Solnit: California’s deficit of common sense — latimes.com

Opinion

California’s deficit of common sense

The state has plenty of money and resources. What we’ve been lacking is a real-world discussion about how we distribute them.

By Rebecca Solnit

November 1, 2009

California is rich. Even in the midst of a drought, we have lots of water, and in the midst of a recession, we have lots of money. The problem is one of distribution, not of actual scarcity.This is the usual problem of the United States, which is not just the richest and most powerful nation on Earth now, but on Earth ever, and one of the most blessed in terms of natural resources. We just collectively make loopy decisions about how to distribute the money and water, and we could make other decisions. Whether or not those priorities will change, we could at least have a reality-based conversation about them.

 

Take water. My friend Derek Hitchcock, a biologist working to restore the Yuba River, likes to say that California is still a place of abundance. He recently showed me a Pacific Institute report and other documents to bolster his point. They show that about 80% of the state’s water goes to agriculture, not to people, and half of that goes to four crops — cotton, rice, alfalfa and pasturage (irrigated grazing land) — that produce less than 1% of the state’s wealth. Forty percent of the state’s water. Less than 1% of its income. Meanwhile, we Californians are told the drought means that ordinary households should cut back — and probably most should — but the lion’s share of water never went to us in the first place, and we should know it.

Americans usually have fantastic visions of where our resources come from and go. A lot of Americans seem to believe that the federal government spends tons of money, rather than a small percentage of the federal budget, on the arts and foreign aid; but in fact, about half of discretionary spending goes to the military — the largest and most expensive military the world has ever seen, one that costs nearly as much as all the other militaries put together.

In discussing the national financial crisis, the military was never really on the chopping block, even though its budget could, with a little paring, provide healthcare, education, environmental restoration, some cool climate-change adaptation and all the other pieces of a good society and a great nation. Do we really need several hundred military bases in more than 125 countries? And all those expensive toys? And the research programs to do things like weaponize insects? Do we need them more than we need to keep children healthy?

Speaking of poor children reminds me of Sitting Bull, as good an authority on our economy as anyone, even if he wasn’t an economist and even though he died in 1890. After the Lakota were defeated, he joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for a season, but he never got ahead financially. He gave the bulk of his earnings to the street urchins who hung around the show. He was shocked that a nation powerful enough to conquer his people couldn’t or wouldn’t feed its own future. The white man was good at production, he concluded, but bad at distribution.

It’s the same today. We have enough in this nation to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and provide medical care to everyone. If the will was there.

In California, the story is the same in spades. Take our state budget crisis. A British newspaper recently ran a rather melodramatic piece about California as a failed state and compared us to Iceland. It was a wacky comparison. Iceland went bankrupt because its bankers spent lots of money they didn’t have. California is in conniptions because it has lots of money it won’t spend. I’m not talking about raising individual taxes, though it would certainly make sense to revisit Proposition 13, and we’d have an extra billion dollars if we hadn’t phased out estate taxes.

But look at corporate taxes! According to the nonpartisan California Budget Project, if we taxed corporations the way we did in 1981, we’d have $8.4 billion more coming in. That would wipe out more than a third of the budget shortfall that led to the draconian cuts (and cover about what we spend annually on the world’s second-biggest prison system). We’re home to the fifth-largest corporation in the world, Chevron, whose profits were $24 billion last year. Chevron has lobbied to keep corporate taxes low and to avoid paying an oil severance tax — a tax on oil taken out of the ground (and we’re abundant in oil too, for better or worse). Texas charges one, but we don’t. A few years ago, Chevron worked hard to defeat Proposition 87, which would’ve levied a severance tax capped at 6% of the oil’s value — but Sarah Palin’s Alaska raised its severance tax to 25%, a figure that would bring in an estimated $4 billion or more.

Examine the way that we changed corporate income tax policy in the crisis years of 2008-2009 to give a small number of corporations tens of millions of dollars a year in tax breaks — $33.1 million apiece, on average, for nine corporations; $23.5 million to six others, according to the California Budget Project. There’s money there, ripe for the picking, and powerful forces to prevent that from ever happening — or maybe weak forces, because it’s our Republican legislative minority that prevents us from ever achieving the supermajority to raise taxes (and our weak Democratic majority that goes along with crazy tax cuts amid a crisis).

Turning California into a Third World nation where the environment is neglected, a lot of people are genuinely desperate and a lot of the young have a hard time getting an education or just can’t get one doesn’t benefit anyone.

We’re not poor in money or water. We’ve just chosen to allocate them in ways that benefit tiny minorities at the expense of the rest of us. We should at least have a conversation about how we distribute our abundant resources. Derek is right: California is a place of abundance, except when it comes to political sense.

Rebecca Solnit, a product of California public schools from kindergarten to graduate school, is the author most recently of “A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster.”

 

SPUR Event: Planning on the Edge: 6 West Coast Planning Directors, Wed. Nov. 4

The San Francisco Planning Department and SPUR (San Francisco Planning +
Urban Research Association) proudly present

PLANNING ON THE EDGE…OF THE CONTINENT

A conversation with the Planning Directors of six of North America’s most
innovative cities (at least we think so)

Featuring:
Bill Anderson – San Diego, CA
Susan Anderson – Portland, OR
Amanda Burden – New York, NY
John Rahaim – San Francisco, CA
Diane Sugimura – Seattle, WA
Brent Toderian – Vancouver, BC

When: Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 –  6:00 to 8:00PM
Where: San Francisco City Hall – North Light Court This is a free event

 

Sasha Abramsky on California Prisons

Sasha Abramsky has a Guardian piece on the recent federal ruling ordering California to reduce its prison population by 40,000.

Sasha, whose publications include three books on the criminal justice and prison systems, notes that the ruling may be a useful opportunity to rethink policy.  ”The templates for successful reform are out there. The challenge for California, over the coming months, will be to listen to these voices rather than simply stampede into a wholesale release frenzy.”

 

Lou Cannon: California Dream Is Dimming

Lou Cannon assesses California politics and governance in a recent piece for Politics Daily.  As usual, Lou resists easy ideological categorization.  A former White House correspondent for the Washington Post and Ronald Reagan’s chief biographer, Lou is often perceived as a conservative.  But in this piece, he quotes Carey McWilliams and California Budget Project director Jean Ross.  

I interviewed Lou for American Prophet. He told me he quoted McWilliams in all of his books.    They became acquainted after Lou began his first book, on Reagan and Jess Unruh.  Later, he lectured in McWilliams’s class at UCLA.

 

CSA’s Peter Richardson on KWMR, West Marin Today, CA Budget in Historical Perspective

Richardson will be on the radio today at at 11 a.m. Easiest thing is to go to www.kwmr.org and click the On Air button at the top.

 

California Journal of Politics & Policy:

The online California Journal of Politics and Policy has published new articles.  To link to the journal, click here.

