The Smartest Conversation in Town
SullivanSaysSoCal

Live@5

We go live once a month to discuss recent coverage and look ahead with guests from across SoCal. Join us live, but if you can't, watch the recordings here.

  • A note about Orange County (0:10)
  • Introduction of Bobby McDonald (2:25)
  • Meeting with the Secretary of Labor (4:55)
  • A new veterans cemetery in OC (7:00)
  • Introduction of Manny Ramirez (9:05)
  • A reluctance on vaccination within OC Latino community (9:42)
  • Concerns, skepticism based on the Hispanic experience (12:25)
  • Reasons for skepticism, and what to do about it (14:15)
  • Introduction of Jack Toan (15:32)
  • Overall outlook on vaccines among Asian Americans in OC and the importance of communications (15:55)
  • Anti-Asian hatred and its impact on the community in OC (18:34)
  • Responding to the notion that such race-related developments have surfaced (24:10)
  • An update on the Illumination Foundation (25:30)
  • A broader discussion with all guests (26:45)
  • An update on the Hispanic 100 PAC (27:00)
  • OC’s diversity (29:16)
  • Is OC purple? (30:48)
  • Bruised or not, purple means nobody can take a vote for granted. Are politicians earning it? (36:05)
  • OC may be overshadowed by LA, but standing alone is a major metro area in its own right. With all the considerations and challenges that come with urban concentration, what are some that you see for the ethnic communities? (37:40)
  • Positive changes that have taken place in OC (42:38)
  • OC and public-sector efficiency? (45:30)

  • Introduction of Ilse Metchek (0:35)
  • A brief overview of the California Fashion Association (3:10)
  • How did Covid hit the fashion and garment industry? (5:40)
  • Let’s talk about design—there’s a heartbeat of design in Los Angeles. What was the takeaway from the pandemic? Is fashion changing? (7:33)
  • There will likely be some relaxing of professional fashion toward a more casual look. Could we still see a swing back to a desire of high fashion, for suits, for instance, or for a change of style? (8:53)
  • The lipstick index (11:18)
  • Introduction of Abelardo de la Peña Jr. and Paul Sanford (13:07)
  • The hotels that you oversee all have different customer bases. How’s the reopening going for them? How are those markets reacting? (13:55)
  • What are the challenges of staffing up in the hospitality sector? (18:25)
  • LA Plaza‘s challenge is different. You need to get visitors back to the museum and cultural center. How did you manage during the shutdown? (20:30)
  • What value can you only get by showing up? How do you determine that and capitalize on it? (24:35)
  • How is the reopening going for in-person, brick-and-mortar retail? What’s the “next world of retailing”? (28:25)
  • During the pandemic, a number of retailers declared bankruptcy. Is this a matter of getting to “a right number” of stores? What role does retail serve for the next generation of consumers? (30:58)
  • New issues that the designer needs to consider, including international trade and supply chains. (33:15)
  • Who’s the customer? The disconnect between the designers and consumers (34:05)
  • Let’s talk about the public sector. How has the government helped LA Plaza manage? (35:00)
  • With the very lifeblood of the hospitality business severely affected, how was Wincome able to work with the public sector? (37:00)
  • And what about the apparel industry? (38:24)
  • Where was the gap in all this? (42:00)
  • The importance of a support system (42:50)
  • Lessons learned (44:20)

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  • A quick note on Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach and Gavin Herbert as reflecting the combination of quality of life and economic development (0:14)
  • Introduction of Miguel Santana (2:34)
  • What’s the working definition of equity and inclusion? How do these ideas influence quality of life, and where does the business community come into play? (4:40)
  • Working poor vs. working class (8:17)
  • Talk to us about the recent report by the Committee of Greater LA about the problem of homelessness. (9:45)
  • An ad for Octane (13:50)
  • Introduction of Mike Mussallem and Jim Mazzo (14:40)
  • For certain industries, geography dictated where they would be. But for Edwards Lifesciences, it doesn’t have to be anywhere specific. So why Orange County? (16:13)
  • What are the elements of recruiting and retaining talent? (18:45)
  • What about education? (20:00)
  • Talk to us about the thousand or so highly skilled sewers who work at Edwards. (20:40)
  • Education meets the start-up culture. (21:40)
  • How does the Weingart Foundation work with the corporate world? (25:57)
  • How does the hollowing out of the middle class affect the various segments of our society? (29:02)
  • An an for the Orange County Business Council (34:13)
  • Mike, talk to us about Edwards’ philanthropy arm, and your family’s personal gift to UCI. (35:00)
  • What role does the media play in giving a sense of quality of life? (38:40)
  • Miguel, tell us about your work in the turnaround for Fairplex. (40:47)
  • On a final note, some Monday morning quarterbacking—what do you think about the change in the date for the LA Fair? (44:12)

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This discussion includes points from the most recent week’s column. Read it here.

  • “News in a Dying Language” as inspiration for the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen (5:00)
  • Introduction of guest Rob Eshman, national editor of The Forward (6:49)
  • The Jewish community’s perspectives on homelessness in Los Angeles (7:23)
  • Eshman’s proposal about temporary housing to address a “domestic refugee problem” (11:55)
  • Where anti-Semitism is today in LA, what it might look like (15:07)
  • Congratulations to Paul Musco, entrepreneur and philanthropist, on his retirement (20:25)
  • Introduction of guests Dulce Vasquez and Wylie Aitken (22:14)
  • Janine Young Kim, the inaugural Wylie A. Aitken Professor of Law, Race, and Social Justice at the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law (25:20)
  • What led to the endowment of this chair at this moment? (26:05)
  • Judge David Carter‘s work in Orange County and LA as it relates to homelessness (28:19)
  • Vasquez’ perspectives as she works to represent the 9th District (31:11)
  • Are there resources for both temporary housing and a permanent solution for the homeless? (34:20)
  • Vasquez’ case against Curren Price, the incumbent for the 9th District (36:38)
  • How to expand the voter pool (38:53)
  • Is OC purple, or is it two-toned? (42:38)
  • Lastly, quick thoughts on the California governor recall (46:33)

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This discussion includes points from the most recent week’s column. Read it here

  • Introduction of Live@5, guests Rick Reiff and John Moorlach (5:00)
  • The homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake (10:09)
  • The basic questions: Why can’t the City of Los Angeles provide shelter for the homeless and keep the public parks open? Why is this so difficult when the people of LA have agreed to tax themselves to put billions of dollars toward this problem? (13:20)
  • A new homeless shelter in Costa Mesa, where Newport Beach will use 20 of the 70 beds—at about $137 per night per bed, which is relatively high. How does this strike you from a finance and governance standpoint? (17:33)
  • Let’s go on to Covid. Consider two things—the coverage by the media and the communications from our public health agencies. How do you think they’ve done? (25:00)
  • A strange parking lot encounter between a Los Angeles businessperson and an advisor of Mayor Eric Garcetti for the Mayor’s Fund. There’s a lot of oddity in the air. What’s going on? (32:25)
  • Let’s look statewide. The California governor recall—Is it worth recalling a governor more than halfway into the term? (39:21)
  • Candidates for the gubernatorial recall election: Antonio Villaraigosa and others. What about Moorlach? (45:08)