Exclusive: LA Mayor Villaraigosa Talks to F&HD About the State Budget; LA’s Bad Business Rep
Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke at a meeting of the Valley Vote organization last
night in the San Fernando Valley. He’s not the
governor and I didn’t ask him if he was running for the job, but as we walked
out of the meeting I did ask him how he would handle the current state budget mess.
Villaraigosa responded: "I’ve said
for some time the state budget deficit is a spending problem but it’s also a
revenue problem. There are very real structural elements to it. The only way to
resolve this budget deficit is to cut some spending and also to raise revenues
and that’s what we’re doing here with the city budget. We’re saying for every $1.50
in cuts we are going to raise a dollar in revenue."
My thoughts: Using that formula on a
$20 billion state budget deficit problem would mean a combination of $12
billion in cuts and $8 billion in tax increases. Scary numbers. Yes, I know
that is a static calculation and that’s not what the final numbers would be, but
a one-and-a-half to one ratio still means a large tax increase in a tough
economy. I don’t think the voters buy it and we know the Republicans in the
legislature won’t. The economic ripples from a large tax increase would not be
good for the state economy.
I also asked the mayor about Los Angeles’ reputation
for being bad for business.
The State Infrastructure Shortfall
California is the richest state in the richest country in the world and we lead the world in entrepreneurship and innovation.
But when it comes to infrastructure, we are neither rich, entrepreneurial nor innovative. States and countries with a fraction of our wealth provide their citizens with far superior infrastructure services. People elsewhere travel on more convenient and comfortable transportation systems, study in better school facilities, live behind more secure levees, drink from more secure water systems, and more. California’s environment, quality of life, workers, students and innovators all suffer as a result of our infrastructure deficit.
Some new ideas for ‘Nanny Bills’
While there have always been "nanny bills" to address the multitude of cultural wrongs in our society, the number appears to have increased in recent years.
The California Legislature has considered several such bills since last year that address some important issues, but should probably have been amended, including:
- Smoking (both legal and illegal cigarettes I assume) in vehicles with children and is now the law. I’d actually vote for this bill even though I doubt it will inspire anyone thoughtless enough to smoke in front of children in a car to comply with this law.
- 17-18 year olds using electronic devices while driving, and is also a new law. Why just kids? In my experience, younger folks are able to multi-task better than adults!
- Spanking children under 5 years old. From my experience as a parent and a recipient of spanking, it doesn’t really work as a behavioral tool. But it might work on parents who insist on taking their obnoxious kids to places and then ignore them while the rest of our outings to restaurants and movies are ruined.
- Banning trans fats in school cafeterias and restaurants. As long as lard is still legal, what good will it do to ban trans fats?
The Fight for Eminent Domain Reform in California Continues
As we make the transition from one year to another, one cannot but hope the future holds great promise for both personal and professional endeavors. One also reflects on the past. Families mark the doorjamb with a notch to track the growth of children. Small business owners look over the books to measure the product of their blood, sweat, and tears.
It is hard to imagine losing all that to a natural disaster, but even more so to the government elected by voters to protect our rights. But many California homeowners and small business owners find themselves facing that reality.