Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, happy.
Speaker 2: To be sitting behind the microphones here on a beautiful
Speaker 2: afternoon as you've been hearing temperatures in the mid seventies.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the weather and how it
Speaker 2: impacts us here and do we have the right to
Speaker 2: enjoy it or should we feel guilty because so many
Speaker 2: of our fellow Southern Californians are suffering right now. I'm
Speaker 2: mainly on Fox eleven News. I fill in here occasionally
Speaker 2: on KFI, which I love doing because I'm a big
Speaker 2: talk radio AM radio audio fan, always have been. And
Speaker 2: then I'm not sure if you have the opportunity, but
Speaker 2: our sister station at Fox eleven, which we've rebranded as
Speaker 2: Fox eleven Plus but you may remember as Channel thirteen KCOP,
Speaker 2: we've taken the unusual step and I want to pat
Speaker 2: ourselves on the back of adding newscasts at an hour
Speaker 2: at eight pm, an hour at nine pm. Not many
Speaker 2: local stations are adding newscasts, others are cutting back. But
Speaker 2: so if you get a chance to check those out
Speaker 2: and remember Marla Teaz. You can know Marla Teaz from
Speaker 2: her work filling inher at KFI as well as on
Speaker 2: anchoring on Fox eleven, is the anchor person of the
Speaker 2: Fox eleven Plus newscast. She is in the process of
Speaker 2: having her baby. Do we have any updates on that?
Speaker 2: I lean haven't heard anything about that, Robin. So we're
Speaker 2: with you from two to four this afternoon. We have
Speaker 2: a lot to discuss. I encourage you if you would
Speaker 2: to pay attention. Obviously, I like to call it like
Speaker 2: exercise for the mind, but I'm not just interested in
Speaker 2: talking at you.
Speaker 3: I'd love to hear what you think.
Speaker 2: And as you know, you can if you're listening on
Speaker 2: the app, the iHeartRadio app, you can click on the
Speaker 2: microphone icon and record a fifteen second message, and we
Speaker 2: hope to play some of those on the air. And
Speaker 2: if you're really inspired, pick up the telephone or dial
Speaker 2: your cell phone one eight hundred and five to two
Speaker 2: oh one KFI. That's one eight hundred five two oh
Speaker 2: one five three four. Going to ask you some specific
Speaker 2: questions later on in the in the in the afternoon,
Speaker 2: have you heard that story about the neighbor from hell
Speaker 2: in West Hollywood. I'm interested to see whether any of
Speaker 2: you have any particularly outrageous neighbor stories that you can
Speaker 2: share with us. So we talked about the weather and
Speaker 2: we you know, it's so it's it's such a cliche
Speaker 2: to say this is one of the reasons we live
Speaker 2: here right because of the weather's beautiful. That's why we
Speaker 2: put up with the traffic and the fires and the
Speaker 2: floods and the high cost of living and you know,
Speaker 2: add to your.
Speaker 3: List of things. But it's a tough time right now.
Speaker 2: Locally, obviously nationally, things are so divisive. It seems like
Speaker 2: if you follow the news like we do, and if
Speaker 2: you're listening here in KFI, then you're one of those
Speaker 2: who follows the news and is engaged and pays attention.
Speaker 2: And we appreciate that. But we're not just cruising. We're
Speaker 2: fighting through hardships right now. The quality of life is
Speaker 2: so dependent on where you live, your lifestyle. And if
Speaker 2: you're in Big Bear and you're keeping an eye on
Speaker 2: the Eaglitz and you're hiking every day, you're out on
Speaker 2: the boat, or you're up skiing, fantastic. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you're in Ventura and you near the beach and you're
Speaker 2: surfing and you're fishing, fantastic. You're in Anaheim, you once
Speaker 2: again the annual worry about like what are the Angels
Speaker 2: gonna do? How long is Mike trub gonna be healthy?
Speaker 2: But in Los Angeles, yes, we have the Dodgers to
Speaker 2: look forward to. They open the regular season on Thursday.
Speaker 2: But there's thousands of our friends, family members, fellow Angelinos,
Speaker 2: and I include Alta Dina in this. Even though it's
Speaker 2: La County technically, the fire recovery story is.
Speaker 3: Still dominating the news.
Speaker 2: And I know our leaders are elected leaders and others
Speaker 2: are trying their best, they really are. But I just
Speaker 2: feel that the people, the homeowners that we talk to
Speaker 2: that we interview for the news, they.
Speaker 3: Want more, They need more leadership.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: Mayor Karen Best, who were credited after a very rocky start,
Speaker 2: has been almost everywhere leading the charge for rebuilding, cutting tape.
