Bear Essentials February 5th: Up your guac game. Also, build more housing.
February 5, 2025
Up your guac game. Also, build more housing.
Before we get started, congratulations to LA’s own Kendrick Lamar, owner of some shiny new Grammy Awards and top billing at this weekend’s Superbowl LIX. The 49ers, Rams and Chargers are watching from home, so at least we’ll have someone to root for on Sunday! In this issue we’ve got some choice housing nuggets, a rundown on the rain, and some contretemps in the insurance industry. By the end of this newsletter, your guacamole will be world-class, and you’ll be in touch with your inner wetland. (Trust us, it will make sense.)
But first…
YOU CAN’T BUILD HOUSES OUT OF RED TAPE
Rebuilding after the LA fires was always going to be a logistical nightmare, made infinitely worse by California’s Kafkaesque housing bureaucracy. But in a thoughtful SF Chronicle op-ed this week, Ben Metcalf — Managing Director of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation — zeroes in on a little-noticed idea from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal: to replace the current thicket of agencies gumming up our housing goals with a streamlined California Housing and Homelessness Agency. This new entity would consolidate oversight, align housing policies with climate and transportation goals, and cut the red tape that stonewalls development. In arguing for the plan, Metcalf, a longtime housing policy insider, pulls back the curtain on a Byzantine and maddening system in desperate need of reform.
🤫 Everything you should know
⛈️ 🚣 🌧️ - ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS TAKE AIM AT CA — Back-to-back atmospheric rivers drenched the state this week, killing two in Sonoma County and delivering modest rain to the parched south. Northern California waterways swelled to flood stage and beyond, closing dozens of roads and sending an entire house crumbling into the Russian River below. Another, potentially stronger, storm is eyeing SoCal around Valentine’s Day, with a 20% chance of heavy rainfall, raising mudslide fears in the areas devastated by recent wildfires. LA Times
🔥 🏠 📈 - HUT, HUT, (RATE) HIKE! — State Farm General, the Golden State’s largest insurer, issued a hefty request of California regulators on Monday, asking for an emergency rate hike after the LA wildfires torched its balance sheet to the tune of $1B and counting. Homeowners could see rates jump by 22%, or up to 38% for rental dwellings. This all comes on the back of State Farm’s previous 30% rate hike request, which remains pending before regulators. SF Chronicle
🌴 👮 🌴 - TRUMP FIRES, PALM SPRINGS HIRES — Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills sees an opportunity in Trump’s FBI purge, inviting ousted agents — especially those who investigated the January 6 attacks on the Capitol — to join his department. Trump’s administration has already fired FBI officials and handed out mass pardons to Capitol rioters, with more layoffs looming. Meanwhile, law enforcement nationwide struggles with staffing shortages. Chief Mills took to instagram to make the pitch for Palm Springs, promising a supportive community, a potential $30K bonus, and “fun.” The Desert Sun
We rely on word of mouth to expand our Bear Essentials community. If you know others who share our desire for common sense, pragmatic solutions to California’s biggest problems, please consider encouraging them to subscribe for free! Just send them here.
🥑 🧅 🍅 🥑 - YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG
LA Times food editor Daniel Hernandez has an urgent message for you before Superbowl Sunday: It’s time to dump the tomatoes and onions. Why subtract these seemingly core ingredients? Because tomato and onion are almost all water, about 90% to 95%. When in contact with the avocado, tomato and onion start turning a bit sad and soggy in a matter of minutes. Kickoff is in less than 60 hours away; get with the program! Yahoo News
🎧 🔊 🎧 ON THE POD: THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH
After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, hundreds of thousands of prospectors poured into California, hoping to strike it rich. In the early days, most miners arrived from places like China, Hawaii, Chile, and Australia. But when President James K. Polk confirmed that newspaper reports of vast gold fields were true, it would kick the Gold Rush into high gear, transforming America and establishing California as a place for grand ambitions and big dreams. Join Lindsay Graham (no, not that Lindsay Graham) on a deep dive into the greatest mass migration un U.S. history. Wondery
🤔❓🤔 WHICH WETLAND ARE YOU?
It’s the question on everyone’s mind: If you were a wetland, what kind would you be? Thankfully, our friends at the California Academy of Sciences have compiled a helpful matrix with a decidedly Gen Z attitude. It’s well worth your time, even if you find out you’re a “playa.”
