California Insider

“We’re just allowed to double the amount of houses. There aren’t left turn lanes big enough, there aren’t sewer pipes big enough to handle the sewage, and you don’t add any parking.”

Siyamak sits down with Jim Righeimer, developer and former mayor of Costa Mesa in Orange County. He‘ll share his concerns with some of California’s recent housing laws, such as SB9, which aims to increase housing density and affordability. We also talked with Mark Miller, Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation and housing expert, who shared his perspective on why giving homeowners the right to build can address the state’s affordability crisis, and Dennis Robinson, who has been involved in building ADUs and multiple projects under SB9. He’ll give us his hands-on experience on what the new law looks like in practice and the demand he sees for ADUs and SB9 projects.

“A lot of people think it’s kind of as easy as an ADU. When I get real with them and break down all their costs, how long it’s going to take, a lot of them will steer away from SB9. You’re gonna have to do all sorts of surveys, you’re gonna have different steps with, like the utility bills, you have to do new meters, your city impacts or fee or are going to be higher, doesn’t make financial sense.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“Unfortunately, Latinos do worse than their Latino counterparts in other states. It’s largely due to a failing public educational system, and also due to increased regulation, mostly environmental.”

Siyamak sits down with Soledad Ursua, a lead author of ‘El Futuro es Latino’, conducted with Chapman University, which looks at how Latinos are doing in California compared to other states when it comes to education, income, and homeownership. We also sat down with Gloria Romero, a former state senator, and Marshall Toplansky, a clinical assistant professor at Chapman University. In this research, he looked at the Latino workforce in California.

“They are the largest number of truckers, laborers, construction industries that are crucial to the growth of California in the future. We’re going to need to rely on Latinos for the next generation of economic prosperity for the state and they’re really not being accommodated with current state policy.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“We are hearing that the crime statistics are up a little bit. That’s what the public has been led to believe. I’m in my 31st year right now. Crime is very much higher than what it was in the past. We’re in a weird spot. It’s scary how we’ve been misled and how we’ve been lied to about these bills that they want passed.”

Siyamak sits down with Chad Bianco. He'll share what he sees as a sheriff of Riverside County, and how state policies are impacting the crime rate in California, and how we can turn things around.

“You have a teenager that you know, is a prostitute that’s on the street selling herself. It is against the law for law enforcement to ask if she’s okay, to find out what she’s doing there. They have made it a crime for me to do anything about it. I can’t talk to a juvenile anymore. I can’t rescue these these serious, innocent victims from the human trafficking element, because our state has made it legal.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“There were 17 gangs in Los Angeles that were engaged in follow-home robberies. So you could rape an unconscious woman, and the law considers that a non-violent, non-serious offense. You can engage in human trafficking of someone 18 or older, a non-violent, non-serious offense, which has made LA County US capital of human trafficking. It changes the way you live your life in LA County.”

Siyamak sits down with Nathan Hochman, former federal prosecutor and defense attorney. He will discuss what has contributed to the increasing violence of crime in LA County over the past 10 years and the role of the District Attorney’s office in combating crime and homelessness.

“Right now, there are 13,000 in the LA County jails, and about 40% of that population is homeless. 70% of them are suffering from a serious mental illness, a substance abuse disorder, addiction, or both. 50% of the people who are going to be released will be back in jail or prison within two years.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“We’ve seen people take over homes and warehouses to cultivate marijuana. People probably wouldn’t know the difference; it looks like a residential house. This is a very, very high level of sophisticated organized networks. It’s dangerous in the sense that it’s really a threat. These operations are worth a lot of money. They will do what’s necessary to protect their assets.”

Siyamak sits down with David Welch, who serves as the Special Counsel for Narcotic Enforcement to combat illegal cannabis grows in cities across LA County, and also El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher, who will tell us how illegal grows operate and how they impact communities through increased crime, pollution, and safety hazards.