Speaker 2: She was out in the Palisades on Friday talking with
Speaker 2: the news media about how if you rebuild with electrical
Speaker 2: appliances and more energy efficient appliances and other things like
Speaker 2: that you harden your home, then the permitting process will
Speaker 2: be sped up if you use fire resistant materials. Of course,
Speaker 2: all new construction is with fire resistant materials. But amidst
Speaker 2: all this, there's a recall effort against Mayor Bass.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure I support that. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you do.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk more about her leadership or what
Speaker 2: some might consider challenging challenges in her leadership, but first
Speaker 2: let's get an update on what the latest is from
Speaker 2: our friends at Channel seven.
Speaker 5: If you live in Pacific Palisades, you have less than
Speaker 5: two weeks to opt in or opt out for fire
Speaker 5: debris removal, but Mayor Bass says more than one thousand
Speaker 5: residents haven't done either.
Speaker 6: If you do not take any action, properties will be
Speaker 6: declared a nuisance and owners will be responsible for all
Speaker 6: abatement costs without the possibility of FEMA reimburse and possibly
Speaker 6: be subject to a lean on your property.
Speaker 7: Although there's progress in the Palisades two and a half
Speaker 7: months after the fire, there's more lots that haven't been
Speaker 7: cleared than those that have. According to the Army Corps
Speaker 7: of Engineers, over three thousand residents have opted in and
Speaker 7: five hundred and sixty four have opted out.
Speaker 3: The Army Corps of.
Speaker 7: Engineers will only clear the area of your property that burns,
Speaker 7: so some lots have concrete slabs, driveways and retaining walls.
Speaker 7: Left behind which will need to be addressed in order
Speaker 7: to rebuild.
Speaker 2: All right, And that's a good compromise AABC seven. So
Speaker 2: one of the obvious questions that I have is what's
Speaker 2: the rush? What is with this this deadline? So Mayor Bass,
Speaker 2: I mean, I get that at some point you have
Speaker 2: to create a deadline. Can't be a year from now,
Speaker 2: but March thirty first, I mean, people are still in shock.
Speaker 2: That's why the numbers are what they are. Where the
Speaker 2: three thousand residents have opted into this program, five hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty four have opted out, but there's one thousand
Speaker 2: or so more that haven't done anything. Yeah, because they're
Speaker 2: still not sure like what their future is.
Speaker 3: So it seems outrageous to me.
Speaker 2: And again I don't know if you agree with this
Speaker 2: or not, that she's essentially like, you better.
Speaker 3: Do this by March thirty first.
Speaker 2: She's threatening people with like financial sanctions if they don't
Speaker 2: do it when they're trying to recover from the worst
Speaker 2: trauma of their lifetime. That seems totally tone deaf to me. Now,
Speaker 2: I appreciate that she's out there. I appreciate that she's
Speaker 2: leading the charge. I appreciate that she's cutting through red
Speaker 2: tape and promising to speed up the permit approval process.
Speaker 2: It's amazing that some permits have already been granted because
Speaker 2: you know the long history of red tape and building
Speaker 2: in California.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Agreed, disagree, let me know what you think, and then
Speaker 2: we're gonna talk about this after we come back from
Speaker 2: a break. But and then the next breath, the big
Speaker 2: story out of the City of Los Angeles. And again,
Speaker 2: not all of our listeners live in Los Angeles. If
Speaker 2: you're living in one of the you know, eighty five
Speaker 2: little communities that make up southern California, great because you're
Speaker 2: not dealing with this directly. But now we have the
Speaker 2: fire recovery, and now the City of Los Angeles is
Speaker 2: talking about like a one billion dollar budget shortfall. That's
Speaker 2: one billion dollars, and we have the city administrative officer
Speaker 2: testifying about this in the city Council. We have the
Speaker 2: city Controller, Kenneth Mahea, issuing his own press releases with
Speaker 2: these dire warnings, demanding that everything is on the table.
Speaker 2: Raises for firefighters and police that have previously been negotiated.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess I'm wanting more from our leaders.
Speaker 3: I want a unified approach. You know.
Speaker 2: Mayor Bass love to use that term when it came
Speaker 2: to the homeless, that we're all locking arms. Well, we're
Speaker 2: not locking arms on the issues that affect us police
Speaker 2: and firefighter hiring and raises, the rebuilding process, the deadline?
Speaker 3: Do we need a deadline? Mayor Bass's future herself?
