Zócalo Public Square (Audio)

How Does Democracy Survive Demagoguery?

In California, few environmental issues are as hotly debated as fracking. A Zócalo/UCLA "Thinking L.A." event explored the roots of the fervor surrounding the oil and gas extraction technique in California, and attempted to dispel many misconceptions regarding its effects--both detrimental and beneficial. Moderated by Los Angeles Times environmental reporter Julie Cart, the panel discussion included UCLA geologist Aradhna Tripati, California Council on Science and Technology researcher and author of a report on fracking in California Jane Long, senior physical scientist at RAND Corporation and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School Aimee E. Curtright, and Faculty Co-Director of the

A melting pot. A bento box. Chop suey. Wontons with chips.Hawaii is such an assortment of races, ethnicities, and cultures that it’s hard to pick just one way to describe its unique mix. So what can it teach the rest of America about how different people can all live together? At the Kaka‘ako Agora in Honolulu, a panel moderated by Leslie Wilcox of PBS Hawaii took on this question at a Zócalo/Smithsonian "What It Means to Be American" event in partnership with the Daniel K. Inouye Institute. The speakers were Marketing executive Guy Kawasaki, Maya Soetoro-Ng of the University of Hawaii College of Education, vice president at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Corbett Kalama, and actor and director Daniel Dae Kim.

"Finish the job." That was the focused message of Phillip Washington, the new CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), at a Zócalo/Metro event. Washington, who came to Los Angeles three and a half months ago after years of heading Denver’s Regional Transportation District, spoke passionately with moderator Conan Nolan, an NBC 4 reporter, about the need for Los Angeles to finish the build-out of its transportation infrastructure -- and for the country as a whole to devote far more attention and money to infrastructure.

As their state continues to crawl through an extended period of drought, Californians are increasingly coming to terms with the fact that the water shortage isn’t ending anytime soon -- and looking for new ways to combat it. At a "Thinking L.A." event co-presented by UCLA, four panelists took a broad look at the state of water technology in California, and discussed both the importance and difficulty of implementing desalination plants, water-recycling facilities, and other tools to help California make better use of its scarce water resources. Orange County Register economy reporter Margot Roosevelt moderated the conversation, which featured Celeste Cantú, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, Eric Hoek, UCLA professor and CEO of Water Planet, R. Rhodes Trussell, chairman of Trussell Technologies, Inc., and Madelyn Glickfeld, of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

After decades of building prisons and increasing the number of people behind bars, the pendulum of California’s criminal justice system has swung away from incarceration. Among the policies and laws that are changing the way offenders are sentenced is Proposition 47, which was passed in November 2014, and redefines six nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. About 1 million Californians are being affected by this legislation -- getting felonies cleared from their records, being resentenced, and in some cases getting out of prison earlier than expected. At an event co-presented by the California Endowment, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen V. Manley, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership Executive Director Peggy Edwards, and Project Rebound Director Jason Bell told a full-house crowd at the Endowment’s downtown L.A. headquarters how Proposition 47 is changing the state’s approach to criminal justice and, more broadly, the challenges faced by prisoners upon reentry to society.

Over 30 million people rely on the Colorado River for water—for purposes ranging from drinking to agriculture to power plants. But scientists predict that the river isn’t going to produce the amount of water it did in the past—or does today. At an ASU/Zócalo event at ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City, Lake Havasu City water resources coordinator Doyle Wilson, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association executive director Kathleen Ferris, and Nature Conservancy Colorado River program director Taylor Hawes talked with the Arizona Republic's Shaun McKinnon about what steps must be taken to ensure that the Colorado River survives.

The Women of the West

What is the historic "California dream" -- the one people still talk about today? How does California’s 21st-century reality differ from that dream? And what is the California dream of today and the future? Zócalo's Joe Mathews, author of the weekly Connecting California column, talked about what our places and people have in common, and why, if we want to keep them together and help them flourish once again, we need to start forging a new California story.

After a screening of their new movie Big Eyes, writer-producers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski discuss their greater hope for the biopic--knowing the story and artist can shed light on the genuinity of Margaret Keane’s work.

L.A. has all the elements of a global city–except one: a fully developed, advanced, and integrated transportation system. CicLAvia’s bike festivals lets Angelenos escape the tranny of the car. Founder Aaron Paley discusses what CicLAvia means to the Los Angeles community and where he hopes it’ll go—from city to county… to country.

Inland Empire Economic Partnership president and CEO Paul Granillo discusses the challenges to effective public healthcare in the Inland Empire. The region is lacking in doctors, nurses, and hospitals, while percentage of residents in poverty grows.

Almost two-thirds of new teachers report that their training left them underprepared for the realities of the classroom. NewSchools Venture Fund’s Stephanie Wood-Garnett and ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Dean Mari E. Koerner discuss how to shift from competition to collaboration in teaching practice and evaluation.

Western Health Advantage CEO Garry Maisel, Health Access lobbyist Beth Capell, and Bay Area Council policy advisor Micah Weinberg talk with healthcare reporter Emily Bazar about whether the Affordable Care Act is living up to its promises. Does it give consumers more choices? Is it as easy as shopping on Amazon? They discussed the new healthcare landscape at a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event in Sacramento.

Los Angeles was built by the railroad, but the city has resisted the allure of train transportation for a century. What is it about rail that captures people's hearts--and why has L.A. remained immune to this almost universally beloved mode of transport? Journalist and Chapman University English scholar Tom Zoellner, author of Train, and UCLA and UC Berkeley legal, business, and environmental scholar Ethan Elkind, author of Railtown, discussed the past and future of trains in Southern California.