Category: California

NO to California Water Bonds Totaling $11 Billion

Of course we want to ensure our water supply and at the same time protect our environment.  So every few years and sometimes more often the California legislature proposes more money to maintain the water supply.  Unfortunately the actual amount of available water has declined.  Many reservoirs are well below their capacity.  Rationing of water has become a state wide fact.  This would certainly be a time when Californians would approve a bond measure to improve the system.

Is that how the legislature decided on a $11.1 billion bond proposal?  Apparently the answer is yes.  The problem is that this bill appears to be more about building water projects we do not need rather than addressing the issue of water distribution.  If passed, this bond issue will provide money for lots of contractors and $10 million for a Sacramento center for social tolerance that has nothing to do with water.  This fact was exposed by Sacramento Bee reporter and columnist Dan Walters.  Mr. Walters says this bond issue doesn’t address the issues.  Traci Sheehan on the California Progress Report web site has identified other newspapers that oppose this waste of money.

Here is a list voter approved water projects from just this past decade I found on the internet.

Proposition 13. In March 2000, California voters approved Proposition 13 (2000 Water Bond), which authorizes the State of California to sell $1.97 billion in general obligation bonds to support safe drinking, water quality, flood protection and water reliability projects throughout the State.

Proposition 40. In March 2002, California voters approved Proposition 40, a $2.6 billion state bond measure for conservation, neighborhood parks, and coastline and watershed protection. Proposition 40 was the largest conservation bond measure ever approved in California.

Proposition 50. In November 2002, the $3.4 billion water bond measure, the largest in California history, was approved by voters. It provides $825 million in funding for CALFED for a variety of programs, including surface water storage studies, water conveyance facilities, levee improvements, water supply reliability projects, ecosystem restoration, watershed programs, conservation and water recycling. More on Proposition 50 is available at www.water.ca.gov/grants-loans.

Proposition 84.  In November 2006 California voters approved this measure that will fund water, flood control, natural resources, park and conservation projects by authorizing $5,388,000,000 in general obligation bonds. The bonds will be used to fund various projects aimed at (1) improving drinking and agricultural water quality and management; (2) preserving, restoring and increasing public access to rivers and beaches; (3) improving flood control. See details of the law at http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/1008/files/prop_84_text.pdf.

My calculator says these propositions spent more than $13 billion.  The cost to pay back those bonds with interest will most likely be double that amount.  Unless I hear some startling reason for this waste of tax dollars we should all vote NO to this give away of another $11 billion.

Why Not Los Angeles?

Thanks to my father my family moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles after WWII.  There are many reasons for not bringing your family to Los Angeles.  Most of them are poor arguments. 

Metropolitan Los Angeles spreads across five counties. Traveling north to south it spreads across a distance of about 75 miles and from the beach to inland cities and towns and spreads east about 50 miles.  Many people travel a distance of 30 to 35 miles just to go to work.  For most people a car is necessary for the commute to work.

Homes are relatively expensive.  Even with the downturn in housing prices for a home of 1700 to 2000 square feet will cost at least $350,000.  Those least expensive homes are in lower income neighborhoods.

What makes the city desirable are the following features:

1. Total annual rainfall averages 16 inches.  Snow is a rarity.  Temperature today reached 87ºF/30ºC at my home (October 26, 2009).  Winter temperatures drop below freezing at night for about a week every January.  How far below freezing?  One to three degrees.    

2. The entertainment facilities are second to none.  Live theater is in neighborhood venues, the Hollywood Bowl, L.A. Live, Staples Center, Disney Hall, comedy clubs, etc.