Speaker 2: Is she going to be recalled the prime I'm Maury
Speaker 2: for the mayor's elections next year? What do we need
Speaker 2: to recall for Who's going to challenge her? Is it
Speaker 2: going to be Rick Caruso? Who will?
Speaker 8: So?
Speaker 2: If you're an engaged citizen of Los Angeles, you're forgive me,
Speaker 2: But I think you're entitled to wonder like who's really
Speaker 2: in charge? And I'll leave you this one thought. Right
Speaker 2: before we do, we check in with Eileen Gonzalez. Whatever
Speaker 2: happened to Steve sober Off the rebuildings are that was
Speaker 2: appointed to oversee the Palisades. We haven't heard a word
Speaker 2: from him in weeks. All right, I'm Phil Shuman with
Speaker 2: it till four o'clock again. Let us know what you
Speaker 2: think by dropping a comment on the iHeartRadio app microphone icon.
Speaker 2: If you're really inspired give us a phone call and
Speaker 2: one eight hundred one KFI one one hundred and five
Speaker 2: to two oh one KFI and we'll talk.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: I'm Phil Schumann here with you from Fox eleven News
Speaker 2: from Fox eleven Plus. As I mentioned, we started a
Speaker 2: new newscast in the evening. To get a chance to
Speaker 2: check it out. It's at eight pm and again at
Speaker 2: nine pm. I understand if you're shying away from the
Speaker 2: news because so much of it is almost overwhelming, whether
Speaker 2: it's a local news here in southern California or of
Speaker 2: course on the national front, where it seems like every
Speaker 2: day there's some type of new conflict with President Trump
Speaker 2: and co President Musk and the Democrats, and it's a lot.
Speaker 3: It's a lot to.
Speaker 2: Deal with as we try to get through our day
Speaker 2: to day life here and just you know, not let
Speaker 2: the man get you down.
Speaker 3: It's a challenge.
Speaker 2: So the last segment, we talked about the rebuilding process
Speaker 2: for our folks out in the Palisades and to a
Speaker 2: lesser degree in Alta Dina that hasn't gotten as much coverage,
Speaker 2: but the stories out of both locations are just so compelling,
Speaker 2: and I want to give a hat tip to the
Speaker 2: journalists that are out there every day telling those stories,
Speaker 2: in particular the La Times, which has the manpower to
Speaker 2: devote to this manpower and quotes. So while Mayor Bass
Speaker 2: is out there cheerleading for the rebuilding process and trying
Speaker 2: to push things forward and avoid a recall, which probably
Speaker 2: isn't going to happen because it's too expensive to gather
Speaker 2: the votes, the signatures, and it's really not enough time,
Speaker 2: the city's chief administrative officer, echoed by call an alarm
Speaker 2: sounded by the city controller, is that, hey, even though
Speaker 2: we have a thirteen billion dollar budget, bigger than some states,
Speaker 2: the City of Los Angeles is looking at a likely
Speaker 2: one billion dollar budget shortfall for the twenty five to
Speaker 2: twenty six year which means layoffs for anybody, which means
Speaker 2: cuts and services, which means more frustration for people that
Speaker 2: live in the City of Los Angeles, who already pay
Speaker 2: some of the highest taxes anywhere. Let's listen, get a
Speaker 2: report on that, and then we'll talk more about it.
Speaker 9: Well, the City Controller says, his office and the city
Speaker 9: want to do everything they can to avoid layoffs, and
Speaker 9: while the one billion dollar budget shortfall had many people gasping.
Speaker 9: The city controller says, we really should have seen this coming.
Speaker 10: A staggering one billion dollar budget deficit projected for the
Speaker 10: City of Los Angeles. It took many by surprise, but
Speaker 10: City Controller Kenneth Mahia says he's been sounding the alarm
Speaker 10: for the past two years.
Speaker 11: We're going to be tough choices to be made, and
Speaker 11: actually we already started last year because this is the
Speaker 11: second year in a row where we suffered from a
Speaker 11: budget deficit, so we've been in a hiring free since
Speaker 11: January twenty twenty four.
Speaker 10: Mahia says the three biggest issues people are spending less.
Speaker 10: Revenue from business taxes and hotel taxes are down more
Speaker 10: than three hundred million dollars. The city is drowning in liabilities,
Speaker 10: paying over three hundred million in lawsuits, and salary raises
Speaker 10: to employees including police and fire. As a city on
Speaker 10: the hook for two hundred and fifty million dollars all
Speaker 10: right to close the gap.
