Bright Flowers, Bleak Budgets

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Welcome to the first week of spring! Treat yourself to a wide-ranging newsletter. In this edition: The NY Times examines the California Coastal Commission’s heel turn. Rick Caruso assembles a squad of corporate Avengers to take on the LA rebuilding effort. DOGE does its best Thanos impression by snapping California’s science institutions out of existence. The University of California goes austere, the job market wobbles, and everyone has an opinion about the governor’s new podcast. All this and more on the scroll.

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As the kids say, “Let’s GOOOOO!!!”

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SEA SICK OF RED TAPE

Once hailed as the Golden State’s shoreline guardian, the California Coastal Commission is taking increasing heat for strangling housing development under the guise of environmentalism. Critics say it’s using red tape to strangle housing production amid a historic crisis, and slow-walking rebuilding in the aftermath of wildfires. Democrats and Republicans alike are sharpening their knives — both President Trump and Governor Newsom have publicly slammed the agency — while coastal commissioners cry scapegoat. The battlefield couldn’t be more valuable or picturesque: The “coastal zone” under the commission’s purview can stretch half a mile inland in some places and five miles in others.

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🤫 Everything you should know

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🦮 ✂️ 🧪 -  GONE TO THE DOGES — Don't look now, but the environmental and scientific communities in California are about to get DOGEified. The government strike force has marked nearly 800 federal lease locations for closure nationwide, which would reap $500 million in savings to the U.S. government. (That's a whopping 0.007% of the federal budget, but who's counting?) On the chopping block? Sixty-five California locations, including 22 federal offices tied to environmental science and land management, including NOAA, the EPA, and the U.S. Geological Survey. These offices provide the boots-on-the-ground brainpower behind weather forecasts, wildfire prep, water safety, and coastal conservation. What could go wrong? LA Times

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💸 🔬 🏥  -  DO UC WHAT’S COMING? — The University of California has frozen hiring across all 10 campuses, six health centers, and 20 health professional schools, leaving thousands of vacancies unfilled. The move comes as $6 billion in federal research funds and $8 billion in Medicare/Medicaid support hang in the balance — on top of a looming 8% state funding cut. The consequences could be dire: deteriorating patient care, stalled critical research, classrooms crowded beyond capacity. UC leaders call it necessary austerity. Critics uncharitably call it surrender. Either way, California’s flagship public university system is bracing for a financial gut punch with generational consequences. EdSource

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🔥 🧹 🏗️  -  CARUSO DIGS IN

Rick Caruso, never one to think small, is diving headlong into LA’s fire recovery. His new nonprofit, Steadfast LA, is rallying private giants like ESRI, Gensler, JPMorgan, and Amazon to bypass red tape and rebuild fast. “Government can’t do this alone,” Caruso says. “It’s too big.” As a proof point, he’s lining up deals like Samara’s $15 million pledge for debt-free, factory-built homes in Altadena and the Palisades for lower-income residents whose homes were lost. Caruso’s selling a vision: less government gridlock, more speed, and a shinier, sturdier Los Angeles.

<WATCH NOW>

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🚨 🚨 🚨  -  LABOR PAINS — California’s job market just got its quarterly reality check — and it’s not pretty. A new report by the California Center for Jobs & the Economy shows that the state added zero net jobs in January, ranks 32nd in growth, and still trails pre-pandemic employment by 132,400 jobs. Two-thirds of recent job gains came from publicly funded, low-wage caregiving roles. Meanwhile, private-sector industries are shedding workers, tech is contracting, and unemployment remains the second highest in the U.S. The red lights are blinking on the California economy. Now would be a good time to start addressing major strains in our business climate. - CA Center for Jobs & the Economy

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🎧 🔊 🎧 ON THE POD: THIS IS GAVIN NEWSOM

Everyone has an opinion about Governor Newsom’s new podcast. Progressives are apoplectic, conservatives are equal parts concerned and bemused, and everyone else is just kind of mystified. “I think people are trying to figure out what’s going on,” said state Sen. Ben Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat. Have a listen and judge for yourself: This is Gavin Newsom

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💧 💦 💧 - CALIFORNIA RESERVOIRS ARE BRIMMING

March storms have pushed California reservoir storage levels well above their average for this time of year, providing a little additional breathing room as temperatures begin to climb. The San Francisco Chronicle has the rundown. - SF Chronicle

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RANUNCULUS RIOT!

Each spring, 80 million ranunculus flowers bloom like technicolor popcorn across 55 acres in Carlsbad, CA, luring 250,000 humans and, this year, some giant glass bugs. What began as one man's flower hobby in the 1920s is now a full-blown floral frenzy — equal parts botanical wonder, art exhibit, and well-irrigated selfie trap. San Diego Union Tribune

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