CA: Governor opposes building moratorium, mandatory flood insurance (What-A-RINO)

Sac Bee ^ | 3/3/2006 | Andy Furillo -- Bee Capitol Bureau

[BurbankKarl]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that in spite of his urgent call for a $6 billion levee bond to protect Northern California from catastrophic floods, there is no need to impose a building moratorium or require mandatory flood insurance in particularly threatened areas.

"The reason I don't like to go toward not building -- there are some people who believe that's the way to go -- is that, if you say to yourself, let's not build in flood prone areas, what do we say about earthquake prone areas?" Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Bee. "Then you say, the Bay Area, it has a lot of earthquakes...Should no one build in the Bay Area?"

As for mandatory flood insurance, the governor said "we need to tell people that insurance is extremely important," but that "I don't think we want to make it mandatory." Schwarzenegger's water resources director, Lester Snow, said that administration-sponsored legislation for its levee restoration projects includes language calling for a "mandatory offer of flood insurance" to "increase the awareness of people" who buy homes in the flood plain.

In the infrastructure plan initially laid out by the governor, he called for $2.5 billion in bond funding over the next 10 years to kick-start a $6 billion flood-control improvement plan that also included federal and local funding.

But after a trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this week that brought him no guarantees of federal support for his emergency efforts to upgrade California's levee system, Schwarzenegger on Tuesday wrote letters to legislative leaders in which he asked that a $6 billion bond be placed on the ballot to pay for the entire flood-control component of his infrastructure package.

[AZRepublican]

My Gawd, the state now has 37 million residents and he wants to keep building? The man is nuts like the Democrat controlled senate!

[BurbankKarl]

The San Joaquin River divides a busy building scene in Lathrop, where developers of River Islands, foreground, are building a new levee inside the existing levee on Stewart Tract, which flooded in 1997. Plans call for 11,000 new homes. On the other side of the river, 9,000 homes are planned without levee upgrades.

A levee separates new homes from a flood control channel in Yuba County's Cresleigh Bluffs subdivision, part of the Plumas Lake project, which eventually will include 12,000 homes.

A worker frames a new house in Lathrop. The new neighborhood is protected from flooding by the levee in the background that had seepage problems in 1997. The city didn't require developers to certify or upgrade the levee, and opted to build a new City Hall behind it. "I think that's a pretty good vote of confidence," said City Manager Pam Carder.

[newzjunkey]

Good.

[Godzilla]

Do we or don't we have a levee emergency, I'm confused.

[BurbankKarl]

I like that picture of the levee behind the construction worker! No problem building there!

[larryw408]

I'm confused. Arnold doesn't want to impose a building moratorium and instead let capitalism decide; he doesn't want to force the purchase of a specific kind of insurance and instead let people decide how to live their own life, and on that basis that he's labeled a RINO?

Granted, Arnold is a RINO, but those two positions seem to be clearly conservative.

[Amerigomag]

Do we or don't we have a levee emergency, I'm confused.

That's not surprising.

There is only one class of individuals who aren't confused on this issue. Liberals. To liberals, whether Republican or Democrat, any issue that interferes with the transfer of public wealth creates a need for emergency measures.

In this case the gang has determined that an emergency exists which demands that immediate transfer. Both liberal Senators are racing to the gang's aid to form a chorus.

To the rest of us an emergency, requiring an immediate iquiry, is having Barbara Boxer on your side supporting a common goal.

[Amerigomag]

Granted, Arnold is a RINO, but those two positions seem to be clearly conservative.

Alright. So far so good. But here's the question that should be asked.

If the Austrian is the governor when the flooding occurs will he declare a state of emergency and spend your state and federal tax dollars to bail out the foolish?

Allowing unrestricted development is neither liberal nor conservative. It's capitalist. There is a constant confusion between the two, even among conservatives, and especially when assigning motive to the Austrian's public pronouncements.

[bordergal]

It's only conservative if the uninsured are not bailed out with taxpayer dollars. What are the chances of that not happening?

[John Jorsett]

I wouldn't care if you built in the caldera of an active volcano as long as you're not expecting the taxpayers to indemnify you when it erupts. Since the weeping and wailing that goes on after a disaster would make politicians look like monsters for not bailing out the victims, mandatory insurance is the only way to keep all of us from getting stuck with the bill for someone else's foolishness. Schwarzenegger ought to reexamine his position.

[John Jorsett]

I'm confused. Arnold doesn't want to impose a building moratorium and instead let capitalism decide; he doesn't want to force the purchase of a specific kind of insurance and instead let people decide how to live their own life, and on that basis that he's labeled a RINO?

Granted, Arnold is a RINO, but those two positions seem to be clearly conservative.

That'd be great if it weren't for the fact that the first thing the state would be pressured to do would be to "help the victims," with taxpayers funds, which it would almost certainly do. Even if you told people up front that the risk is entirely theirs, the political heat would make it nearly impossible to maintain that stance when there are destroyed homes and disrupted lives on TV every night. We require mandatory car insurance for that reason: some people wouldn't buy it, and we don't leave people lying in the street if they can't afford to pay.

[larryw408]

OK, I get it.

We had a little leaking of the levy in question during one of the wettest, worst flood, El Nino disaster years on record, and that qualifies as a Karina level disaster waiting to happen. Oh my goodness, where's Schoolbus Nagan when we need him?


We have liberals doing everything in their power to curtail capitalism in the sate through wealth transfers and other barriers, and my tiny mind confuses pure capitalism as not being a Conservative trait.

We have a governor who isn't forcing people to buy flood insurance and letting them live their own lives, and that's a bad thing. Think about it, if the levee breaks and a flood happens, who do you think the insurance company is going to hit up for relief?


And we have builders building and people buying if they choose to do so. Not thinking everyone is too stupid to live their own life certainly is a conservative trait.

[BurbankKarl]

We need a Chocolate Capitol!

[BurbankKarl]

CA still lost 250,000 Americans last year fleeing back to the United States. It used to be they were replaced by illegals and midwesterners...but the midwesterners arent flocking here any more.

[ridesthemiles]

The developers are carving up farmland which feeds the USA and others at an alarming rate in Kalifornia.
There will come a day when they will pay for this short-sightedness.

[Amerigomag]

You are correct.

The Austrian's pronouncement reflects conservative values: Less government restrictions and less government taxation (mandatory insurance).