Speaker 2: Thank you that it's not great news. I mean, these
Speaker 2: are bills that you don't even realize. You realize that
Speaker 2: if you happen to have a single family home in
Speaker 2: the City of la that you pay about seventy five
Speaker 2: dollars BI monthly for trash pickup. They're saying that amount
Speaker 2: could increase to one hundred and fifty dollars by twenty
Speaker 2: twenty eight. By the way, the mayor is going to
Speaker 2: be releasing her proposed budget next month, so that's going
Speaker 2: to lead to more fireworks. So Mayor Bass, she loves
Speaker 2: to talk in these broad generalities, like she's directed city
Speaker 2: staff to leave quote no stones unturned to find cost
Speaker 2: cutting measures to minimize layoffs. They're also going to consider
Speaker 2: adjusting I mean, these are things you never think of
Speaker 2: the city solid waste management program. Again, that will lead
Speaker 2: to increased trash rates. So again it's an example of
Speaker 2: a failure of vision, failure of leadership. And I'm not
Speaker 2: as cranky as John Cobalt is about all this, and
Speaker 2: you know, wants to get rid of everybody.
Speaker 3: I just want them to do better.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've spent a lot of time with Mayor Bass,
Speaker 2: you know, covering her from Fox eleven and the campaign
Speaker 2: against Rick Caruso back in twenty twenty one, and her
Speaker 2: heart is in the right place. And if you doubt that,
Speaker 2: then I don't think you're dealing with the reality and
Speaker 2: all of these elected officials, whether it's the mayor, whether
Speaker 2: it's a city council person, whether it's one of the
Speaker 2: five Los Angeles County supervisors. And this is true in
Speaker 2: other cities beyond Los Angeles City and County. I mean,
Speaker 2: these people work like seven days a week. They're incredibly dedicated,
Speaker 2: and in most cases they're in.
Speaker 3: It for the right reasons.
Speaker 2: They want to help their community, they want to make
Speaker 2: their corner of southern California a better place. But hey,
Speaker 2: these are complicated times. I mean, the police department wants
Speaker 2: more money, they deserve it. The fire department wants more money,
Speaker 2: they deserve it. The trash collectors, I mean, the utility workers,
Speaker 2: take your pick. And when we're in a time when
Speaker 2: here's the three main sources of revenue you heard in
Speaker 2: that report briefly, sales tax, hotel room tax, and our
Speaker 2: share of property taxes from LA County, those were all
Speaker 2: down costs her up and so we need leaders with
Speaker 2: like vision how we're going to generate more money. I mean,
Speaker 2: this sort of a segue into and was going to
Speaker 2: save this for a whole other segment because it's like,
Speaker 2: so outrageous. Is President Trump has launched the gold Card program.
Speaker 2: Have you heard about this? You thought it was maybe
Speaker 2: a credit card or but it isn't. It's the gold
Speaker 2: Visa proposal, in which people would pay up to five
Speaker 2: million dollars in fees for the right to obtain permanent
Speaker 2: residents in this country. I mean, it seems outrageous. The
Speaker 2: President announced this last month, the Golden Card program, offering
Speaker 2: wealthy and vents, at a cost of five million dollars each,
Speaker 2: the chance to again buy your permanent residency in this country.
Speaker 2: We're talking obviously wealthy investors with large chunks of money.
Speaker 2: One card costs five million dollars. Trump says the US
Speaker 2: could sell one million of them. I mean, amidst all
Speaker 2: the Doge controversy, we haven't heard too much about this,
Speaker 2: but he's claiming that what he got like five billion
Speaker 2: dollars already in these gold cards.
Speaker 3: I mean, is that fair? Obviously not so.
Speaker 2: Is there like a local version of the gold Card
Speaker 2: program that could help raise some money from the city
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles. Again, we're going to hear this in
Speaker 2: the news for the next month or so. There's going
Speaker 2: to be threatened strikes, there's going to be labor groups upset,
Speaker 2: there's going to be calls for a compromise. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just again going back to one of my central
Speaker 2: themes and just navigating the day to day life here
Speaker 2: in southern California is that nothing is easy. Nothing happened smoothly.
Speaker 2: You can't just you know, pay your rent. Count on
Speaker 2: they're being apartments available, pay the mortgage, count on, there
Speaker 2: being loans available, whether you're in the Palasads or Altadena.
