Organizing for America | Inland Empire Green Economy: Inland Empire Green Vision Statement

Inland Empire Green Vision Statement

By Jonathan Abraham - Jan 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am EST

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Tags: buildings, California, economy, education, energy, Green Economy, inland empire, Universities

RESULTS OF ECONOMIC POLICY ROUNDTABLE 01/25/2009
SAN BERNARDINO

Vision Plan for Inland Empire Green Economy

Prepared by Jonathan Abraham

On January 25th 2009, Organizing for America hosted a round table discussion on the future of the Inland Empire. The area under consideration was the Inland Southern California metropolitan statistical area. The goal of this exercise was to articulate the desires that the people of the Inland Empire have for the future of the area under the administration of President Barack Obama. This document is the product of that meeting, and represents the collective vision and ideas of all residents. This is an evolving vision document that will articulate the position of “Organizing for America” in the Inland Empire as pertains to economic development policy, education and the green economy.

Process:
In the course of the policy workshop session, we collectively reviewed a representative sample of the policy white papers created by non-partisan policy institutes on the subject of economic policy for the Inland Empire region. Included were reports from the Public Policy Institute of California, USC’s Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, and the Green Valley Initiative. These are the materials that the experts constantly cite when making recommendations for the future of the region. We split these documents equally amongst the participants, deconstructing them into a mass of discrete facts and figures, demographic data and policy proposals. Then, in the course of the next two hours, we went through several iterative rounds of discussion where we refined our collective vision for the region’s future.

The Human Factor:
What we found was that in and of themselves, facts, figures and concepts remained just stale words on paper. The missing element in these policy discussions that take place among regional government bodies and think tanks is the voice of the people. As many of the participants started reading about concepts like “place branding,” and “jobs-housing imbalance,” “urban sprawl” or “unplanned growth,” these concepts became interwoven with the stories and experiences that they brought to the table. No amount of statistics or economic theory can substitute for first-hand experience on the ground.

Assessment of Current Crisis

Base Realignment and Closures Act
The current economic crisis dates back to a change in Federal policy after the cold war, with the Base Realignment and Closure Act in the 1990’s, which rapidly removed tens of thousands of jobs from the regional economy from the high desert, San Bernardino valley and Riverside. There was never any regional approach to reversing the catastrophic effects of the base closures. Instead planning for re-development of the formerly federal land devolved to sub-regional joint powers authorities. The transformation was completed with George AFB becoming Southern California Logistics Airport, Norton AFB becoming San Bernardino International Airport, and March AFB becoming March Air Reserve Base cantonment. The creation of separate Joint Powers Authorities for the three former bases has resulted in a turf war between the three airports, which are all vying for the same low-wage goods distribution industry. The recent experience with DHL and its air cargo hub would illustrate this fragmented behavior by competing sub-regional authorities. And with the eventual closure of the DHL operation at March AFB, the point was proven that the goods movement industry is itself highly cyclical.

Sub-standard Branding:
There is a place-branding assumption in the public discussion forums that the Inland Empire is the “goods movement gateway” to the rest of America. This is the branding that was accepted by local leaders and vigorously promoted by certain business interests. According to some local elected officials, “The priority for this region is goods movement.” This conscious place branding of the Inland Empire as the logistical hub for the southwest and beyond was a conclusion reached without the consensus of local residents. In fact the greatly dispersed nature of the geography in the Inland metro area makes unified civic action next to impossible. City governments have functioned well as discrete communities, but regional government has truly failed the residents. Local residents are largely opposed to this idea, and this puts them at odds with elected officials, who sometimes represent the corporate interest for goods movement or distribution infrastructure over the wishes of residents. Consider the recent case of the planning commission decision in Moreno Valley, where the Skechers distribution warehouse was opposed and defeated by residents.

The Wild West:
County planning documents and brochures market the region as having “cheap dirt” for development of tract housing. The implicit promise to real estate developers was that this was still the “Wild West” as far as regulations went. In most cases, regional government abdicated its role for planning to the corporate sector, allowing corporate dollars to dictate both vision and process for development. With the added burden of the tax structure after Proposition 13 forcing local governments towards fiscally led growth, the current disaster we see unfolding before our eyes was inevitable. Today we have the nationwide honor of being the foreclosure capital of America, just a few short years after having a speculation fueled frenzy of real estate construction, which has produced drastic overcapacity in the housing market. Troubles with government ethics as recently evidenced by the disgraceful scandal involving our assessor are merely symptoms of a system that does not serve the people. The perception of corruption in local government was a strongly expressed view at the round table discussion.

