ORANGE COUNTY VOICES / JOHN FLYNN : Why County, SCAG Should Reunite

The current moves aimed at re-establishing Orange County as a full participant in the regional planning agency, the Southern California Assn. of Governments, are good news for the Southland. Orange County was a founding member of the association 26 years ago, and in recent months its vital influence in determining regional affairs has been sorely missed.

The political situation that led six counties to band together as a regional planning entity more than a quarter century ago was a threat from Sacramento to impose its own plans and programs on the region, with a consequent loss of local autonomy. Additionally, the federal government said it would withhold funding for projects submitted by entities that were not part of a regional authority.

Those were good reasons to form an alliance then, and they remain valid.

The federal policy has not changed. Nor has the threat from Sacramento lessened. In the past several years, more than 50 bills aimed at restructuring regional entities have been introduced in the state Legislature. Orange County’s political weight and savvy are essential to the region’s efforts to resist undesirable change.

Over time, differences in approach and disagreements over such things as subregional planning authority and commonality of databases caused coolness between Orange County and SCAG, leading the county to withhold its share of dues to support regional planning work. Although many cities in Orange County retained full membership, the county’s voting privileges lapsed.

Thus, while Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder continued to participate in discussions, her effectiveness was lessened. Recently, however, there has been a thaw. Dedicated staff work on both sides has gone into resolving the differences between the county and SCAG, and SCAG’s growing emphasis on “bottom-up” rather than “top-down” planning reflects a sensitivity to Orange County’s chief differences with the agency.

While areas of disagreement remain to be ironed out, these can best be approached with Orange County as a full participant in the agency’s inner workings, rather than as an adversarial outsider.

Beyond the political reasons for the county remaining part of SCAG is the fact that Orange County is an intrinsic part of the 38,000-square-mile region that includes Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties. The ties that make these entities a distinct region are geographic, social and economic.

The six counties share three air basins, a central water supply, a common transportation system, a regionwide work force and an interdependent economy. Orange County cannot function without its neighbors: many of the county’s businesses with international ties rely on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and Los Angeles International Airport, to move people and goods.

Large numbers of Orange County’s residents commute to jobs in Los Angeles County, and workers from other counties pour into Orange County to keep its economic wheels turning. This intercounty traffic has enabled Orange County to thrive.

But the county’s high economic median has a negative side, too: much of the commuting is due to a lack of affordable employee housing in Orange County, and the workday inpouring of workers from Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties is a major cause of regionwide traffic congestion and smog.

The county itself must be a part of finding and implementing solutions to regional problems caused in part by its success.