“The County of Los Angeles is overwhelmed. We’ve seen situations where we have people that are undocumented who seem like they’re forced to work in these homes. We’ve seen a lot of involvement of foreign nationals, individuals that are tied to transnational criminal organizations. The victims are not only the people that are being trafficked but also sometimes the people that own the property and are being lied to and used to facilitate this illegal activity.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“We were just getting fed up. Our security bill was $150,000 last year. We never had that. The police aren’t going to come. So I blast someone on my Instagram, and they freak out. Very wealthy people start shoplifting. They realize, ‘Well, if everyone else can do it, and I’m paying taxes and they’re not getting arrested, so I’ll do it, there’s no consequences. Just shove it in your bag.' It’s horrible that we have to do this, but it has curtailed the shoplifting tremendously.”

Siyamak sits down with Fraser Ross, owner of Kitson, a specialty retail store in Los Angeles. Shoplifting is on the rise in LA. Mr. Ross will share how he holds thieves accountable by socially shaming them. We also talked to Dr Ashley Massimino, who’s a clinical and forensic psychologist, to understand the reasons behind the rise in shoplifting.

“The backdrop of LA is going down fast. The uniqueness is going down fast. Every day I hear stores closing. If this doesn’t stop, there won’t be small specialty stores, which is the backbone of the American economy, 85% are small businesses. There’s just no reason to open the store in California.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“I don’t think the Affordable Housing Act is about affordable housing at all. What it really is, is just an aspect of socialism. Carmel is very densely populated. It’s one square mile. There’s really no spot to put them other than taking away from existing infrastructure.”

Siyamak sits down with James Ardaiz, a retired California appellate judge and resident of Carmel-by-the-sea. He’ll discuss the challenges a small beach town like Carmel-by-the-sea faces when trying to meet the state’s housing mandate.

“And now you’re starting to see their reaction to it as communities are suing the state over the legislation and are attempting to band together to oppose it. It’s really kind of an odd grassroots conglomeration when you think about it. But there are just a lot of folks that are saying, ‘You’re just interfering in our lives to accomplish a social goal that we don’t share.’”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the California Insider.

“We have a huge opioid crisis on our hands, we have a huge mental health crisis. But we’re so focused on ideology versus practicality and common sense, and who’s in what political group and who’s saying it, that we haven’t solved the problem. Organizations have spent tens of thousands of dollars to spread toxic, negative information about candidates running to help serve our city instead of focusing on the issues at hand, and that is what scares me because people are so misinformed.”

Siyamak sits down with Lana Negrete, the vice mayor of Santa Monica. She shares her insights on some of the city’s most pressing issues, such as homelessness, crime, and quality of life, and how special groups and politics are impacting the city’s ability to unite and improve as a whole.

“If we continue to go down this path of letting small groups and organizations lead campaigns with misinformation and negative tactics, we will be so distracted by that and we will step farther and farther away from the real issues that we need to be focused on in Santa Monica.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

“San Francisco was a working little town with an enormous cash flow that was right for the boys to move in and take it over. It was a tourist town, within a business town, within a high real estate town, unlike any other city in America. It never had a negative cash flow. This is why the boys came in and took it over.”

Siyamak sits down with former San Francisco supervisor Tony Hall, who shares an insider view on why the city is struggling and what it will take to fix it and return San Francisco to its glory.

“They got themselves elected to office. And they proceeded to monetize city services. Anything that can be farmed out to another agency and money made on it. Outside special interests became a huge force in San Francisco, starting in the ‘70s. Now, as they got control, they set up a political machine.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Epoch Times.

“In the COVID era people ended up on unemployment and the federal government send out about $100 billion to California and a huge amount of it, about $55 billion, was lost to criminal gang. Fraudster show up from all over the world. We’re talking about international crime, gangs, people in California prisons and jails.”

Siyamak sits down with William Swain, the president of the California Policy Center. We'll discuss how California now has about $55 billion in unemployment benefit liabilities, of which a significant amount was due to EDD fraud during the pandemic, the biggest fraud of its kind in any state. Now, California businesses are liable to cover these costs.

“They’re not just going to eat that out of their profit these businesses, they’re going to raise their prices. You wouldn’t know a whole lot about this because the business community itself is really hesitant to raise objection or afraid that if they do the regulator’s will descend on them and find something wrong with their business.”

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.