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There’s no longer any question that Los Angeles has arrived as a global city—if Hollywood’s reach doesn’t make the case then the Asian money behind its new skyline and preparations for a record-setting third Olympiad should.

The more apt question these days is which Los Angeles excites the world?

The Los Angeles of Rodeo Drive? Or the Huntington Gardens? Or Disneyland?

And there’s the rub—because none of those places is in the City of Los Angeles.

Rodeo Drive and the Huntington Gardens are both in the larger territory known as Los Angeles County. The former is famous as the high street of Beverly Hills, the latter a staid cultural preserve in San Marino.

Those two toney and independent towns are on opposite sides of LA County, which covers 4,000 square miles and includes 88 municipalities altogether.

You have to expand to the larger concept of Southern California to get to Disneyland, which is in Orange County, directly south of LA.

LA gets a lot of credit for its neighbors’ achievements, as well as its own—but the outsized image is a two-edged sword.

The latest report from the World Trade Center of Los Angeles provides some insights, giving data on foreign-owned businesses with operations in Southern California.

You might expect LA County to punch above its weight on foreign investment as the undisputed center of the sun-dappled landscape, with its population of 10 million approaching half of the region’s total. Among the assets likely to appeal to foreign investors at the practical and executive levels are the biggest airport in Southern California, twin seaports that are the busiest in the U.S., three research universities, 76 hospitals, numerous renowned museum and performance venues, nine professional sports teams, and 66 Consulates General.

Yet LA County looks to be just another option for foreign investment on Southern California’s expansive landscape.

There are nearly 12,000 foreign-owned firms in Southern California, and LA County is home to fewer than half of them.

The same goes for the 461,447 jobs at foreign-owned enterprises throughout the region–and for the $18.1 billion in annual wages they generate.

The numbers get worse for LA County when you consider investments coming from key overseas markets, including the UK, a leading trade partner of Southern California.

UK businesses combine to account for 76,000 jobs and $6.1 billion in annual payroll in Southern California, with about two-thirds of each total landing outside of City of Los Angeles or LA County.

A number of other top 10 sources of foreign investment in Southern California also index low for LA.

Los Angeles is a global magnet when viewed from afar.

But consider LA within its regional setting of Southern California and it’s about on par with a lot of other places that are miles away from Hollywood or the ports or a courtside seat to watch LeBron James perform for the world-famous Lakers basketball franchise.

The data on foreign-owned businesses and where they locate in Southern California serve to concentrate the mind on LA’s problem, which range from a federal corruption probe of City Hall to rampant encampments of rough sleepers and a municipal budget devastated by Covid-19 while feckless politicians fiddle.

Meanwhile, some of the best public schools are down in Orange County, there is world-class golf out in the Riverside County burg of Palm Springs, and you’ll find world-class resorts up in Santa Barbara County.

And you can check just about anywhere for better roads.

LA’s image is big.

But it seems foreign investors have learned that hype doesn’t fill potholes.

Jerry Sullivan is founder and chief columnist for SullivanSaysSoCal.com.

Over 200 attendees joined our panelist for a webinar hosted by Urban Reform Institute on December 4. If you missed the event, you can watch the video below:

Related:

Read the 2020 Report on Ownership and Opportunity.

On today's episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by Pete Saunders. Pete Saunders is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on urbanism and public policy. He has been the editor and publisher of the Corner Side Yard, an urbanist blog, since 2012. A practicing urban planner, he serves as the community and economic development director for the Chicago suburb of Richton Park, Ill., and is the principal for PDS Consulting, an urban-planning consulting and research firm.

Marshall begins the show asking Pete what he thinks Chicago can expect being under a new Biden administration. Pete began to explain that not everything seems cut and clear and to be wary buying into a new administration so quickly. Pete went into details and programs that Biden could implement in order to unite Chicago and establish them once again as a metropolitan powerhouse.