3. Medical facilities include UCLA, City of Hope, Cedars Sinai Hospital, etc.

4. Universities are too numerous to list but include UCLA, USC, California State University has four campuses.

5. Beaches include Santa Monica, Malibu, and Laguna.

6. Amusement parks include Universal City, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Magic Mountain.

7. The largest port in America and the entertainment industry brings lots of job opportunities.

8. There is also the zoo, museums, gardens, and wonderful shopping malls.

What’s wrong with this picture?  The people are too liberal, many races and ethnic groups are intermixed throughout the city.  West Hollywood is an internationally known gay and lesbian community.  You may have to wait an hour and a half to be seated at Miceli’s and parking at the Beverly Center is always a challenge.    

Meg Whitman for California Governor, I Don’t Think So

“Hey, I’m rich and I can do anything!  I can even become governor of California.  It might be fun, I will be giving back to the community that made me so damn rich, and besides I really have nothing else to do.”

I was a supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger because I hoped that a wealthy, well educated person with moderate views could improve the management of our state.  I was wrong.

If you read and listen to Meg Whitman you will know that her goals are the same stated by Schwarzenegger when he was running for office.  Creating jobs, cutting state spending and fixing the education system will be her top priorities according to an SFGate on line article.  She says she will cut 40,000 state jobs but doesn’t tell us how she will do that.  Remember Schwarzenegger’s appointment of accountants who would find all the places where there was corruption and waste?  Was he the “girlie man” who didn’t have the courage to stop that corruption and waste?  Perhaps there really isn’t any consequential savings. 

Remember this well intentioned Schwarzenegger quote, “It’s disturbing to realize that after taking a close look at California’s budget, it’s hard to make any sense out of it. In Sacramento, spending is out of control and as governor, I will work to get the state’s fiscal house in order. Immediately upon taking office I will order an outside, independent audit of the state budget so we can get a clear picture–uncluttered by politics and special interest influence–of how we can bring spending under control without neglecting our most important obligations.”

The Republicans need a gubernatorial candidate who really knows how the state functions and has the skills to reduce the state’s payroll.  Meg Whitman’s only credential is she has the money to pay for her run for office.

Repairing California

California, the Golden State, is literally falling apart.  The streets, freeways, levees, and even the water distribution system are all breaking apart.  The Los Angeles Times reported 34 breaks in the Los Angeles city water distribution system.  Add to that the deteriorating educational system, the high taxes, the over budget government systems (city of Los Angeles and state government), and the legislative deadlocks and you begin to understand the depth of our turmoil.

The city and state districting has been so gerrymandered that there is little opportunity to unseat incumbent legislators without an extraordinary uprising of the electorate. 

District boundaries are merely a symptom of the overall management of California.  Republicans and Democrats have carved up the state in a manner that ensures that when an incumbent retires his successor will be in the same party.

Two examples help to tell the story:                                                                                                                     1. The 30th congressional district held by Henry Waxman.  His primary constituency is West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, and all the immediately adjoining areas.  For reasons that will forever remain a mystery his district boundary includes the west end of the San Fernando Valley.

2. The second and sixth council districts in Los Angeles are a perfect example of the no reasonable districting philosophy that has invaded cities as well as state districting nonsense.  Clearly these districts were devised to ensure the re-election of candidates based upon the ethnic backgrounds of the constituents rather than neighborhood needs.

The state constitution has 522 amendments and is 110 pages long.  To make it useable the regulations in the constitution have been organized into topic “codes” to enable understandability.  Many laws have been included in the constitution rather than simple state law to prevent them from being overturned.  Thus the Public Housing Project Law is Article 34.

To pass a budget in the state legislature requires 2/3 vote.  Thus 1/3 of the legislature controls the budgetary process. Only two other states have this requirement.  It is the reason that budgets are rarely passed before their due date.  The result is this year’s issuance of I.O.U.s by the state treasurer. 

It is the same reason that bond issues are approved by the voters rather than the legislature.  The same reason a typical state wide ballot has 10 to 12 initiatives.  The legislature can’t agree on most laws and puts the questions to voters who usually lack adequate information to make wise decisions.  Voters are influenced by special interest groups that spread lots of lies.

