Traffic Relief Ahead in California
Under California constitutional law, services provided by state agencies generally must be performed by state civil service employees. In some cases the state may contract with private firms to obtain services. However, there are limitations as to when such contracting is allowed, for example, if services needed by the state are: (1) of a temporary nature, (2) not available within the civil service, or (3) of a highly specialized or technical nature. According to the argument in favor of Proposition 35, private contracting has been further limited by several lawsuits filed by Caltrans bureaucrats.
Proposition 35 would amend the State Constitution by eliminating restrictions on state, local contracting with private entities for engineering, architectural services; contracts awarded by competitive selection; bidding permitted, not required. In other words, the State Constitution would be amended to provide that in design, development and construction of public works projects, state government may choose to contract with private entities for engineering and architectural services without regard to certain existing legal restrictions, which apply to the procurement of other services.
The following are the highlights of the pro and con arguments as well as some of the key supporters. A few of the pro arguments include: giving state and local governments the option of contracting out will speed projects along; will allow California to once again make use of private sector earthquake experts to ensure the safety of highways and bridges; California's population is growing, and there is enough work for both public and private engineers and architects. A few of the arguments against include: the p...
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... able to get away with standing around on the job doing next to nothing. The construction projects will get done faster and cheaper so the commute delays will not last as long.
YES on Proposition 35 means road projects will be finished sooner. No on Proposition 35 means Caltrans delays and costly overruns. So, do you want the government to use the private sector to complete projects on time and on budget or would you rather continue the Caltrans status quo of costly delays? Would you rather have rail transit and traffic relief projects completed at $2.5 billion savings to taxpayers or continue to have more traffic and more bureaucratic delays? Would you rather have the roads, schools and hospitals made earthquake safe or have a dangerous backlog of school and highway earthquake retrofit projects? The choice is yours. Make the right decision, YES ON PROPOSITION 35!
Conservatives believe that prop 30 is unconstitutional. Californians will endure the biggest tax hike in years. Tax payers will cough up $6 billion annually to fund the education expense. Michelle Steele states “Prop 30 won’t fix our schools or stabilize the state budget; it will increase tax volatility and leave our children facing more of the same debt” (Steele). You can’t make a judgment like that till has been in effect for a few years Michelle Steele ...
What can construction do for an area? The construction of an office building may bring in a firm, corporation, or company. The construction of a sporting arena may keep a team where it currently is, or bring a new team to that area. For example, the construction of the HSBC Arena kept the Sabres in Buffalo. The construction of a casino may bring in tourists, or people who live in the outlying suburbs. It seems obvious that all of the prior examples bring economic growth and development to that certain place. However, there is a less obvious question to be asked. If a new bridge is built what can that bring to an area? In the case of Buffalo, many people believe economic revival.
to tear this law down I believe that California can not afford to do without
We take them for granted when driving miles to the closest mall. We are unconscious of their usefulness when traveling to see a distant relative by car. We can't take a moment to stop and admire their beauty and usefulness; the architectural wonders that are highways and their interchanges; which have such a rich history embedded in the American suburbia of today. Let's go back to the early 1900's, when the automobile was starting to become a dominate part of the American life (Morton, 2014). Around this time; a shift began to occur towards private transportation over public by influencing policies in their favor (Nicolaides and Wiese, 2006). One of these polices was created by the Federal Aid Highway of 1925; the United States Highway System which basically expanded the highways across the United States connecting one another, creating new opportunities for growth in many areas (Weingroff, 1996). This had many effects on different factors of the American way of life; specifically suburbia (Morton, 2014). After the war, the private home that was a luxury a few years prior, was now becoming affordable for many thanks to low interest rates and flexible payments through the National Housing Act of 1934, created by the Federal Housing Administration (Fishman, 1987). Perfect example of a policy acting towards private over public was the Los Angles Master Plan of 1941, which pushed the direction of private automobiles and singles households: there being 1.16 million cars (2.4 people per car) and having 31 percent of the city land dedicated for single family homes, this was really solidifying the post suburbia lifestyle (Fishman, 1987). In Los Angeles alone around this time, 900 square miles were transformed to tract development homes ...
This continues to have an effect on the local government in California because every time the governments wants to impose a tax they have to put it to vote before the taxpayers if it has anything to do with local taxes. Schools are also still without some of the much needed programs that would benefit the children and help to keep them off the street. Teachers are also forced to have bigger classrooms due to the cuts. Although these propositions have helped a few people by lowering property taxes, I feel that in the long run the children are hurt due to the loss in programs such as art, music and some sports just because we want to pay a lower amount of property taxes. This is just something the people of California will have to live with.
