WEBVTT - The LAX People Mover Is Delayed...Again.... 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:05.080 The GNC News Blitz with Randy Wang starts No. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:05.240 No, No. 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:08.440 It is the News Blitz with Brandy Wang on Top 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:13.280 Radio seven ninety YABC. This is your daily rundown of 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:15.800 everything you need to know that's going on in southern 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.959 California as well as the Bay Area, Sacramento, and San Diego. 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.759 I post a list every single day of all the 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.320 stories that I found that you may have missed up 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.000 and down the state of California at Randy Wangradio dot 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.680 substack dot com. You can follow me on all the 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.960 socials on x and Instagram at Randy Wang Radio, which, 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:36.960 by the way, one of my clips from the John 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.519 Phillips Show has gotten up to like twenty five thousand 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.680 views of us talking about Karen Bass encouraging Matthews. Excuse me, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:48.320 twenty eight thousand views. My goodness, I don't even think 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.880 the video I posted of me doing the bone marrow 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.080 looge at the Market Steer Restaurant got that many hits. Anyway. 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.600 Also check out our YouTube channel. There is not only 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:00.640 the live show of The John phil Show, but you 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.440 can watch clips from this show and the John Phillips 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:08.360 Show and segments right there. YouTube dot com, Slash at 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:18.120 Randy Wang Radio. We start at everybody's favorite airport, lax, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.800 because here we are in the middle of summer, at 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.640 the tail end of the World Cup. I dropped the 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:30.200 d on purpose and the people mover. That was supposed 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.760 to be done in twenty twenty three, that then was 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.360 supposed to be done in twenty twenty four, That then 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.440 was supposed to be done in twenty twenty five. Oh, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.120 we'll have it by January twenty twenty six, we'll have 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:48.840 it by the World Cup. Well, we have missed another deadline. 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.240 And not only that, it looks like this thing's not 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:57.680 getting finished anytime soon, as the contractor is now suing 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.040 the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles World 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:06.040 Airports Authority. And there are a couple of things to 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:11.120 talk about here. First off, emblematic of everything that goes 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.440 on in Los Angeles, this shove, this project had their 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.440 first shovel in the ground in twenty nineteen. I want 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.480 to say it was a long time ago. Maybe it 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.079 was twenty twenty. Let's go with twenty twenty. I remember 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:26.480 Mike Bondon was there celebrating what a great thing this 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.000 is going to be, and we're going to get this done, 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.440 but because it's the city of la it is three 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:38.320 years late and it's still not done, and not only that, 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.000 it is a billion dollars over budget. How did we 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.480 get here? Well, I'm glad you asked. I consider myself 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.840 kind of knowledgeable on this subject, but actually brushed up. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.440 There's a guy that I follow on YouTube. His channel 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.800 is called Nandert and actually put his video on my 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.560 news blitz at Randy Waning Ready dot substack dot com. 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.400 If you got twenty minutes to spare, it is worth 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.959 your time. It is a deep dive into how exactly 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.880 we got here, including all the disputes that have been 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:20.720 going on between the contractor that we hired for this 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.840 thing and the city of Los Angeles. But let me 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.080 give you the book report version of everything I learned. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.960 But if you are interested in this story, I think 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:35.600 it is very, very interesting. So when we put forth 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:40.360 the contracts for this project, we decided we wanted one 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.880 giant contract for one giant developer to not only build 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.280 the thing, but operate it for the next twenty years. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.120 And what we ended up getting was a consortium of 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:59.800 developers and contractors in a company called Links and part 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.520 of the contract agreements between Links and the City of 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.440 Los Angeles, if that there were ever any disputes, which 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.080 happened all the time in these big public projects, look 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.720 at what happened with the high speed rail. We're going 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.800 to have an independent source look at every single claim 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.080 and decide who's at fault so we don't get into litigation. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:27.120 And ultimately what was found was this arrangement was highly 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:32.320 beneficial to the contractor, and the contractor quickly realized they 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.839 had so much leverage over the city that when anybody 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.680 made a mistake, whether it was the city or whether 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.520 it was the contractor, the city was going to have 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:48.920 to pay. Ultimately, this contractor realized that they can get 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.760 as much money they want out of this project because 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:56.279 the city promised it would be done, and they know 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.279 every single time the city promises this thing's going to 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.719 be done, they can shake down the city for even 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.240 more money. Now you can look at this story and 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.120 say that, well, this is a crooked contractor, which we've 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.160 all had dealings with at some point, or you've heard stories. 