Patt Morrison for Tuesday, May 15, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

 

1:06 – 1: 30 - OPEN

 

 

1:30 – 1:58:30

Santa Monica’s new parking meters absorb left over money when cars leave
If you live in the Los Angeles area, you know how thrilling it is to park in a meter spot and discover that there is already paid-for-time remaining on the meter. For motorists parking in Santa Monica, however, the days of getting someone’s left over meter time have come to an end. On Monday, the city began installing thousands of new parking meters that can actually sense when one car leaves and another arrives. The new meters reset to zero after a car vacates, preventing the next driver from receiving any left over time. What happens to the unused funds? No, consumers are not reimbursed. The money is actually kept by the city, which expects to raise its meter revenue by $1.7 million. These meters also do not allow motorists to pay more than the maximum time allowed for a given spot, which blocks drivers from keeping a space for several hours by simply continuously feeding meters. The new meters will take payment by coin, credit card or by cell phone. Drivers can also receive text message warnings of their expiring meters. Eventually, the status of the space will be indicated on Santa Monica’s real-time parking map, available on the city’s official website and will provide the city with data about parking patterns. How appropriate is it for Santa Monica to immediately claim any unused money paid into parking meters? Will this new meter system increase parking availability in the area or will it merely end with more parking tickets being issued?

Guests:

Don Patterson, assistant director of finance for the City of Santa Monica

 

Sam Morrissey, engineer, City of Santa Monica

 

John Van Horn, editor, Parking Today, a monthly magazine for the commercial and institutional parking industry

 

UNCONFIRMED

Donald Shoup, Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA  

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:30
Nobody walks in LA, but could the Boulevard change all that?
The Boulevard, once merely a corridor to move cars, is enjoying a renaissance throughout Southern California. Biking culture is blossoming with festivals like CicLAvia and an ambitious bike-share program in the city of Los Angeles; urban planners are jumping on the opportunity to create new pedestrian spaces with food trucks and public art; museums and businesses are coordinating to put on “First Fridays” art walks; and Measure R funds are ensuring that new subway extensions, light-rail and bus networks are getting built. And the young ‘Millennial’ generation is increasingly bucking the trend of California’s car-obsessed culture by taking public transportation – where they can stay connected on their smart phones. Is there hope for the city where no one walks? Patt talks with some of the region’s most cutting edge urban planners who are shaping the future of Southern California.

Guests:

Doug Suisman, principal of Suisman Urban Design, an architectural and design firm that specializes in projects that enhance urban areas

 

Aaron Paley, co-founder of cicLAvia and president of Community Arts Resources, which organizes community events

UNCONFIRMED
Timothy Papandreou, deputy director of Transportation Planning for the Sustainable Streets Division of San Francisco’s Municipal Transit Agency

2:30 – 2:58:30

Big changes in the ad industry shifts who makes the big bucks
The advertising industry will pay large sums of money to get their client’s pitch to your eyes and ears, but the ways and places the industry is spending that money is changing. Perhaps you’ve noticed more A-list actors talking about cars in TV spots; Robert Downey Jr. pitches for Nissan, Tim Allen does commercials for Chevrolet and Best Actor Oscar winner Jeff Bridges has lent his gravelly voice to sell Hyundais – and they’re not alone. A celebrity pitching for products isn’t anything new, but doing voiceover work for advertising is no longer perceived as selling out by top-echelon talent – and this change is putting a lot of career voiceover performers out of work. There are also big changes taking place in the way companies are producing some of those commercials. Filming a typical TV ad can cost $400,000, but a company called Poptent has found an innovative way to ‘crowdsource’ the production of TV ads by tapping the YouTube generation and other amateur filmmakers to put together ads DIY-style for a budget even a college kid can afford. The winning entry for a 2006 Super Bowl amateur ad contest sponsored by Doritos was shot for a meager $12. Poptent charges their clients $40,000 and pays out a minimum of $7,500 to the creator of the ad, some of whom have parlayed their success into lucrative careers in the ad business. So, who is winning or losing in this changing industry? Are amateur videographers getting a golden opportunity or getting fleeced? And do you like hearing big stars’ voices in ads?

 

Guests:
Sasha Strauss, managing director, Innovation Protocol, a brand strategy firm, and adjunct professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and USC’s Marshall School of Business

Jim Alburger, voiceover producer and artist; author of "The Art of Voice Acting” and creator of VOICE (Voice-over International Creative Experience), a four-day conference in Anaheim dedicated to the voice-over industry

Neil Perry, president of Poptent, a crowdsourced video production company based in San Clemente, CA

 

 

 

Producer - Patt Morrison
89.3 KPCC - Southern California Public Radio
213.290.4201 – mobile/SMS
626-583-7121  – office
474 South Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA  91105
jarmstrong@kpcc.org