Metropolitan Areas In California Research Articles

Availability and distribution of environmental education field trip programs for adolescent students in the U.S.: a national study of spatial accessibility

What is the availability and distribution of single-day environmental education field trip programs for adolescent students across the U.S.? We assessed the spatial accessibility to EE field trip programs for U.S. schools that serve grades 5-8 (ages 10-14) by (1) compiling a comprehensive national database of 2,930 EE providers that offer field trip programs, (2) identifying 89, 311 middle schools’ locations, student populations, and relevant demographic information, and (3) calculating drive times between schools and EE provider locations using a high-performance computing cluster. We then used the integrated Floating Catchment Area method to calculate each school’s relative spatial access to EE field trip providers. Results suggest that spatial access was highly spatially clustered, particularly around several geographic regions (coastal California metropolitan areas, the southern Rockies, northern Kentucky, North Carolina, the western shore of Lake Michigan, and the high-density, contiguous metropolitan areas of the Northeast). Spatial access was also strongly related to partisan lean and urbanity, with more rural, White, and Republican-leaning areas generally having significantly less spatial access to EE field trips.

The Legacy of Redlining: A Spatial Dynamics Perspective

This paper investigates the long-term impacts of the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) mortgage risk assessment maps on the spatial dynamics of recent income and racial distributions in California metropolitan areas over the 1990-2010 period. We combine historical HOLC boundaries with modern Census tract data and apply recently developed methods of spatial distribution dynamics to examine if legacy impacts are reflected in recent urban dynamics. Cities with HOLC assessments are found to have higher levels of isolation segregation than the non-HOLC group, but no difference in unevenness segregation between the two groups of cities are found. We find no difference in income or racial and ethnic distributional dynamics between the two groups of cities over the period. At the intra-urban scale, we find that the intersectionality of residing in a C or D graded tract that is also a low-income tract falls predominately upon the minority populations in these eight HOLC cities. Our findings indicate that neighborhoods with poor housing markets and high minority concentrations rarely experience a dramatic change in either their racial and ethnic or socioeconomic compositions—and that negative externalities (e.g. lower home prices and greater segregation levels) emanate from these neighborhoods, with inertia spilling over into nearby zones.

Large Cities Fall Behind in “Neighborhood Biodiversity”

Urbanization is a major driver of global species loss. While cities with suitable habitats and conservation policies may support locally-high biodiversity levels, we suspected that the complexity of managing very large cities might counteract the advantage of large geographic area, and these cities may be less effective at biodiversity conservation. To answer this, we examined the relationship between the number of native indicator wildlife species (mean and maximum) in 112 cities across three metropolitan areas in California (Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose), with metrics related to scale and environmental variables. We found that indicator species richness is positively related to area, income (the luxury effect), and pervious cover—including trees, shrubs, and grasses. Despite having a high maximum number of indicator species within their boundaries, the largest cities in our study, Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego, do a relatively poor job compared with smaller cities at distributing native biodiversity throughout neighborhoods, as measured by their mean species richness. Such variation in “neighborhood biodiversity” may exacerbate existing inequities in residents' access to nature. Using Los Angeles County as a case study, we compared biodiversity management within the County's 88 cities of various sizes and characteristics. We ranked General Plan wording in terms of references to biodiversity and conservation and created a management metric. We found that municipalities of various sizes that had high management scores generally had high indicator species richness. This suggests that robust policies may be able to overcome the challenges posed by city size and population.

Characterizing the predictive validity of measures of susceptibility to future use of combustible, vaporized and edible cannabis products in adolescent never-users.

