How the left turned California into a paradise lost
Gavin Newsom promised to ‘Trump-proof’ the Golden State. If only he’d fireproofed it instead.
After the November election, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his plans to “Trump-proof” the Golden State. How about fire-proofing? Los Angeles’s horrific fires are exposing the costs of its progressive follies, which even wealthy liberals in their Palisades palaces can’t escape.
Start with its environmental obsessions. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2019 sought to widen a fire-access road and replace old wooden utility poles in the Topanga Canyon abutting the Palisades with steel ones to make power lines fire- and wind-resistant. In the process, crews removed an estimated 182 Braunton’s milkvetch plants, an endangered species.
The utility halted the project as state officials investigated the plant destruction. More than a year later, the California Coastal Commission issued a cease-and-desist order, fined the utility $US2m ($3.25m), and required “mitigation” for the project’s impact on the species. This involved replacing “nonnative” vegetation with plants native to the state. You have to chuckle at the contradiction: California’s progressives want to expel foreign flora and fauna but provide a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.
Since the milkvetch requires wildfires to propagate, the only way to boost its numbers is to let the land burn. A cynic might wonder if environmentalists interfered with fire prevention in hope of evicting humans from what they view as the plant’s rightful habitat. To radical environmentalists, every human is a colonizer.
Next, consider the government’s misallocation of resources. Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley complains the city cut her budget by $US17m ($26.7m) last spring, which she says reduced overtime compensation and interfered with wildfire preparation. Maybe, though the veteran firefighter may also be saying this to get more money for her department.
In truth, the fire budget didn’t shrink since city leaders last autumn approved a new union contract that boosted pay and benefits by $US76m ($123.6m) – about $US20,000 ($32,000) per firefighter. Even before this raise, firefighters on average earned about $US200,000 ($325,000), plus $US90,000 ($146,000) in benefits. Many can retire at 55 with pensions equaling 90 per cent of their final salaries.
Los Angeles spent $US350m ($570m) this year on firefighter pensions and benefits. Much of that would have been better spent on fire prevention, which made up only 5 per cent of the department’s budget. Ms Crowley calls “diversity, inclusion, and equity” a top priority, and the Fire Department boasted nine DEI positions.
Bloated union contracts and DEI may not have directly hampered the fire response, but they illustrate the government’s wrongheaded priorities. It’s the same with water. Donald Trump blamed dry fire hydrants in LA on protections for the delta smelt fish. The real culprit was an overwhelmed water system, but both reflect government mismanagement.
Smelt protections restrict the amount of water that flows from the state’s north to the south. This has led to billions of gallons of water being flushed out to the Pacific Ocean each year, along with chronic water shortages, high unemployment, overpumped wells and environmental degradation in the state’s Central Valley. Mr Newsom opposed Mr Trump’s first-term efforts to ease the fish protections. You can lead California progressives to water, but you can’t make them think.
Consider the state’s response to crime and homelessness, which may have contributed to the fires. Last year’s Park Fire—the fourth largest in state history—was allegedly ignited by a man with two prior felony convictions who was on parole for a DUI. The Los Angeles Times reported in early 2021 that 24 fires on average were breaking out each day in the city’s homeless encampments. A fire in an encampment shut down an LA freeway last November, the second time that had happened in a little over a year.
Good Samaritans on Thursday detained a homeless man who they said used a flamethrower to incinerate Christmas trees and garbage cans, around the same time as a major fire erupted. Police arrested the vagrant on a felony probation violation—meaning he had been on parole for another felony—because they said they lacked probable cause to charge him with arson. The suspect reportedly claimed he was using a blowtorch to smoke marijuana.
Wealthy liberals have long been shielded from the consequences of their government’s blunders. State regulators until recently even suppressed insurance rates for high-priced homes by barring insurers from fully pricing in wildfire risk and reinsurance costs.
Like King Canute, who tried to command the tides, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday prohibited insurers from dropping homeowners in areas affected by the fires. People who lose their homes deserve sympathy. But if insurers aren’t allowed to limit their liabilities or adjust premiums based on risk, they will instead raise rates on everyone.
Democrats think they can wave away economic reality, much as they do when they pretend there are no costs to raising the minimum wage or taxes. Will the fires prompt Mr Newsom and company to rethink their delusions? Forget it, it’s La La Land.
The Wall St Journal
