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Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lopez: The state sets lofty goals in the name of a brighter future. What's a vision and what's a hallucination?
In April of 2006, I watched a posse of politicians gather at Skid Row's Midnight Mission to introduce, with great fanfare and unbridled confidence, a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Los Angeles. That didn't work out so well. Twelve years later, in his 2018 State of the City address, Mayor Eric Garcetti made a full-throated vow to quit fooling around and get the job done. 'We are here to end homelessness,' he said. Mission not accomplished. We have a habit of setting lofty goals and making grand promises in Los Angeles and in California. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Better to have politicians and experts who study the pressing issues of the day and go out on a limb rather than shrug their shoulders. 'It's hard to do anything if you don't have a vision,' said Jessica Bremner, a Cal State L.A. urban geography professor. Transit, housing and infrastructure needs won't materialize without that vision, she added. 'Nothing will move.' Agreed. And all of us, not just politicians, want to believe there's a better version of our community — a brighter future. But there is a big difference between a vision and a hallucination, and we've had some of both in recent years. Here's a sampling: In 2022, California set a goal of eliminating the sale of gas-powered vehicles after 2035 — which would dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions — and reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the state did more than set a goal. It passed a law requiring hospitals to upgrade seismic safety by 2030. Los Angeles, under Garcetti, championed Vision Zero in 2015. The goal? Eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. Not reduce, but eliminate. In 2020, the city embraced SmartLA 2028, a plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and gas-powered vehicles and build 'a data-driven connected city, which addresses the digital divide and brings fresh ideas, including tele-health, clean tech and a switch to mass transit.' In 2021, the California Master Plan for Aging set 'five bold goals' to increase affordable housing and improve health, caregiving and economic security for older adults and those with disabilities by 2030. Read more: Lopez: Bass defends her turf: 'Let me be clear: I won't be intimidated' by Trump In anticipation of L.A.'s hosting of the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Metro introduced its 'Twenty-eight by '28' initiative in 2018, outlining more than two dozen transit objectives. The DTLA 2040 plan, adopted by the city in 2023, would add 70,000 housing units and 55,000 jobs over the next 15 years. So how's it all going? The good news: There's been a lot of progress. The bad news: Where to begin? Surely you'll fall over backward when I tell you that funding shortages, politics, evolving priorities, lack of coordination, haphazard and disjointed planning, and less than stellar leadership have stymied progress on many fronts. On homelessness, thousands have been housed and helped thanks to big initiatives and voter-approved resources. But as an observer once described it, we've been managing rather than solving the crisis and essentially bailing a leaky boat with a teaspoon. And now the agency at the helm is in disarray. On climate change, California deserves a big pat on the back for at least acknowledging the crisis and responding with big ideas. But the Trump administration, which is likely to hold steady up to and beyond the point at which Mar-a-Lago is underwater, has all but declared war on the Golden State's good intentions, eliminating funding for key projects and challenging the state's authority. The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Trump, Congress and fossil fuel companies in opposing the state's ambitions. Meanwhile, a grim analysis last year, which can't be blamed on Trump, said the state would have to triple the pace of progress to reach its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target. As for the law requiring seismic upgrades of hospitals by 2030, as of 2023, nearly two-thirds had yet to complete the required improvements and many had asked for amendments and extensions. L.A.'s Vision Zero, meanwhile, which promised the redesign of high-accident locations and multiple other safety upgrades for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, has been a singular embarrassment. Rather than an elimination of traffic deaths, the number has surged, and an audit released earlier this year serves as an indictment of local leadership. It cited lack of accountability along with 'conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered.' 'Incredibly disappointing,' said Michael Manville, a UCLA professor of urban planning. 'The city remains incredibly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.' Read more: Lopez: Three years away from the Olympics, L.A. is tripping over hurdles and trying to play catchup Manville didn't have very high grades, either, for Metro's 28x28 foray. 'It's a joke at this point,' he said, although even though he noted that some progress is undeniable, citing in particular the expected completion of the Purple Line extension to the Westside in time for the Olympics. But many of the 28 original projects won't make the deadline, and oh, by the way, there's no money at the moment to pay for the promised fleet of 2,700 buses for what Mayor Karen Bass has called the transit-first, 'no-car' Olympics. One morning in June, I stood on Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima with L.A. City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. She was looking to the north, in the direction of an empty promise. 