I love Southern California. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles
area the majority of my life, and my outlook on the world has been
shaped by this adopted home of mine. However, despite my love for
this wonderful stretch of America, I am seriously considering not
living here when I start a career and a family. Why?
For one thing, California ranks in the lower half of the United
States in educational quality and 46th in per capita educational
spending. California is also home to rising living costs and a
dysfunctional transportation system. These problems keep me from
wanting to stay here. They also deter businesses that could bring
quality jobs to our state.
For these reasons, it is crucial that our state and national
governments do something to end these shameful problems.
One of the biggest hindrances to our economic progress as a city
is the lack of a comprehensive transportation network like that of
New York. Our freeways are packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic
during peak hours, making them among the busiest in the
country.
As a result, commuters are forced to leave for work hours before
they clock in and may not reach home until several hours after
leaving their workplaces. From personal experience, I certainly can
confirm that this leads to exhaustion, which decreases
productivity.
Furthermore, it dramatically reduces the quality of life, which
makes high-end businesses less likely to come to our city. Some may
point out that there is public transportation available; however,
even a cursory examination will show that the public transportation
system is disjointed and spotty compared to the systems in other
major cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco. As a result,
many workers who do not have cars are forced to undergo numerous
difficulties to reach work, and those of us who do have cars are
not much better off after being forced to spend hours in them. All
of this hinders businesses from coming to Los Angeles and Southern
California, in general.
Even worse than transportation is our crumbling educational
system. Los Angeles Unified School District, just like school
districts throughout the state, have taken substantial funding cuts
as a result of the nightmarish state budget situation.
While these cuts may merely be dollar amounts to many Sacramento
legislators, the harsh reality is that children are left less
prepared to compete in the future. This creates an underskilled
work force, which again makes businesses less likely to come to our
area. In fact, a panel of economists and urban planners speaking at
UCLA recently highlighted education as one of the keys for future
economic success.
But if we acknowledge the importance of education, why is so
little being done to improve it?
Part of the problem starts at the federal level. According to
taxfoundation.org, California is a “donor state.” By
its calculation, “California taxpayers benefit less than
almost any other state from each tax dollar sent to the federal
government. In 2002, only five states received less in federal
funds than they paid in federal taxes. California taxpayers
received only 76 cents in federal expenditures for every dollar in
federal taxes.”
In other words, money generated in California does not end up in
California’s economy after the federal government is done
subsidizing poorer states and countries like Iraq.
This all leads to a lack of money for education ““ and
contributes to an uneducated work force, which keeps away employers
that require highly skilled workers. Until we force our city, state
and nation to prioritize education, Los Angeles will be a
second-choice location for many top jobs. Of course, there are many
high-paying jobs in L.A. But how many more would be attracted here
were our education system better?
Like me, you might be contemplating moving out of this city
after graduation. After all, who wants to live in a city with a job
market that is hindered by so many different factors? And I
haven’t even touched on housing costs yet.
According to the Daily Bruin, the average home price in Orange
County is over $500,000, a 15 percent increase from just two years
ago. The situation in Los Angeles is similar, with home prices
skyrocketing much faster than family incomes. As a result, a
business that wishes to set up shop here has a major issue
concerning its employees. To attract quality employees in an area
with such high housing costs can be difficult, especially when
dealing with lower-income jobs that are still vital to the economy.
And, because the transportation system is so poor, commuting to
work is often hellish.
So businesses will have to pay workers more money, or workers
will have to commute outrageous distances to reach work. As a
result, many of these businesses may be deterred from coming to Los
Angeles.
Years ago, Los Angeles became the economic, social and political
powerhouse that it is largely because it was an attractive place to
live and work. The moment this incentive disappears, so too will
many of the innovators who made this city what it is.
People living in Los Angeles need to take personal
responsibility and work to improve the situation; they should drive
cleaner cars, demand more public transportation, and accept the
taxes necessary to pay for education. People must also force
politicians to make the economic future of Los Angeles and Southern
California a priority, more than spending on prisons or unjust wars
across the globe. Demand that your elected officials do their part
to improve the economic future of this state as well.
Bhaskar is a third-year political science student. E-mail
him at sbhaskar@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.