The biggest reform can do after filling? Simplification of Government

Following the catastrophic fires that have swallowed Los Angeles last month, the most non -consistent response of politicians is to focus on Measures to assist the victims And to optimize what will inevitably be a long recovery process. Most of these proposals refer to sharp and immediate regulatory and political failures, such as delusional Ecological provisionsincorrectly managed Insurance markets and the molasses-beam, allowing new construction processes.

While many of these initiatives are worthy, a much more in -depth problem interferes with southern California, the one who the case of fires, brought into high relief: The Spraying of political power To address the challenges to the region, a long-term condition that prompted historian Robert M. Fogelson to describe Los Angeles as “The fragmented metropolisS “

Currently Los Angeles County has 88 Governments of the sub-roundas well as more than 140 unaccorpored areas. This system of overlap and underestimate Jurisdiction responsibilities create enormous ineffectiveness in attempts to coordinate pan-regional challenges-more special risks viewed by climate, such as fire, heat waves and drought, as well as questions such as infrastructure planning.

In the worst cases, especially visible with the twins dwelling and crisis of homelessnessThis leads to competition in which municipalities push away the problems of themselves and each other through their randomly drawn limits.

In order to cope with the pressing regional challenges at a deeper level, Southern California must prefigure the responsibilities and simplify the lines of the authority of its regional government. In short, it must centralize the authorities in the Extended Board of Supervisory Authorities, led by a directly elected and empowered Executive Director (Something that the voters have just approved). Moreover, this new entity should have the capacity to cancel the lower jurisdictions and nims that block effective regional planning.

In order to determine the relevant boundaries and sphere of power for a newly integrated and empowered employee, the guiding principle must be the one Power and authority must be aligned with effective responsibilityS If an agency or CEO is politically responsible for dealing with a particular problem, such as a risk of fire or homelessness, administrative power and power should be given actually what needs to be done to deal with the policy problem effectively.

In practice, the most inherent and responsive system would be the one in which a government formation corresponding to the voters had the power over the region as a whole. A recently centralized system of political authority such as this would allow a much more rational approach to creating policies, regional planning and distribution of resources. Because Problems Such as Fire Risk, Water, Air Quality, Homelessness, Housing Availability and Transit Are All Regional in Scale, The Authority to Man Ext Ake Big Decisions IF and Where the The selected supervisors cannot do it.

The radical processing of the scale, the location and capacity of the political authority in the second largest and most famous centrifugal metropolis in the country may sound like a pie-in-in, but the two new mayors of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaregosa and Eric Garseti, and The two did this case after the fires from last week, Telling New York Times They would support the creation of a dominant government presenting the region as a whole to replace the current crazy capil of municipal governments.

“For the recovery,” said Garseti, “It will be absolutely critical for us to behave as a city, not a collection of 88 villages.”

There will certainly be protests from protests from those who are enjoying to live or manage autonomous enclaves-and reject regional problems as something that someone else can handle. These concerns just have to be canceled in the name of the collective good.

This is where Sacramento can offer decisive help. Instead of throwing money on a problem without a long -term strategy, governor Gavin News can establish his inheritance as a transformation governor by resolving the “plumbing issue” in the structure of South California’s management.