Joel chimed in and was curious to see if the new administration would be able to help the crime rates in Chicago. Pete stated that the crime is not something an administration can change, but that it is more of a societal change that needs to happen.

Marshall added that not only crime was something to be concerned about, but also the amount of talent Chicago raises in its own states, and exports out to other parts of the US and how that was taking away from Chicago. Joel added that if Chicago wants to make changes, they need to be more welcoming to new business and create an environment that is welcoming to the business owners. Pete agreed without hesitation.

As the episode ends, Joel and Pete look hopeful in seeing Chicago make steps to revive the Midwest and give power again to the middle class.

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Related:

Learn more about the Feudal Future podcast.
Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.
Learn about Pete Saunders.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Leran about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

Reason's newest Surface Transportation Newsletter by Bob Poole talks about Harris County's dangerous raid on HCTRA's toll road money, and this is so important I'm reposting it in full here (highlights mine):

Toll Agency Politicized in Houston

"Back in September, the governing body in Harris County, Texas—the Commissioners Court—voted 3-2 to take over the respected Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA). They created a government corporation that will divert toll revenues to things like flood control and help to pay for deepening the Houston Ship Channel. This political move undercuts the widely followed principle of most U.S. tolling: users-pay/users-benefit. Harris County will receive a $300 million lump sum from HCTRA, followed by $90 million a year indefinitely.

Another part of the deal calls for refinancing HCTRA’s $2.7 billion worth of toll revenue bonds to take advantage of today’s historically low-interest rates, with estimated savings of $60 million per year. That’s a move HCTRA could have made on its own, in the interest of delivering better value to its toll-paying customers. And its well-managed counterpart in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area—the North Texas Tollway Authority—the same month announced its own debt refinancing, but without any revenue diversions.

The Houston change was decidedly political, with the three Democratic commissioners voting in favor while the two Republicans voting against it. One of the Republicans, Steve Radack, was quoted in the Houston Chronicle saying, “This is a money grab. They are going to use it to pay for things that are normally paid for via property taxes.” Also opposing the takeover was David Hagy, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies, who supported the sensible refinancing but not the county’s money grab. And the Transportation Advocacy Group urged the Commissioners to at least use the diverted funds for transportation purposes.

I wonder how the rating agencies will view this politicization. HCTRA’s current bond indenture, as well as state law, limits the use of surplus revenues to non-toll roads, streets, and highways, according to a Q&A provided by the Harris County budget office. If that’s true, there might be grounds for bondholder litigation.

Moreover, while short-term thinking would say this is only a small amount of revenue diversion, the real danger is that it sets a precedent and provides no safeguards against future raids on HCTRA’s toll revenues. Transportation professionals know what has happened to the Pennsylvania Turnpike when that state’s legislature imposed Act 44 mandating that the Turnpike divert $450 million per year to the state DOT for transit subsidies. The Turnpike has had to significantly increase its bonded indebtedness, and enact large annual toll rate increases to meet the new debt service. That same fate could await HCTRA’s toll payers the next time Harris County faces budget shortfalls."

This piece first appeared on Houston Strategies Blogspot.

Tory Gattis is a Founding Senior Fellow with the Urban Reform Institute and co-authored the original study with noted urbanist Joel Kotkin and others, creating a city philosophy around upward social mobility for all citizens as an alternative to the popular smart growth, new urbanism, and creative class movements. He is also an editor of the Houston Strategies blog.

I’m happy to share our new George W. Bush Institute report, “Cities and Opportunity in 21st Century America.” This report is the first in our new Blueprint for Opportunity series, which aims to explore the challenge of expanding opportunity and economic mobility in America, particularly in U.S. cities, and to lay out a market-oriented opportunity agenda. We plan on publishing additional reports in the series approximately once a quarter over the next couple years.