Speaker 2: Counting on rebuilding without somebody threatening you with fines if
Speaker 2: you don't apply by a certain deadline. I mean, just
Speaker 2: going from A to B traffic, the Metro. They're talking
Speaker 2: about expanding the metro out along the line from downtown
Speaker 2: LA all the way out to Westwood. The streets and
Speaker 2: Beverly Hills are closed down for construction. They announced that
Speaker 2: the same day they're dealing with a stabbing on the
Speaker 2: metro line at the Universal City station. So it's like
Speaker 2: it makes you want to just sometimes like flee, right,
Speaker 2: But I'm not.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm hanging in there. I hope you are too,
Speaker 3: So let me know what you think.
Speaker 2: Click on the radio on the microphone icon on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app here at KFIM six forty. If you're really inspired,
Speaker 2: give me a phone call. Let's get some discussion going
Speaker 2: the phone number. As I'm sure you know by now,
Speaker 2: if you're a regular listener, one eight hundred and five
Speaker 2: to one KFI. That's one eight hundred five to oh
Speaker 2: one to five, three four. I'm particularly interested in. Later
Speaker 2: on in the three o'clock hour, we're going to get
Speaker 2: into this amazing story about this quote neighbor from hell
Speaker 2: in West Hollywood.
Speaker 3: If you have any of these outrageous stories.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand started
Speaker 1: new newscasts.
Speaker 2: If you happen to like television news at an earlier
Speaker 2: hour than wait till ten or eleven o'clock at night,
Speaker 2: check it out at eight and nine. Our colleague and
Speaker 2: friend Marla Teez will be mainly anchoring that show. But
Speaker 2: first she's having a baby girl, which I'm sure you
Speaker 2: know if you're following along her story on social and
Speaker 2: from when she was here filling in on KFI.
Speaker 3: Anyway, congrats, Stero. I'll keep you posted on that.
Speaker 2: Haven't got any updates on that lately, which kind of
Speaker 2: leads us into our next story, which was totally not
Speaker 2: my plan. But I'll make it. I'll make it happen.
Speaker 2: Do you happen to No?
Speaker 4: All?
Speaker 2: Right, here's here's like a quiz I would I had
Speaker 2: to look this up. How many people there are in
Speaker 2: the world, how many people around the world. The population
Speaker 2: of the of the entire world is about eight point
Speaker 2: two billion. Three hundred and forty million of us are
Speaker 2: here in the United States. So President Trump, as if
Speaker 2: he doesn't have anything else to do or to worry about,
Speaker 2: is concerned. This is a headline from newsweek dot com
Speaker 2: and when we check sources far and wide for story
Speaker 2: information and story ideas, the headline is we want more babies.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump may have a notable impact on birth rates
Speaker 2: because the United States is one of many major economies
Speaker 2: that are facing population decline driven by low fertility rates.
Speaker 2: So President Trump has spoken out on this issue several times,
Speaker 2: including during a campaign speech, and hadn't gotten a lot
Speaker 2: of attention compared to some of the other things he says.
Speaker 2: But the quote is we want more babies, to put
Speaker 2: it nicely, and last month he signed an executive order
Speaker 2: expanding access to in vitro fertilization IVF for Americans. His
Speaker 2: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy directed the Department of Transportation to
Speaker 2: give precedents to quote communities with marriage and birth rates
Speaker 2: higher than the national average. I mean, very controversial issue.
Speaker 2: I mean, why our elected officials are in our bedroom,
Speaker 2: so to speak. I mean, maybe that's why he loves
Speaker 2: Elon so much, because if you know anything about Elon,
Speaker 2: you know that. All right, we'll give him credit for
Speaker 2: being brilliant in the genius scale. But the guy has
Speaker 2: fourteen children. I think sadly one of them passed away
Speaker 2: when they were very young. Fourteen children, I mean, who
Speaker 2: has fourteen children? So, I mean Trump has five? Can
Speaker 2: you name Trump's children? Donald Jr? Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and
Speaker 2: of course Baron. With Milania? Where is Milania? By the way,
Speaker 2: is she a real person?
Speaker 3: Eileen?
Speaker 2: What do you think we never see We see Milani
Speaker 2: at the inauguration, and we'll see her four years from now,
Speaker 2: maybe at a state funeral. So Donald Trump is worried
Speaker 2: that we don't we're not having enough enough babies here
Speaker 2: in southern California, here in this country, and in particularly
Speaker 2: in southern California. I did some research into what they
Speaker 2: call the American Dream. Fox LA has been covering this
Speaker 2: story also and how basically the American Dream is sort
Speaker 2: of an umbrella headline for how much it costs a year,
Speaker 2: how much you have to make a year to live
Speaker 2: in like the top ten cities in Los Angeles, whether
Speaker 2: it's New York, Chicago, Philly, La, DC, and so not
Speaker 2: a surprise, the cost of the American dream is going up,
Speaker 2: according to a new study released earlier this month by
Speaker 2: an organization called Go Banking Rates Robin, Let's listen to that.
