Top 5 Most Polluted American Cities are in California

by Brian Leubitz

This is actually pretty old news, but I bumped upon a chart from the Economist and thought it worth going back over.  You’ll see from the chart to the right, which is a comparison of the cities with the worst air quality from several nations, that our representative is Bakersfield.  Perhaps it is not surprising, considering Bakersfield’s unfortunate geography for such matters. It is in a valley that gets the particulates from Los Angeles. Combined with the hot weather and wind patterns, and you get a pretty nasty mix.  

Efforts to reduce the pollution have been pretty successful over the last decade, but there is obviously still a lot of work to be done. Compared to Beijing, Bakersfield might as well be the pristine air of a remote outpost.

But if you look at a recent top 10 list of most polluted cities, Californians likely won’t be surprised at the top 5 (CNN Money):

1. Bakersfield

2. Hanford

3. LA

4. Visalia

5. Fresno

Now, three of those cities are basically sharing the same air. Hanford is less than twenty miles from Visalia, and both are under an hour south from Fresno by car. But the pollution that the residents of these towns live with on a daily basis is still just as real. Southern California families deserve to live with clean air.

Clearly we can do more to clean up our air, and at the same time reduce some of the massive expenditures on childhood asthma treatment and other pollution related health problems.  We can’t correct for every climatic problem, but we can do better to reduce some of those symptoms.  We’ve done well reducing pollution over the last decade, the next will hopefully be even more successful.

Courts are looking at a $200 million cut over the next two years

by Brian Leubitz

Justice is a funny thing. It is hard to define, and everybody has a slightly different concept of what they mean when they use the word. Generally, to me it means the swift administration of our system of laws. That is important for criminal defendants, victims, and to the many civil litigants who rely on a functioning court system.  That is why these numbers are very worrying:

The Judicial Council notes that as of October, six out of 10 counties in California have had to reduce hours, close offices or courtrooms, even as it calculates the state needs 264 more judges to handle the state’s growing caseload. (LAT)

Criminal caseloads aren’t growing in any marked way, but civil litigation does tend to pick up in a time of economic distress. That being said, with a growing economy, we need a court system that can stand ready to handle the needs of businesses in the eight largest economy in the world.

Governor Brown is looking for ways to help the courts, suggesting new court fees. But with a pending cut of $200million for 2014-2015, times will be tough. Lines for services are already worringly long in most counties, and a further cut makes planning for growth unlikely.

The judiciary holds an interesting position in the state government. After all, it is supposed to be a co-equal branch of government, yet funding levels have put the courts in a tenuous and vulnerable position. Though there are many very important competing interests in the budget game, can we really afford to overlook our courts?

Legislature reconvenes with some big questions

by Brian Leubitz

I’ve been traveling for a while, but, perhaps my timing was perfect. The 2013 legislative session just reconvened last week, and the issues are still being sorted out.  A few obvious pieces of legislation, such as closing the “impersonating a boyfriend” rape loophole.  Gun control legislation will also be a hot topic, with some sound legislation proposed (such as SB 47, but, of course, the NRA remains dedicated to drifting from their traditional stance to crazy libertarianism.

But, as per usual, the biggest fight remains with the budget.  The Governor’s budgeting forecast shows a stabilization and an elimination of the structural deficit. So, hooray for that I suppose. However, under Prop 98, the education system is still owed billions, which he is looking to repay, plus billions of dollars remain on the state’s credit cards in the form of outstanding bond debt. There is no reason whatsoever to rush to repay any bonds, but the picture is neither as dire as some would paint it, nor as rosy as others would have you believe.

The fact remains that we have slashed social services below functioning levels. And the Governor has said that he has no plans to restore the funding to levels that could actually provide the intended services:

Brown said he is unwilling to restore funding for social service programs that have been cut during the recession. “That kind of yo-yo political economy is not good,” he said. “I want to advance the progressive agenda, but consistent with the amount of money the people made available.”

The spending plan Brown released this morning calls for small increases to education funding in a $97.7 billion general fund budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 but generally holds the line elsewhere.(SacBee)

I get the whole “let’s not go back into debt” thing. It makes perfect sense, but there must be a balance between growth and deficit reduction. As in the rest of the nation, and world, really, job growth is still slow. (Hey, don’t I know it! Anybody need a lawyer/policy analyst/political consultant?)

