In this comprehensive interview with Mark Pestrella, Director of the Los Angeles County Public Works, Pestrella delves into the multifaceted responsibilities of overseeing the largest public works agency in the United States. Outlining the agency’s extensive scope, which includes managing water systems, roads, airports, and emergency responses for over 10 million residents across 4,000 square miles, he emphasizes the challenges of maintaining such vast infrastructure while simultaneously addressing climate change, which he describes as an ever-present threat that the agency has been planning for over the years.
Pestrella also discusses the agency’s strategic approach to leveraging historic federal funding from recent bills, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), securing $1.5 billion to fund projects that prioritize climate resilience and equity. He underscores the ongoing challenge of workforce development in the face of a competitive labor market and highlights innovative approaches like AI and digital twins to enhance infrastructure maintenance and planning. As the 2028 Olympics approach, Pestrella shares his vision for showcasing LA County’s infrastructure, particularly along the LA River, as a reflection of the region's evolution and resilience.

CEC Vice Chair Siva Gunda discusses California's clean energy goals, emphasizing the need for 150,000 new megawatts to meet targets. He highlights the CEC's role in leveraging federal funds, including those from the Inflation Reduction Act, to support energy projects and coordinates with state agencies for efficient resource application. Gunda addresses challenges in grid reliability, affordability, and extensive planning. He highlights the importance of storage solutions, CCS, and hydrogen in achieving a balanced energy grid and underscores global collaborations, particularly with India, to enhance climate solutions and renewable energy efforts.

As the Bipartisan Infrastructure Reduction Act continues to spur and invest in America’s infrastructure – most especially, its many renewable and cleantech projects – the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM), best known in its early days for its massive 456 million dollar loan to Tesla, has been revived and has been loaning billions of dollars into projects related to domestic vehicle manufacturing, including medium and heavy duty efforts. VX News shares an excerpt from a recent LACI & Milken sponsored event, featuring Senior Advisor for DOE Arnab Pal speaking with ATVM Loan Program Manager, Chelsea Sexton. The conversation covered the logistics of building and supporting the future of advanced vehicle production, as well as both the pursuit of domestic security in manufacturing, and the many supply chain challenges in need of addressing.

This fireside chat between Josh Haskell and Zev Yaroslavsky took place at the sixth annual UCLA Luskin Summit. Yaroslavsky presented the results from this year’s Quality of Life Index, which annually polls a cross-section of Los Angeles County residents to apprehend the public’s perception of the quality of their own lives. As the cost of living continues to rise and affordable housing remains deprioritized, Zev shared this year’s Survey Findings.