'This is the home of the future San Fernando Valley Light Rail,' Rodriguez said. 'It was supposed to be one of the 28 by 28, and we're now looking at probably 2031 to 2032 for its completion … in a community that has a majority dependence … on public transit.' We also visited the site of a proposed Sylmar fire station for which there was a groundbreaking ceremony about two decades ago. Rodriguez said with the adjacent hills turning brown as fire season approaches, Sylmar is long overdue for the station, but the city is hobbled by a massive budget deficit. 'Now I've just got to get the money to build it,' Rodriguez said. Sometimes it seems as if the big goals are designed to redirect our attention from the failures of daily governance. Sure, there's a 10-year wait to get your ruptured sidewalk fixed, but flying taxis are in the works for the Olympics. And one convenient feature of long-term goals is that when 2035 or 2045 rolls around, few may remember who made the promises, or even recall what was promised. In Professor Bremner's vision of a rosier L.A. future, there would be more buses and trains on the lines that serve the Cal State L.A. transit station. She told me she talks to her students about the relationship between climate change and the car culture, and then watches them hustle after night classes to catch a bus that runs on 30-minute intervals or a train that rolls in once an hour. As for the other big promises I mentioned, SmartLA 2028 lays out dozens of laudable but perhaps overly ambitious goals — "Los Angeles residents will experience an improved quality of life by leveraging technology to meet urban challenges. No longer the 'car capital of the world', residents will choose how they wish to get around LA, using a single, digital payment platform, with choices like renovated Metro rail and bus systems or micro transit choices, such as on-demand LANow shuttles or dockless bicycles." But in the 50-page strategy document, the word 'challenges' is mentioned quite a bit, and I worry that this particular reference could be the kiss of death: 'City of Los Angeles departments have varying funding sources, missions, and directives, which can inhibit unified, citywide Smart City technology initiatives.' Read more: Lopez: Half a century ago, Californians saved the coast. Will Trump threats spark another uprising? It's a little too soon to know whether the DTLA 2040 goals will rank as vision or hallucination, but downtown is the logical place for high-density residential development and construction cranes are already on the job. As for the Master Plan for Aging, there's been progress but also uncertainty about steady funding streams, particularly given current state budget miseries, and there's no guarantee the plan will be prioritized by future governors. 'Goals are critical,' said Mark Gold, director of water scarcity solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'But they need to be followed up with implementation plans, with budgets, funding mechanisms, milestones and metrics.' Gold recalls Garcetti's promise in 2019 that all of L.A.'s wastewater would be recycled by 2035. 'That is nowhere close,' said Gold, but two other goals might be within reach. One is to have 70% of L.A.'s water locally sourced by 2035, the other is for 80% of county water to be local by 2045, using increased stormwater capture, recycled wastewater, groundwater remediation and conservation. When he ran Heal the Bay, Gold implemented an annual report card for ocean water quality at various beaches. Maybe we ought to use the same system every time a politician takes a bow for introducing a bold, far-reaching goal. Without the measuring stick, Gold said, 'you end up looking back and saying, 'remember when we were going to do this and that and it never happened?' You have to continuously revisit and grade yourself on how you're doing.' While it's true, Manville said, that 'L.A. seems to be better at kicking off grand plans than seeing them through, that's not unique to Los Angeles.' He cited 'Abundance' as one of several recent books making the case that 'lots of cities in blue states can't seem to get out of their own way.' The failures of virtuous Democrats are indeed on full display in California and beyond. But the other side of the aisle is not without its own sins, beginning with cult-like denial of climate change and, speaking of empty promises, undying devotion to a man who said he would end the war in Ukraine before he took office and bring down grocery prices on Day One. Would you rather live in a state crazy enough to still think it can build a bullet train and outlaw carbon, or in one of the many hurricane-battered states crazy enough to think this is a swell time to get rid of FEMA? If you're reaching for the stars, making it to the moon isn't a bad start. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The fight to reduce homeless service worker burnout in grueling industry