We need to ensure that the state government doesn’t continue to be one of the 50 Little Hoovers, especially when federal stimulus has pretty much dried up. State government still exists to provide services to its citizens, and a functioning state government, a growing economy must both be balanced against budget stabilization.

Journalist with a keen insight on California politics moves on

by Brian Leubitz

Prop Zero, the insightful blog from NBC and Joe Matthews, is calling it quits:

Over the past three years, we’ve offered thousands of posts from leading authorities on California within the NBC universe (your lead blogger has contributed 1,512 posts, the NBC computers tell me). Terrific editors at NBC stations in LA, San Diego and the Bay Area shaped the site and in many cases saved your lead blogger from himself.

It has been a wonderful run. But after this election, I was exhausted, and had come to feel like the blog had run its course. NBC, which had supported Prop Zero strongly despite its relatively small audience, saw things the same way.

The state is in a different place than it was three years ago — still facing profound challenges and governance problems, but with different leaders, a different political context, and different burning issues. After a rash of ballot measures and reform efforts, we may be entering a lull in efforts to fix California — and those efforts were a focus of this blog. And on a personal level, I’m eager to focus more time and energy on my rapidly expanding duties at Zócalo Public Square. (Prop 0)

To be completely honest, Calitics is now the creaky oldster of the California politics blog world. Not sure how that makes me feel, but I certainly understand where Mr. Matthews is coming from. However, his was, and remains, an insightful voice on California politics.

On a related note, if you would like to write for Calitics, from any progressive perspective, this is your forum.  If you give me a heads up, I’ll work with you to get your work more attention. As you have noticed, I’ve been a bit scattershot on my own posting on the sight, and I’m sure new voices would be more than welcome.

FPPC looks to clean up the initiative gathering money bonanza

by Brian Leubitz

It was rule-making week over at the FPPC, and they served up a few rules of note. Starting with something on the initiative front:

The people who pay for petition drives in support of statewide ballot measures can no longer hide their identity, thanks to a regulation adopted by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission on Thursday.(SDUT)

Anybody who drops more than $100K on signature gathering, which won’t really get you too far these days, must now report.

On another front, political committees that send out emails must now identify themselves. It seems shocking that this wasn’t the case before, but apparently a few tricksters sent out an email last cycle signed only as “The Hardy Boys” and “Nancy Drew”. Cute.

There is still much work to be done on initiative reform. For most folks who sign the form, the last thing they are going to think to do is look at Cal-Access to see who is paying the gatherers. But, baby steps forward are better than no steps.

From the comments on yesterday’s post about demographics, an interesting article from the LA Times explaining some of these shifts. California, like New York a century ago, is a “gateway” state, where people come when they immigrate and then transition to other communities.

“People see that so many people are leaving the state, and they think ‘oh, it’s because California business is bad,’ ” said Bill Schooling, chief of demographics research for the state Department of Finance. “It’s more that California, particularly with counties like L.A., is a huge gateway state.” …

Schooling noted that much of the state’s population growth was concentrated in coastal counties, where people tend to be younger and more mobile. Economists also said that job growth has been much stronger along the coast, particularly with growth in foreign trade, technology and tourism.

Ironic, isn’t it? The Coast subsidizes the rest of the state, and votes in favor of a more sustainable government. Yet the Coast is where the economy, and the growth, is strongest. Did California suffer right along with the nation during the Great Recession? Yes, of course. However, we’re also leading the nation forward.

Progressive conference brings together activists from across the country

by Brian Leubitz

If you are reading this website, you are probably either a political nerd, a progressive activist, or both.  But either way, you’re going to enjoy Netroots Nation in California for the first time.

(Or perhaps you’re just trying to figure out progressive Californians, in which case: Welcome, open book here!)

If you’ve never been, it is a well-run conference with a bit of a twist in that the program is created by the folks that are participating. Topics are submitted by the community, and ultimately chosen by a great panel of activists themeselves.

But even more than the programs, the highlight is getting to meet up with thousands of other progressive activists from across the country. It’s a nerd’s paradise.  And now you can get a discount on admission. Sign up for Netroots Nation 2013 by tomorrow, and you’ll get the great rate of $245. It’s a smoking hot deal, as the “escalating rate” throughout the year will be getting ever more expensive.

I’ll see you there!