 

L.A. Times reports on proposals to remake California government

In a front-page article today, the Los Angeles Times summarizes various movements in the wings to remake California’s government in the wake of the current fiscal crisis. From the article:

A bipartisan organization sponsored by several foundations is finalizing a menu of potential solutions. Those are expected to include a change in budgeting practices and a possible shift of state-run programs such as health, education and welfare to local governments that may enjoy more public trust.

 

Newish Blog: The Edge of the American West

Eric Rauschway’s blog called “The Edge of the West” has some interesting content on the West and a smattering of other national politics and culture. It’s a very good one for western historians and seems to be getting a lot of traffic.–ed

About The Edge of the American West

* Ari Kelman, Kathy Olmsted, and Eric Rauchway teach history at a fine public university at the western edge of the American West.

* Scott Eric Kaufman earned a doctorate in English at a closely related fine public university in a similar location.

* Neddy Merrill teaches philosophy at an American liberal arts college.

* David H. Noon teaches history at a fine public university at one of the many edges in the American West.

* Dana McCourt is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at an American university.

* Vance Maverick holds a PhD in computer science and develops software at the westernmost edge of the American West.

* David Silbey teaches history at a small American university that is, technically, in an extremely eastern part of the American West.

Your guess is as good as ours, but this blog seems to be about history, philosophy, literature, and selected political and cultural observations with a strong bias toward yiddishkeit, WASPhood, the 1980s, Canadiana and, most of all, the Muppets.

 

Joint Venture Joins Bay Council in Call for Constitutional Convention

Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network joins the Bay Council in the business association push for state constitutional reform. Here is JV:SVN’s press release.–ed.

PROGRAM 9:30 am Opening Remarks Russell Hancock, President & CEO, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network Jim Wunderman, President & CEO, Bay Area Council 9:50 am The Need for Reform: A Silicon Valley Perspective Liz Kniss, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors (invited) Richard S. Gordon, San Mateo County Supervisor Lawrence E. Stone, Santa Clara County Assessor 10:20 am The Legal Path to a Constitutional Convention Andrew Giacomini, Managing Partner, Hanson Bridget 10:40 am Break 10:55 am The View From Sacramento Mark Paul, New America Foundation Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign 11:15 am Dialogue & Discussion 11:55 am Next Steps, Concluding Remarks Russell Hancock Jim Wunderman Free, but limited to the first 300 respondents)

California is broken.

I won’t belabor the point, because it’s already obvious to anybody who’s been conscious lately: billions in debt, the state is issuing IOUs; our schools have dropped from first to worst; our infrastructure is crumbling; our prisons overflow; and because our districting system elects ideological extremes we’re stuck with dysfunction in our state capitol.

Joint Venture has signed on to a monumental effort to change it, and we’re convening our first town hall meeting July 31st to talk about it. We hope you’ll join us.

What’s the effort? The Joint Venture board of directors voted unanimously to join the movement calling for a new constitutional convention and to work as hard as we can to deliver Silicon Valley’s support for that undertaking. And to get the ball rolling we’re inviting people to the AMD conference center in Sunnyvale to talk about the process and listen to citizen feedback.

The meeting will feature panel discussion and learned commentary from constitutional experts, but most of all it will feature your own comments and advice for us as we move forward. It takes place as follows:

Date:   Friday July 31, 2009

Time:   9:30 am to 12:00 noon

Place:  AMD Commons Building
991 Stewart Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94085 (map)

The meeting is free and open to the public, but limited to the first 300 people to RSVP. Hasten your reply! We’ll look forward to seeing you on the 31st.

Sincerely,

Russell Hancock
President & Chief Executive Officer

 

Lawmakers want apology for anti-Chinese measures | Sacramento Bee

Lawmakers want apology for anti-Chinese measures – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee.

Lawmakers want apology for anti-Chinese measures

ShareThis

By Susan Ferriss
sferriss@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Jul. 6, 2009 – 12:00 am | Page 4A
Last Modified: Monday, Jul. 6, 2009 – 10:16 am

It’s not a pretty history.

But, two California legislators say, it’s time to admit it and apologize for how Chinese immigrants were treated during and after the Gold Rush.

Assemblymen Paul Fong and Kevin de Leon are sponsoring a resolution that recognizes Chinese laborers for mining ore, building levees to create farmland and constructing — at great peril and for less pay than whites — 80 percent of the western half of the transcontinental railroad.

While the Chinese toiled, the assemblymen say, California’s 19th-century politicians passed law after law segregating the Chinese and, when their labor was no longer in high demand, tried to drive them out.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 42 calls for an apology for forcing the Chinese to pay higher taxes on gold than whites; barring them from holding certain jobs, owning property or testifying in trials; and segregating them and forbidding them from marrying whites or bringing family from China.

California politicians, the authors also note, were instrumental in persuading Congress to pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred more Chinese immigration.

“It’s a shameful chapter in California legislative history,” said Fong, D-Cupertino, who is of Chinese descent.

“We should recognize this as part of our history,” he said, “say our regrets and move on.”

Fong’s great-grandfather worked in California, but when Fong’s grandfather wanted to immigrate to the state in 1939, the only way he could do it was with fake papers identifying him as the Chinese-born son of a family in California that pre-dated the Exclusion Act, Fong said.

“That was the system for getting in at that time,” he said.

Fong’s grandfather farmed near San Francisco but had to rent land. State laws on the books until 1952 barred him from owning property.

De Leon, D-Los Angeles, the son of Mexican immigrants, approached Fong about a legislative resolution to make amends for this history.

De Leon’s district contains the city’s Chinatown and one of the nation’s most diverse immigrant populations.

“The Chinese deserve an acknowledgment, even if it’s a century late,” de Leon said.

Californians, he said, have a long history of benefiting from foreigners’ labor and lashing out at them during tough economic times.

“The Central Pacific Railroad went across the Pacific to recruit the Chinese. And then as soon as a project was done, the state legislators initiated ways to chase them out,” de Leon said. “I don’t think a lot of people today know that.”

In 1879, California’s Legislature targeted the Chinese by voting to “impose conditions” to remove foreigners and protect the state from “the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens, who are, or may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases.”

The law was passed just 10 years after thousands of Chinese recruits hand-drilled through the Sierra Nevada to help finish the transcontinental railroad.

To prepare their resolution, Fong and de Leon consulted Bill Hing, a UC Davis immigration law and history professor.

“What happened to the Chinese,” Hing said, “is what’s happening today — let’s face it — to the Mexicans.”

Just as they have since, Hing said, California politicians then called for voter referendums on immigrants. In 1879, Californians voted overwhelmingly against Chinese immigration.

In the 19th century, racism was naked and led to laws targeting immigrants by race, Hing said.

Today, he said, many people say they resent illegal immigrants because they don’t wait their turn and enter legally.

What many people don’t realize is that there is no line for many foreigners to join, Hing said, adding that the immigration system has encouraged unlawful entry because visas don’t exist anymore for most of the jobs immigrants fill in the United States.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed the Chinese resolution on June 23, with no opposition.

Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, who is a member of the committee, abstained from voting. He also requested to delay a vote in the full Assembly so he could study the bill more.

“I’m not denying that what happened, happened,” Knight said. “But our job as legislators is to move the state forward.”

He said he’s worried other wronged groups will ask for more apologies.

In fact, in 2005, the Legislature passed an act apologizing for California’s part in rounding up and deporting about 400,000 residents of Mexican descent, many U.S.-born, during the Great Depression. Nationwide, about 2 million people of Mexican descent were forced to go to Mexico.

Fong and de Leon said they believe their resolution, eventually, will easily gain approval in both the Assembly and the Senate.

They’ve received some criticism, mostly anonymous Web site postings, for pursuing a symbolic act while the state is mired in a budget crisis.

But some messages were racist, Fong said, including one that said: “Go home, gook.”

 

CSA Steerers: Two New Books, Ramparts Magazine and the Golden Gate Bridge

With the flurry of activity around our April conference on the Silicon Valley, we have been tardy in reporting on two new books from our own ranks. Earlier this year, Louise Nelson Dyble’s book, Paying the Toll: Local Power, Regional Politics, and the Golden Gate Bridge, came out. Dyble is chair, ex officio, of the CSA. Peter Richardson’s book on Ramparts Magazine, A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America,  is due out in a couple short months. Richardson is the current chair of the CSA.

Check out Paying the Toll here, and Richardson’s report on Dyble’s book here, where he notes her appearance on Jonathan Rowe’s KWMR radio show.

Take a look at Dyble’s very interesting blog on issues around her work at http://www.payingthetoll.net/

Richardson’s blog is here, containing general information around California studies from Richardson’s “at large” activities,including updates on Ramparts goings-on.

 

LaborFest Schedule Now Online: EVENTS July 2-July 31

LaborFest 2009
July 2 – July 31

LaborFest 2009 Schedule is up

This year is the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco General Strike and the West Coast maritime workers strike. The ‘34 strike and maritime strike was an important point in  strengthening organized labor and bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into our unions.  In commemoration of this significant historical anniversary for San Francisco and Northern California labor, LaborFest will be having many special events including an art exhibition, presentations, a labor jeopardy contest as well as a labor film festival that will include videos of the San Francisco general strike.

There are also plans for a commemoration march and concert in San Francisco and educational conference.

LaborFest this year will also be honoring the workers who made the strike, the role of the San Francisco Labor Council and the workers who have built the Bay Area including building the San Francisco Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the newly constructed Al Zampa Bridge which is the first major bridge named after an iron worker. Labor faces great challenges today as it did 75 years ago and the need to learn about our history, and how we won victories in the past is vital for today.

 

Why California can’t be governed; Op-Ed in L.A. Times

Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine, who cover California politics at calbuzz.com, published an op-ed in the L.A. Times on Thurs., June 25, about the six factors they see that make California ungovernable.  They list Prop. 13, budget initiatives, gerrymandering, term limits, boom and bust taxation, and the two-thirds votes required in the Assembly and Senate to pass a budget.  Although this list is not new, the op-ed pulls a lot of pieces together. The writers also end with a note of optimism, in the sense that they believe the public is now demanding, and enacting, measures that will help solve the problem.  From the conclusion of the article:

So what can be done about the dysfunction? In the next few weeks, a blue-ribbon commission is set to recommend sweeping changes in the tax system to stabilize revenue collections. Voters last fall approved Proposition 11, which takes away the Legislature’s power to draw its own districts in favor of an independent commission. Next year, as they elect a new governor, Californians also will vote on a system of “open primary” elections aimed at aiding moderates, and they also will probably decide on one or more initiatives to dump the two-thirds budget vote requirement.

California Forward, a bipartisan good government group financed by major foundations, is crafting proposals to conform government systems and processes to modern management methods. And the business-oriented Bay Area Council is pushing initiatives for a state constitutional convention, the first since 1879, to wipe the slate clean and build a new, rational structure for state government.

“The seriousness of the problem has reached a crescendo,” said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council. “The public is making a statement, loud and clear, that they expect action.”

For the entire article, click here.

–Frank Gruber

 

Calif. Journal of Politics and Policy: Special Issue on State Budget Crisis

The online California Journal of Politics and Policy has a new special issue on the budget crisis, entitled “Solving California’s Budget Crisis: Experts Agree It Requires the Courage to Compromise.”  To link to the issue, click here.

 

New Book on Prop. 13 from IGS at UC Berkeley + Companion Conference Online

Our colleague, Ethan Rarick, the director of the Center for Politics and Public Service at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, sends us information on IGS’s publication of this new book on Prop 13. Ever timely, revisiting Prop 13 is especially critical now with rumbles of a constitutional convention and new tax policies reverberating through the state. The book contains articles from several friends of the California Studies Association.

In addition to the book, take a look at IGS’s recent conference on Prop 13: the conference is available on several video sites linked from this site where  you can also view slide presentations. IGS has other publications here.

After the Tax Revolt: California’s

Proposition 13 Turns 30

Jack Citrin and Isaac William Martin, editors

A New Examination of the Legacy of a California Political Milestone

In 1978 California voters shocked the political world by approving Proposition 13, a strict limit on local property tax rates. No state had ever approved such a far-reaching constitutional limitation of the power to tax. And Californians did not just approve it; they embraced it, rejecting dire warnings of doomsday from the state’s political, business, and academic leaders. Voter turnout was the highest recorded for any off-year election in the history of California and the tax cut won in a landslide, with 65 percent of the vote. Thirty years later, Proposition 13 remains firmly entrenched in California’s constitution, but what has it meant for politics and public policy in the state?

On June 6, 2008, the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of Proposition 13, a group of scholars, journalists and policy experts gathered to assess the legacy of this groundbreaking measure. Their mandate was a simple one: assess what we have learned about the political, economic, and fiscal consequences of Proposition 13 over the last 30 years.

After the Tax Revolt: California’s Proposition 13 Turns 30 is a result of that conference, and an attempt to summarize the state of our knowledge about the consequences of this critical event in the history of California and the United States. This collection of essays constitutes a cutting-edge and timely review of one of the most important reforms in California history, and will be crucial for anyone trying to gain a full understanding of politics and policy in the Golden State.

Order at igs.berkeley.edu/publications or by calling 510-642-1428

Contributors include:
Mark DiCamillo, Field Poll
David Doerr, California Taxpayers Association
William Fischel, Dartmouth
Joel Fox, Fox and Hounds Daily
John Fund, Wall Street Journal
David Gamage, UC-Berkeley
Jean Ross, California Budget Project
Terri Sexton, California State University, Sacramento
Steven Sheffrin, UC-Davis
Kirk Stark, UCLA

About the Editors:
Jack Citrin is Heller Professor of Political Science and the director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Isaac Martin is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego.