Josh Hoffman sat before a room of aspiring homeless service workers and talked about why it's important not to get discouraged. To make his point, the veteran in the field recalled a story of a woman with mental health issues who repeatedly refused to move into a new building because because birds in the neighborhood told her it wasn't safe. As a result, she remained on the street, but a couple of years later things changed. Hoffman said his team received a call from another organization saying the woman was now housed and was willing to follow through with the application process because she had already done it several times with them and felt comfortable. "If we had never gotten that call we would have figured ... our work with her hadn't really had an impact on her life, but it did," said Hoffman, now director of homeless services at the Little Tokyo Service Center. "Planting seeds," one attendee remarked. "That's the perfect analogy," Hoffman replied. Helping people get off the street can be a grueling, poorly paid job, one where workers often feel unsafe and lament that they haven't received enough training on how to help, or an explanation of what to expect, when dealing with people facing some of the worst moments of their lives. Recent studies have found those factors contribute to widespread burnout and turnover among L.A. County homeless service workers, harming the ability to solve a crisis where thousands sleep on the streets. Now, a new weeklong fellowship is trying to change that by helping aspiring workers be ready on Day One. In April, the Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, Laura for short, welcomed 15 fellows as part of its second cohort. Fellows received a stipend to attend and learned about different medicines to reduce side effects of streets drugs and how to use the county's online system that service workers employ to connect people to housing. They also learned about actions in their personal lives they could take to reduce burnout and toured multiple service providers on Skid Row. At the Midnight Mission, fellows ate at the cafeteria that feeds hundreds a day, toured a dormitory, a soon-to-open women's 12-step program and an education center with computers, books and musical instruments. At the end, the mission's chief communications officer, Georgia Berkovich offered fellows her number. "You can always call for questions, ideas — whatever," Berkovich said. Justin Szlasa, who founded the Laura fellowship, said that it can take months or years for homeless service workers to gain the contacts and knowledge dispensed over the five-day learning program. By fast-tracking training, the fellowship seeks to educate aspiring workers about what they are getting into and give them the tools to succeed, including a plethora of contacts they can turn to when problems arise. "You are less likely to burn out if you are embedded in a community and you have peers and a support system," said Szlasa, the director of homeless initiatives for the Future Communities Institute, which puts on the fellowship. The first class in October was funded by actor Keanu Reeves, who is a friend of Szlasa's, with the second bankrolled by the United Way. Szlasa is working to find funding for additional sessions. Meghan D'Zmura, a former server at an upscale Italian restaurant downtown, was in the April group and described the fellowship as a "CliffsNotes master class" on social work that helped her land a job in May as a resident services coordinator at the Weingart Center on Skid Row. D'Zmura said her experience with homelessness as a child motivated her in the past to volunteer to help unhoused people, but there was also so much she didn't know before joining the fellowship, including the nuts and bolts of how to navigate a complicated web of agencies and services. "It will be a very fulfilling, but probably taxing, position," D'Zmura, 35, said shortly before starting. "But I am prepared." One contributing factor to burnout is pay. According to a 2023 Rand Corp. study, L.A. County homeless service workers on average earn about $40,000 to $60,000 a year, leaving little left after paying for rent and other necessities. The analysis focused on front-line workers employed by nonprofits who serve as a backbone of L.A. County's homeless response and connect people with housing, job training, food assistance and medical care. Nonprofits executives told report authors that they would like to pay more, but the government contracts that fund their work don't pay enough to allow it. If pay is lifted that can mean less money for other things like beds, of course. But Rand economist Lisa Abraham, who co-wrote the report, said higher pay could pay dividends in the homeless sector, citing one study that found that after wages were increased in nursing homes, residents had fewer preventable health conditions and reduced mortality. "These front-line workers are directly in touch with the homeless population," Abraham said. "Having a talented, strong workforce that feels supported, that feels motivated to work ... that's likely to translate into outcomes for their clients." Los Angeles city and county officials have taken some steps recently to enable higher pay for at least some workers, but advocates say more is needed. Szlasa said he hopes training like that in the Laura fellowship can make a difference by creating a strong argument to life pay as workers learn to better help more people. "The long-term fix for me is more productivity," said Szlasa, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Belit Paulissian was among the April fellows. She decided to go into the homeless service industry when her work as a TV producer dried up. While in line the other month at the the Midnight Mission cafeteria with her fellow students, Paulissian said that if she lands a job in homeless service work she expects to make less than what she was earning when the entertainment industry was healthier, but that she wants to find stability while helping others. "Hopefully," she said, "I am going to do this." Later that day, Paulissian and others walked a few blocks to the Sidewalk Project's drop-in center, which caters to unhoused women who use drugs or engage in sex work. The organization's executive director, Soma Snakeoil, explained how people can come to the center to receive supplies that help make drug use safer and get help if they experienced sexual violence. Others simply need to rest after staying awake for nights in an attempt to protect themselves from assault. "I hope you have very successful careers and protect your minds and bodies and give a lot of good back to the community," she told the fellows. As the group walked out, Snakeoil urged them to take a box of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
