Clarity Blog

What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here.  This week:

A Veteran Returns to Big Problems

Jerry Brown isn’t that kind of veteran – and a big Veterans Day THANK YOU to those of you who are! – but he is a veteran of the governor’s office … which makes us wonder why he’d ever want to go back.  Brown is committed to rebuilding California’s water infrastructure and fixing the Sacramento Delta’s environmental problems, but that stuff is pretty far down his list of priorities.  And now, with the budget deficit pegged at $25.4 billion we’re also wondering:  Will water ever get its due?

Read Capitol Weekly’s story listing Brown’s priorities and problems

Why wasn’t the deficit news published before the election?

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The San Diego Union Tribune identified 17 key local land-use matters before California voters on Tuesday.  After all the votes were cast, nine resulted in positive news for the building industry, while eight weren’t so great.  See the rundown below.

Merced County Measure C: Voter Confirmation of Zoning Changes - Failed

Considered a slow growth initiative and known originally as the “Save Farmland Initiative,” Measure C would amend the county’s general plan to require voter approval whenever ten or more acres would be converted from agricultural or open space to residential use.

Yes 43.84%

No 56.16%

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Yesterday was more than election day … it was also Christine Iger’s Election Day Lunch, a longstanding OC tradition Laer has been involved with since its inception (or almost since its inception … it’s hard to remember back that far!).

This year one of the tasks that fell to LP&A was to design the trophies for the first ever “Best Election Day Costume” and “Best Political Pin Collection” contests.  Laer and Lauren worked it and came up with the idea of a can of soup … but not just any soup:

Front

Back

What do you think? Should we make it into a T-shirt?

Nationally, 2010 definitely was a star-crossed political year, as most incumbents did all they could to cross off that little * that noted their incumbency.  And, it turned out, they had good reason to, as the roll call in both the House and the Senate and the names on the door of many Governors’ offices will change dramatically, come January.

Not so in Orange County.

In our city council races, 63 incumbents were on the ballot, and 48 will be staying on their respective councils – roughly three-quarters of them.  Just 15 lost their re-election bids, including several LP&A friends – Joel Bishop in Dana Point, Toni Iseman in Laguna Beach (once a great Coastal Commission member), Craig Scott in Laguna Niguel, Richard Dixon in Lake Forest and Neil Blaise in Rancho Santa Margarita.

It was much the same with OC’s water and special district races, as 78 percent of the incumbents held their seats, including all the incumbents at the water districts on the LP&A client list – Irvine Ranch, Moulton Niguel and Mesa Consolidated (with the possible exception of Jim Fisler for the short-term seat at Mesa, which currently remains too close to call).  We have some friends among the incumbents who will be leaving: Richard Dietmeier at South Coast and John Summerfield and Bill Mills at Yorba Linda, but were most surprised to see Arlene Schafer voted off the Mesa Sanitary Board.  Arlene is a star who has given tirelessly of herself to promote and protect the interests of Special Districts.

All members of the OC Congressional delegation survived their challenges, most by margins of 30 points or more, although Loretta Sanchez didn’t know until late in the evening that she had defeated her Republican challenger, Van Tran.  The same incumbent-friendly aura covered our Sacramento delegation, except perhaps Democrat incumbent Tony Mendoza in the 56th, who leads his GOP challenger Henry Bestwick by just 96 votes out of 12,247 ballots counted thus far.

Our congrats go to all the winners, and to those who lost, our thanks for their public service and our best wishes to them in their next endeavors.

What were the three biggest California land development stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPALand on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here.  This week:

Raking of Muck Slows Raking of New Lawns

Political wonks like the crew at LP&A love the craziness and drama that comes with election season.  But it turns out that homebuyers just might not be so keen on it.  According to Shea Homes CEO Bert Silva, political attack ads “just don’t put people in the mood to buy a new home.”  Our fingers are cautiously crossed that today’s political battles will bring the beginnings of a path toward less regulation and greater economic certainty come November 3, and that should surely put those weary homebuyers  – and homebuilders – in better spirits.

Read The Orange County Register article here

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DNA and Groundhogs

MWD and the San Diego County Water Authority are at it again. The latest mega-kerfuffle blew up when SDCWA sued MWD over its new rate structure, then challenged items in the MWD budget, calling them unnecessary, especially given the rate increase.  The San Diego Union Trib followed with an inflammatory editorial, “MWD: Arrogance is in the water giant’s DNA.”  MWD fired back with an op/ed by Jeff Kightlinger justifying the expenses, calling out SDCWA for the cost of the lawsuit, and filing the whole thing in the “Southern California’s water version of the movie Groundhog Day” file. (more…)

What were the three biggest California land development stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPALand on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here.  This week:

CARB Officials Reach for Their Sunglasses

It may not exactly be “Morning in America” just yet, but the sun is beginning to shine through the obfuscating clouds in Sacramento.  A new law signed this week by Governor Schwarzenegger requires the California Air Resources Control Board to – get this – actually explain to businesses why they’re being fined.  According to the bill’s author, “there was nothing that held CARB accountable in how the penalties were determined or the reason for the violation.”  That was a necessary first step.  Now it’s time to address the burdensome laws CARB will be more transparently enforcing.

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What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here.  This week:

33 Years and Still in the News

Thirty-three years ago, when California’s governor was Jerry Brown (yes it was that long ago!), a fed climatologist warned Californians, “If the drought continues for merely another 30 days, we’ve got a good chance of another Dust Bowl!” That didn’t happen but this week we read an editorial in Water Efficiency Magazine that asks, “Are we looking down the barrel of an entirely new (and unprecedented) future in terms of water resource management?”  Nope.  Same old barrel, same troubling future.  Are we going to let another 33 years go by without fixing the state’s water problems? (more…)

Hoooooooooooover! Hot Dam!

Seventy-five years ago today under a 102-degree sun, President Roosevelt dedicated Hoover Dam.  Former president Hoover was not invited to the ceremony.  Since then, the dam’s 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete have controlled flooding, generated untold megawatts of power, and helped manage water supply in the West.   The birthday did not go unnoticed by the media – first sensational stories about how the drought might end Hoover’s power production soon (later clarified when someone realized water could be released from upstream dams), and eventually articles giving a great dam its due.

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What were the three biggest California land development stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here, or you can follow LPALand on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:

Red Tape…Fuggedaboudit

It’s a rare day when California can learn something from the state of New Jersey.  We’ll take the California shore over Jersey’s version any day, but Californians should be paying attention to what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is up to.  The state’s newly elected leader is proposing the merger or elimination of nearly 300 boards and commissions – including many inactive or defunct groups created years ago, and some that have never met at all.  Sacramento, are you listening?

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