The construct of susceptibility to substance use initiation (i.e. cognitive proclivity to future use) is critical for prevention efforts in adolescent populations. This study aimed to provide empirical evidence for the validity of the susceptibility construct for different cannabis products (i.e. combustible, edible or vaporized cannabis), and evaluate whether susceptibility measures are predictive of subsequent initiation. Prospective cohort study including baseline data (Spring 2015) and four follow-up surveys administered every 6months through Spring 2017. Ten schools in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Adolescents [n=2100; mean age=16.1; standard deviation (SD)=0.41; 54% female] who reported never having used any cannabis product at baseline. We assessed five indices of a susceptibility to use cannabis composite index at baseline, adapted from a validated tobacco use index (intention to use, willingness, curiosity and positive/negative cannabis use outcome expectancies, with four response categories, definitely not [1] to definitely yes [4]), by cannabis product (combustible, edible or vaporized). A composite index was created for each product by averaging responses across the five susceptibility items. Subsequent initiation of use of each cannabis product was assessed at each follow-up wave. Factorial validity for unidimensionality for each five-item index (by product) was confirmed. The composite index for susceptibility to cannabis use was greatest for combustible (mean=1.44; SD=0.58), moderate for edible (mean=1.37; SD =0.53) and lowest for vaporized cannabis (mean=1.30; SD=0.44). The associations of each composite susceptibility index with subsequent initiation of that product and each of the other cannabis products over follow-up (i.e. cross-product associations) were statistically significant, with hazard ratios ranging from 2.30 to 2.80 across 24months of follow-up (all Ps<0.05). A five-item susceptibility to cannabis use composite index (by product) appears to be useful for characterizing and predicting youth at risk for cannabis use initiation across a spectrum of cannabis products.

Genetics workforce: distribution of genetics services and challenges to health care in California

PurposeAccess to genetics health-care services is often complicated by the distance to hospitals, workforce shortages, and insurance coverage. Despite technological advances and decreasing costs of genetic sequencing, the benefits of personalized medicine may be inaccessible to many patients. To assess potential disparities in care, we examined the genetics workforce in California and geographical issues that people encounter in seeking care. MethodsData on all board-certified genetics providers were analyzed including medical geneticists (MGs) and genetic counselors (GCs) in California. To assess distance traveled for care, we computed the distance patients traveled for n = 288 visits to University of California–San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Genetics. We performed geographic optimization to minimize the distance to genetics providers. ResultsThe provider-to-patient ratio in California is 1:330,000 for MGs, 1:100,000 for GCs, and 1:1,520,000 for biochemical MGs. Genetics providers are concentrated in major metropolitan areas in California. People travel up to 386 miles for genetics care within the state (mean = 76.6 miles). ConclusionThere are substantial geographic barriers to genetics care that could increase disparities. Our findings highlight a challenging genetics workforce shortage. The shortage may be even greater due to care subspecialization or lack of full-time equivalency and staffing. We are currently promoting efforts to increase remote health-care options, training, and modified models of care.

Analysis of nationwide lung, breast, and prostate cancer incidence in relation to provider availability and training programs in oncology.

e13116 Background: Lung, Breast, and Prostate cancer are the leading causes of cancer incidences and mortality across all ages, races, and genders. These accumulate to 1.2 million deaths from 2011-2015. We hypothesize that the regional provider availability should match the local patterns of cancer incidences due to resource scarcity. This analysis examines the nationwide incidence of the most common cancers in relation to provider availability and conducts a further analysis of the location of training programs in relation to cancer incidence. Methods: Lung, Breast, and Prostate cancer incidences in the U.S. between ages 19-85 was assessed using data from the CDC and NCI. Oncology fellowships were found through the ERAS portal and the databases of the AMA. Oncologists’ practicing locations were found using Doximity data. These datasets were mapped using Google Maps software and a gap analysis was conducted. Results: In 2015, approximately 6.2% of the population were diagnosed with lung cancer, 12.4% of women with breast cancer, and 11.2% of men with prostate cancer. The highest incidences were seen in Kentucky, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Above average incidences were seen in New Hampshire, West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. Roughly 25% of the 16,215 registered oncologists were concentrated in Florida, Texas, and California. A total of 132 oncology fellowships were identified, with only eight located within a 50-mile radius of the areas of most need. Conclusions: We found a significant disparity in the distribution of cancer incidences versus location in oncologists and fellowship programs. This data, along with data from the 2018 National Oncologists Workforce suggests that Florida, California, Michigan, Illinois, and New York have the highest percentage of oncologists near or above retirement age; indicating that the gap is likely to widen. It also showed a 12-fold variation in oncologist retention compared to where they completed their fellowship, with metropolitan areas in California rounding out the top 10 highest percentages of trained oncologists1. This highlights the need to match the workforce with areas of highest need, such as the Appalachian states; which have some of the highest cancer incidences and largest discrepancies of training programs and oncologists.