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.560 You know, you go into a home remodel thinking it's 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.599 going to cost so much and it's going to take 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.000 so long, and once they have this, once they've ripped 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:25.240 apart your kitchen, now they can slow everything down. There 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.640 are plenty of reputable contractors out there, of course, but 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:35.159 these things do happen. So that's exactly what happened here. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.400 And sometimes it was both the city's fault and the 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.880 contractor's fault, and sometimes it was just the contractor's fault. 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.560 But regardless, they could threaten litigation at any point, which 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:49.599 they know the city does not want to do because 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.000 they don't want to slow this project down any further, 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.039 or cancel the contract so that means they're going to 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.680 have to pay through the nose. One of those instances 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.560 is a really stupid on everyone's behalf, and it has 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:06.400 to do with city codes. When this project was being 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.840 just idealized, when they were just putting down the blueprints, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.080 they actually had drafted it to be coded as a 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.480 bridge when it needed to be under the seismic code, 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.239 not under the bridge code. Apparently the person who designed 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.640 the plans caught it, but didn't update the plans on paper, 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.320 just said verbally to the contractor, Hey, this is supposed 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:32.440 to be coded for seismic not bridge. Well, the contractor 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.760 went ahead and built it for bridge anyway, which means 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:37.760 that cost a whole lot of money and took a 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.160 whole lot of time. Then while back, there was a situation, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.480 a big power situation where the contractor did not build 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.560 cooling units for an electrical area and led to a 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.400 massive electrical shutdown where work stopped on this project for 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.480 a very long time. And anytime there was any kind 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:01.240 of dispute like this between the contractor and between the city, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.040 anytime that you were trying to figure out who owed 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.280 who who was in the wrong, progress on this thing 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.640 would grind to a halt. Even though it was in 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.840 the contract that progress had to continue through litigation, it 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.640 was up to the contractor to say how much progress 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.320 was going on. So instead of a whole crew working 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.880 on this thing, they'd have one guy out there not 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:27.240 working on this thing. This contractor has effectively held the 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:31.280 city hostage. And I wouldn't be surprised if we have 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.480 deals like this all the time, which leads me to 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.720 wonder what was the bidding process, Like why did we 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.440 land on this contractor why did we decide this was 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.720 the company we want to do business with, because so 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.400 far it has been an unmitigated disaster, and at the 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:55.640 end of the road, we still have no We have 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.560 no people mover, we have no easy way to get 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.400 from terminal to terminal. I'm going to Lax in a 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.760 few days, and if the people mover was up, I 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.680 was actually going to try to use it because I'll 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.960 be flying out a Terminal six and I was going 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.840 to try to get to tom Bradley to use my 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.320 MX card to go to the Centurion Lounge. Well, now 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.680 that there's no people mover, the only way to do 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:28.480 that is to go through security at Terminal six, check 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.920 my bag, and then hoof it for twenty five minutes 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.680 through Terminal six, through Terminal five, through Terminal four to 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.520 tom Bradley to get the Centurion Lounge. Wait in a line, 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.800 get in there, have one drink, and then run all 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.800 the way back until my flight is late. That's not 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.640 going to happen. I have a card now where I 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.880 can use the Alaska Lounge, so we'll see how that is. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.880 But I knew this thing was never going to get 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.000 finished at this point. And what's the next big milestone 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.320 because we missed the World Cup. Oh, we're gonna have 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.760 this thing by the twenty twenty seven Super Bowl are 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.520 we they're just in testing right now, and apparently the 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.280 testing has not been going great. And yes, this is 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.400 hilarious because if you've been to any other modern airport, 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:20.640 especially a large airport, these things are everywhere and they've 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.760 been built for a very long time. But this is 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.920 how things happen. You can't even say it's a California thing. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.679 SFO has great ways to get around. SFO is a 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:35.080 beautiful airport. There's just something very specific about LA and 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:40.680 LAX where everything associated with it becomes a disaster. And 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.839 every single thing they've done too improve the airport experience, 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.120 and all the construction they've done for the past decade 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.600 has not improved the airport experience, has not improved the 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:56.440 traffic I'll give you for instance. And I don't know 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.360 whose idea this was. I don't know if I don't 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.880 know the parking lot lobby had a hand in this, 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.560 but who exactly thought that what we need to do 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.080 to deal with all the ride share that goes to 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.520 LAX is instead of being able to drop you off 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.000 at the curb and pick you up at the curb 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.400 like every other airport, or have a designated space where 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.280 it's very easy to get picked up SFO is easy DFW. 