Selected recent California newspaper
editorials
March 24
Los
Angeles Times: “California sprawl slows down”
The
Census Bureau has released its annual estimate of county population changes,
and as they have for years, the numbers for July 2006 to July 2007 show wild
growth in Sunbelt cities in eastern California, Nevada and Arizona. But this
year they also hint that the rate of growth may be slowing, and that coastal urban
and suburban areas could be gaining ground.
These
numbers hardly suggest that sprawl is dead. It’s best to view them as yet more
evidence of the housing downturn.
The
census data reflect a reality that many Southern Californians have already
experienced firsthand.
Today,
thousands of families face foreclosure. Millions more worry about the falling
value of their homes and the effects of a probable recession.
As
the numbers show, the pain is particularly intense in our region’s far-flung,
faster-growing counties.
There
is a silver lining. Slowing growth in Southern California signals that the
overheated market is in fact over and that the long, difficult process of
correction, in which prices return to sustainable levels, is under way.
If
local officials are smart, they’ll take advantage of sprawl’s apparent stall to
plan more carefully for future growth.
In
planning terms, think of this as a strategic pause, a moment to concentrate on
water supply, traffic, school construction, infrastructure — all of which tend
to be brushed aside in the press of expansion but which need and deserve the
long look that this moment may allow.
March
22
The
Riverside Press-Enterprise: “Feeble officials”
Gov.
Schwarzenegger’s argument for his latest budget reform proposal includes a
stark assessment: The Legislature cannot fix state finances on its own. But the
governor’s rationale raises a far larger concern. How can California navigate
the future with a Legislature incapable of handling crucial public policy
issues?
Not
very well, clearly. Avoiding that fate requires changing political practice and
civic attitudes, to promote accountability and a focus on public needs rather
than partisan posturing.
A
Legislature that can only resolve trivial issues hardly ensures a thriving
state in coming decades. California needs legislators willing to confront the
complex challenges the state faces.
California
could start by reforming a redistricting system that insulates legislators from
election challenges. Safe seats invite rigid partisanship and unresponsive
government. The result is a Legislature more extreme than most Californians,
with little incentive to compromise.
California’s
political parties also need to realize that narrow partisan agendas are a big
reason one-fifth of California voters now belong to no party. ...
Voters
can also play a role, by holding legislators accountable at the ballot box,
when possible, for political irresponsibility and gridlock. ...
California
has to find a way forward that bridges the state’s cultural and political
divides. The state will not find that in a political culture that ducks hard
choices and glorifies partisan intransigence.
Schwarzenegger can and should get under control.