This report examines how America is doing in promoting economic mobility, why cities and neighborhoods so strongly influence economic mobility for people who live there, and which metropolitan areas are outperforming as engines of opportunity. Our second report will consider lessons from history on cities and opportunity and recent trends remaking the geography of opportunity in the U.S. cities, and subsequent reports will focus on particular policy areas like metropolitan economic development, new business creation, the future of work, the role of anchor institutions, housing attainability, and more.

Click here to download Cities & Opportunities paper

J.H. Cullum Clark is a Director in the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at SMU in Dallas. His work focuses on policies to expand opportunity and economic mobility in America’s cities. He worked for 25 years in the investment industry, at two Wall Street firms in New York then as CEO of his own small investment company for 18 years. He is co-author of a forthcoming book on the metropolitan areas of the “Texas Triangle” region that Texas A&M Press will publish in 2021. He serves on the boards of the leading charter school network in North Texas and several arts and civic organizations in Dallas.

On today's episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by guests Joe Payne and Tony Lemus. Joseph E. Payne is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Arcturus Therapeutics. Arcturus therapeutics is a leading clinical-stage messenger RNA medicines company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics for rare diseases and vaccines.

Their conversation begins with Marshall asking Joe about different vaccines that are being approved rapidly and how they are receiving emergency permits for the market. Joe breaks down scientifically how mRNA works with the body and how the results look promising for covid19. Arcturus is in the middle of phase 1 and 2 trials with over 100 participants. Joe continued, highlighting that their vaccine could be a single dose vaccine as well as a low dosage.

Tony joined the conversation and added that the predictive models, coupled with the clinical trials, using AI, has sped the process of approval and are able to leap-frog the FDA with less red tape.

Joel brought up a problem. If multiple vaccines come out, which ones will be the best? Joe states that efficacy is the current issue, but the conversation will shift to convenience; cost and single administration. Joel continues and asks if this vaccine will stop the wave of pandemics due to the virus. Joe states that COVID-19 is here to stay regardless of the vaccine and that it will take time for herd immunity to develop.

As the episode ends, Joe explains how the beauty of mRNA vaccines is through a non-viral delivery and how this vaccine will be the benchmark for future pandemics.

Listen on Apple Podcast

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Spotify

More podcast episodes & show notes at JoelKotkin.com

Watch Episode on Youtube

Related:

Learn more about the Feudal Future podcast.
Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.
Learn about Joe Payne.
Learn about Tony Lemus.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Leran about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

Join the discussion on a new policy agenda for home ownership and opportunity in our post-pandemic economy.

Hosted by Urban Reform Institute

Panel 1

J. H. Cullum Clark - Director, George W. Bush Institute
Anne Snyder - EIC, Comment Magazine
Pete Saunders - Writer, Researcher
Karla del Rio Lopez - Lead Partnership specialist, U.S. Census Bureau
Charles Blain - URI

Panel 2

Wendell Cox - Principal, Demographia
Joel Farkas - Manager, Pioneer HoldCo
Mark Boyce - Founding Partner, True Homes
Ted Nelson - President/COO, Newland
Joel Kotkin - Executive Director, URI

Date: December 4, 2020
Time: 11:30AM – 1:00PM (Central Time)

Register for Webinar

See PDF invite for more details

The latest death rates from COVID-19 are displayed by county urban density in Figure 1. Death rates remain at or below the national average per 1,000 residents in county categories with urban densities of 5,000 per square mile or below (Figures 1 and 2). More than 85% of the nation’s residents live in these areas, which have rural or low to medium density suburban areas. All categories of counties with urban densities exceeding 5,000 per square mile have more than their population proportionate share of Covid-19 deaths.

Urban density is important. Covid infections and deaths are associated with higher urban densities. This is not because population density is a problem in itself. It is rather that in high urban densities it is more difficulty to avoid higher exposure densities, because the intensity and duration of risky contacts is likely to be greater. These areas are often characterized by worrying overcrowding from insufficiently ventilated enclosed spaces, such as elevators, transit, offices and public buildings (see: The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City by MIT economist Jeffery E. Harris). Social distancing alone is not enough. According to The New York Times: Small, crowded, enclosed spaces are petri dishes for the coronavirus. An additional problem in higher density residential areas is overcrowded apartments, often necessary because lower income households often cannot afford detached houses with yards in which kids can play. There is an important poverty connection.

