Southland Gets Mixed Grades in Annual Study

First, the good news: Southern California is safer, has more jobs and cleaner air.

The bad news? Good luck driving to work, finding a decent place to live and a school for the kids.

These are the conclusions of the annual report card by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, a research and planning group for the six-county region. The overall picture shows Southern California’s economy is healthier, but dramatic work is needed to improve housing, transportation and public education.

And while the economy is prospering, the gap between rich and poor grows wider.

Southern California improved in three categories: employment, air quality and safety. But SCAG officials gave the region the same low grades as last year in four areas: income, housing, mobility and education. Those grades ranged from Ds--for mobility and education--to a C-plus for income.

“In a region as large and complex as Southern California, we need to look for constant yearly improvement,” said Ron Bates, SCAG president and a Los Alamitos city councilman. “But it’s not going to be easy.”

Southern California, home to 16 million people, has grown rapidly for more than a century with no indication of slowing, according to one chapter in the SCAG report. Considering the impact of overcrowding on the environment and the overall quality of life, “it’s time to rethink our idea of what growth is in our vast metropolis,” wrote author William Fulton, president of Solimar Research Group in Ventura and author of “The Reluctant Metropolis.”

Most of the report, however, focused on existing areas of community life. The biggest improvement occurred in the category of employment, which improved from a B-minus in 1999 to an A-minus. Los Angeles County added more than 80,000 jobs in 1999, the second best performance of the decade--1998 was the best. Even so, the county has not replaced the jobs lost during the 1990s recession, says the 60-page State of the Region report, which will be released today.

The area’s increasingly diversified economy has buffered it from turbulent economic times, the report says. California’s healthy economy kept the state jobless rate at 4.9% in 1999, the lowest level in the 30 years that it has been tracked. The state is adding jobs at a higher rate than the rest of the United States, but California’s unemployment rate is still slightly above the nation’s rate, 4.1%.

Air quality is another area of improvement. The 1999 smog season was the cleanest ever, the report says. For the first time since World War II, there were no full-scale smog alerts, and Houston edged ahead of Los Angeles for the dubious distinction of having more smog days.

Favorable weather conditions last year contributed to the region’s cleaner air, the report says. So did tough anti-smog regulations.

Safety was the third category in which the region improved. For the seventh consecutive year, overall crime rates in California and the nation declined. In California, homicides and robberies decreased more than 16% and property crimes decreased more than 13% in 1998 from the previous year, according to the report. Preliminary data for nine months of 1999 show crimes dropped almost 15% when compared to 1998.

In national surveys, safety as well as good schools are among the main considerations in how people evaluate a community, the report says. SCAG officials saw the need for progress in public education, citing data that more students should graduate from high schools and attend college.

Only about one-third of the region’s high school graduates during the 1998-99 school year took courses to meet admission requirements for the University of California or the California State University systems. The numbers were worst for Latinos: They comprise 46% of students enrolled in high school, but account for 62% of dropouts, the report says.

With housing, the state also fell short. Nationwide, 55% of individual households could afford to purchase a home; in California, the rate is 37%; San Diego, 33%; Orange County, 34%; and Los Angeles, 39%.

Transportation was another category in need of significant reform. Congestion has increased 11% between 1994 and 1997, the report says. Annual surveys, conducted since 1989, show commute patterns have scarcely changed. About 93% commute by car. Of those, 78% drive alone and 15% carpool.

“We need to rethink our travel behavior,” said Bates. “We can’t just build our way out.”

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The State of the Region

The annual report card from the Southern California Assn. of Governments shows Southern California’s economy is improving but work is needed to make the area more livable.

*

A: Excellent; B: Needs improvement; C: Average; D: Notice of potential failure; F: Failing

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EMPLOYMENT

The diversification of the economy has reduced the impact of adverse economic cycles and provided a stable environment for new investment. All counties in the region have experienced overall growth in the major industries.

1999: B-

2000: A-

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INCOME

As the region’s economy improves, real per capita income in every county is on the rise. But job growth has been accompanied by a decline in median annual earnings, and workers in the middle salary ranges are having more difficulty maintaining a middle-class lifestyle.

1999: C+

2000: C+

*

HOUSING

New residential units authorized by building permits continued to grow throughout the late

1990s, but the shortage of new housing coming to the market is aggravating the upward pressure on home prices and rents, making it increasingly difficult to afford homes in places relatively close to employment.

1999: C-

2000: C-

*

MOBILITY

Congestion--measured by daily hours of delay--increased 11% between 1994 and 1997. As the economy improves, congestion is on the rise.

1999: D

2000: D

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AIR QUALITY

The 1999 smog season in the region was the cleanest on record. The vast majority of emissions in the region come from cars, trucks and other vehicles. Even if polluting industries were eliminated, the region would still violate health standards.

1999: C

2000: B-

*

EDUCATION

Education continues to be a major concern as the region competes to attract and retain high-paying jobs. In 1998-99, about one-third of all high school graduates in the region had taken the necessary courses to meet the requirements for admission to the UC or Cal State systems.

1999: D

2000: D

*

SAFETY

The overall crime rates in California and the nation declined in 1998 for the seventh consecutive year. After a 10% reduction for two consecutive years, the region experienced an additional 13% decline in the rate of violent crime in 1998.

1999: B

2000: B+

*

Source: Southern California Assn. of Governments