Examining All the Wreckage

Local voters went to the polls with their wallets tightly closed. The majority voted against new taxes and bond measures that would have financed health care, jails, housing and parks. Absent that new financing, local officials will face tough choices.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors was counting on the passage of Proposition 134, “the nickel-a-drink liquor tax,” to pay for a $57-million shortfall in the overburdened public health system. The failure of that tax--a regressive one that we did not endorse--could, the county warns, deprive 27,000 mentally ill persons of needed treatment.

A more compassionate majority on the board might juggle local priorities to come up with more health care for the needy--if it weren’t spending $5 million in taxpayer dollars to fight a legal effort to make supervisorial districts more democratic. The board must also lobby the governor-elect and the Legislature for more money despite gloomy predictions of a state budget deficit.

The crowded county jails also got no relief from the ballot box. Proposition A--another half-cent sales tax we did not support--would have built more jails without specifying how it would help stem the tide of youngsters flooding into them. Supervisors must address jail-overcrowding problems, but also must deal aggressively with prevention through early intervention programs that work.

Proposition J--which we endorsed--would have increased the property tax to improve the city’s 911 emergency telephone system. As many as 100,000 emergency calls could go unanswered. The City Council could tap the strained general fund to pay for improvements, but not without cutting other programs.

Proposition K--which we also backed--would have provided $100 million for affordable housing in the city. It, too, failed. Housing officials now must pin their hopes on a developer fee that could raise several million dollars a year.

In the face of a recession, there’s a natural tendency to become more frightened and less generous. That’s precisely when political leaders must swallow hard and lead--not to our fears but to our hopes.