Posted on 06/02/2005 12:15:19 PM PDT by calcowgirl
California faces critical challenges in the next two decades as its population surges and stretches vital resources to the limit while creating an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, according to a Public Policy Institute of California study released Wednesday.
Virtually half of all residents believe smog, traffic and skyrocketing home prices will make the Golden State a worse place to live by 2025, according to the study and poll released by the nonpartisan, nonprofit group.
"We hope that this report acts as a wake-up call," said Mark Baldassare, director of research at the nonpartisan institute and a co-author of the report.
"The state is not at a crisis, but it's certainly at a critical point in what we've accomplish so far and what we need to do for a better future."
The authors call for debate on major issues -- revisiting Proposition 13, throwing out term limits, building toll roads -- to better deal with some of the projections in the report, which paints a sweeping portrait of a state being reshaped by changes in demographics and economics, and challenged by cumbersome government processes.
Latinos are poised to become the largest ethnic group in the state by 2011 as whites drop to one-third of the population.
The number of seniors will double as the population is expected to swell from 36.5 million to as much as 48 million.
The economy will demand an increasingly college-educated work force but the population is growing, with immigrants and their children -- who typically have not achieved higher levels of education.
Already booming inland areas, like Riverside, are expected to see their populations skyrocket by 50 percent, although the infrastructure is inadequate to support the boom.
Congestion will increase travel times by 48 percent.
Manufacturing jobs will continue to be replaced by service jobs, leaving a growing gap between demand for educated workers and supply.
Already leading the nation in income inequality, the state will see the gap widen unless major changes are made.
"Will we have a generation of chronic underemployed, who will need the state's social and income-transfer programs?" the report asked. "Where will the tax revenues come from to ... keep roads repaired, water clean and flowing, and schools running?"
Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the issues the report raises already are being felt across Southern California.
Kyser said his organization recently formed the Southern California Leadership Council -- a multicounty group tapping the expertise of three former governors and others to craft solutions.
"We really can't look at government to come up with a lot of solutions. It's time for the private sector to get engaged."
A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the governor has been pursuing efforts to address some of the problems outlined in the institute report.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger is taking the necessary steps to make California once again, in his words, the 'golden dream by the sea,"' said administration spokesman Vince Sollitto.
"He is putting state resources into infrastructure, as called for in today's report. And he is providing the most state funding for education ever to help prepare our children for the economy of the future."
But Schwarzenegger opposes attempts to change Proposition 13, as the report suggests, and generally supports the current term-limits law although he has expressed a willingness to debate it in the context of negotiating his current redistricting reform effort.
Jaime A. Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said the time is ripe to consider tackling government financing mainstays -- including Proposition 13, the landmark property tax initiative -- as voters become increasingly frustrated by such things as deteriorating roads and schools.
"Every one of those funding forms tie the hands of those who make the decisions ... They have to have a little more leeway."
Joel Kotkin, an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation, said the report fails to tackle regulatory issues and the steep housing prices that drive business out of California -- or talk about the kinds of blue-collar jobs that many businesses need.
"The absolute essential is going to be how we grow the economy, and how does California compete? Having educated people per se does not get it done if they don't have the jobs and can't afford to live there."
By 2025, a projected 10 million more people will need homes and transportation.
Yet transportation spending has lagged and California now spends less per capita than the rest of the country on roads -- partly because fuel efficiency has led to lower gas tax revenues.
The report suggests motorists who use the transportation system pay for it through toll roads or other fees.
It also calls for public-private partnerships to build infrastructure projects that the state can no longer afford. Recent legislation backed by Schwarzenegger to allow private companies to build toll roads was killed last month in Sacramento.
Baldassare said the state should step in with "carrots and sticks" to get local jurisdictions to take a more regional approach to planning and land-use decisions.
"We think that regional planning is a huge part of the solution for how to have a better California," he said.
But the state's voters have little faith government can do the job.
The institute's poll found four in 10 respondents said they have little or no confidence in state government's ability to plan for the future and 73 percent said voters, not elected officials, should make regional planning and growth decisions.
"I think the fact that the (public) doesn't believe the government is capable of planning for the future is a huge issue to overcome," Baldassare said. "The thing that gives us some hope is all these things have been out there, being discussed. It's just been a lack of focus and leadership on putting it all together, and commitment."
All the manufacturing jobs in CA are moving to Texas or overseas.
Gee, guess that's what happens when you try to tax "evil" business.
Er, "tax all the "evil" businesses in the state to the point of extinction."
I was born in Calif., and have lived here all my life. Frankly, much of the state became something akin to an unlivable third world hellhole years ago.
Then they better start voting for pro-business, anti-government Republicans. The private sector can fix all the ills outlined in this report. But re-electing Democrats will not solve anything at all.
By "vital resources", I assume they mean burritos.....
And if they continue to view themselves as "Latinos" rather than "Californians" or simply as "Americans," their "balkanized" view of politics will be a greater threat to California than any projected shortage of resources.
I was born there and moved out in '90 when I saw the draconian anti-gun laws coming.
Be Ever Vigilant!
Several Rat legislatures are calling for increased taxes on the "rich" on several fronts.
The "rich" will be leaving the state.
The gap problem solved.
1) Flood the state with endless millions of illegal invaders.
2) Tax the the economic productive elements out of existence.
3) Over-regulate any business foolish enough to operate in California.
4) Over-litigate the population with an utterly corrupt Lawyer Industry and Judicial Tyrant "activist" Judges.
Well, I don't know about statewide skyrocketing home prices, but I know of some homes in Laguna Canyon that are available dirt cheap!
Seriously, the main cause of skyrocketing home prices is that many locales have virtually legislated out new home-building through no or low growth initatives. More people but the same number of houses: Prices go up, up, up! I thought NoVA was bad but California is another level altogether!
Sounds bad, and they didn't even mention the water shortage.
The State has no resources unless it counts tax money as a resource. What resources does the region, rather than the State, have besides agriculture?
So the author's only solutions are more taxes. They can't seem to learn raising taxes just chases jobs away.
That is common in blue states.
The state certainly is in a crisis...its gone downhill since 1978.
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