--
Ethan Rarick
Director
Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service
Institute of Governmental Studies
University of California, Berkeley
111 Moses MC 2370
Berkeley, CA  94720
510-642-5158
erarick@berkeley.edu

 

“Watchwords in California’s budget mess” – Timothy Hodson on the budget crisis

Timothy Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at Sacramento State University, has an op-ed in today’s L.A. Times looking at the budget crisis from both a historical and political cultural perspective.  From the op-ed:

A democracy needs a minority party that fights for its beliefs but also understands that its beliefs are not those of the majority of the people. Churchill knew the importance of majority rule, which is why he orchestrated the political emasculation of the House of Lords when it consistently used its minority veto to thwart one of the largest parliamentary majorities in British history.

A century later, Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was so frustrated with the minority Democrats blocking the GOP majority in the Senate that he threatened the “nuclear option” — replacing the supermajority required to shut down debate with a simple majority vote. A compromise prevented going nuclear. State Republicans should accept that the two-thirds vote gives them both power and responsibility, and remember that Sacramento Democrats have their own version of a nuclear option.

 

“Thomas Starr King deserves better” – op-ed in L.A. Times

Jack Cheever has written an op-ed in the L.A. Times about Thomas Starr King, the pivotal figure in the early history of California whose statue in the U.S. Capitol is being replaced by one of Ronald Reagan.

From the op-ed:

During the presidential election of 1860, all four members of California’s congressional delegation – including U.S. Sen. William Gwin, who owned several Mississippi plantations – campaigned for the pro-slavery Democrat, John C. Breckinridge. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln won California by a hair, beating another Democrat, Stephen A. Douglas, by fewer than 750 votes out of about 120,000 cast.

King was deeply agitated by talk of California being bisected or seceding. He embarked on a statewide speaking tour, preaching against disunion with a voice that, in the words of one observer, “held within it all the sweetness of the harp when struck by a master hand, all the power and solemn grandeur of a great cathedral organ.”

To read the entire piece, click here.

–Frank Gruber

 

California Ungovernable? Post-Election Woes, NY Times

The rejection of five propositions on Tuesday suggests, according to this New York Times article, that momentum to convene a state Constitutional convention has reached a “tipping point.” With the governors race still at a simmer, the issue may gain traction as the election grows nearer. CSAers are encouraged to weigh in here and in our respective forums, especially H-California.

California, Out of Money, Reels as Voters Rebuff Leaders – NYTimes.com.

 

New articles at the California Journal of Politics and Policy

The Berkeley Electronic Press has published a new issue of the California Journal of Politics and Policy; from the press’s announcement:

The Berkeley Electronic Press is pleased to announce the following new articles recently published in California Journal of Politics and Policy, with a special focus on California’s Proposition 13. To view any of the new articles, simply click on the links below.

Articles

Proposition 13 and the Transformation of California Government

Jack Citrin

Proposition 13 Fever: How California’s Tax Limitation Spread

Isaac William Martin

The Triple Standard In Healthcare

J. Deane Waldman

Commentaries

Proposition 13 Thirty Years after the Revolution: What Would Howard Jarvis Say?

Joel D. Fox

Proposition 13: A Watershed Moment Bridging FDR and Reagan

John Fund

Book Reviews

What the Original Property Tax Revolutionaries Wanted (It Is Not What You Think): Review of The Permanent Tax Revolt: How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics

Darien Shanske

 

Calbuzz: New Blog from Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstein on California Politics

Just in time for the special election circus and governor’s race side show, two longtime political journalists and commentators have teamed up to form Calbuzz, a new blog about the Golden State’s pu . . . pu . . . pu . . . political scene. Trounstein was recently on the CSA’s radar for our most recent conference on the Silicon Valley because he co-authored, with San Jose State professor Terry Christensen, one of the seminal books on politics in  San Jose, Movers and Shakers: The Study of Community Power (1983).

“About Us

Jerry Roberts is a California journalist who writes, blogs and hosts a TV talk show about politics, policy and media. Former political editor, editorial page editor and managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, he serves as student adviser for the Daily Nexus newspaper at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of “Never Let Them See You Cry,” a biography of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Phil Trounstine is a communications consultant, pollster and political writer. He is the former political editor of the San Jose Mercury News, former communications director for California Gov. Gray Davis and was the founder and director of the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University. He is co-author of “Movers and Shakers: The Study of Community Power.”

via Calbuzz.

 

The Green New Deal for the North Bay

A unique grassroots commission began its work last night in San Rafael.  Media activist and author Norman Solomon and North Bay Labor Council director Lisa Maldonado co-chaired a public hearing on how to fashion a Green New Deal for the North Bay.

Norman has described the initiative in a series of related articles, including this recent one on truthout.  The short version is that the commission (I’m on it) is trying to integrate the labor and environmental agendas in Marin and Sonoma Counties.

Harvey Smith kicked off last night’s hearing by discussing the connection between  California’s Living New Deal Project and the commission’s mission.  Then we heard a great deal from local residents, small business people, and activists about a range of issues, especially the need to review Marin County’s approach to  waste, recycling, and water treatment.

We’ll hold seven more public hearings over the next month. In the fall, we’ll take testimony from experts on water, housing, transportation, agriculture, and other areas. Then we’ll write a report and launch a public dialogue on the findings.

 

“California as an International Environmental Policy Leader — Climate Change, Water Policy, Chemicals Regulation, and Biosafety” — One day conference April 30 in Wash., D.C.

The California Institute for Federal Policy Research presents a one day conference April 30, 2009, titled “Managing Biosafety and Biodiversity in a Global World — EU, US, California and Comparative Perspectives”.  The conference, according to the Institute’s announcement, is:

the culmination of a two-year project examining the roles that California and the European Union play in defining the forefront of domestic and international environmental policy solutions. The goal of the project is to produce concrete, actionable policy recommendations to further regulatory cooperation between the EU, California and the US on transatlantic environmental issues, including climate change, chemicals policy, biosafety, water regulation, and biodiversity protection. As socioeconomic and environmental issues become increasingly integrated, innovative policy solutions are required to identify and address the complex nexus between society and environment. The project has developed a network of representatives from the US and the EU in academia, industry, the NGO-sector, and government.

The project is funded by the European Commission (DG External Relations) within the framework of the pilot-program on Transatlantic Methods for Handling Global Challenges. Event sponsors include:

• UC Berkeley IGS Center on Institutions and Governance (http://igov.berkeley.edu)
• Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• University of California Washington Center

Thursday, April 30, 2009
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
U.C. Washington Center
1608 Rhode Island Ave, NW, Washington DC
RSVP to UCDC to attend

To attend the conference, reply to Conference@UCDC.edu . For more information, visit http://igov.Berkeley.edu.

