ALPERN AT LARGE - As stated in my last CityWatch piece, our economic downturn is historic yet therapeutic in that it forces us all to confront the self-deceptions that have dragged so many of us into this unsustainable mess … if you can handle it.
For example, it’s easy to laugh and scoff at the downgrading of France and other European nations by S&P’s credit ratings, (link) but didn’t something like that just happen to the good ol’ U.S. of A? And it’s easy to laugh and scoff at the Tea Party wing of the GOP, but how will the President justify the $1.2 trillion debt ceiling hike to moderates and independents?
Similarly, it’s appropriate and timely to critique and explore the many causes and enablers of our own subprime mortgage bubble (from Barney Frank to George W. Bush to Chris Dodd to Chris Cox to Fannie/Freddie to Countrywide to the moron(s) down the street who borrowed insane amounts of money to live way too large), but check out the real estate bubble going on in China and what that country is doing to prevent its own crisis. (Link)
And don’t we always hear about how brilliant and superior China is to ram through their high-speed rail projects and other infrastructure efforts, but yet the Chinese elite really, really like their deluxe cars, don’t they? (Link) And don’t the empowered Chinese with their cell phones like to post the photos of these cars online?
Ah yes, the peculiar yet sweet fragrance of empowerment hits even the “21st century economic superpower” of China, which for some reason keeps exporting those Chinese citizens able to do so to Canada and the United States, because China still is a lousy place to live compared to the Western hemisphere.
So when the reprehensible, repugnant, and redistributionary redevelopment schemes (belonging more to a Communist nation such as China than a capitalist country such as that in which the state of California exists) are dismantled by fiscally pragmatic Governor Jerry Brown, it’s another fiscal pragmatic, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who tells the redevelopment pigs at the trough that “…you had a good thing going for a long time, and you got greedy”. (Link)
Looks like California, as with China, will start having to ask developers to come up with their own private funding for their projects (which will now have to pass fiscal muster) since the state piggy bank has become empty.
Close to home, obnoxious, obscenely-large and out-of-control West LA projects next to the future Expo Line stations at Exposition/Sepulveda (the Casden project) and Bundy/Olympic (the Bundy Village project) are on the ropes because they ran out of money and no one wanted them. We can only hope that the same will occur in Santa Monica with their out-of-proportion Bergamot Village project (at least its most recent version, now back on the drawing board).
Perhaps we should be talking about developer diets as well as road diets when it comes to transportation and environmental sustainability?
(We don’t even have enough water for the region, let alone these new projects!)
Perhaps we should be raising the issue of how many grassroots supporters of the Expo Line—who once had to fight Supervisor Yaroslavsky and other political leaders to create this line--actually wanted these huge light rail station-adjacent projects?
(The answer to that would be that NONE of us in Friends4Expo Transit, the grassroots group that fought for this line, wanted these mega-projects!)
Perhaps we should find out who is “jonesing” for these redevelopment projects, and who just wants some reasonable planning, transportation alternatives and enhancement of our quality of life?
(The disconnect between political leaders who owe their fortunes to a few developers, versus those of us who want a nicer city and county of LA for the 21st century, clearly calls into question why we even have to deal with these projects!)
But the blame goes just about everywhere, as Governor Brown is assuming more control of the California High-Speed Rail project (link), evidence is accumulating that the Fed completely blew off the doomsayers of the economic bubble for years (link), and the budget mess encourages the LA Times to focus more on the union lobbyists that have thrashed our state economy for years. (Link)
It seems like a nightmare era, as our economic and political woes only translate to the burgeoning industry of political fundraising (who will spend more per vote on political fundraising, GOP ex-gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman or Democratic presidential incumbent Barack Obama … and will the results be any different?).
Yet it’s both hoped and very likely possible that ours will be the era that Internet transparency and a trend towards independent thinking, a loyalty to our family and community over that of political party, and an increasing-but-healthy skepticism will force the garbage and repugnant debris of past decades to the surface for all to see and confront.
Time to look in the mirror, look at our children, and be grateful that the economic misery and turmoil gives us the opportunity to make history, make a difference, and make a stand for what we know to be right.
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Vice Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is a proud member of Friends4Expo Transit, and co-chairs the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition. He can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) –cw
Tags: Ken Alpern, Economy, China, California, developers, GOP, President Obama
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 5
Pub: Jan 17, 2012