10-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
The fight to reduce homeless service worker burnout in grueling industry
Josh Hoffman sat before a room of aspiring homeless service workers and talked about why it's important not to get discouraged. To make his point, the veteran in the field recalled a story of a woman with mental health issues who repeatedly refused to move into a new building because because birds in the neighborhood told her it wasn't safe. As a result, she remained on the street, but a couple of years later things changed. Hoffman said his team received a call from another organization saying the woman was now housed and was willing to follow through with the application process because she had already done it several times with them and felt comfortable. 'If we had never gotten that call we would have figured ... our work with her hadn't really had an impact on her life, but it did,' said Hoffman, now director of homeless services at the Little Tokyo Service Center. 'Planting seeds,' one attendee remarked. 'That's the perfect analogy,' Hoffman replied. Helping people get off the street can be a grueling, poorly paid job, one where workers often feel unsafe and lament that they haven't received enough training on how to help, or an explanation of what to expect, when dealing with people facing some of the worst moments of their lives. Recent studies have found those factors contribute to widespread burnout and turnover among L.A. County homeless service workers, harming the ability to solve a crisis where thousands sleep on the streets. Now, a new weeklong fellowship is trying to change that by helping aspiring workers be ready on Day One. In April, the Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, Laura for short, welcomed 15 fellows as part of its second cohort. Fellows received a stipend to attend and learned about different medicines to reduce side effects of streets drugs and how to use the county's online system that service workers employ to connect people to housing. They also learned about actions in their personal lives they could take to reduce burnout and toured multiple service providers on Skid Row. At the Midnight Mission, fellows ate at the cafeteria that feeds hundreds a day, toured a dormitory, a soon-to-open women's 12-step program and an education center with computers, books and musical instruments. At the end, the mission's chief communications officer, Georgia Berkovich offered fellows her number. 'You can always call for questions, ideas — whatever,' Berkovich said. Justin Szlasa, who founded the Laura fellowship, said that it can take months or years for homeless service workers to gain the contacts and knowledge dispensed over the five-day learning program. By fast-tracking training, the fellowship seeks to educate aspiring workers about what they are getting into and give them the tools to succeed, including a plethora of contacts they can turn to when problems arise. 'You are less likely to burn out if you are embedded in a community and you have peers and a support system,' said Szlasa, the director of homeless initiatives for the Future Communities Institute, which puts on the fellowship. The first class in October was funded by actor Keanu Reeves, who is a friend of Szlasa's, with the second bankrolled by the United Way. Szlasa is working to find funding for additional sessions. Meghan D'Zmura, a former server at an upscale Italian restaurant downtown, was in the April group and described the fellowship as a 'CliffsNotes master class' on social work that helped her land a job in May as a resident services coordinator at the Weingart Center on Skid Row. D'Zmura said her experience with homelessness as a child motivated her in the past to volunteer to help unhoused people, but there was also so much she didn't know before joining the fellowship, including the nuts and bolts of how to navigate a complicated web of agencies and services. 'It will be a very fulfilling, but probably taxing, position,' D'Zmura, 35, said shortly before starting. 'But I am prepared.' One contributing factor to burnout is pay. According to a 2023 Rand Corp. study, L.A. County homeless service workers on average earn about $40,000 to $60,000 a year, leaving little left after paying for rent and other necessities. The analysis focused on front-line workers employed by nonprofits who serve as a backbone of L.A. County's homeless response and connect people with housing, job training, food assistance and medical care. Nonprofits executives told report authors that they would like to pay more, but the government contracts that fund their work don't pay enough to allow it. If pay is lifted that can mean less money for other things like beds, of course. But Rand economist Lisa Abraham, who co-wrote the report, said higher pay could pay dividends in the homeless sector, citing one study that found that after wages were increased in nursing homes, residents had fewer preventable health conditions and reduced mortality. 'These front-line workers are directly in touch with the homeless population,' Abraham said. 'Having a talented, strong workforce that feels supported, that feels motivated to work ... that's likely to translate into outcomes for their clients.' Los Angeles city and county officials have taken some steps recently to enable higher pay for at least some workers, but advocates say more is needed. Szlasa said he hopes training like that in the Laura fellowship can make a difference by creating a strong argument to life pay as workers learn to better help more people. 