 

New articles at the California Journal of Politics and Policy

From the Berkeley Electronic Press:

The Berkeley Electronic Press is pleased to announce the following new articles recently published in California Journal of Politics and Policy, with a special focus on Proposition 8 and the California Supreme Court review of the gay marriage amendment. To view any of the new articles, simply click on the links below:

On Amending and Revising the Constitution: The Issues behind the Challenge to Proposition 8

Joseph R. Grodin

The principal question before the California Supreme Court is whether the state constitution can be modified through an initiative measure when that modification would take away from an identifiable group rights that the state Supreme Court has deemed to be “fundamental.” A subsidiary issue, which would arise only if Proposition 8 is upheld, is whether that measure operates to invalidate marriages conducted before its passage.

Should Proposition 8 Be Held to be Retroactive?

Jesse H. Choper

The legal challenges to Proposition 8 all involve matters of state law on which the California Supreme Court alone is the final authority. But even if the court agrees with interveners and upholds the validity of Proposition 8, there is a separate question of its effect on the 18,000 couples who have already been married. On this issue, the California Supreme Court must first determine if the voters intended the proposition to apply retroactively. This essay urges that it should not be construed as being retroactive and, in doing so, explores two possible challenges under the U.S. Constitution if the court were to interpret Proposition 8 so as to invalidate the 18,000 marriages.

The Continuing Growth of Mail Ballot Voting in California in 2008

Mark DiCamillo

This paper summarizes trends in mail ballot voting and permanent mail ballot registrants in California. It also examines the demographic characteristics of mail ballot voters and permanent mail ballot registrants in 2008.

What Do Debt Loads Say about California’s Fiscal Condition?

John Decker

For the past seven years, the state spent more from the General Fund than its tax structure generated. To help cover the difference, the state borrowed from institutional investors. Should Californians be concerned? More broadly, how does debt fit into the annual budget debate? Evaluation of debt loads help Californians assess the fiscal prudence and sustainability of the state’s fiscal structures.

Commentaries

The Public Sector Case for Marriage Equality

Dennis J. Herrera

The stakes in the Prop 8 case are no longer limited to marriage equality alone. Hanging in the balance is whether state constitutional protections for pluralism and diversity–qualities that have not only distinguished California throughout its history, but have been key to its emergence as global economic powerhouse–may be henceforth subject to the vicissitudes of campaign politics.

About the journal:

A bellwether and testing ground for emerging trends in policy and political developments, California’s politics reverberate around the world. <http://www.bepress.com/cjpp>California Journal of Politics and Policy is the only journal devoted to this unique state, publishing peer-reviewed research and commentary on state and local government, electoral politics, and policy formation and implementation, in California and in relation to national and international developments. Edited by leading experts James Q. Wilson (Pepperdine University), Jack Citrin (University of California, Berkeley), and Bruce E. Cain (University of California Washington Center), California Journal of Politics and Policy will appeal to scholars, practitioners, journalists, policymakers, officeholders, and anyone needing to understand the newest directions in state politics and policy.

Edited by

James Q. Wilson
Pepperdine University

Jack Citrin
University of California, Berkeley

Bruce E. Cain
University of California, Berkeley

Jerry Lubenow
University of California, Berkeley

 

“Edward R. Roybal and the Politics of Multiracialism” – the 2009 Whitsett Lecture, April 2 at CSU-Northridge

The 2009 Whitsett Lecture at California State University, Northridge is scheduled for 7:30PM on Thursday, April 2, in Sierra Hall 451, on the CSUN campus. This year’s speaker will be George Sanchez from USC, and his lecture is entitled “Edward R. Roybal and the Politics of Multiracialism.”

Seating will be limited; to rsvp and to obtain parking information, call 818-677-3566.

For a PDF of the announcement for the lecture, click here.

 

Two Op-Eds about Calif. Politics in the LAT, on changing demographics and chances for a constitutional convention

I don’t how unusual it is in these days when national headlines seem to dominate once the state’s crisis is momentarily resolved, but today’s L.A. Times (Mar. 5, 2009) had two interesting op-eds about California politics.  One of them, by Harold Meyerson, “As the GOP stands firm, California is changing direction,” was, as the title suggests, about the near to longterm prospects for the Republican Party in California in an era of changing demographics and politics.  Meyerson analyzes the overwhelming vote for Barack Obama by congressional districts, and finds that many Republican representatives are now representing districts that voted Democratic in 2008.  Meyerson writes:

The eight GOP congressional districts that swung Democratic are largely in exurban areas that Republicans have long claimed as their own. Seven are in Southern California, including David Dreier’s district along the foothills of northeast Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County; Howard P. “Buck” McKeon’s sprawling district that includes Palmdale, Lancaster and much of the eastern Sierra Nevada; and Elton Gallegly’s district, which stretches from Simi Valley to Solvang. Two other unexpectedly pro-Obama districts included Riverside and Palm Springs, while another is in northern San Diego County. The one sure to induce a double-take is John Campbell’s (formerly Christopher Cox’s) coastal Orange County district centered on Newport Beach — John Wayne country, a bastion of American conservatism. Yet Obama carried it by 2,500 votes.

Meyerson expects that the trend—which has been in process for 20 years—will continue in part because the party is so dominated by extreme right-wing elements:

In the mid- and late ’90s, the once solidly Republican inner suburbs of Los Angeles — Burbank, Glendale, northern Orange County among them — began sending Democrats to Washington and Sacramento as their demographics changed. They are now solidly Democratic. What the 2008 election results signify is that L.A.’s far-flung exurbs will soon be poised for a similar makeover. It may take several elections, some incumbent retirements and the carefully targeted intervention of Obama’s volunteer legions to realize such a transformation. But Democrats have a potent if inadvertent ally in speeding this change: California’s right-wing Republican establishment.

The second op-ed was by Patt Morrison, and it focussed on the recent calls for a California Constitutional Convention (although she didn’t mention the recent meeting in Sacramento).  Morrison declares her position in the title of the piece: “California Needs a Constitutional Convention,” and goes on to say:

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants a constitutional convention. Public policy wonks and worried budgeteers want one. The Legislature may not want one — another reason to convene it.

At this point, we’ve been running on the same basic chassis we’ve had since Edison invented the phonograph.

We made it so easy to overload the vehicle of state with amendments that we have nearly 500 of them. The U.S. Constitution has 27, and it had about a 60-year head start on us.

California’s Constitution is apparently the second longest in the country, after Louisiana’s, and we all know what a model of governance Louisiana is.

One wonders, though, given that Californians are so divided about what they expect from government, is it likely that we could ever reach agreement over a new charter?

–Frank Gruber (frank@frankjgruber.net)

 

Mark Baldassare: PPIC Comment: From CA Crisis to Innovation

Reproduced from PPIC website

COMMENTARY

From Crisis Comes Hope for Innovation

By Mark Baldassare, president and CEO,
Public Policy Institute of California

This opinion article appeared in the
Sacramento Bee on February 24, 2009

Like earthquakes, wildfires and droughts, California’s budget crises are perennial plagues in this state, though budget problems are happening with more predictability.

