Catalysts Conversations
A series of discussions on a variety of topics
Special Catalysts Call with Rishi Kumar
A Special Catalysts Call! Monday, March 28, 2022, 5:00-6:00 pm
Host Susan Kirsch in Conversation with Rishi Kumar talking about “Housing 2022”.
Special Catalysts Call with Tom Campbell
A Special Catalysts Call! Monday, February 28, 2022, 5:00-6:00 pm
Host Susan Kirsch in Conversation with Tom Campbell talking about The Common Sense Party.
Catalysts in California Times #6
The 6th episode of Catalysts in California Times pulls key points from elected officials and community leaders. Individually and collectively they make the point: These bills fail to meet the needs for affordability, increase the cost of housing, ignore water and environmental safety, and take away local control.
Catalysts in California Times #5
Elected officials Lydia Kou and Peggy Huang talk about the impact of misguided state legislation on cities. Whether in northern California or southern California, the overreach of regional and state laws is taking its toll on cities’ capacity to serve the constituents who elected them.
Catalysts in California Times #4
Rick Johnson spent 40 years with the San Francisco Water Department and retired as Senior Water Inspector, overseeing the work of ten other water inspectors.
Johnson describes the growing water emergency in the context of Sacramento’s push to build housing. Johnson sums it up like this: “If you don’t have water, you’re not going to have housing.”
Catalysts in California Times #3
Hydee Feldstein Soto, candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney 2022, and John Heath, president of the United Homeowners’ Association based in Los Angeles, describe their efforts to get solutions-based housing policy from Sacramento legislators.
Feldstein Soto says, “Dictating from on high will not work.” Heath adds. “Sacramento is facilitating a massive transfer of wealth from low-income communities to Wall Street.”
Catalysts in California Times #2
Mike Griffiths, Torrance City Council member and founder of California Cities for Local Control doesn’t think state legislators set sound housing policy when they make sweeping mandates for communities they have never stepped foot in and know nothing about.
Griffiths and his all-volunteer team have recruited dozens of cities and hundreds of city council members to sign a Resolution objecting to the state’s top- down, one-size-fits-all mandates.
Catalysts in California Times #1
Susan Kirsch, founder of Catalysts, and Guy Meyer, 5-year host of Marin Cable-TV’s eclectic California Times, announce a new, six-part series of 30-minute interviews focusing on housing called “Catalysts in California Times.”
“Thousands of Californians are in the dark about Sacramento’s ambitious housing legislation that strips away local control,” says Kirsch.