KCRW Reporter Caleigh Wells: 

I’ll admit it: When the City of LA first painted the streets of my neighborhood with “cool pavement,” I was skeptical. When it dried, it was a mid-to-dark gray, and I couldn’t imagine that would make a big difference compared to the faded asphalt on the next block over.

But I really do notice. For one thing, it hurts less to touch it (and yes, I did walk out into the street and put my hand on the ground for this story, reporter audio equipment in hand, despite stares from strangers). And more importantly, my evening runs aren’t as unpleasant. I don’t have the added discomfort of baking in the oven-like heat radiating off the ground, which also makes the breezes cooler.

Of course, there are some limits. For one thing, it doesn’t work all day, and the temperature difference pales in comparison to the shady streets nearby. But it’s something, and in heat waves like this one, I’ll do just about anything for something.

LA’s cool pavement program tries to turn down the heat

The Cool LA project is targeting certain neighborhoods to paint some streets a lighter color and plant more trees. The City of LA estimates when the cool pavement is new, it reduces the surface temperature by as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“Cool pavements work by having surfaces not absorb quite so much of that sun energy, and reflecting it back more quickly,” says UCLA Urban Planning and Geography Professor Kelly Turner. 

Ryan Solomon, a resident of the Palms neighborhood and a dog dad, goes for a walk each day. “I thought it was a silly idea until they did one half of the street before they did the other half, And I was walking and it felt like a wave almost … like if you're on the Metro or something, and you step outside, and you get that breeze of cold air.”

Should LA make AC mandatory for all rental units?

Unlike heating units for the winter, LA landlords are not required to provide cooling mechanisms for tenants. But as climate change makes dangerously hot weather common, some local officials are questioning whether air conditioning transformed from a luxury to a necessity. 

However, cooling regulations place an undue burden on owners, landlord lobbies say. “We've just gone through three very challenging years under COVID regulations. Many landlords today have been left holding the bag on unpaid rent. And so many of our owners just cannot afford any additional expenses,” says Dan Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA).

Another concern is the impact such policy measures might have on the state’s already-strained energy grid

Rajit Gadh, professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, expects that the local measure would increase energy consumption in Los Angeles by about 5%. But some of that could be offset by storing energy during the day in the batteries of electric cars and school buses and other electric vehicles, then pumping that energy back into the grid after the sun goes down.

TX migrants receive ‘more humane’ welcome to LA after arriving by bus

Since June, Governor Greg Abbott has sent three buses of migrants from Texas to Los Angeles. It’s part of his “political protests,” which have involved sending migrants — who were born in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Haiti, and China — to other sanctuary cities such as New York and Chicago. The latest bus arrived at LA’s Union Station last week, holding 30 asylum seekers for some 30 hours.

The LA Welcomes Collective — a network of nonprofit, faith, and immigrant organizations — received advance notice of the bus’ arrival. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) helped form a group to support the migrants upon arrival. 

“We wanted to get folks together here in the City of LA to have a different response … that is a little bit more humane and more dignified for the individuals, acknowledging the journey that they've endured in their process of coming into the U.S. and getting paroled in, and then encountering anti-immigrant sentiments in Texas,” says Gloria Cruz, the policy and advocacy director of CHIRLA. 

Cruz, the LA Welcomes Collective, Mayor Karen Bass and LA County officials all coordinate to provide asylum seekers with what they need. Volunteers give them general medical assessments, food, hygiene kits, clothes and toys (for kids), legal information, and travel arrangements to reunite with families. 

What happens to the Hollywood PR machine when actors and writers strike?

A big part of an actor’s job is promoting their finished work — but SAG-AFTRA members aren’t allowed to do so while the union is striking. 

“The celebrity factory has shut down,” says Janice Min, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Ankler. “And this is what makes Hollywood special. … This is why LA is a destination of dreams and where people want to come and make it big. It's because you have talent. And without actors … without people out there to make your product — and the product here happens to be movies and television — come alive and interact with your fans, it ceases to be."

As for press relations firms, they may be cutting back or going out of business. Agents have little business too. But the bigger impacts fall on caterers, drivers, takeout restaurants, grips, and set workers, according to Min. “It's catastrophic to have this many people dependent on one industry — out of work. And that's why you're seeing so much anger at these CEOs who are collecting their checks, no matter what, throughout all of this.”

For fast food workers, organizing poses extra challenges

Fast food workers last week joined the ranks of hot labor summer, as hundreds of employees at restaurants like McDonald’s and Domino’s hit the picket lines in a day-long strike.

For years, LA’s fast food workers have been organizing to demand better conditions in their industry, where they face some of the lowest wages, toughest working conditions, and highest levels of homelessness of any workers in LA.

Lizzet Aguilar works at a McDonald’s in Boyle Heights and started pushing back against poor working conditions during the pandemic, when many of her coworkers caught COVID after cleaning up restaurants that had outbreaks. 

“McDonald's makes millions of dollars. How is it that they can't pay for a professional cleaning company? Instead, they're using us with limited resources to clean the stores and expose ourselves, and not telling us that this is happening,” she says in Spanish. “That's what led me to say … enough is enough. We're not trash. They're treating us like we aren’t important.”

However, because many of these restaurants are franchises, it can be difficult for workers to get owners to meet their demands, says Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley.

“If the franchisee tries to improve wages or improve safety or health protections, the franchisee may be involved a violation of the franchise agreement, or they may be unable to make money themselves, because the corporations at the top of the hierarchy in their franchise agreements suck all the profits out of the restaurants and leave franchisees in a bind,” says Fisk.