'The long-term fix for me is more productivity,' said Szlasa, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Belit Paulissian was among the April fellows. She decided to go into the homeless service industry when her work as a TV producer dried up. While in line the other month at the the Midnight Mission cafeteria with her fellow students, Paulissian said that if she lands a job in homeless service work she expects to make less than what she was earning when the entertainment industry was healthier, but that she wants to find stability while helping others. 'Hopefully,' she said, 'I am going to do this.' Later that day, Paulissian and others walked a few blocks to the Sidewalk Project's drop-in center, which caters to unhoused women who use drugs or engage in sex work. The organization's executive director, Soma Snakeoil, explained how people can come to the center to receive supplies that help make drug use safer and get help if they experienced sexual violence. Others simply need to rest after staying awake for nights in an attempt to protect themselves from assault. 'I hope you have very successful careers and protect your minds and bodies and give a lot of good back to the community,' she told the fellows. As the group walked out, Snakeoil urged them to take a box of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Easter services, celebrations held across LA County
LOS ANGELES - Easter celebrations in Los Angeles County returned to their traditional outdoor settings after last year's threat of rain forced changes or cancellations to planned outdoor events. What we know Outdoor Easter events resumed in Los Angeles County, including sunrise services at Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Green Hills Memorial Park. The Midnight Mission hosted an Easter Celebration and Street Fair, serving meals to approximately 2,000 individuals. The Mission expected to serve 2,500 pounds of barbecue chicken, 1,000 pounds of honey-glazed spiral ham, 1,000 pounds of garlic mashed potatoes and 700 pounds of seasonal vegetables topped by 45 gallons of gravy, according to Georgia Berkovich, its chief communications officer. SUGGESTED: Top Easter candy by state and other 2025 holiday trends, according to Google Singer-songwriter Mark Mackay entertained for the ninth year, performing what he bills as "guitar-driven American music," while the actor Mr. T was invited to "spread cheer and goodwill," Berkovich said. Indoor services were held at Forest Lawn memorial parks and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. What they're saying Midnight Mission President and CEO David Prentice expressed gratitude for the volunteers and staff, saying, "What a wonderful day, the sun is shining, it's beautiful. We've got 2,000 people getting an Easter dinner that they wouldn't have had." President Donald Trump shared an Easter message, highlighting the significance of Jesus' resurrection. SUGGESTED: Easter wouldn't be the same without Peeps—here's how they're made The backstory The feast of the Resurrection of Christ is the oldest and most important Christian celebration. Christians believe that by rising from the dead, Jesus demonstrated his power over sin and death, manifesting his divinity as the Son of God. SUGGESTED: Egg shortage? Easter tradition gets a makeover with dyed potatoes According to the Christian Scriptures, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who offered his life for the sins of the world as was prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Source Information for this story is from City News Service.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
See Zach Braff and Natalie Portman reunite 20 years after 'Garden State'
Zach Braff and Natalie Portman had a surprise "Garden State" reunion over the weekend. The duo, which helmed the 2004 film together, took the stage at a "Garden State" 20th anniversary concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. "I'm so happy to be here with Zach Braff, the creator, writer, director, actor of 'Garden State' at the 20th anniversary concert of 'Garden State,'" Portman said in a video with Braff, which she shared on her Instagram story. Natalie Portman shares photo from the moment she met Rihanna: 'Still not over this' Braff added that the event benefited the Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter in Southern California. "I'm so happy this worked out, it's incredible," he said. The event featured several artists including The Shins, Iron & WIne, Frou Frou, Colin Hay, Thievery Corporation, Remy Zero, Cary Brothers, Bonnie Somerville and Zero 7 collaborator Sophie Barker, all of whom performed songs from the "Garden State" soundtrack. During the event, Braff introduced Portman to the stage and she said, "You think I was gonna miss this special night? No way." "Garden State," which is based on Braff's own experiences, follows a TV actor named Andrew Largeman (Braff) who returns to his small hometown in New Jersey to attend his mother's funeral, according to a synopsis. "There he is confronted by various aspects of the life he left behind, including his overbearing father (Ian Holm)," the synopsis continues. "Largeman also meets compulsive liar and amateur musician Sam (Portman), with whom he feels an immediate connection. Together with several other figures from his past, Largeman heals old wounds and forges new friendships." 'Scrubs' reboot from creator Bill Lawrence is in development The film's soundtrack won a Grammy in 2005 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Braff also won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature in 2004. See Zach Braff and Natalie Portman reunite 20 years after 'Garden State' originally appeared on