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:25.160 You just get picked up right at the curb. You 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.360 have a poll, it's ready to go. But no, no, no, 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.760 no no. At LA, if you're using Lift or Uber, 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.160 you have to go to the LA exit lot. You 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.520 have to go to the lot where you have to 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.600 take a shuttle to get to a giant parking lot 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.240 where you're going to stand in line with a thousand 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.280 other people and try to figure out which prius is yours. 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.680 That is, of course, unless you're willing to spring for 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.880 black and this is the lax of all of it. 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.360 If you're willing to pay through the nose, you don't 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:08.160 have to deal with the laxit lot. You don't have 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.640 to deal with getting dropped off at the place where 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.400 you don't need to be. You can actually get dropped 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.640 off in front of your terminal, picked up in front 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.839 of your terminal, if you're willing to pay. And oh boy, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.040 does that flight does that ride get expensive? I live, 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:27.640 like what seventeen eighteen miles away from LAX. Actually, I 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.000 can tell you right now. Let me tell you exactly 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.240 how many miles I am from the Los Angeles International Airport. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.720 All right, so I'm gonna type in Lax in the 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.800 old phone. Here says I am eighteen miles away. And 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.680 there's a specific reason why I try to only fly 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.920 on Saturdays, because if you try to fly home on 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.640 a Sunday night, that drive home from Lax because again, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.200 in order to get picked up at the curb, you 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.400 gotta go black. Because we've got suitcases and dogs. We're 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:04.559 going black suv. To go eighteen miles on a Sunday 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:10.920 night a couple of months ago cost me two hundred 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:16.600 and fifty dollars after tip. Now the flight I had 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.280 paid four on points, so I guess it kind of 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.240 evens out now when I try to use the Uber 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.760 black excuse me, I use Lyft exclusively because I get 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.360 a benefit with my credit card. When I use Lyft 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:34.000 black Suv on a Saturday afternoon, then it's like one 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.320 hundred and fifty dollars, but it's still it's incredibly expensive, 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.640 but that's what you have to do, so you don't 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.240 wait in that line. And we have made it so 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:47.160 impossible to get around that airport in all of the shuttles. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.000 The stupid train that we built you still can't use 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.760 because the people mover's not going We have a metro 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.199 line that goes to Lax, but it doesn't go to Lax. 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.680 It puts you on a shuttle bus and you're once 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:04.160 again going through the horseshoe. I have so many distinct 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.480 memories of so many awful experiences sitting in Lax specifically, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.400 And this is before we would do the ride share. 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.840 We thought we had the hack. Everyone thinks they have 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.920 their hack of how to deal with Lax. Oh, I 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.720 know we're gonna get We're gonna get parking at one 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.360 of the hotels. So we're gonna park at the Hilton, 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.040 and the Hilton will charge you like ten dollars a 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.240 day to park, which is way cheaper than Wally Park. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.640 I'll tell you that. And then you just take the 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.240 hotel shuttle to the airport. When you get to the airport, 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:39.760 the hotel shuttle takes you to the hotel. Yeah, we 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:43.520 did that once. And then I remember very distinctly we 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.559 had flown to Santa Fe. We were flying home. This 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.000 is before they had the This is before they had 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.120 direct flights Albuquerque to Burbank, before they had direct flights 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.200 Lax to the Santa Fe airport. This is like twenty seventeen, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.920 my wife and I are after a two hour fly 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:05.240 from Albuquerque to lax Southwest Terminal one, get out into 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.320 the Horseshoe on the lower level, which if you're the 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.520 first time you've ever come to Los Angeles, you're on 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.439 that lower level. All you see is smog and all 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.800 you hear is honking and is a great welcome to 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:21.240 the city of la And we sat there waiting for 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.600 our Hilton shuttle to take us to Dark Car, which 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:29.880 was two miles down the road, for ninety minutes, with 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.880 our little doggies sitting in their carriers trying to figure 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.040 out what the hell was going on. That's when we 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.040 stopped doing that immediately. So that's not a hack. And 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.560 even if your wally park or the parking spot are 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.840 those rackets, well you've got to get on a shuttle 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.120 to get on those. And all the shuttles for the 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.840 rental car parks, all the shuttles for the hotels, all 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.200 the shuttles for the parking lots, they all fight with 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.680 each other. They all honk with each other, and it 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:02.360 is non stop mayhem. The is a joke, and everything 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.440 we've done with it to improve it since we actually 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:10.480 improved it in nineteen eighty four. Has been a monumental disaster. 