Speaker 4: You study reveals that achieved the American dream will cost
Speaker 4: much more money than ever before. The new report from
Speaker 4: Investopedia puts the price tag of getting married, buying a home,
Speaker 4: raising children, and retiring at four point four million dollars.
Speaker 4: The figure increased by almost one million dollars compared to
Speaker 4: just last year. The report says rising costs for housing, education, healthcare,
Speaker 4: and are primarily responsible for this big jump.
Speaker 3: Okay, well that makes sense.
Speaker 2: What did you say, four million, four hundred thousand in
Speaker 2: your lifetime? So I'm about I'm only about three hundred
Speaker 2: and ninety thousand dollars short, so I'm in good shape.
Speaker 3: So at a minimum.
Speaker 2: The analysis found that someone would need to make one
Speaker 2: hundred and two thousand annually to afford the quote American
Speaker 2: Dream in the biggest cities across the United States. How
Speaker 2: does Los Angeles stack up? According to this Go Banking
Speaker 2: Rate analysis, the American Dream just costs just under one
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty thousand in LA. That's the seventh highest
Speaker 2: cost in the country. I would have thought it would
Speaker 2: have actually been higher. So here are the full details.
Speaker 2: Household income for the so called American Dream. This is
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The
Speaker 2: annual cost of living, which is essentially rant and slash.
Speaker 2: Mortgage makes up about half of that eighty thousand. The
Speaker 2: grocery cost per year. And you know, we don't calculate
Speaker 2: this per year. We really think about it maybe per week.
Speaker 2: But if you add it all up, about ninety five hundred,
Speaker 2: the average monthly mortgage cost is six thousand dollars. You
Speaker 2: have a six thousand dollars mortgage, and then childcare, which
Speaker 2: is a huge number, is about thirty five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: per year. So again this goes back to what we
Speaker 2: were talking about earlier, is that's it's not easy to
Speaker 2: get by here in southern California, and it seems like
Speaker 2: it's getting more challenging rather than less challenging. You know,
Speaker 2: jobs are harder to come by, Salary increases harder to
Speaker 2: come by. The cost of living is going up, whether
Speaker 2: it's rent, whether it's the mortgage, whether it's eggs, whether
Speaker 2: it's steak. We had a story on the news about
Speaker 2: the cost of beef has gone up like forty percent
Speaker 2: of the past year. But then if you want to
Speaker 2: look at you know what you might consider good news
Speaker 2: for Angelino's that again we're not even the most expensive
Speaker 2: city in the state. It's even more expensive than San Francisco,
Speaker 2: San Jose, and Oakland. So again, all of these studies,
Speaker 2: you know, you can look that look at them in
Speaker 2: different ways. But without Los Angeles and San Francisco, Washington
Speaker 2: d C is up there. I like Washington d C.
Speaker 2: I often think to myself, if I was coming out
Speaker 2: of college like today, rather than starting at a small
Speaker 2: television station in Wichita Falls, Texas back in the nineteen
Speaker 2: seventies to chase the television dream, I think I would
Speaker 2: go to Washington d C.
Speaker 3: It just seems like there's a lot.
Speaker 2: All the action is there now Trump not talking about Trump,
Speaker 2: I'm just talking about in general.
Speaker 3: It seems like Washington, d C. Is where the action is.
Speaker 2: I think what I would do is I would probably
Speaker 2: go to graduate school and then I would also join
Speaker 2: the CIA and see the world.
Speaker 3: That seems like exciting to me.
Speaker 2: So if we could rewind the time machine to like
Speaker 2: the late nineteen seventies, I would have never come to
Speaker 2: southern California, and I'd never be here on KFI at
Speaker 2: this moment. So funny how things work out. All right,
Speaker 2: we have lots more to discuss again. I'm Phil Schumann
Speaker 2: from Fox eleven Newes with you until four o'clock today,
Speaker 2: still hoping you might chime in, leave a message on
Speaker 2: the microphone icon in the iHeartRadio app if you've got
Speaker 2: any horror stories about your neighbors, because we have a
Speaker 2: good one for you coming up in the next hour.
