I would think that John Cox had more ideas saving California’s cities than those he presents in this piece at RealClearPolicy. What he complains about are crime, zoning, taxes, and excessive regulations. Read it if you’re interested.
I first visited California in the late 1950s. At that time I was rather surprised that it had no cities worthy of the name other than San Francisco. Los Angeles was already basically one sprawling suburb. Let’s let San Diego stand as an epitome of California cities.
When I first visited there San Diego proper was a dingy naval basis, distinguished mostly by bars and strip joints (and associated businesses). When I returned in the mid-1970s I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Gorgeous new construction, a few dignified older buildings like the Hotel del Coronado, surrounded by wide open space—mostly scrub, brown during most of the year but like a garden when there was enough rainfall. When I returned again in the late 1980s is was much like Los Angeles—sprawling, rather dreary cookie-cutter series of housing developments and strip malls.
California is a truly enormous state—big and varied enough that it’s hard to make true generalizations about it. It’s at least three states: Southern California which, as I’ve noted is at this point practically continuous suburb, Northern California, a mixture of genuine urban living and the same suburb-like sprawl. The last time I was in Santa Cruz was more than thirty years ago. At the time it was a small, nondescript town but just a short drive from the woods and mountains. I’m afraid to see what I’d find now.
And then there’s Central California which is much more blue collar—lots of agriculture, some light manufacturing. Again, I’m afraid to know what I’d find now.
There are other areas—idyllic Napa along the coast north of San Francisco and Monterey—Carmel—Big Sur south of San Francisco.
But still rather little in the way of cities that compare with New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Chicago. It’s just not very urban.
I honestly don’t know what will become of California. I don’t know of anybody who’s ever said “The problem with the United States is that it’s not enough like Mexico” but that’s not just the direction in which California is headed—it’s already there. To my eye it appears to be divided among the ultra-wealthy, retirees (many of them retired public employees), and a new peasantry largely composed of Mexican and East Asian immigrants.
How do you “save” cities like that? I have no idea. I think they were lost decades ago.
I’m a native Californian – born, raised and never able to leave this place. The “bones†of CA are good – moderate weather, a varied, interesting topography, along with job choices ranging from bread-basket agriculture to high tech Silicon Valley. Under more conservative governance CA managed to keep the extremes plaguing the state today at bay. We stayed within budgetary means, had manageable immigration, our forest agencies functioned independently from state government and forests were healthier because of it, dams were built to buffer times of drought, density didn’t seem to spiral out of control, pollution and smog were successfully addressed….and so on. We were never a perfect state, only a desirable one. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same today.
Slowly but surely we have become dominated by social progressive politics and policies. Climate change, environmental activists rule how business is conducted in CA., and how land and waters use is apportioned. Open borders, along with sanctuary city immunity for illegal criminals, shoplifting, bail leniency, releasing thousands from jails, no solutions for homelessness has turned safe, attractive cities into unsafe, uncivilized dumps.
No matter how much tax revenue is raised in CA, it’s immediately consumed by adding more social programs or social engineering schemes to our debt obligations. Building has run wild, especially in coastal cities run by Dems. There is so much graft, under-the-table donations to local politicians, from developers, that zoning laws seem to quickly be set aside (momentarily) allowing massive projects to be approved, no matter how much residents disapprove. Salaries for local social progressive officials in my community are off the charts high, with far too many government jobs running shotgun over every facet of our daily lives.
Basically, what the fires haven’t destroyed in California, the Democrat ideology is on a fast track of finishing off.
How can they fantasize about an EV mandated future and at the same time depend upon windmills and solar panels to charge them?
No, the fed should not subsidize fantasy.
It appears, Jan, to be the inevitable end result of the pursuit and/or acceptance of the excesses of liberal policy, which as an empirical fact we see just about everywhere they dominate.