|
|
 From the Director: Looking Forward for California
Greetings!
Our goal at the Lewis Center is to support policy-driven research and outreach that improves the lives of Californians. In this issue of our newsletter, we feature research designed to enhance our transportation system, improve air quality around ports, and support immigrants' acculturation to California.
In addition, we have several exciting events planned for the Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters, which you can learn more about by reviewing our calendar section to the left.
We are always looking for ways to better serve the School of Public Affairs community and the California community at large. We invite you to let us know if you have ideas for research projects, conferences or major speaker events that the Lewis Center may be a part of.
Finally, we would like to welcome John Mathews as the new Operations Manager here at the Lewis Center. We'd also like to welcome Dr. Rui Wang of the Urban Planning department who comes to the School of Public Affairs with a wealth of expertise on transportation and the environment from Harvard.
Sincerely,
J.R. DeShazo
|
 Rui Wang: Scholar of Environmental Policy, Urban Transportation, and Chinese Urbanization
The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies welcomes Dr. Rui Wang, recently hired as Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA. Professor Wang received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University, where his dissertation won the prestigious annual Taubman Urban Prize from the Harvard Kennedy School. In particular, Professor Wang's work focuses on transportation, environmental quality, and the growth of Chinese cities; and is particularly relevant in light of China's increasing economic and urban growth, which presents environmental and transportation challenges of global importance. Professor Wang also has studied the role of infrastructure investment in development and the impact of economic growth on the environment. Recently, he started two new research projects. One is on the voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction behavior of U.S. cities, with a more detailed analysis on cities in California. The other is a joint project with Professor Matt Kahn and another scholar in China on the "greenness" of Chinese cities.
|
 From Here to There: Improving Transit and Travel Options for Immigrants
California is in the midst of a demographic transformation. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 30 percent of the California population is now foreign-born, and demographic forecasts suggest that California will continue to become increasingly diverse, racially and ethnically. Evelyn Blumenberg (shown) of UCLA - in collaboration with Susan Handy of UC Davis, and Caroline Rodier and Susan Shaheen of Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) of UC Berkeley -recently completed a study that provided the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and other transportation agencies throughout the state with recommendations on improving transportation systems for a diverse population. Specifically, the authors find that immigrants predominantly travel by automobile but rely more heavily on transportation alternatives (public transit and carpooling) than U.S.-born adults. Immigrants also rapidly assimilate to auto use within years of arriving in California, suggesting that transit agencies may face ridership declines with projected slowing of immigration to California. The authors find that immigrants show similar transit needs as U.S. born populations, and suggest that if transit agencies improve services to meet the needs of current riders, such changes will improve transit services for all populations. Immigrants want better quality transit - more frequent service and shorter travel times, and such services are most cost-effective in higher density neighborhoods. And, outside of central city areas, automobiles provide superior access to jobs and services, suggesting that car travel should be more attainable for immigrants in such environments.
In light of new environmental and clean energy policies, such as the California Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill (AB) 32), transit improvements deserve particular attention. Because immigrants are more than twice as likely to use transit as U.S.-born persons, we may see greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from transit service improvements that target immigrant communities. A full report of findings can be found here.
|
 Diesel Truck Emissions and Public Health in Southern California
In a Lewis Center sponsored research project, authors Doug Houston (shown) and Margaret Krudysz, and principal investigator Arthur Winer of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, evaluated the impacts of heavy duty diesel truck (HDDT) traffic on residents of areas near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Container traffic at these ports has tripled in the last 15 years resulting in massive port-related (HDDT) traffic on surface streets in the port-adjacent low-income and minority communities of Wilmington and western Long Beach. With funding from the University of California Transportation Center, the authors found that HDDTs often reached 400-600 vehicles per hour for several hours, immediately upwind of 'sensitive' land uses such as schools, open-field parks and residences. Given the documented health and environmental consequences of HDDT emissions, these findings raise serious public health and environmental justice concerns for inhabitants in these port-adjacent communities. The authors identify conflicting land uses where exposure to such high levels of port-related HDDT emissions could potentially impact residents using roadway-adjacent schools, recreation facilities, and housing complexes. The authors also call for more study on the effectiveness of barriers such as sound walls or landscape buffers in mediating near-roadway pollution, and a more complete investigation of the health effects and environmental justice implications of this research.
Their findings are included in a paper to be published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Board. A copy of the research paper is available here.
|
 Research Position Available: Evaluating Local Responses to Housing Foreclosures
The Lewis Center is seeking applications from researchers for a study on local government responses to housing foreclosures in Southern California. The research will include a survey of various housing and housing-related agencies to evaluate existing policy and programmatic responses to the housing crisis. The goal is to assess deficiencies in existing responses,
and to identify and offer policy recommendations for additional capacity, including the ability of local government to act as a conduit for future federal funding initiatives.
Graduate student researchers or postdoctoral fellows are invited and encouraged to apply. Salary and pay rate are dependent on qualifications, as set by university guidelines. For graduate students, fee remission is available with 25 percent time employment; and for postdoctoral fellows, health and other employment benefits will be provided.
For more information about the project and application process, please contact John Mathews at mathewsj@ucla.edu or at 310-206-0573.
|
Extended Deadline for the Graduate Research Grants!
Currently, the Lewis Center is allocating approximately 6 awards from $1,500 to $4,000 each in support of:
* Theses
* Applied Policy Projects (APP's)
* Client Projects
* Applied Management Research (AMR's), and
* Law School Related Research Projects
This money can be used for research costs such as:
* Data
* Software
* Travel for data collection
* Production of a final report, and
* Undergraduate research assistance
We have decided to extend our deadline to Friday December 12th. We encourage all graduate students to apply. For more information, please visit our website here.
|
 The Lewis Center's Newest Addition
The Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies welcomes John Mathews as the Center's new Operations Manager. John was recently hired in September 2008 in part because of his strong office management background, which showed him to be skilled in event planning, graphic design, space management, budgetary tracking, and general knowledge of the campus's interdepartmental structure and functions. John also brings with him a vast array of knowledge and experience in the areas of concentration that are important to the Lewis Center: Labor issues, through the Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program; environmental issues, through the Institute of the Environment (IOE) and the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering (JIFRESSE) Program; transportation issues, through the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS); and housing issues, through the Department of Urban Planning. We welcome John and the wealth of expertise and experience that he brings to this position - not only in his field of administrative support, but also in dealing with issues important to Southern California in general.
John also works as a freelance writer in the entertainment industry and has been known to put on comedy shows both in Hollywood and online. You can check out his personal website at futurejohn.com, although technically, it's not supposed to be finished until 2145.
|
|
