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California's Problems Need Regional Solutions
By Robert M. Hertzberg

In 1907, Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House and the Model T was just a glimmer in Henry Ford's eye. But it was in 1907 that the present-day county map of the state of California was formed. Since then - through wars and peace, booms and busts - California has had the same 58 counties even though the state has transformed itself over and over again. That's why it is no surprise that California's government structure is outdated and poorly equipped to deal with many of the issues of the day. If government is going to provide Californians with the services they deserve, it is going to have to change. If government is going to be effective in this mobile New Economy, it is going to have to start to think regionally.

Few people would dispute that we in California have a horse-and-buggy system of government trying to operate in an SUV world. In order to do more and more, we have piled layers of government on top of each other - with little thought and less coordination. Within our 58 counties, we now have 471 cities and nearly 5,000 special districts. By my count, there are 487 subdivisions of government just within Los Angeles County. We have maintenance districts and mosquito abatement districts; sewer districts, sanitation districts, and cemetery districts.

This is the bureaucratic spider's web familiar to every Californian. Citizens do not know who to complain to and are tired of government passing the buck. Each unit of government caters to its own narrow interests - rather than the interests of the whole region. Instead of coordination, we have competition. Instead of long-term strategy, we have short-term Band-Aids.

Local government is not failing to address these problems because of a lack of hard work or leadership. Quite simply, the problems are bigger than they are. One of the driving forces of the New Economy is mobility - of people, of capital, and of business enterprises. And if this New Economy is knocking down boundaries and barriers globally, just imagine what it is doing to our century-old county lines. Today's businesses are based in regions and today's challenges are based on regions - and it is time that government responded to this new world.

Silicon Valley is the ultimate example. What happens in one city - or one county - spills over and affects the next county and then the next. We have people trying to commute from Stockton - where housing is affordable - to San Jose - where jobs are plentiful. We have people fighting traffic every day getting from San Francisco to San Mateo - and vice versa. These and other issues demand solutions that are broader than our present borders. The challenge is clear: find new ways to cooperate and address regional problems, or face a very grim future.

Not surprisingly, past efforts to adopt regional approaches to governance have faced stiff opposition from local officials anxious to protect their turf. But a number of factors are giving regional thinking a boost. One is the fact that the state Legislature is increasingly made up of former mayors, county supervisors and city council members with firsthand experience with dysfunctional relationships among different levels of government.

Just as important are the regional partnerships among business and civic leaders springing up in every corner of California. From Action Pajaro Valley to the Sierra Business Council, from the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network to the Metropolitan Forum Project in Los Angeles, people are coming together to share regional concerns and forge regional solutions to the problems of the day.

Government must be a partner in these efforts. That's why I have announced the formation of the Speaker's Commission on Regions. Over the next year, it will examine issues that can be addressed more effectively at a regional level - including population growth, community planning, and economic development. It will also study the current roles and responsibilities of different levels of government to see what works and what needs to be worked out. Working with a broad spectrum of California's leaders in business, government and community organizations, it will develop short- and long-term recommendations to support regional collaboration. And let me tell you, its work is not going to sit on a shelf.

Once we could have been satisfied with layers of competing bureaucracy. But that time has passed. The New Economy simply moves too fast to accommodate governments that are not just as nimble. Today, Californians' lives revolve around regions. It's time for government to keep pace.

Robert M. Hertzberg is speaker of the California State Assembly. He represents the 40th Assembly District in the San Fernando Valley. This commentary appeared in the October 17 San Jose Mercury News and is reprinted with permission.