayer. In 2015, three Muslim students were shot and killed by their neighbor in Chapel Hill, N.C. This brief and very incomplete list of the literally hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed by guns in the U.S. in the last decade does not include the racist mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.; the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; or the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017. This macabre list also leaves out the thousands of people who have been shot and killed by law enforcement. The elephant in the room — so fundamentally accepted that it largely goes unmentioned — is the deeply ingrained culture of violence in the United States. Gun ownership, police violence and abuse, and mass shootings are symptoms of that culture. However, the militaristic approach to international conflict (from Vietnam to Ukraine) and the disdain for nonviolent solutions are also grounded in this culture, as are the manosphere and the cruelty of predatory capitalism. Now we have a presidential administration that embodies this culture. Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, personifies this ethos of cruelty and violence when she is photographed in front of a cage full of humans in a Salvadoran jail known for torturous treatment of inmates or writing casually about killing her dog. Noem is a key player in the theater of cruelty, but she is not the only one, and the unparalleled star is of course President Trump. Trump's policy agenda is based on vengeance. He revels in the theatricality of violence of the world of mixed martial arts, and he signs executive orders that aim to destroy individuals, law firms and universities that have not bent the knee, and the economics of his 'Big Beautiful' budget moves money from those in need to those who need for naught. Now, the president wants a military parade on his birthday that will include tanks, helicopters and soldiers. Although Trump himself evaded the draft, and he reportedly called American soldiers who were killed in war suckers and losers, he likes the strongman aesthetic of an army that is at his beck and call. He exulted in the fact that 'we train our boys to be killing machines.' Although some want to draw a dubious line from pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations to the killings of Lischinsky and Milgrim, the direct line that should be drawn is the one that everyone seems to have agreed to ignore: a culture of violence coupled with the widespread availability and ownership of guns inevitably leads to more death. The only way we get out of this cycle of violence is by addressing the elephant in the room. Aryeh Cohen is a rabbi and a professor at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. @ If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
‘It feels final': Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin 'split' after eight years together
Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin have reportedly called time on their relationship, with sources close to the couple saying the split 'feels final this time.' The Fifty Shades of Grey actress, 35, and Coldplay frontman, 48, were first linked in 2017 and have shared a home in Malibu for several years. They were last seen together publicly in May, and before that, during a trip to India in January. Johnson appeared to allude to the reported break-up in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times when reflecting on her new role in The Materialists. When asked what made the role 'feel different for her,' Johnson replied: 'The complexities of all of the characters. The paradox. 'Everyone being confused about what the f**k they're supposed to do with their hearts and what's the right move. I found that very honest, and I found it just so relatable.' She added: 'For a long time, we've all been so quick to judge relationships or how they should happen, how they should exist in the world, when people should get married, divorce is bad. 'All these things that actually, if you think about it, why is divorce bad? Why do people have to get married or at a certain age or only once? Why? It doesn't matter.' The couple's romance has had its share of ups and downs over the years. In 2019, they reportedly briefly split before rekindling things later that year, sparking engagement rumours. By 2024, sources claimed the pair had been engaged for six years but were 'in no rush to get married.' Then last August, rumours of a split resurfaced — but Johnson's rep dismissed the speculation, telling Page Six the couple were 'happily together.' Despite being seen wearing an emerald ring and dismissing split rumours last summer, a source admitted the couple had 'had issues and taken breaks in the past,' citing their busy schedules and 'are balancing things the best they can.' Neither has publicly confirmed the latest reported break-up. The Standard has contacted Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin's reps for comment.