Speaker 2: You can also give me a phone call. And you're probably,
Speaker 2: you know, thinking I've heard enough from him, so I
Speaker 2: would to hear what you guys have to say about
Speaker 2: all these issues, whether it's the com of living, whether
Speaker 2: it's President Trump, whether it's may or Bass. I mean
Speaker 2: coming up. We have lots more interesting things and interesting
Speaker 2: things to talk about. You won't believe some of the
Speaker 2: language that goes on in the La City Council at
Speaker 2: the public comment session. Michael Monks is going to be
Speaker 2: with us to talk about that. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: just a shocking story, some of the recalls. It's not
Speaker 2: just Tesla cyber trucks, but what else is being recalled.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Determine the level of services and so forth, and nobody
Speaker 2: thinks it's really that accurate.
Speaker 3: It's a snapshot.
Speaker 2: And yes, if there's a decline fraction of a percentage,
Speaker 2: then everybody pats themselves on the back, which you know,
Speaker 2: it's better than an increase. But the fires have taken
Speaker 2: away the focus on the homeless issue, I think from
Speaker 2: the especially from the city of Los Angeles, who need
Speaker 2: to keep that keep that up. Jamie Page frequent guest
Speaker 2: here on on KFI the Westside Current dot com. It's
Speaker 2: hyperlocal journalism. Check it out, support it with a donation
Speaker 2: if you can. I've been talking about the request for comments.
Speaker 2: You can click on the microphone icon and the iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: app and tell us what you think, and apparently we've
Speaker 2: gotten quite a few responses. Let's check one out.
Speaker 8: I forgot the part about what Marbach said, that it's
Speaker 8: unfair for everyone else that's ready to go and reveal
Speaker 8: to have to wait for the people that are supposed
Speaker 8: to be on top of it and just dragging their feet,
Speaker 8: and how no one can rebuild because they got to
Speaker 8: wait for the stranger. You've conveniently forgotten that part of
Speaker 8: what you say.
Speaker 2: So he's referring, I believe to the March thirty first
Speaker 2: deadline to apply for federal assistance and clearing burned properties.
Speaker 2: And I think what he's trying to say is that
Speaker 2: if you don't clear your burned property, it's gonna delay
Speaker 2: someone else from rebuilding their burned out house. I'm not
Speaker 2: quite sure I make that connection, but I appreciate you
Speaker 2: chiming in. Seems at a little angry there. Maybe am
Speaker 2: I missing your point? If I am, I apologize, all right.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at my iPhone seeing if anybody's texting me
Speaker 2: like you sound great, you sound like an idiot, like
Speaker 2: during the breaks, and I'm looking at my phone and
Speaker 2: I'm embarrassed to say that I have an iPhone fourteen?
Speaker 2: Is that possible? And what's the current what's the current
Speaker 2: model sixteen?
Speaker 3: I believe sixteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so now I'm looking at news stories that
Speaker 2: Apple is pushing the iPhone seventeen. And this is one
Speaker 2: of my favorite subjects because unlike most companies or businesses
Speaker 2: or products, it's like you create that I need a
Speaker 2: new washing machine, I need a new car, I need
Speaker 2: a new whatever it is blender.
Speaker 3: And but what Apple does is they tell you what
Speaker 3: you need.
Speaker 2: You need an iPhone seventeen, Well, I get an iPhone fourteen,
Speaker 2: and you know what.
Speaker 3: It seems to work fine.
Speaker 2: But there are those who are early adopters who have
Speaker 2: to have the latest technology, which brings us into my
Speaker 2: next subject, of which the headline is What's old is
Speaker 2: New again? Nineties brands? Can you matter to the nineties?
Speaker 2: What was the iPhone? Then the iPhone?
Speaker 3: Seven?
Speaker 2: Iconic brands are making a comeback, like the Gap, Abercrombie
Speaker 2: and Fitch and Old Navy, thanks to marketing to younger
Speaker 2: audiences who apparently are longing for some nostalgia.
Speaker 3: Robin, I'm just trying to go shop a Gap.
Speaker 2: That baby.
Speaker 3: The Gap is back to not sleep on old Baby.
Speaker 12: Along with Old Navy, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Levi's classic
Speaker 12: brands all making big comebacks. Social media says, so when
Speaker 12: did Abercommie become cool again? And now so do the numbers?