Joint Determination of Residential Relocation and Commuting: A Forecasting Experiment for Sustainable Land Use and Transportation Planning

This article applies matrix forecasting methods to the investigation of residential relocation and commuting patterns that are highly interconnected, but often analyzed separately. More specifically, using recent inter-county migration and commuting pattern data for the three largest metropolitan areas in California, it examines how residential relocation and commuting are associated in the regions and whether a unified framework—in which household relocation and commuting flow matrices are jointly determined—can improve the forecasting performance. The relocation–commuting association is found to differ substantially by region, suggesting the importance of region-specific factors in shaping the interrelationship. Joint forecasting, however, can attain a higher accuracy compared to the two separate projections, although the forecasting performance varies based on the method employed.

Empty Discarded Pack Data and the Prevalence of Illicit Trade in Cigarettes in California

Illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) creates many harms including reduced tax revenues; damages to the economic interests of legitimate actors; funding for organized-crime and terrorist groups; negative effects of participation in illicit markets, such as violence and incarceration; and reduced effectiveness of smoking-reduction policies, leading to increased damage to health. To study the prevalence of tax avoidance and ITTP, we analyze a large, novel set of data from empty discarded pack (EDP) studies. In EDP studies, teams of researchers collect all cigarette packs discarded in publicly accessible spaces of selected neighborhoods. Packs are examined for the absence of local tax stamps, signs of non-authentic packaging or stamps, and other indications of potential tax evasion or counterfeit product. We describe the data and analyze the prevalence of ITTP in three California metropolitan areas. Data from 2011 to 2015 are available, yielding 32,000 observations. Each observation includes dozens of variables covering the brand, location to the ZIP code level, tax status, counterfeit status, and other information about the pack. There is modest evidence of tax avoidance (up to 19.8% of packs in San Diego) and illicit trade (no more than 10% in Los Angeles, 17% in San Francisco, or 20% in San Diego under the broadest assumptions), which includes bootlegging, counterfeits, cigarettes produced for illicit-market sales, and cigarettes without any tax stamps. California increased its excise tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack (to $2.87) on April 1, 2017; these data will inform future studies of the effect of this increase on ITTP. In our econometric investigation, we explore the determinants of ITTP. Prices in other states matter a lot: A dollar increase per hour of driving time in the price differential with other states is associated with a 36 to 49 percentage point higher probability that tax was not paid for a pack. Tax avoidance also rises with the proximity of licensed cigarette retailers (at least where they are most common). Other parts of the variation in ITTP are due to the differing demographic makeup of the areas. Income, at least in some ranges, was found to have a negative impact on tax avoidance. The fraction of the population that is Black has a negative effect on tax avoidance, compared to the omitted race/ethnicity category of Whites. The median age of the area has an inverted U-shaped impact on avoidance.