BusinessWeek has just reported that a new state commission to recommend an overhaul the tax system has been established by the legislature.  The legislature will abdicate its responsibility and the plan will appear on a future ballot.  Voters, with limited knowledge, will be encouraged to vote yes or no by various special interest groups that will try to frighten the public.  It’s how this state got into so much trouble by using initiatives to pass property tax regulations, governance laws, bond initiatives, and other laws that should have been determined by the legislature.  That is a group that has refused to take responsibility.   

The solution is a state constitutional convention.  The Bay Area Council, a business group in San Francisco that includes the surrounding bay area, has taken on the leadership role in this endeavor.  Through a group called Repair California they have been holding town hall meetings throughout the state and have met with the editorial boards of many newspapers for their support.  The Los Angeles Times has become an enthusiastic supporter of this idea.  They have published six editorials supporting the idea of a constitutional convention.  The first of those editorials appeared on  August 16, 2009.  The most recent appeared on September 20, 2009.

Moving to Oregon is not an option for me.  We have to get this done.

Stimulus Money Well Spent

I have ridden on the subways in D.C., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.  All of them provide a marvelous means of transportation.  Here in Los Angeles we really only have one subway line.  It stretches from Downtown to North Hollywood for 17.4 miles.  The usage proves that the city needs a subway system.  Seats are difficult to find at mid-day.

Angelenoes love their cars.  I have grown up in this city and have driven through some of the worst traffic nightmares.  They were on the 101, 405, and 5 freeways.  Some traffic has made a 30 minute drive into a 3 hour nightmare.  A trip from my home to LAX (using the 101 and the 405) is 30 miles but you should allow 1½ hours and that is the time without serious accidents.    

For two years I worked on Wilshire Boulevard.  It always amazed me that conventional buses would travel down that street in group of three to accommodate the extraordinary need for public transportation.  That was happening at lunch time not at rush hour times.  If you missed a group of three there will be another group in 5 minutes.  In spite of the obvious need for a subway under that boulevard it has been resisted by many people.  The NIMBYs have succeeded and in the process have hurt the city’s poorest people and caused major traffic congestion.  Who cares about the poorest among us?  The have no political voice and so they are ignored.

In the mid 1980s NIMBYs successfully had a federal law passed prohibiting the construction of a subway under Wilshire Boulevard.  Now that the congestion has become overwhelming, that law has been reversed.  The mayor wants to see this project completed in less than ten years.  Building that $6.1 billion subway would employ many thousands people and the resulting mass transit would be eco-friendly.  This would be a worthwhile project for stimulus money.      

High Surf In Southern California

Waves of warm water have entered Southern California from the South Pacific.  A surfer was killed in Newport Beach when a very high wave slammed him against the rocks.  That beach is south facing and is more inclined to experience the higher waves.  Western facing beaches have had waves that are somewhat smaller but are still quite significant.  This situation has brought many surf board riders to many beaches.  Malibu Beach is western facing but it is the closest to my home. The drive is about 17 miles.  The surfers were everywhere.   The colors were enhanced using Photoshop.  Some shading did not work out as I had expected. 

It’s Called PORK

The $787 billion stimulus package signed into law this past February has not resulted in the promised thousands of new or saved jobs.  The reason is clear.  Nearly 90 percent of the stimulus money has not yet been spent.  This is very bothersome to me because President Obama emphasized “shovel ready” projects to invigorate the economy. 

The boulevards and primary avenues in the San Fernando Valley certainly need repaving but there are no road graders to be found anywhere near those streets.  There are plans in the works for widening the infamous 405 freeway and extending the Orange Line Busway but little or no action has occurred even though those projects have been on the table for years.  Los Angeles City officials are asking for more than $7.3 billion of the stimulus money.

Based upon the mere 10 percent of the package being spent to date one can only conclude that this entire effort was a “feel good” action that played well politically at the time but likely will not pay well in the 2010 congressional elections.

I notice that the press has not done a good job of tracking the many projects that the stimulus package was going to aid.