In 2003, a budget deficit of $38 billion resulted in the history-making recall of Gov. Gray Davis, who was replaced by action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. This year, the sequel played for nearly four months as California state legislators scrambled to fill a $40 billion-plus budget gap.

Why is the world’s eighth-largest economy so prone to budget dramas, and what will be the political repercussions of the latest fiscal meltdown in California? Unlike other large states, California requires lawmakers to operate under three tough conditions: a two-thirds vote for passing state budgets and taxes, legislative term limits, and the citizens’ initiative process. Let’s look at the impact of these conditions.

First, the two-thirds vote threshold sets a very high bar for bipartisan compromise, often leaving tax increases and spending cuts off the table in favor of budget gimmicks and borrowing as lawmakers search for a two-thirds consensus. The track record in this decade readily calls into question the belief that a two-thirds vote leads to sounder fiscal policies.

Second, term limits have stripped the legislative bodies of two important ingredients needed to forge complex budget deals: a deep bench of fiscally knowledgeable legislators and long-term, trusting relationships. In the two decades since term limits took effect, the Legislature has struggled to pass a budget on time.

Third, the initiative process has made it easy for voters to restrict lawmakers’ abilities to raise revenues and make spending decisions – most famously through Proposition 13. In the past 30 years, the voters have enacted many ballot measures that lock in spending and tax decisions, leaving the Legislature with less wiggle room for making adjustments.

Another key factor in producing large budget gaps is that California’s fiscal system has not kept up with the new economy. The state today relies too heavily on volatile personal income taxes and capital gains as revenue mainstays. We also focus revenue collections narrowly on a state sales tax for goods even as we have moved to a service-based economy. We dramatically lowered the property tax and vehicle license fees without indentifying sources for replacing the money or lowering spending. Efforts to improve government efficiency and create a rainy day budget fund have remained on hold for years.

However, there is a silver lining in the current fiscal crisis. Recent polling by the Public Policy Institute of California finds that Californians are, for the first time, amenable to lowering the two-thirds majority vote for the state budget and taxes. This shift in opinion comes just five years after voters soundly rejected a ballot measure that would have changed the two-thirds threshold to 55 percent.

Currently, a flurry of activity is springing up around reform and restructuring proposals. Today, business and civic leaders will gather in Sacramento to discuss plans for a state constitutional convention that could overhaul the entire governance system. The Legislature will soon hold informational hearings on reforming the initiative process. Moreover, the governor and Legislature have convened a bipartisan commission on tax reform, which is scheduled to provide its recommendations by April 15.

In 2003, the budget crisis focused Californians on changing their political leadership. This time, under a much more severe economic downturn, Californians are attacking the state’s fiscal problem in another way – with a multitude of reform plans. Last fall, voters surprised the political establishment by passing an independent redistricting measure. Now, fiscal proposals and an open primary measure are headed for the ballot as part of the budget agreement. Will these reforms lead to a more efficient, effective, and responsive government? Stay tuned. Given the burst of creativity and the desire for change, California is becoming an incubator for innovati

 

Is it Time To Re-write California’s Constitution? Article by Robert Cruickshank

On the topic of rewriting California’s constitution, Robert Cruickshank, of the Courage Campaign, has written an online blog for the Courage Campaign, which has been republished by the California Progress Report.  From the blog:

The spectacle of Abel Maldonado blackmailing the Legislature to accede to his demands as the price of passing a budget last week showed the need to eliminate the 2/3 rule. It is the first change, the tree that blocks the tracks, the door that opens that path to all other changes. But it has become clear that California needs even deeper reform to solve the present crisis and meet the needs of a 21st century state. Periods of major economic change usually are accompanied by constitutional change – hell, even the US Constitution itself owes its existence to the severe economic crisis of the 1780s, one of the worst in American history.

That’s why the Courage Campaign, where I work as Public Policy Director, is joining the Bay Area Council and a diverse coalition of organizations to sponsor a Constitutional Convention Summit on Tuesday in Sacramento (you can register at Repair California).

 

New Journal Announcement: California Journal of Politics and Policy

In what constitutes a landmark in the study of California, the Berkeley Electronic Press and the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, have announced the launch of a new electronic journal, California Journal of Politics and Policy, the first academic journal devoted to California.

The journal’s first issue offers immediate analysis on key debates in redistricting, the state budget, Proposition 11, and California demographics.

From the new journal’s website:

A bellwether and testing ground for emerging trends in policy and political developments, California’s politics reverberate around the world. California Journal of Politics and Policy is the only journal devoted to this unique state, publishing peer-reviewed research and commentary on state and local government, electoral politics, and policy formation and implementation, in California and in relation to national and international developments. Edited by leading experts James Q. Wilson (Pepperdine University), Jack Citrin (University of California, Berkeley), and Bruce E. Cain (University of California Washington Center), California Journal of Politics and Policy will appeal to scholars, practitioners, journalists, policymakers, officeholders, and anyone needing to understand the newest directions in state politics and policy.

The editors of the journal are

James Q. Wilson
Pepperdine University

Jack Citrin
University of California, Berkeley

Bruce E. Cain
University of California, Berkeley

Jerry Lubenow
University of California, Berkeley

The table of contents of the first issue is the following:

Articles

Reflections on “Redistricting and Legislative Partisanship”

Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California discusses the do’s and don’ts of redistricting reform.

Redistricting Reform Could Save California from Itself

Matthew Jarvis of Cal State Fullerton suggests that good redistricting reforms could help solve California’s budget woes.

Redistricting Reform Will Not Solve California’s Budget Crisis

Justin Buchler of Case Western disagrees, and argues against redistricting reform as the answer to California’s budget crisis.

How Geopolitics Cleaved California’s Republicans and United Its Democrats

Thad Kousser of UC San Diego explains the new mosaic of blue and red districts.

Commentaries

Tony Quinn of the California Target Book and Darry Sragow of USC each offer their take on Proposition 11.

Proposition 11 – What Will It Do?

Tony Quinn

Proposition 11 – What It Will Do

Darry Sragow

Origins of a Stalemate

Tony Quinn of the California Target Book then turns to the historical decisions that have led California to today’s budget stalemate.

Book Reviews

Sorting It Out: Review of The Big Sort

Bruce Cain of the UC Washington Center reviews The Big Sort, a new book by Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing.

 

Call for a New California Constitution: The California Constitutional Convention Summit, Feb. 24

The Bay Area Council, in partnership with the Courage Campaign, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and the New America Foundation, has called for a “summit” to consider the possibilities of calling a new Constitutional Convention for California.

The California Constitutional Convention Summit will take place Tues., Feb. 24, 2009 , 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento.

From the website:

We believe California’s system of government is fundamentally broken. Our prisons overflow, our water system teeters on collapse, our once proud schools are criminally poor, our financing system is bankrupt, our democracy produces ideologically-extreme legislators that can pass neither budget nor reforms, and we have no recourse in the system to right these wrongs.