Does context matter in environmental justice patterns? Evidence on warehousing location from four metro areas in California

Warehousing activities generate substantial externalities that affect surrounding neighborhoods. Using data for four major metropolitan areas in California, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento, this study tests the relationship between the spatial distribution of warehouses and disadvantaged neighborhoods. The results based on spatial presentation and statistical models show that warehouses are disproportionately located in minority neighborhoods, regardless of the differences in urban contexts. In specific, medium-income and low-income minority neighborhoods are more likely to have higher concentration of warehouses than medium-or-low-income white ones. The four metros are diversified in the roles of global trade, land availability, and the size of the warehousing industry. However, the spatial patterns are found consistent across these metros, suggesting that the environmental justice problem in warehousing location is a common concern. Local governments should monitor and evaluate the rapid spatial expansion of warehousing facilities and make efforts to mitigate subsequent environmental impacts that are disproportionately located in disadvantaged communities.

Spatial dynamics of the logistics industry: Evidence from California

Is logistics decentralization a consistent trend across metropolitan areas? If so, is the trend more pronounced than population or employment decentralization? This paper examines logistics industry location trends from 2003 to 2013 in the four largest California metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento. We define measures of both decentralization and de-concentration and compare logistics location trends with those of population and employment. Decentralization with respect to logistics establishments and employment is confirmed for Los Angeles; the other metro areas show mixed results. Possible explanatory factors include metropolitan size, economic development policies, share of non-local trade, and local geography.

The Influence of Structural Conditions and Cultural Inertia on Water Usage and Landscape Decision-Making in a California Metropolitan Area

Urban development and planning are increasingly centered on matters of sustainability, balancing economic development with ecosystem services and biological diversity within urban environments. In addition to these institutional and structural factors, the decision-making process within individual households must be understood to address rising concerns about water use. Therefore, individual characteristics and preferences that influence the use of water also warrant examination. In response to a survey of occupants of single-family residences in the Fresno Clovis Metropolitan Area of California, contextual interviews and focus group interviews with a homeowner sub-sample, we find evidence of an interplay of social—structural, institutional, and cultural factors involved in influencing individual water use behaviors and landscape decision-making. The complexity of residential behaviors and decision-making poses some potential issues with regards to the interactions between individual households and institutional actors in matters of water usage and landscaping, as residents surveyed indicate relatively little confidence in institutions and groups to make wise water policy decisions. We conclude that the promotion and implementation of sustainable water use practices will require not only environmental education for the citizenry, but also a tailoring of information for environmental educational initiatives that address the particularities of individual neighborhoods and communities.

What can we learn about changing ethnic diversity from the distributions of mixed-race individuals?

ABSTRACTIt is hypothesized that self-defined mixed-race persons live in residentially mixed areas in the largest metropolitan areas in California. The hypothesis is tested by examining the distribution of mixed-race persons among ethnically and racially diverse and nondiverse neighborhoods in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Metropolitan Areas. The research confirmed that mixed-race individuals are more likely to live in areas with ethnic diversity and that the tendency is greater for the mixed-race population in the San Francisco–Oakland Metropolitan Areas than in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. Mixed-race individuals live in neighborhoods which are diverse with mixes of all four major ethnic and racial groups, and in “well-off” (but not the most affluent) neighborhoods. The study also shows that the mixed-race population is youthful. The association of mixed-race individuals and racially integrated neighborhoods will have important implications for the evolving nature of spatial integration in California specifically, and the United States more generally.

Beneficial Ownership Legislation and Geographic Targeting Orders

This paper is updated to include the Geographic Targeting Order issued by FinCEN in November 2018. Over the last twenty years or so, state and Federal legislators have proposed a variety of beneficial ownership laws, to target money laundering and other illegal activities. Commencing in 2016 and most recently in November 2019, that effort has expanded into the real estate transaction market. “Geographic Targeting Orders” sounds ominous and, depending on your political views, may be especially so when coupled with the federal Department of Treasury agency – the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”). What is the government doing now, and who is it targeting? This paper discusses proposed (but not yet enacted) beneficial ownership legislation in the United States and looks at foreign issues, such as the International Financial Action Task Force and its anti-money laundering requirements. This paper then discusses geographic targeting orders instituted in the United States by FinCEN, most recently in November 2019, which attempt to identify money laundering transactions in real estate in certain (but definitely not all) regions of the United States. The areas targeted include major metropolitan areas in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the state of Washington. The transactions focused on are non-bank financed real estate transactions exceeding certain thresholds which are completed without bank financing through cash or check transactions, or where funds are transferred by wire. FinCEN advises that of the reports received in the first 18 months, 30 percent have involved persons who previously had suspicious activity reports lodged against them.

