California’s latest casualty: The young family
By Brad Bollinger, Business Journal Editor in Chief
The political class in Sacramento is obsessed with raising taxes, enacting new regulatory schemes and green economy pipedreams. But they should be focused on this stunning trend.
In an interview Saturday with the Wall Street Journal, demographer Joel Kotkin laid out the terrifying news for California: In the last two decades, nearly 4 million more people have left the state than have moved in from other places in the U.S. Most of those leaving, Mr. Kotkin said, are between the ages of 5 and 14 and 34 to 45. “In other words,” the interviewer wrote, “young families.”
Mr. Kotkin, a professor at Chapman University in Orange, in particular takes a shot at coastal California. “Basically, if you don’t own a piece of Facebook or Google and you haven’t robbed a bank and don’t have rich parents, then your chances of being able to buy a house or raise a family in the Bay Area or in most of coastal California is pretty weak.”
The principal cause of the state’s unraveling — once a magnet for millions pursuing the middle-class dream — is excessive, jobs-killing regulation on development, particularly in the coastal areas, according to Mr. Kotkin.
Sound familiar?
Lucasfilm’s Grady Ranch debacle epitomizes the negative impact on the broader economy of the out-sized influence of a small group of opponents and silos of excessive regulation. When Lucas withdrew the model project earlier this month after years of regulatory delays and NIMBY protests, one could almost hear the sound of 10,000 people packing their bags for Texas, Arizona, Nevada or Washington. Well, you say, they could move to less expensive inland areas of the state? True. But the amenities in inland California ara not that much different from Texas or Nevada except that the latter are much cheaper and there is no income tax, Mr. Kotkin points out. Countless companies, including some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent names, already have figured this out.
Little by little for three decades and then accelerating with tragic events like Grady Ranch, the foundation of what made California great — the young family trying to get ahead — has been cracking.
With the current leadership in Sacramento — which inevitably trickles down to local jurisdictions — don’t expect much to change. The cap and trade edicts of AB32 are being formulated by green activists and regulatory insiders as you read this. Things like congestion pricing for downtowns in the form of higher parking fees and ever-more Orwellian restrictions on water and energy consumption aren’t far away.
Funny part is, they will make zero difference in global greenhouse gas emissions. But they likely will succeed in driving away still more tax-paying businesses and the people they employ.
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Brad Bollinger is the Business Journal’s editor and associate publisher. He can be reached at 707-521-4251 or bbollinger@busjrnl.com.
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by zuma
This and legal system that is run and has the effect of selective enforcement of our laws and a complete lack of morality in our judiciary and legislature. The notion that one can get a fair trial by impartial judges is a pipe dream. There is no oversight by anyone including legislature, press or anyone else.
Judges refuse to obey the laws or bend them to cover where the sun dont shine on their bodies walking toward the sunset.
California has been going down hill for the past 30 years and is a shadow of what it once was! All that drew people here and created boom years is gone and all we have now are illegals and they dont come because there are no jobs for them.
Family ties keep many here that yearn to leave California!
by boethius
I’ve had opportunities to move to Austin, TX and recently contemplated a move to Vegas, but I just can’t imagine not being here. Yes it’s ridiculously expensive to live here and a tough pill when you realize you can rent a mansion in Vegas or most of Texas for half the cost of a dumpy apartment most places in the Bay Area. You just can’t beat the weather, sights, and amenities that come with living here. I’ll deal with the painful aspects of our draconian environmental regulations, ultra-liberal and breathtakingly incompetent legislature, Blue State electorate, and absurdly expensive cost of living.
by Pete
Pretending that’s there already aren’t too much traffic and not enough water in this state is ludicrous. Restrictions that seem “Orwellian” are the last line of defense for future generations. CA cannot support endless development. We already have trouble disposing of our sewage solids. The air in Southern CA. coastal areas is un-breatheable. My friend who live by LA has never been able to wear contact lenses since she moved there in the early ’70′s because of the air pollution.
Surely you don’t wish this on the North Coast?
by Larry
I am a 17-year California resident, worker, homeowner, taxpayer, and entrepreneur who started a high-tech company in the Bay Area. I’m in exactly the demographic you describe — I’m in my early 40′s with a Kindergarten-aged child.
I recently moved out of the Bay Area and out of California.
It was not because of regulation on development, high taxes, or green initiatives.
It was largely because of poor schools, crumbling infrastructure, runaway development, and misguided political deadlock over exactly these issues.
It was because of our inability and unwillingness to pay for (and tax to fund) improvements to schools and infrastructure.
If anything, this article seems to be advocating moving exactly in the opposite direction as I need to return to California with my family. I want to live someplace with MORE environmental protection, MORE investment in education, infrastructure, and clean tech, and more fair (i.e. progressively structured) tax rates.
I took my taxes, my family, and my business out of California to someplace with more regulation and higher taxes — and I see the benefits every day in good public schools, working infrastructure, inexpensive higher education, great public transportation, sensible high-density urban development, and universal health care.
by Bobby
Larry, [personal attack removed] The point is CA is taking those taxpayer funds and applying them to Entitlements, not investment such as you say you so desperately want. Over 40% of the people don’t pay taxes…so you understand in CA you are paying for these peoples general expenses and pensions, right?