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

For more information contact Melanie Paulos at the Bay Area Council: 415.946.8725 or mpaulos@bayareacouncil.org.

 

Silicon Valley Green Economic Development

BELOW, you will find our preliminary organizing principles and research questions into the project on the Silicon Valley green economy. CLICK here for more information about this project at the Center for Community Innovation and the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley.

FIND BELOW:

* Research Questions

* Bibliography

* Webography

Contact:

aaronwilcher AT gmail DOT com (Aaron Wilcher, MCP student researcher)

smontero AT berkekey DOT edu (Sergio Montero, MCP student researcher)

Research Questions: Silicon Valley’s Economic History and Innovation Assets

* Social Networks (see Saxenian, Castells, Rhee, and Joint Ventures annual reports)
–leadership organizations and associations (Joint Ventures, SV Leadership Group [formerly Manufacturing Group]), American Leadership Forum
–industry associations (see Saxenian, 1994)
–neighborhood associations
–community organizing groups (People Acting in Community Together PACT)
–labor groups: South Bay Labor Council and Working Partnerships
–nonprofit and volunteer associations

* Industrial Development (Saxenian, 2 books; see also Walker, Rhee, and Benner; Castells, Pincetl)
–How did flex-spec evolve and diversify? Where does the Valley stand in relation to broader national and international materialist developments in industrial production practices: social networks, spinoffs, flexible employment? With what cities does it share economic-industrial development practices? (see O’Mara’s current work: Bangalore, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley)

* Labor Markets (see Benner, Zlolniski, Pitti, Alarcon, and Saxenian)
–evolution of flex spec and polarized income-wealth distribution
–migration patterns international and domestic-regional
–visa labor markets and illicit markets
–industrial relations: while high tech emerged unorganized, Working Partnerships has led some innovative policy initiatives and been a power broker in the Valley

* Geographic Factors (Spatial Political Economy) (see O’Mara, Matthews, Winner, Findlay, Pitti, Trounstein and Christensen, Rhee, esp. Ch. 4; in general, see Pincetl; see land use reports from the SVLG and Joint Ventures annual reports)
–Political economy of land use
–Stanford’s networks and the political economy of “cities of knowledge”
–in the context of the rise of the Sunbelt
–evolution of economic development factors
–Identify political regimes and their impact on land use and economic development (see especially Trounstein and Christensen; Rhee, Walker 2002, O’Mara)

* Economic Development and Regulatory Contexts (Pincetl, Saxenian, O’Mara)
–crossover with political economy of landuse and development, but specifically, how did city and state policy affect the economic development climate?
–“good business climate”?
–What kinds of policies lay the groundwork for “green economic development”?
–with whom has the Silicon Valley competed and with whom is it now competing (see O’Mara’s current work: Bangalore, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley)
–How have/will regional consumer practices influenced/been influenced by

* Environmental History (see David Pellow, Pincetl, Walker)
–the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition; Superfund sites
–how has the interaction of EJ, environmentalists, federal cleanup, and business corrections and abuses affected the political economic context for developing a green economy?

* Education Institutional Framework (see Saxenian, O’Mara, Walker, 2002; Findlay)
–community colleges, state colleges and research universities, Stanford
–How were these institutions both power brokers in the political economy of land use, but also engines for economic development with employment-education agreements?

* Finance Capital (see Saxenian, Castells)
–how did VC evolve and what did its presence do for the evolution of the Valley
–Can we place this VC market in the context of other global knowledge cities? How might these relationships change? How do these investment patterns model other places? Who are the players and what are their portfolios? Are the major finance brokers betting on other places? If so, how?

Bibliography

Adams, Stephen B. “Regionalism in Stanford’s Contribution to the Rise of Silicon Valley.” Enterprise Soc 4, no. 3 (September 1, 2003): 521-543.

Alarcon, Rafael Guadalupe. “The migrants of the Information Age: Foreign-born engineers and scientists and regional development in Silicon Valley.” Dissertation, Dept. of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1998.

Arbuckle, Clyde. Clyde Arbuckle’s history of San José : the culmination of a lifetime of research. San José: Smith & McKay Printing Co., 1986.

Beers, D. Blue Sky Dream: A memoir of America’s Fall From Grace. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

Benner, Chris. Staircases or Treadmills?: Labor Market Intermediaries and Economic Opportunity in a Changing Economy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007.

—. Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2002.

Berlin, Leslie. The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley. Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.

Brook, James. Resisting the virtual life: the culture and politics of information. San Francisco  ;Monroe  OR: City Lights, 1995.

Brown, John Seely, and Paul Duguid. The Social Life of Information. 1st ed. Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Canty DJ. “At Home In San-Jose + Architect-Directed Redevelopment Program Transforms The Center Of California 3rd Largest City.” Architectural Record 178, no. 10 (September 1990): 132 -137.

Canty, Donald J. “At Home in San Jose.” Architectural Record 178, no. 10 (September 1990): 132.

Castells, Manuel. The Rise of the Network Society (New Edition). 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2000.

Christensen, Terry, and Tom Hogen-esch. Local Politics: A Practical Guide To Governing At The Grassroots. 2nd ed. M.E. Sharpe, 2006.

Claiborne, J. “Rebuilding Downtown San Jose: A Redevelopment Success Story.” Places 15, no. 2 (Winter 2003): 4-11.

Cornford, D. Working People of California. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1995.

Cronon, William. Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America’s Western Past. W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.

Egan, Timothy, and Timothy P. Egan. Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West. Vintage, 1999.

English-Lueck, J. A. “Silicon Valley reinvents the company town.” Futures 32, no. 8 (October 2000): 759-766.

Findlay, Jonathan. Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940. Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: Univeristy of California Press, 1992.

Hackworth, Jason. The Neoliberal City: Governance, Ideology, and Development in American Urbanism. 1st ed. Cornell University Press, 2006.

Hall, Peter. Cities in Civilization. Pantheon, 1998.

Hall, Tim, and Phil Hubbard. “The entrepreneurial city: new urban politics, new urban geographies?.” Progress in Human Geography 20, no. 2 (June 1, 1996): 153-174.

Hansen, D. The New Alchemists.

Hayes, Dennis. Behind the silicon curtain: the seductions of work in a lonely era. Boston  MA: South End Press, 1989.

Hossfeld, K. “Why Arent High-Tech Workers Organized?: Lessons in Gender, Race, and Nationality from Silicon Valley.” In Working People of California, 405-432. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1995.

Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press, USA, 1987.

Jiménez, Francisco. Ethnic community builders: Mexican Americans in search of justice and power : the struggle for citizenship rights in San José, California. Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2007.

Kriken,  J. “Lessons from downtown San Jose.” Places-A Forum Of Environmental Design 15, no. 2 (WIN 2003): 30-31.

Lessig, Lawrence. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World. Vintage, 2002.

Lewis, Michael. The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story. Penguin (Non-Classics), 2001.

