ALPERN AT LARGE-Party on in the Golden State, y'alls! The unemployment rate is down, the environment is better than ever, more of us are getting educated, and things are brighter than ever! And if you haven't kept up, we've figured out a way to help everyone's economic outlook and quality of life ... NOT! All good things must come to an end, and one of those things is the Golden Era of California as a place where one can move to and get some land, build a house and live in an economically-mobile and upward environment.
People are moving out, and many of them are those who built this state...and will now flee with their money to neighboring Western states where opportunities are better.
... and many of them are conservative Democrats, independents and Republicans (many, if not most, who actually built this state up during its glory years) who've thrown up their hands and fled. Fled where they can keep their money, for which they spent years toiling and earning, and where water and energy bills are more reasonable--and where they need not apologize for dreaming the American Dream:
1) The state elections are over, so now it's "safe" for the LA Times to blare screaming headlines about our pension system's cost overruns.
A decade ago, our state and local pension plans were funded with room to spare ... and now they're hundreds of billions in the hole ... and THAT's where funding for roads, fire, police, infrastructure, etc. is now going. Because we're paying for a CalPERS and other pension systems that were once viable and well-run, but are now dogged with unpaid debts and downright corruption.
And let's not even get started with the IBEW, UTLA, SEIU and other public sector unions that are cannibalizing our state, county and city governments while making damn sure they get the politicians they paid for into office.
You know, those wonderful people we keep voting for--but those unions are waaaaaay less of a threat to this state than those awful, evil Koch Brothers (whoever they are--I've never seen 'em or met 'em).
2) We've always needed teachers, but just when do we have the ability to limit-set with their unions?
The same teachers unions that managed to defeat Schwarzeneggar and restore Jerry Brown back to power have made some excellent political investments--completely ignored in the last gubernatorial election (which worked out rather well for Democrats, did it not?) was the rather weak GOP candidate's (Neel Kashkari) two most salient points.
The first of which was how Governor Brown and Attorney General Harris appealed a court ruling against teacher tenure rules that were depriving the ability of many children to a quality education. Inasmuch as Jerry Brown raised taxes on Californians while limit-setting with public-sector unions, it's anybody's guess as to whether he'll fight for that balance now.
So go ahead and claim that our Sacramento governmental leadership is independent and thinking of ordinary working families--just realize that in our state, some of us are "more equal than others," and teachers unions are the most "equal" of them all. Which, of course, makes the rest of us considerably LESS equal.
3) On a similar note, the ability for those of us taxpayers to afford a reasonably-priced higher education in the UC's and Cal State system is similarly being thrown aside.
To his credit, the Governor has leaned on our state colleges to keep prices lower, but both Gov. Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom were reportedly "not consulted" about a proposed 5% annual tuition rate hike each year for the next five years.
Which means that either they were both intentionally kept out of the loop, both downright liars, or both guilty of having fallen down on the job with respect to keeping up on one of their most critical jobs: being on the UC Regents Board. Or maybe, as with Controller Chiang's website bringing more transparency to public sector pension overruns, it's now safe (AFTER the elections) to raise this sort of dirty laundry to the Californian public.
Wanna know why we've no money to build more UC campuses for our Californian youth and their hard-working, taxpaying parents? Wanna know why college tuitions are increasingly unaffordable? Wanna know where that money USED TO GO, and where that money is NOW GOING?
...and do ya wanna know why we're paying as much if not more for retired state workers than we are for current state workers, while pay continuously goes up for UC and Cal State administative and other leaders?
4) While it's admirable we started on the long road to water/infrastructure construction, the ability to fund and build a statewide infrastructure in a cost-effective and visionary manner still eludes us.
The second of the failed GOP contender's (Neel Kashkari) two most salient campaign points was that of the bonding of additional funds for water at a time when most Californians are regretting the quixotic plans to build a California High-Speed Rail at a cost that is unsustainably high, and for a speed which is lower than that promised to the voters when they approved them in 2008.
No one, but NO ONE, gave Governor Brown the right to throw all of the state's transportation/infrastructure funds towards a single project--the California High-Speed Rail--at the expense of the Wilshire Subway, the MetroRail-to-LAX connection, Metrolink. freeway upgrades, Amtrak, road and sidewalk repair, and water/energy infrastructure.
Which is NOT to say that a "higher speed rail" that empowered Amtrak, Metrolink, Caltrain and other commuter rail lines to achieve speeds of over 100 mph isn't a noble and timely endeavor. We could have, and should have, focused on THOSE more reasonable and cost-effective goals instead of lying to the voters in 2008 (no one likes being lied to--there's more than a few high-speed rail supporters who are unhappy right now).
Want a major infrastructure project? Howza 'bout a large pipe/canal system to connect California aquifers with other states--perhaps to the annually-flooded Midwest, where water appears to be TOO MUCH in abundance. Now THAT's a pipeline that's much less problematic than the Keystone XL!
5) And oh, yes, the "illegal immigrant" issue...the issue where "the people have spoken".
Except they've never been allowed to speak--and when they do, they're called "anti-immigrant", "anti-Latino", "racist" and a host of other despicable, unfair and untrue epithets that have nothing to do with reality and everything to do with a political power play to keep California a one-party state, and to allow deplorable employers the ability to hire workers at virtual slave wages.Having heard from more than a few legal immigrants, including Latino legal immigrants, I assure you that legal immigrants ARE real, and ARE really angry at those who are breaking the law. While Sacramento is arbitrarily allowing those who broke the law to get here (is tax-dodging and identity theft now legal, too?), liberal Democratic Oregon had a ballot measure to do the same...and voted it down 66-34.
{module [862]}
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Which makes one wonder what would happen if that same measure were placed on a California ballot...but that won't happen. Not in this state. Not in this one-party state, whether it's called "Democratic" or "progressive" or whatever moniker it chooses to call itself. North Korea includes the name "Democratic" in its moniker, too.
But..."What, me worry?" So the infamous and fictional icon Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine would proclaim to our mad state of affairs, our mad state of confusion, and our mad state of California.
But hey, the weather's good, and those rich fellas are still footing the bill--whoever the heck they are--so jump in while the ocean is colder than ever, and the mountains are drier than ever, and the reality is still crazier than ever!
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member 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 CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] He also does regular commentary on the MarkIsler Radio Show on AM 870, and 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.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 93
Pub: Nov 18, 2014
