EDITORIAL: California’s ‘road diet’

Nevada has long benefited from California’s bevy of absurd policies and regulations. Job seekers and businesses leave California in search of less onerous government that encourages more opportunity and economic growth. If Golden State Gov. Jerry Brown has his way with the state’s latest bow to the radical environmental lobby, then the Silver State — and others, to be sure — might see an even heavier influx.

As columnist Joel Kotkin wrote for the Orange County Register, the governor’s Office of Planning and Research is proposing a “road diet” in California that would halt attempts to expand or improve roads, even when improvements have been approved by voters. Apparently, the goal is to make driving so miserable that more Californians stop using their cars and turn to public transportation.

Mr. Kotkin noted that such a strategy won’t help the overwhelming majority of Californians — 85 percent use a car to get to work, and two-thirds of the state’s roads are already rated as poor or mediocre, among the worst in the nation.

The working class would take a huge hit from such an effort, as it does from pretty much all green energy proposals, which always drive up costs, hurting most those who can least afford it. As much as states such as Mississippi are mocked for poverty levels, Mr. Kotkin wrote that when cost of living is factored in, California sits dead last for poverty, with about one in three households living in or close to that level. And many of those households are comprised of minorities.

Mr. Kotkin also cited a survey rating California the worst state in which to be a trucker. But in service to the green lobby, hey, let’s make the roads even worse! The road proposal is just another of California’s myriad green efforts that end up doing very little for the environment at tremendous economic cost — yet make proponents feel good about themselves.

Here in Las Vegas, the push to build light rail has been on for years now. But Mr. Kotkin points out that Los Angeles has spent $16 billion on its rail system, only to see the number of public transit users decline.

Mr. Kotkin also noted that California’s notoriously high housing prices — due to what he calls Gov. Brown’s “green jihad,” which burdens housing development — have put home ownership out of reach for even many affluent middle-class families, who in turn relocate to friendlier economic climates.

This all needs to be food for serious thought in Nevada. Gov. Brian Sandoval, the state Legislature, local governments and bureaucratic agencies must constantly seek out more ways to provide people the freedom necessary to find jobs and enjoy more economic opportunity. Looking at much of what our neighbor to the west does, then doing the exact opposite, would often be a good place to start.