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:16.560 I don't understand why. Well, I do understand why, because 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.560 the people in charge of the airport are also somewhat 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.760 in charge of the other airports. LAX has some kind 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.280 of authority over Ontario because we could be expanding that airport. 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:28.480 There was an idea for a long time to build 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.920 a second big airport in the LA area up in 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.280 the Palmdale area. That's an idea, But no, we stick 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.120 to this tiny little footprint with nowhere to expand DFW 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:41.960 is the size of a city, and they put it 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.280 in between two cities. We put ours right in the 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.200 middle of a city. New York has LaGuardia and JFK 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:54.200 and Newark to an extent, we've just got LAX. Unless 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.440 you're flying regionally and you can fly Burbank and I 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.360 can't wait for that beautiful new Burbank term all to 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.240 open up. I do love my Burbank Airport. I always 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.320 find it is worth it, although most of the flights 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.800 that I take are to Santa Fe and Southwest has 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.640 kind of been weird about that LAX to Albuquerque or 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.680 the Burbank to Albuquerque flight they don't have on the weekend. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.160 So you know, trick that I have with LAX is 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.920 understand you're paying through the nose, get dropped off at 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.840 the curb, and try to fly on a Saturday. It's 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.720 like the least busy day. I know, you kind of 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.680 lose part of your day off or your vacation, but 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.400 it's just less of a headache. But I'm pretty confident 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.920 at this point. I have trips in and out of 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:44.160 LAX booked in August and October and December, and I'm 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.960 pretty damn sure there will be no people mover, even 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.880 though that's not entirely the fault of LAX, and it's 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.240 a lot of the fault of links the contract to 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.200 hear that is now suing LAX and suing the city. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.560 They're the ones that hired them and decided to give 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.640 so much power to a contractor where not only were 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.639 they going to be the ones in charge of building it, 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.439 but they were going to be the ones operating it 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:10.280 for the next forty years. So someone really needs to 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.960 look into who thought that was a good idea. It's 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:25.000 the News Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. It's the 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.800 News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk Radio seven ninety 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:33.400 KAB C. Hey, I got something nice for you, well 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.920 present from us to you the listening audience. Seven ninety 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.800 KABC welcomes Nelly with special guests Too Short at the 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.920 Pacific Camp Theater at the OC Fair on August second. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.800 Tickets are on sale now at pacamp dot com, but 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.120 right now colling number nine at one eight A eight 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.000 seven ninety five two two two gets a pair of 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.080 tickets to the show. All concert tickets included mission to 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:01.800 the OC Fair. Tickets furnished by the Pacific Amphitheater. Good 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:07.240 luck dialing. If you haven't checked out our new podcast, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:12.600 The Accountability Podcast, I highly recommend you do so. It 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:18.800 is John and I Uncensored and Raw accountability, Accountability, accountability. 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.880 Specifically not us doing the cussin, but in this latest episode, 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.720 it's us listening to the town hall in Boyle Heights 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:29.040 last week where Barbara Ferrara and Karen Bass got an 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:33.840 earfull for nonsense like saying that the toxic smoke from 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.680 the solar panels in the Boyle Heights fire was safe 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.520 and Barbara Ferrara offering health clinics that were giving nothing 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.600 more than tail and all to people that had fluid 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.520 in their lungs, just really. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:51.600 Really really fantastic stuff. We really enjoyed putting that episode together. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.800 And you've got to check out that feed YouTube dot 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.200 com slash at Accountability Podcast. If you have any trouble 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.879 finding that, just say send me an email at Randy 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.920 wangradio at gmail dot com. We're up to twelve hundred 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.440 and twenty eight subscribers, which means we're almost halfway there 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.439 to our next stretch goal. When we get to twenty 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:16.720 five hundred subscribers on the Accountability Podcast, we're going to 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:21.480 unveil a website that you can use all you want 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:27.600 for free, your very own John Phillips Show soundboard. Absolutely absolutely, 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.720 you can play all the shaggy drops all you want. 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:31.400 That's right. 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.760 I like that. That amazing. We cannot give you that 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.199 website until we get to twenty five hundred subscribers on 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.359 the Accountability Podcast. So tell your family, tell your friends, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.960 post the show in your Facebook groups and your Reddit threads. Heck, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.600 post it on next door. That's sure to start a fight. