State’s Crumbling Infrastructure

Reporter William Trombley hit the target. The Golden State is losing its luster--freeways crumble, students sit two to a desk, our water and air are polluted. I know the problems well from my tenure on the Los Angeles Board of Education and, more recently, on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works. As our population grows beyond the available public facilities, our quality of life will continue to deteriorate, unless we do something. First, we should conduct an inventory of the state’s needs for new highways, schools, pollution control systems, and so forth. Setting up a comprehensive multi-year plan for addressing those needs would follow.

Next, we must make better use of bond financing. According to the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office, California has considerable room to authorize and issue more bonds without being financially imprudent. The voters understand this since they have supported 38 out of 39 bond measures on the state ballot.

However, Sacramento has not gotten the message! Nearly $7 billion in voter-approved bonds, including those for clean water, school facilities, parks and prisons, have not yet been issued.

But we should not rely on bond financing alone to pay for urgently needed infrastructure improvement and repair; some projects should be financed by user fees. This appears to be the fairest and surest way of guaranteeing safe bridges and highways.

My father, former Gov. Pat Brown, envisioned California’s future and thoughtfully laid the foundation of public facilities that continues to provide for our well-being 20 years later. But that foundation is showing signs of age. It’s time we renew the commitment that made California the Golden State.

KATHLEEN BROWN

Los Angeles

Kathleen Brown is the Democratic candidate for state treasurer.