The stimulus money will undoubtedly be spent but it won’t be on “shovel ready” projects.  Perhaps it will be spent on every congressman’s pet projects.  It’s called PORK.       

Latino Boycott of the Census Makes no Sense

A Los Angeles Times Editorial

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Funds and services depend on an accurate count; boycotting could hurt those who need those things the most.

The latest effort to push illegal immigrants further into the shadows of civic life comes from an unexpected quarter. Not from those who would gladly deport every single person residing in this country without permission, but from advocates who profess to have their best interest at heart. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders is urging illegal immigrants not to participate in the 2010 census. The group’s supposed logic? That the statistical invisibility of 11 million to 12 million people will be a powerful lever to move legislators and the Obama administration to act with urgency and create a pathway to citizenship.

This misguided advice could have come from the Minuteman Project. Because an undercount means that the very places where illegal immigrants reside and use services, those states and counties already in desperate financial straits will be shortchanged of federal funding that would help all residents. Are these church leaders also urging illegal immigrants to not send their children to school? To avoid hospitals? To forgo driving on highways? An undercount means diminished funding for those public necessities and many others. Furthermore, census data determine voting districts. Are these advocates calling for fewer elected officials who might actually negotiate a pathway to citizenship?

In a report on undercounting in the 2000 census, the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers calculated that states loses more than $3,000 per uncounted resident. California, for example, is already out hundreds of millions of dollars because of an undercount in the 2000 census of an estimated 500,000 people. Los Angeles, Alameda, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego counties will lose the bulk of that money, with L.A. losing more than $600 million over 10 years.

Unfortunately, this boycott movement seems to be gaining momentum; it dovetails with an existing fear of government detection. But anyone who boycotts the census has a poor understanding of U.S. history. Political power in this country is tethered to visibility. It is not a coincidence that in the past, the voiceless — Native Americans on reservations, enslaved African Americans — were purposely not counted in the census. (Actually, for taxation and representation purposes, the latter were counted as three-fifths of a person.)

There is no logical reason to fear participation. By law, all personal census information is sealed for 72 years, and no one who fills out a form is going to be deported as a result. With nothing to gain but much to lose, boycotting the census would be a strange tactic for people who have marched by the millions, revealing their numbers for the world to see. Whatever happened to “Today we march, tomorrow we vote”?

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See my column Why are most Mexicans in Mexico so poor?

Drastic Times for California

The T.E.A. parties were a harbinger of the no on taxes movement that is sweeping this nation.  Californians sent that resounding message to the legislature and the governor.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger must now sit down with state lawmakers and make real decisions.  It’s something that has not been done in more than a quarter century.  Proposition 13 (a 1978 revision to the state constitution that limited property taxation) was passed because the legislature refused to do its job.  Once again the public has to step in to send a resounding message.

 The Los Angeles Times reported in an article titled “Cost-cutting ideas die in Legislature”

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported SB 44 to abolish the Integrated Waste Management Board and save up to $3 million a year, Denham said. The Senate Environmental Quality Committee rejected it Monday on a party-line vote.

The board has been criticized as a way station for retired lawmakers. Among its members are former legislators Sheila Kuehl, John Laird and Carole Migden; each is paid $132,000 a year.

How many other boards and departments are there, that serve no useful purpose?  The State Controller’s office reports there are more than 213,000 state employees (excluding California State Universities).  The questions are too easy to ask but the answers to some are difficult.

  1. What are all of these people doing?
  2. How many are earning over $100,000 per year?
  3. What are the non essential departments?
  4. Are there laws that prevent the elimination of any departments?

 The Los Angeles Times editorializes that this may be the time for a state constitutional convention.  The Bay Area Council of the San Francisco area is a business-sponsored, public-policy advocacy organization that is promoting the idea of such a convention.  That council believes “Drastic times call for drastic measures.”  These are most definitely drastic times.