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.600 It's the News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk Radio 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:59.080 seven ninety KABC. It is the news Blitz with Randy 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:04.000 Wang on Radio seven ninety KABC. This is your daily 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.359 rundown of everything you need to know that's going on 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.720 in southern California as well as the Bay Area, Sacramento, 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:14.119 and San Diego. I put together a list every single 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.159 day of all the stories that I found that you 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:20.760 may have missed, All local, all important at Randywangradio dot 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.720 substack dot com. You can follow me on the socials 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.520 on x at Randywang Radio on Instagram at Randy Wang Radio. 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.200 That clip of John and I talking about Karen Bess 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.399 encouraging Matthews is at like twenty nine thousand views. That 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.840 is wild. And of course you can check out our 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:41.119 YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash at Randy Wang Radio 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.640 to watch the John Phillips Show live from noon to three. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:45.840 You can watch clips of this show clips of the 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:47.800 John Phillips Show. I put a whole bunch of stuff 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:49.560 up there, so if you've got nothing to watch or 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.280 nothing to listen to tonight, check out the channel and check 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:58.400 out the Accountability podcast YouTube dot com slash at Accountability Podcast. 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.520 Let's get back into today's news blaze and we start 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:07.040 in Chino Hills, where residents are very upset of a 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:15.240 planned battery storage facility in their neighborhood and one of 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.000 the reasons that the people there have a concern. This 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.439 is very different from the concerns over data centers, because 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.120 that's one fight, and a lot of those fears may 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:30.000 be a little unfounded. There's just an inherent residual anger 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.320 over AI. But a lot of those data centers, they 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.119 do use reclaimed water. They're not as much of a 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:40.640 drain on the utilities as you would like to believe. 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.600 Maybe it's just that the utility companies are ripping us 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.440 off and using the AI data centers as an excuse. 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:52.560 But the battery storage facilities are another thing. Because we've 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.680 got to go back to Monterey County last year and 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:02.119 Moss Landing, where this battery store orage facility caught fire 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.879 and the entire immediate neighborhood had to be evacuated because 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:11.959 of the toxic fumes emitting from lithium ion batteries. And 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:15.199 while the developer of this battery storage facility says that 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.320 things are completely different here and that this will be 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.679 an outdoor facility, not indoors, so it'd be easy for 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:24.040 firefighters to get in there, and it's going to be 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:28.320 using a different kind of battery technology. We've seen this 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.399 happen so many times. If it catches fire, it is 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.160 a toxic disaster. Look at what's going on in boil 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.399 Heights right now. The reason there's all this talk of 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.399 the toxic chemicals in the air. Forget the rotting food smell. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:45.200 The initial concern was all of the toxic chemicals coming 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.320 from the burning solar panels. Part of the reason the 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:52.920 destruction in Palisades was so devastating was of how many 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.520 EV batteries burned in that fire, how many TESLA backup 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:00.560 solar battery walls. These things are made of chemical that, 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:05.520 when caught on fire, create all kinds of hazardous things 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.280 in the atmosphere, things that can cause cancer, things that 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.600 can cause all kinds of health problems down the line. 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:15.160 So yeah, if I'm in a neighborhood, I don't want 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.240 that anywhere around me. So what do you do here? 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:20.640 Do we not have a situation where all these things 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:24.919 are so highly concentrated. Maybe that's the idea. You know, 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.800 I kind of like this. You know, we need all 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:31.960 these batteries right well, why do we need to have 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:36.000 them in one giant cluster. Remember we talked about last 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:38.320 week this idea that I had heard from a guy 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:40.600 on the All In podcast when he was a guest 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:43.359 on the Bulwark. It's like, it's I heard this podcast 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:46.840 thirdhand that at some point we won't need the data 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:51.040 centers because the AI companies will just pay you, the homeowner, 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:55.680 to get solar, get the backup battery, and then we'll 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.240 put a couple servers in your garage and that's how 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:01.000 you get it all for free. But we get to 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:04.600 use those servers. Well, then why don't we think about 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:06.840 that when it comes to okay, we need to have 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:09.600 these giant do we need to have these giant battery 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.080 storage facilities when it is so dangerous to have them 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:17.399 all close together like that? Maybe what we need to 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:20.320 do is that same idea, but from the state. The 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.320 state wants more batteries, so why don't you put them 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:27.800