Forging a Bright Future

The final decades of the 20th century have brought remarkable change to Orange County. One need not be a longtime resident to remember vast expanses of agricultural fields that today have been transformed into centers of high-tech industry, malls and housing tracts. A county that once was a largely white bastion of conservative politics and middle-class aspirations remains a work in progress, profoundly influenced by the currents of global business, high-tech industry and recent tides of immigration.

The newest Americans have come seeking an alternative to political unrest and economic vicissitudes in their places of origin. Orange County, with its sunny expanses, continues to represent some of the best of the promise of American life.

There are challenges and opportunities even as the pace of change has been rapid. The Times Orange County Edition has launched a project that, every Monday through the end of the year, will take a comprehensive look forward into the new century. The series “Beyond 2000,” which began this month, explores how our collective lives will change in the next millennium. Already, it has looked at future transportation needs to find a county weighing the cost and appeal of a light rail system. Last week, it mined the sentiments of residents concerned with growth and development.

The explosive pace of change brings with it a host of questions about how we will live and what kinds of communities these will be. We would like to encourage the participation of our readers in assessing the new century that lies before us. We welcome your letters on Orange County’s future.

The issue of growth already has prompted a debate that has found expression in pockets of controversy over schools and housing, roads and alternative methods of transportation, immigration policy, the “slow growth” movement of the late 1980s, and today’s battle over the proposed commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Orange County continues to grow at a dizzying pace. It is now the most crowded county in Southern California, and is projected to increase nearly 20% in density by 2020.

With the benefits of new jobs and opportunities and residential communities designed to raise and nurture families also come pressures to accommodate growth. This can mean making choices about which of the many desires of residents and community opinion leaders can be met. These can include such things as deciding on new taxes to pay for a new rail system, or making difficult political accommodation to resolve the impasse over meeting the region’s air traffic needs.

What about limits on growth? A recent Times Orange County Poll found 66% said they would vote to approve laws that would limit growth in their own community, an overwhelming number that grew to more than 70% in South County.

While there are no easy answers to such questions, enlightened political and civic leadership can make planning for the future more productive. For example, last year’s “Orange County: The Fate of a Post-Suburban Paradise” project laid out many of the challenges for the county in positioning itself economically, in education and in quality of life. The project was jointly sponsored by United Way, the Human Relations Commission, the Orange County Business Council, Chapman University, and the Hispanic and Korean Chambers of Commerce. It was precisely the kind of broad-based view needed to address the challenges of the future.

With new jobs and new arrivals, much of the task for future leaders may simply be about managing expectations. This will mean paying attention to how we all get along, to whether we are willing to make trade-offs, and how we adapt to the arrival of others.

The sheer pace of change gives this region too little time to catch its breath and deliberate carefully. The future is challenging and exciting, and it’s one in which we all must be engaged.