Logan, John R. “Logan on Molotch and Molotch on Logan: Notes on the Growth Machine-Toward a Comparative Political Economy of Place.” The American Journal of Sociology 82, no. 2 (September 1976): 349-352.

Markusen, A. The Rise of the Gunbelt.

Matthews, Glenna. Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream: Gender, Class, and Opportunity in the Twentieth Century. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2003.

Matthews, Glenna Christine. A California Middletown: The Social History of San José in the Depression, Dissertation, Dept. of History, Stanford University, 1976.

Molotch, Harvey. “The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place.” The American Journal of Sociology 82, no. 2 (September 1976): 309-332.

Nguyen, Vu-Bang. “Vietnamese-American Community Outreaching: West Evergreen in San Jose, California,” 2004. Berkeley Library Catalog.

O’Mara, Margaret Pugh. Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Park, Lisa Sun-Hee, and David N Pellow. “Racial Formation, Environmental Racism, and the Emergence of Silicon Valley.” Ethnicities 4, no. 3 (September 2004): 403-424.

Pellow, David, and Lisa Park. The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy. NYU Press, 2002.

Pincetl, Stephanie Sabine. Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Pitti, S.J. The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican Americans. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Rawls, James and Walter Bean. California: An Interpretive History. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 1998.

Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition. Revised. Penguin (Non-Classics), 1993.

Rhee, Nari. “Searching for working class politics: Labor, community and urban power in Silicon Valley.” Dissertation, Dept. of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, 2007.

Saxenian, A. Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 1994.

—. The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy. Harvard University Press, 2007.

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Self, Robert O. American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland. Princeton University Press, 2005.

Shih, Johanna. “Circumventing Discrimination: Gender and Ethnic Strategies in Silicon Valley.” Gender & Society 20, no. 2 (April 2006): 177-206.

Siegel, Lenny, and John Markoff. The high cost of high tech: The dark side of the chip. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

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Trounstine, Philip and Terry Christensen. Movers and shakers : the study of community power. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982.

Turner, Fred. From Counterculture to Cyberculture. Stanford University Press, 2006.

Langdon Winner. “Silicon Valley Mystery House.” In Michael Sorkin, ed. Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 1992.

Walker, Richard A. The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area. University of Washington Press, 2008.

—. Silicon City: The Evolution of an Electronics Mecca. Unpublished manuscript, 2002.

White, Richard. “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A New History of the American West. University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.

Zlolniski, Christian. Janitors, Street Vendors, and Activists: The Lives of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley. 1st ed. University of California Press, 2006.

Webography

Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities
http://www.bayareaalliance.org/

Building Partnerships USA
http://building-partnerships.org/

BVN San Jose 1975-2006
http://www.bvnasj.org/SanJose19752006.htm

b l a n c a ~ a l v a r a d o
http://www.blancaalvarado.org/mainpage.html

California Redevelopment Association
http://www.calredevelop.org

Central Valley Partnership
http://www.citizenship.net/partners/pan_valley.shtml

CJTC — The Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community
http://cjtc.ucsc.edu/

CommuniverCity
http://www.communivercitysanjose.org/

Conference Program SJSU Immigration Conference
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/SocialSciences/socsci_files/Conf_program.htm

Opportunity Fund
http://www.opportunityfund.org

Enter the World of Eichler Design
http://totheweb.com/eichler/

green planning facilitation education
http://www.greenplanning.org/contact.html

Institute for the Study of Social Change (ISSC) UC Berkeley
http://issc.berkeley.edu/

Interview with Ted Smith SV Toxics Book
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/authors/1788_qa.html

Joint Ventures: The Index of Silicon Valley
http://www.jointventure.org/publicatons/siliconvalleyindex.html

Knowledge Cities
http://depts.washington.edu/kcrg/silicon.php

Leadership Institute | Urban Habitat
http://urbanhabitat.org/li

Manuel Pastor Presentations in pdf
http://people.ucsc.edu/~mpastor/presentations.htm

Margaret O’Mara – Home
http://faculty.washington.edu/momara/

Mysteries of the Region Knowledge Dynamics in the SV Paul Duguid
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~duguid/SLOFI/Mysteries_of_the_Region.htm

Oanh Ha won a 2003 award for reporting on Mayfair
http://www.gradethenews.org/pages/SPJ%20awards03.htm

Professor Langdon Winner – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
http://www.langdonwinner.org/

Resources : SV Modern | Celebrating the Silicon Valley’s Mid-Century Past
http://www.svmodern.com/sv-modern-resources.html

San Jose Redevelopment Agency
http://www.sjredevelopment.org/aboutsjra.htm

San Jose Underbelly Cool historic al photos
http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Sanjose/sjsigns/signs4.html

Santa Clara County Archives – County Clerk-Recorder (DEP)
http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/rec/agencychp/?path=%2Fv7%2FCounty%20ClerkRecorder%20(DEP)%2FCounty%20Archives

SiLiCoN vAlLeY dE-bUg
http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/index.html

Silicon Valley Community Foundation – Publications & Research
http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/newsResources_pubsResearch.html#pubs

Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
http://www.svcn.org/

Silicon Valley History
http://www.netvalley.com/svhistory.html

Silicon Valley History
http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/shockley/sili_valley.html

Silicon Valley History Online
http://www.siliconvalleyhistory.org/

Silicon Valley Local History Resources
http://www.sjsu.edu/~jwhitlat/svlh.htm

Silicon Valley Online: Silicon Valley Economic Development Alliance
http://www.siliconvalleyonline.org/

Silicon Valley Prospector: Economic Development Available sites, buildings, demographics, businesses and GIS mapping–
http://www.siliconvalleyprospector.com/ed.asp?bhcp=1

Silicon Valley Workforce Investment Network, connecting job seekers and businesses.
http://www.work2future.biz/

SJSU Communiversity
http://www.communivercitysanjose.org/

Somos Mayfair
http://www.somosmayfair.org/community.htm

Sourisseau Academy
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/history/Resources/Sourisseau.htm

South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council
http://www.atwork.org/

Stanford Silicon Valley Archives
http://svarchive.stanford.edu/main.html

Sustainable Silicon Valley
http://www.sustainablesiliconvalley.org/

SVTC: Silicon Valley Toxic Tour
http://www.etoxics.org/site/PageServer?pagename=svtc_silicon_valley_toxic_tour

The Regional Advantage of the Silicon Valley and Its History
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/regadv.htm

Thrive Alliance of San Mateo County Nonprofits
http://www.thrivealliance.org/

Transweb – Mineta Transportation Institute
http://transweb.sjsu.edu/mtiportal/index.html

UC berkeley Labor Center Leadership Schools
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/leadershipschools/

UCB Guides to City & Regional Planning Research
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/cityguid.html

University of Minnesota Syllabus on Silicon Valley History
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jbshank/syllabus.html

Working Partnerships USA
http://www.wpusa.org/

Working Partnerships USA Reports
http://www.wpusa.org/Publication/index.htm#ev