Connecting Communities In More Ways Than One
Quote of the Week
"I also think, though, that it underscores the need for the communities to spend more time together. Going back to when Tom Bradley was mayor, there was an African American-Jewish dialogue that took place after the Watts Riots. And then later on as other things happened in the city, there were ongoing Jewish-African American dialogues, Jewish-Latino dialogues and Jewish dialogues with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. I think those are very instructive. The only way to get past stuff like this is to know who your neighbors are and understand and respect them. Passing a resolution saying that we’re going to be nice to each other doesn’t really make it happen."
Richard Katz, Forward Interview
Big Picture
The Committee for Great LA recently released a report that shows how abundantly clear having access to the internet is a requirement to operate in modern society.
Whether you are a student or someone in need of healthcare or government services, or looking to create a small business, internet access is essential.
The report shows that ~20% of LA county residents are unconnected to high-speed internet or only connected through mobile devices (“under connected”) and 50% of households in the lowest income quintile are unconnected or under connected. The problem is - the cost of service is too high.
Shamelessly the most under connected neighborhoods are often correlate to neighborhoods that were “redlined” for housing investment in the mid-20th Century. Today's “digital redlining” describes how LA county’s low-income communities and communities of color have been systemically disadvantaged from accessing affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet.
The specific dats shows that nearly one in three households earning less than $40,000 per year “have no Internet connection or only have access through a smartphone”.
What a missed opportunity for supporting equitable economic and jobs growth throughout all of LA's communities. The world's top cities saw the opportunity, and once again LA has not acted in the best interests of all Angelenos.
A seminal study on the cost of connectivity around the world found that average advertised speeds in LA were 100 to 160 Mbps while those speeds were 750 to 1,450 Mbps in Hong Kong, 300 to 1,096 Mbps in Lafayette, LA, 250 to 975 Mbps in Chattanooga, TN, and 200 to 305 Mbps in New York, to name but a few.
Self-reported data from service providers showcase that only 35.8% of LA county households have fiber service.
Now What
The report proposes a clear path forward to complement – and hopefully to help prioritize – the work of elected officials, government agencies, civic institutions, internet service providers (ISPs), community-based organizations, and business leaders.
UNIVERSAL ADOPTION: Ensure that all residents in LA county are connected to broadband service of at least 100/20 Mbps for no more than $30 per month by 2027, enabling service at no cost to low-income residents, after government subsidies.
A FIBER FUTURE: Eliminate disparities in broadband accessibility, ensuring that every resident, regardless of location, income, or identity, has the means to access, afford, and adopt fiber-based broadband service with multi-gigabit-symmetric speeds by 2040.
SUSTAINED ADVOCACY: Elevate and grow a vibrant ecosystem of community advocates from across the county focused on aligned, active, and sustainable broadband equity advocacy to end the digital divide.
How Business and Civic Leaders Can Support this Initiative
Elevate universal adoption as a pressing goal to current and potential elected officials
Facilitate public relations campaign for household-based data collection and service adoption efforts
Advocate for and support the entry of challenger ISPs to promote consumer choice and more affordable prices
Organize, inform, and fund a base of community advocates into an aligned, active, and sustainable broadband equity advocacy organization, including to shape a new Internet Infrastructure Agency
Sustain attention and advocacy at the local, state, and national level to adopt digital equity policies
Promote a supportive media environment for consistent attention to digital equity issues
Foreign Businesses Look to Miami, Where is LA?
Orlando, New York and Boston round out leading cities in inaugural Investing in America report.
Miami has been ranked the best city in the US for foreign multinationals to do business in the inaugural Investing in America ranking compiled by the Financial Times and Nikkei.
Chart: Miami finished first by succeeding where it counts: last year, it pulled in the most foreign direct investment per capita of any place studied. It also scored high in catering to the special needs of overseas companies, including an airport with dozens of non-stops to foreign destinations and access to two of the largest shipping ports in the country.
CA's Golden Goose - IPOs - Are Getting Harder to Find
California has been generating the most initial public offerings of any US state every year since 2003.
TodayCalifornia’s share of US IPO proceeds fell to 2% through Sept. 30, compared with 39% for 2021
Only nine companies headquartered in California went public during the first three quarters of 2022, compared with 81 that launched IPOs during the same period last year, according to a Bloomberg News analysis.
Massachusetts has the lead at this moment, with 10 companies debuting in the public market this year, thanks to its robust biotechnology scene. Moreover, the total raised by those companies — $1.2 billion — is more than six times that of their California counterparts.
California’s change of fortune is explained largely by the drop in valuations among Silicon Valley’s tech startups, said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida. “It is almost entirely just a reset of valuations,” he said.
What LA should be paying attention to - Biopharmaceuticals are still going public and Massachusetts is going to stand out with biotech startups. WHY NOT LA?!
Leadership in the Community
Lynda and Stewart Resnick Pledge $50M to UC Davis for Sustainability Research.
This historic gift funds new Center for Agricultural Innovation and Research Grants.
This is the largest gift ever to the university by individual donors.
The $50 million pledge will support the school’s longstanding commitment to address today’s most pressing challenges in agriculture and environmental sustainability.
This initiative will unite experts from across UC Davis focused on five thematic research areas including:
Identifying innovative solutions for agricultural byproducts
Maximizing water and energy efficiencies
Developing next-generation technologies
Making crops more resilient and sustainable in the face of a rapidly changing climate
Expanding access to nutritious food.
Ultimately, the center will explore new ways of balancing food production with leading sustainability practices while advancing the global agricultural industry with scalable solutions.