[BATN] Column: Population growth underscores urgency of infrastructure Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 03:12:52 -0000 Published Friday, March 3, 2006, in the Sacramento Bee Column Population growth underscores urgency of infrastructure projects By Dan Walters Bee Columnist It's still very uncertain whether Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators will agree on some version of the governor's 10-year infrastructure improvement plan. The chances of something being done in time to make the June primary ballot are quickly dissolving, and the odds are no better than 50-50 that something will make the November ballot for two very big reasons -- sharp disagreements among politicians and influential interest groups over the size, scope and fine-print details, and election year politics. If anything, wrangling over the details has become more intense as various "stakeholder" groups have ramped up their lobbying to gain and/or protect pieces of the pie, and as Schwarzenegger has boosted what he wants the state to spend on levee improvements, citing the potential threat of a Katrina/New Orleans-scale flood disaster should levees give way. Schwarzenegger continues to push levees, highways and other elements of his $222 billion infrastructure scheme in the public realm, telling reporters Thursday that "we know we need to build" and reacting negatively to suggestions inside and outside the Legislature to scale back the $71.5 billion in state bonds that are the centerpiece of the plan. Schwarzenegger boosted the bonds this week from $68 billion to finance levee work even if the federal government doesn't contribute. Purely political factors also are making themselves evident. A new Field Poll indicates that voters are responding favorably to Schwarzenegger's infrastructure crusade, elevating his approval ratings as he seeks re-election. Democrats must decide, therefore, whether they truly want to give the Republican governor a legacy achievement or will merely string him along for public consumption and then torpedo it. As this multifaceted political drama plays itself out in the ensuing months, however, no one should doubt that the issue itself -- investing in public facilities that have been neglected for decades -- is vital, as a new report on population growth underscores. California's population, Department of Finance demographers concluded, expanded by nearly 3 million during the first half of this decade, thus putting it on a well-worn track to add about 6 million in this decade -- just about par for growth in the last quarter-century. The picture that the demographers painted is a familiar one -- strong foreign immigration and the continuation of the state's baby boom, concentrated in births among immigrant mothers. The baby boom is producing more than a baby a minute. When California abruptly scaled back its historic investment in infrastructure three decades ago, the state had about 22 million people, but now has more than 37 million, a 50 percent-plus increase, and should reach 50 million by 2030. Population growth increases demand for housing, parks, water, transportation, schools and other forms of public infrastructure. It means, for example, that we're adding a half-million more cars and trucks to our already congested roadways every year and our neglect of maintenance and investment has become a two-edged sword. We not only need tens of billions of dollars to expand facilities, but many more billions to catch up on neglected maintenance, and in some cases, even more billions to reconstruct highways and other facilities that are too worn out to be maintained. "We know what we need," Schwarzenegger said Thursday. If anything, his plan is too modest, not too grandiose. Two-thirds of his program involves money that's already in the pipeline, and we could easily triple the $71.5 billion in new money he wants to spend - which also means that it's foolhardy to make it all borrowed bond money. The governor and lawmakers should be talking about not only bonds but a wide variety of financing vehicles, including new fuel taxes for roads, new fees on property and/or water users to finance levee and water system improvements, and levies on port containers to remove bottlenecks in cargo handling. The governor says we should be thinking big on infrastructure. He's correct, and as the new population data indicate, we should be thinking even bigger. Reach Dan Walters at (916) 321-1195 or dwalters@sacbee.com Email article texts/URLs for posting to . Manage your subscription by sending a blank email message to: BATN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe, BATN-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com to unsubscribe, BATN-digest@yahoogroups.com to switch email to digest mode, BATN-normal@yahoogroups.com to switch email to normal mode, BATN-nomail@yahoogroups.com to switch email delivery off. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN for web access & archives.