ALPERN AT LARGE-Being an adult is, at times, very hard. Being an adult is, at times, no fun. Being an adult does, at times, mean listening and acting on what needs to be said rather than what one wants to hear. It involves mature sincerity borne of experience, not an immature cleverness rife with spin and one-liners that force the adults in the room to be on the defensive.
And being sincere is all-too-often a sure-shot way to lose political power to those who adhere to being clever.
The lurch to the left in LA, other various cities and in Sacramento has--despite the Left's constant drum-beats (and oh-so supported by the Huffington Post, Yahoo, the LA Times and other outlets) left much of our state with a pension crisis (that no one wants to confront), a deficit in our infrastructure (that many of us understand but are agonized as to how to pay for it) and an economy that is smashing the middle class.
As I stated in my last CityWatch article, LA is increasingly unaffordable--unless you're rich or work a gazillion jobs and kill yourself just to allow you and your family to make it. This is particularly true for those with kids.
But the playbook in LA and this state continues to be the same: COME UP WITH DISTRACTING POLICIES THAT DIVERT ATTENTION FROM THE MOST VITAL PRIORITIES AND BLAME THE 1%, BUT WHICH ACTUALLY HELP POLITICALLY-CONNECTED WEALTHY INTERESTS AND FURTHER THE RICH-POOR DIVIDE AND PROVIDE YET MORE IMPETUS TO ENACT FURTHER DISTRACTING POLICIES.
As in looky here, and looky there, at policies that claim to be environmentally-friendly, minority-focused, child-focused, homeless-focused, woman-focused, and which suck up the oxygen in the room and divert attention from the main priorities of a balanced budget, ensuring public services and an economy that can actually pay for an environment and quality of life we all need to survive.
And while it's OK to turn our backs on those Republicans, moderate Democrats and Independents who've fled the City and/or state (with all their wealth and knowledge), and its oppressive policies that create Winners and Losers instead of an even playing field, aren't making it better for the rest of us who still love the state.
As I write to you on vacation to Death Valley and Yosemite, I can assure you that this state has lots of wonderful natural resources and miracles to see and experience.
Who doesn't want zero-emission technology? But with California beginning to import lots of oil and gasoline from outside the state, the questionable economic consequences of pretending that our oil and gas is without benefit is Sincere. To pretend we can do without gas and oil is Clever, but it's Not Sincere.
When LA claims it is time for a "Zero Waste LA" policy, it's Clever, but it's not Sincere-- what with mom and pop businesses for hauling waste put out of business and with big companies now able to destroy the competition and jack up rates in the City of LA.
Claiming we need more taxes to pay for our sidewalks and roads is Clever, but it's not Sincere in that it ignore where the money for our infrastructure went for the past few decades, and that we're still not paying for fixing sidewalks even though we've allotted money for it.
Governor Brown's effort to work with Republicans in Sacramento to create a rainy-day budget IS Sincere, but it's not Sincere enough because it doesn't sufficiently address the fiscal burdens of our pension, high-speed rail and other anti-business policies that ensure the economic suffering of our state.
There are plenty of other Clever political statements and paradigms pushed by those in power, and will do anything to stay in power (no matter who gets hurt), but the fiscal and moral chickens are coming home to roost because Sincerity was and will always have to be part of the governing policy of any locality or state.
We've got many choices to make at the City, County, and State level that involve our own future, and that of our children. As aforementioned, being an adult is hard.
But while there is a time to be Clever, there must also be a time to be Sincere. We can dream as mature adults as much as we can when we chose not to see the big picture. We need real gold, not "fool's gold", for us to become wealthy and succeed in the Golden State of the 21st Century.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us . The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 32
Pub: Apr 18, 2014
