Fall 2023

As homelessness numbers in the United States rise, no state has escaped untouched by the crisis. In an effort to unify problem solving in the face of such a widespread issue, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, founded in 1932, privately convened recently in Los Angeles to open more collaboration and data sharing on their respective methods for combating the issue. VX News presents this excerpt from a public press conference on the meeting, featuring comments from the Mayors of Reno, Houston, Los Angeles, and Riverside. In the press conference, the mayor’s shared their hopefulness on the utility of the meeting, as well as answered questions from the press on California’s new CARE Courts and the future of Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program.

Caltech, which has long been at the forefront of science & innovation, has been investing for years in its campus’ sustainability. VX News spoke with John Onderdonk, working out of the Linde Center for Global Environmental Science, on his role as Caltech’s Assistant Vice President of Facilities Operations and Services at the campus and the many efforts underway to modernize their grid and prepare for the future realities of climate change. In the interview, Onderdonk speaks of the challenges of meeting the demands of a “small city” (Caltech) and the challenge of, literally, building the airplane while you’re flying it.

Urban leaders were gathered on October 18-20 for Bloomberg CityLab, a summit focused on a range of issues, from rapid urbanization to housing affordability. On the final day of the conference, Pete Buttigieg, the United States Secretary of Transportation, spoke about Vision Zero, the idea that the U.S. might hopefully, one day, see zero road deaths; he also spoke of the essential place of local communities as stewards of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and his positive outlook on how we can move past this difficult decade by delivering on the explicit promises being made by our leaders today.

VX News, to understand the importance of the India/US budding relationship, spoke with veteran Indian journalist, Pallava Bagla, on the upcoming satellite launch and opportunities for future collaboration between the two countries on green economy issues. Also, Bagla addresses India’s embrace of nuclear power and their long history of pursuing sustainable practices.

VX News interviews Scott Kratz, Senior Vice President of Building Bridges Across the River and 11th Street Bridge Park Director, on the decade-long project as it is about to break ground early next year. Kratz talks of the importance of fully engaging with affected communities early and often to create community-centered civic spaces. Kratz also opines on civic lessons learned & applicable to repurposing and extending the life of other federal infrastructure investments, e.g., the Los Angeles River Revitalization project.

Though all of Los Angeles was impacted by COVID, Council District 11, which includes Venice, Brentwood, LAX and much of the Westside coast, felt the loss of retail and tourism revenue particularly strongly. As the district recovers and deals with post-covid and economic pains, among those increased homelessness and greater housing density, constituents are demanding a return to normal. VX News spoke with the district’s new council member, Traci Park, on what’s being done to address these challenges to livability. In the conversation, Park talks about LA’s Sensitive Location Resolution 41.18, the usurpation by the State of local planning, and the need for civic engagement and political transparency.

In 2021, President Biden signed a massive 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill aimed to address growing concerns in the country with regards to aging infrastructure in the face of continued population and density growth. VX News spoke with CEO of Denver International Airport, Phil Washington, on how his airport is tackling that exponential growth and where that infrastructure money is being put to use. Washington also shares the economic implications of making DIA one of the most traveled through airports in the Rockies, as well as his thoughts on what it will take to ensure LA’s Olympic Games in ’28 will be a successful event.

With greater housing density all but guaranteed in California, urban mobility and traffic congestion have become pressing public policy issues. VX News, to inform public discussion, spoke with John Rossant, CEO of CoMotion, about both the future of mobility and his upcoming CoMotionLA conference in LA November 14-16th. The latter will draw to Los Angeles some of the world’s most influential leaders and innovative companies (public & private), as well as the municipalities who are pushing the boundaries of mobility. In doing so, it will offer conference participants opportunities to meet, connect and strike deals with many of Mobility’s key stakeholders Additionally addressed at CoMotionLA will be the challenges of rewiring cities.

This year’s LABC Sustainability Summit took place at USC on September 22nd, bringing together both local and national industry and political leaders to discuss what's being done and what should be done to bring us closer to a sustainable future. One panel, moderated by Mary Nichols, Director of the Climate Group, featured a discussion with Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, Gene Seroka, addressing what's happening with sustainability at the Port of LA. VX News presents here a transcribed excerpt from this panel.

Following the announcement that California had been awarded 1.2 billion dollars in grant funding for hydrogen, Mayor Bass, members of the Los Angeles City Council, and POLA, hosted a conference at the Port of Los Angeles to celebrate and voice their intentions towards utilizing the grant to create a hydrogen hub, a major step forward for the region in terms of reaching zero emissions goals. The grant will help LADWP create one single platform where distributed energy resources like Electric Vehicles (EVs) and EV chargers, energy storage, solar photovoltaic systems (PV), and demand response infrastructure can be controlled, in response to grid needs. Doing so will enable LADWP to quickly rebalance the electrical system after an extreme climate event like wildfires, heatwaves or tropical storms. VX News brings you the complete transcript from the announcement, featuring comments from the Mayor, Gene Seroka, Councilmember Tim McOsker, Nancy Sutley, and Aram Benyamin.