Similar relationships are evident elsewhere, such as in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Wendell Cox is principal of Demographia, an international public policy firm located in the St. Louis metropolitan area. He is a founding senior fellow at the Urban Reform Institute, Houston and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University in Orange, California. He has served as a visiting professor at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. His principal interests are economics, poverty alleviation, demographics, urban policy and transport. He is co-author of the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey and author of Demographia World Urban Areas.

Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him to three terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (1977-1985) and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appointed him to the Amtrak Reform Council, to complete the unexpired term of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (1999-2002). He is author of War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life and Toward More Prosperous Cities: A Framing Essay on Urban Areas, Transport, Planning and the Dimensions of Sustainability.

On today's episode of Feudal Future hosts Joel Kotkin and Marshall Toplansky are joined by guest Kevin Shuvalov. Kevin served as Regional Political Director for the Republican National Committee, where he worked with state parties and campaigns in his region to grow Republican majorities in the Senate, House, and Governorships. In this role, he helped win Iowa’s electoral votes for President Bush as well as multiple other nationally prominent races, and helped create the successful “72 Hour” turnout program.

Their conversation begins with Joel asking Kevin if he was surprised with the turnout of the election and how the media portrayed the race to be one side or the other. Kevin responded with his concerns and what losing seats could have meant for Texas. Marshall followed the question up with how tech played a role and specifically how text message campaigns played a huge role in the election process. Not just the one-way text message route, but the back and forth communication with voters.

Joel continues and brings up a great point, “What astounds me is that Trump actually did better among young people and better among Hispanics and better, particularly among African American males than anyone expected. And that was particularly marked in Florida, and where you are in Texas, what happened and what does that mean?” Kevin responds and breaks down the Hispanic Latinos in Texas and how their wealth affects their decisions. Kevin also states that nothing is set in stone when it comes to the electorate.

As the episode ends, they speak about the control of communication by people who are overwhelmingly on the opposite side of the republican party and what it can manifest in the upcoming years.

Listen on Apple Podcast

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Spotify

More podcast episodes & show notes at JoelKotkin.com

Watch Episode on Youtube

Related:

Learn more about the Feudal Future podcast.
Learn more about Marshall Toplansky.
Learn more about Joel Kotkin.
Learn about Kevin Shuvalov.

Join the Beyond Feudalism Facebook group.
Read the Beyond Feudalism report.
Leran about Joel's book, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism.

It’s been a long time since the Democrats were considered “the party of the people” and the GOP the party of the fat cats. This year Joe Biden and even more so his running mate, Kamala Harris, are raising record sums from the corporate elite, notably the tech giants and their Wall Street allies. These wealthy donors dominate the party, own much of the media, and can manipulate the social-media platforms where a growing proportion of Americans get their news.

Meanwhile, the Republicans find themselves largely castigated in the press and overwhelmed by a torrent of oligarchic wealth at the Senate and local levels. This wealthy oligarchy is not just liberal; many members also support a thorough remaking of our country. Some, like former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, are so committed to progressivism that, as he said recently, those who don’t get with the program should “face a firing squad.” Currently led by CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gone so far as to block The New York Post’s account after it reported on the unsavory foreign business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter.

If these Democrats win both houses of Congress as well as the White House, things could get far worse for the already beleaguered middle class, which has been rocked by the pandemic, with an estimated 100,000 small firms going out of business. Particularly hard-hit by the recent urban unrest are inner city and minority businesses.

Read the rest of this piece at NYPost.

Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is the Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director for Urban Reform Institute. Learn more at joelkotkin.com and follow him on Twitter @joelkotkin.