A BID is defined as, “[a]n organization of property owners in a commercial district who tax themselves to raise money for neighborhood improvements” (Cullingworth, 387). Assessments are then made mandatory and collected by the city. Thus, funding does not come by way of the federal government, but city’s can utilize grants to help fund their efforts. In this way, the federal governments support the community economic development, but takes no direct efforts in funding the programs. The city’s then offer incentives, in the form of tax exemptions, to attract developers. In turn, new construction would create jobs and lower unemployment. Theoretically, the encouragement of a tax incentives is to stimulate the economic growth of an area with higher unemployment rates. The problem is many developers tend to gravitate towards the city’s that can offer greater incentive. Officials have wondered if these programs benefit the cities with the greatest
Many mass construction projects in the history of the United States have had a major impact on the economy and culture; however, not many of these have had as large as an impact as the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. The Interstate Highway Act revolutionized the way that we think about highways today. The act created an extremely easy mode of transportation for people across the country. Not only was the Interstate Highway Act extremely helpful in making rural and urban transportation for normal people, but it also helped commercial businesses in increasing sales across the country. These businesses were now able to transport their goods cheaper and faster. The Interstate Highway Act was tremendously beneficial in regards to its economic, social, and cultural significance. The legislation was significant economically in the way that it promoted business and cut travel costs, it was significant socially in the way that it allowed people to see friends and family even if they did not live close, and it was significant culturally in the way that it allowed people to move out to the country for low costs in order to live a happier life.
Furthermore, the proposition states many beneficial outcomes due to it being passed but never do they address any negative outcomes due to it. All of this is done with the right use of word which appeals to the reader’s emotions causing one to vote with their feelings and not their knowledge. What is being stated in the proposition are only things to sway a voter into voting for it. For instance, it talks about how with the money being saved from having fewer inmates in prison will be redirected towards bettering higher education by purchasing learning devices, books, and other material. With this being said, it is obvious that the intended voters are parents of adolescents. The reason being is that parents are the most vulnerable in this
In California, the finance structure of local government gives them more incentives to approve commercial (non-residential) housing development. Cities and counties find fiscal benefits come primarily from the commercial development, such as hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments. The tax revenue received from these establishments could often offset the cost for a local government to provide public services. On the contrary, the affordable housing developments cause more local costs than yielding high tax revenues. Therefore, local governments have the motivation to develop commercial establishments by zoning considerable lands for such purposes. Consequently, many cities and counties have approved their land use planning disproportionately towards commercial
Prior to 1978, local governments maintained a great deal of freedom in budgeting. The majority of revenue for local governments came from property taxes. They were able to set their own property tax rates based on revenue needs and meet the service demands of residents while avoiding budget deficits. However, the adoption of Proposition 13 in 1978 put a major constraint on property tax as a source of revenue. The impact was felt much more in counties than cities, as property tax made up around two-thirds of revenue (Cummins 2014, 233). Counties lost substantial control of their major fiscal resources to fund police and other law enforcement services, fire protection, parks, libraries, schools, hospitals and public health. California cities
California is a special but troubling state. It is special because it is one of the few states that government takes on the form of direct democracy. On the flip side, it is troubling because water is of great importance and California does not know how to share within its own counties. And education is a mess right now too. Although we have the form of direct democracy, the harder it is for California to agree as a whole. It gives people the opportunity to speak up, but when is enough finally enough.
The San Joaquin River Project was a plan completed in 2009 made to recreate San Joaquin River, which was dried up after dams were built in 1942. The San Joaquin River restoration is to bring back water flows from the San Joaquin river to the Friant Dam, and to revive the salmon and other fish population. There are two articles debating whether they either agree or disagree with the project. I chose the article, “River Plan Too Fishy For My Taste Buds”. This article came from The Fresno Bee newspaper, which correspondingly means it came from Fresno. The type of people who live in Fresno are farmers, workers who work for other people, democrats, and people who care more about jobs rather than the environment. I agree with this article from The Fresno Bee because I believe Bill McEwen, the author of this article, is the better expert because of his credentials and achievements. I will be using the article “River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope” by Daniel Weintraub to back up my argument.
First, an obvious problem of the state is the usage of the initiative process. Originally, it gave “Californians the power to propose constitutional amendments and law that fellow citizens will vote on without the legislature’s involvement (Van Vechten, 20).” However, today, special interest groups have used this process abusively. In fact, initiative campaigns became an industry of its own in California. According to Mathews and Mark, “in 1996, annual spending on initiative campaigns in California topped $140 million (Mathews and Mark, 68).” Special interests groups that are financially well o...
Public transportation systems play an important role in the lives of many people. The 500 Friends of Gilder is an interest group that supports public transportation and other non-roads proposals. Their mission is to protect Gilder’s quality of life, environment, and historical resources. They do not want any new capital project that is not related to public transportation; therefore they do not support the Gladiator Bridge. The 500 Friends of Gilder argue that the project will damage the environment, kill endangered species, and destroy the swamplands. They also do not want the Gladiator Bridge to destroy the historical homes dated from the late 1800s and early 1900s in Compinwood. They said that the Gladiator Bridge would destroy the neighborhoods
[ix] Weingroff, Richard F. The Federal-State Partnership at Work. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration Public Roads Web site, 1996.