Speaker 12: Experts say these brands, once mainstays of nineties fashion, lost
Speaker 12: touch with their customer base in the two thousands, but
Speaker 12: from twenty nineteen to now, Gap brands are up thirty
Speaker 12: seven percent, Abercrombie and Fitch a whopping five hundred and
Speaker 12: ninety four percent, and Levi's are bouncing back to style
Speaker 12: Guru Zach Posen revitalizing and revamping Gap and its brand
Speaker 12: offshoots Old Navy and Banana Republic, marketing to younger customers
Speaker 12: through a mix of nostalgia and social media. The Gap
Speaker 12: evolving from Kakia Go Go to Perker Posey putting modern
Speaker 12: spins on its famous dance spots from the nineties and
Speaker 12: early two thousands, Abercrombie attributing its revival to a complete
Speaker 12: makeover from their culture to their brands to an increased
Speaker 12: focus on customers. And then there's Levi's with the Ultimate
Speaker 12: glow Up, revisiting vintage ads with style icon Beyonce, Can
Speaker 12: You put into words, just how dramatic the comeback is
Speaker 12: for some of these brands.
Speaker 13: What these brands are doing that's smart is a delivering
Speaker 13: great merchandise that's exciting. Some of its quiet luxury, but
Speaker 13: some of it is fun fashion that you can get
Speaker 13: an affordable price.
Speaker 3: But the turnaround hasn't happened for everyone.
Speaker 12: In an industry often likened to a roller coaster, not
Speaker 12: all retail brands are enjoying the ride. Forever twenty one
Speaker 12: recently filed for bankruptcy for a second time and has
Speaker 12: plans to close all of its stores in the US,
Speaker 12: and Macy's is closing sixty six stores this year alone.
Speaker 13: And every time I checked the website sold out.
Speaker 12: But these stalwarts have once again nailed the alchemy.
Speaker 3: Be all right?
Speaker 2: Not everything old is new again. That was a report
Speaker 2: from Good Morning America. Appreciate that. I remember the Gap
Speaker 2: store right on Ventral Boulevard and Studio City that's been
Speaker 2: gone for a long time, And I think, what's interesting?
Speaker 2: And I lean field free to weigh in on this,
Speaker 2: because when you shop now, everything ninety is online. I mean,
Speaker 2: who goes to a store anymore? I guess if it's close,
Speaker 2: you're more inclined to go to a store because you've
Speaker 2: got to try them on.
Speaker 14: Right, I'm a thrift store gal. I like going to
Speaker 14: thrift stores really yeah.
Speaker 2: And you get good quality things there, or you like
Speaker 2: the bargain, or you like to define the undiscovered treasure.
Speaker 14: Go to Goodwill in Manhattan Beach. You get like brand name,
Speaker 14: brand new things.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 14: People have all this money, they just put their stuff
Speaker 14: into the thrift store.
Speaker 2: Right, is there like when you talk about that, you
Speaker 2: tell people that is there?
Speaker 3: Like? Are you embarrassed ever to say that?
Speaker 2: Or is it more like I'm proud that I'm doing
Speaker 2: that because look at all this money I'm saving.
Speaker 3: I mean, like when I go.
Speaker 2: To thrift stores, I look for like golf clubs and
Speaker 2: like unusual golf clubs, especially putters and hats.
Speaker 3: I'm not like buying my shirts and pants and suits there.
Speaker 14: Yeah. I have friends that think it's disgusting, they won't
Speaker 14: do it, But I have other friends that love it.
Speaker 14: I mean, we'll go together and just we'll go hit
Speaker 14: on the thrift stores.
Speaker 3: I mean it can be fun. What model iPhone do
Speaker 3: you have? I have the sixteen? See there you go
Speaker 3: and you're probably going to get the seventeen as soon
Speaker 3: as it comes out, right.
Speaker 14: I used to be that person, but I just couldn't
Speaker 14: keep up. I mean with the first iPhone, maybe for
Speaker 14: the first three or four generations, I was like keeping up,
Speaker 14: like I've got to have the new one.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: My last phone was a seven. Well then they say,
Speaker 3: well it's faster. What does that mean.
Speaker 2: It means when you take a picture or when you
Speaker 2: load a website, it's a millionth of a second faster
Speaker 2: than the previous generation.
Speaker 3: So what are you going to do with that millionth
Speaker 3: of a second that you save?
Speaker 14: I don't know, but I'm in it for the camera.
Speaker 14: I can zoom in twenty five times.
Speaker 3: There have been improvements in the camera. I will grant you.
Speaker 14: That I took a full moon, the blood red moon.
Speaker 14: I got amazing pictures of the moon. I couldn't do
Speaker 14: that with any other phones.
Speaker 2: All right, when we come back, we're going to talk
Speaker 2: with Michael Wanks, a familiar face, name and voice here
Speaker 2: on KFI, to talk about the La City Council seeking
Speaker 2: a crackdown on just some the language that the public uses.
Speaker 2: I mean, ah'll it'll shock you.
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty on demand