Land Use Change Dynamics in Southern California: Does Geographic Elasticity Matter?

This article examines how municipal planning contexts can shape urban land use dynamics by investigating the parcel-level land use changes in a five-county Southern California metropolitan area between 1990 and 2005. An analysis, based on a multinomial logit model, shows that land use change patterns significantly vary by municipalities that were situated in heterogeneous planning contexts. More specifically, cities with limited ability to expand their jurisdictional boundaries are found to provide more recreational areas and urban open spaces, while restricting nonconventional land uses. However, no evidence of a shift from single-family to multifamily residential development is detected for such cities.

Impact of outdoor PM2.5 on natural ventilation usability in California’s nondomestic buildings

In California, the majority of office and other nondomestic buildings use mechanical cooling and ventilation even when an optimized natural ventilation (NV) system could meet cooling and fresh air requirements. Unfortunately, in most large California cities, the outdoor environment is contaminated with noise, fine particles, heat, toxic gases or, in most cases, a combination of all four. This contaminated environment has a detrimental impact on naturally ventilated buildings due to their lack of filtration and outdoor noise attenuation systems. This paper presents a study on the impact of airborne particle pollution on the potential for NV cooling of office buildings in California. The study uses a multi-year database of measured hourly weather data and PM2.5 data for the five largest metropolitan areas in California, representative of 90% of the state’s population. The analysis is performed in two stages with increasing complexity. The first stage is a statistical analysis that identifies coincidence between high PM2.5 and outdoor air temperatures that are suitable for NV. In addition, this phase includes multivariable correlation to identify particular weather events or time periods that affect PM2.5 levels. The second level of analysis is more complex, using building thermal simulation (EnergyPlus) to perform a detailed assessment of NV potential in the five urban locations, calculating NV flow rates, resulting indoor exposure to PM2.5 and supplemental HVAC system energy consumption. The results show that using NV in moments when the outside weather is favorable can result in HVAC energy savings of 25–80%. However, limiting NV use to moments with outdoor particle levels below 12μg/m3 decreases this energy saving potential to 20–60%. In addition, in the majority of the cities analyzed in this study, the use of NV leads to an increase in indoor exposure to PM2.5 of outdoor origin of 400–500%.

Associations of Source-Specific Fine Particulate Matter With Emergency Department Visits in California.

While many studies have investigated the health effects associated with acute exposure to fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5)), very few have considered the risks of specific sources of PM2.5 We used city-specific source apportionment in 8 major metropolitan areas in California from 2005-2009 to examine the associations of source-specific PM2.5 exposures from vehicular emissions, biomass burning, soil, and secondary nitrate and sulfate sources with emergency department visits (EDVs) for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including 7 subclasses. Using a case-crossover analysis, we observed associations of vehicular emissions with all cardiovascular EDVs (excess risk = 1.6%, 95% confidence interval: 0.9, 2.4 for an interquartile-range increment of 2.8 µg/m(3)) and with several subclasses of disease. In addition, vehicular emissions, biomass burning, and soil sources were associated with all respiratory EDVs and with EDVs for asthma. The soil source, which includes resuspended road dust, generated the highest risk estimate for asthma (excess risk = 4.5%, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 8.0). Overall, our results provide additional evidence of the public health consequences of exposure to specific sources of PM2.5 and indicate that some sources of PM2.5 may pose higher risks than the overall PM2.5 mass.

Epidemiology and surveillance of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in two large metropolitan areas in California

Our objective was to provide demographic profiles and incidence estimates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in two diverse California metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County (LA) and the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA). Data were retrospectively collected from multiple sources. Case eligibility criteria included residency in SFBA or LA, and treatment for or diagnosis of ALS between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011. Overall incidence rates as well as age-, gender-, race- and ethnicity-specific rates were calculated. We identified 539 ALS cases in SFBA and 545 in LA; 618 were incident cases. Cases were more likely to be male and white. There were considerably more cases (p < 0.05) in LA who were foreign-born (LA, 22%; SFBA, 15%), black (LA, 10%; SFBA, 6%) or Hispanic (LA, 19%; SFBA, 10%). Conversely, the age adjusted incidence rates (per 100,000) were higher in SFBA for whites (LA, 1.40; SFBA, 2.49) and Hispanics (LA, 0.66; SFBA, 1.57) compared with LA. General case demographics and incidence rates in these two areas were similar to published studies. However, the differences between the two areas raise questions about how factors such as geography, access to care, and referral patterns may affect case ascertainment and diagnosis.

Differences in subprime loan pricing across races and neighborhoods

We investigate whether race and ethnicity influenced subprime loan pricing during 2005, the peak of the subprime mortgage expansion. We combine loan-level data on the performance of non-prime securitized mortgages with individual- and neighborhood-level data on racial and ethnic characteristics for metropolitan areas in California and Florida. Using a model of rate determination that accounts for predicted loan performance, we evaluate the differences in subprime mortgage rates in terms of racial and ethnic groups and neighborhood characteristics. We find evidence of adverse pricing for Blacks and Hispanics. The evidence of adverse pricing is strongest for purchase mortgages and mortgages originated by non-depository institutions.

Race, Redlining, and Subprime Loan Pricing

We investigate whether race and ethnicity influenced subprime loan pricing during 2005, the peak of the subprime mortgage expansion. We combine loan-level data on the performance of non-prime securitized mortgages with individual- and neighborhood-level data on racial and ethnic characteristics for metropolitan areas in California and Florida. Using a model of rate determination that accounts for predicted loan performance, we evaluate the differences in subprime mortgage rates in terms of racial and ethnic groups and neighborhood characteristics. We find evidence of adverse pricing for blacks and Hispanics. The evidence of adverse pricing is strongest for purchase mortgages and mortgages originated by non-depository institutions.

Effectiveness of Seasonal Trivalent Influenza Vaccine for Preventing Influenza Virus Illness Among Pregnant Women: A Population-Based Case-Control Study During the 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 Influenza Seasons

Although vaccination with trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) is recommended for all pregnant women, no vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies of TIV in pregnant women have assessed laboratory-confirmed influenza outcomes. We conducted a case-control study over 2 influenza seasons (2010-2011 and 2011-2012) among Kaiser Permanente health plan members in 2 metropolitan areas in California and Oregon. We compared the proportion vaccinated among 100 influenza cases (confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) with the proportions vaccinated among 192 controls with acute respiratory illness (ARI) who tested negative for influenza and 200 controls without ARI (matched by season, site, and trimester). Among influenza cases, 42% were vaccinated during the study season compared to 58% and 63% vaccinated among influenza-negative controls and matched ARI-negative controls, respectively. The adjusted VE of the current season vaccine against influenza A and B was 44% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5%-67%) using the influenza-negative controls and 53% (95% CI, 24%-72%) using the ARI-negative controls. Receipt of the prior season's vaccine, however, had an effect similar to receipt of the current season's vaccine. As such, vaccination in either or both seasons had statistically similar adjusted VE using influenza-negative controls (VE point estimates range = 51%-76%) and ARI-negative controls (48%-76%). Influenza vaccination reduced the risk of ARI associated with laboratory-confirmed influenza among pregnant women by about one-half, similar to VE observed among all adults during these seasons.