Public officials accepted the assumption that the main competitive advantage of the inland empire was cheap land. Until now, the people of the Inland Empire have been too fragmented to fully articulate an alternative to rampant housing sprawl and container hub developments. As corporate development community has acted extremely irresponsibly in its practices. Local governments have given free rein to this behavior and the result is evident for us to see, decaying urban cores cities like San Bernardino, Redlands and Fontana, surrounded by massive tracts of housing in the periphery that are catching the new disease of foreclosure.

Jobs-Housing Imbalance:
Since no real efforts were made to replace the jobs lost to the base closures with comparable jobs, but housing construction continued unchecked, an imbalance between the coast and the inland developed, the jobs-housing imbalance. The coast has the jobs, and we have the relatively affordable housing. Roughly one third of our residents commute outside the Inland Empire for work. This has also put tremendous stresses on the transportation network. Not only are residents trying to get to jobs on the coast and back home, they now compete for limited road space with fleets of container trucks moving goods from the ports to inland container distribution hubs. Air quality in the Inland Empire remains among the worst in the nation.

Low Educational Outcomes:
Educational attainment raises concerns, with the high school dropout rate alarmingly high, especially in San Bernardino. Access to preschool is extremely low, and the lack of economic opportunity has led to a rise in criminal activity. In fact residents rated crime as being one of their top concerns. Trend analysis indicates that with the ageing of the baby boomers, the current college educated population is graying, and the future generation will exhibit lower levels of high school graduation and college education than the current generation. This was a big concern to participants in the workshop, since they recognized that California’s economy is built on the knowledge-based industry.

Vision for the Future

In spite of the economic situation we find ourselves in, the unmistakable feeling in the workshop was one of hope. Many of the workshop participants, despite having lost jobs in the ongoing economic crisis, see the opportunity the future offers, instead of focusing on the long chain of events that brought us to our current crisis. Particularly strong is the sentiment that if we the people of the Inland Empire remain engaged in government, and are able to articulate a better vision for sustainable growth than as a goods movement gateway or as “California’s parking lot,” that we will achieve the vision we set out for the region as a whole, turning it into the nation’s center for green technology research and development.

Green Technology Center:
The Inland Empire has the potential to be a self-sustaining economy that becomes the world leader for environmental research and technology development. Our net exports being education, environmental design and the development of the next generation of energy technology. Solar and wind energy have the potential to make us net exporters of electricity to the rest of the country. An example to emulate is New England, where the council of governors acting in concert decided to articulate the vision for educational excellence and pristine environment. Education and research of new technology will be the main export of this region, while the clean environment and high quality of life draw in knowledge workers seeking to relocate in an affordable clean environment.

Positive Branding:
The Inland Empire gains a new image in the popular consciousness that befits a community that contains one tenth of California’s population. Our region will have a distinct identity from Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Diego. The image that will filter into the popular consciousness about the Inland Empire will be of our historic buildings, snow capped mountains, forests, pristine desert parks, thriving universities, and a diverse and vibrant community that blends the contribution made to our heritage by various groups from the earliest American Indian residents to the newest waves of immigrants from all over the world. We will be known as the foremost research center for renewable energy, sustainable development practices and ecological equity in green development.

Sustainable Urban Re-Development:
We envision a future where our urban centers are rebuilt according to environmentally friendly building design standards, and infill development revitalizes the core of our cities with mixed-use transit oriented development. This will be a model that replaces the current fiscally led development of unincorporated county areas. We see sustainable development starting by identifying the downtowns of cities like San Bernardino and Riverside to make these thriving mixed-use areas. Dead malls will be gone, replaced by mixed-use developments that set the example for energy efficiency and sustainability. Redlands mall and Carousel mall in San Bernardino, both dead malls, were identified as opportunities for demonstrating leadership in urban infill re-development.
Residents of the Inland Empire will enjoy clean air and water, free of contaminant. Quality of life will become a planning goal, with our region exceeding minimum standards for air and water quality. The commitment to a pristine environment will become a part of regional planning, and the numerous natural resources like our desert parks, national forests, lakes and rivers will become part of the regional image.

Locally Developed Businesses:
The businesses that we want to locate in the Inland Empire are more sophisticated high-technology research and development companies like ESRI and Surado Solutions, which create many high paying jobs in the community. Local entrepreneurs in green technologies will create jobs and green businesses that operate out of office space in these newly revitalized urban areas. The area will not rely only on outside capital, but invest wisely in its human capital to create high-quality small businesses and jobs in the Inland Empire.

Mass Transit:
The Inland Empire has an effective mass-transit system, which combines road, freeway, rail and bus lines. The primary purpose of this transit system will be to connect our residents with opportunities for work, recreation and civic life. The vehicles we drive on our freeways will run on electricity created in our wind farms and solar arrays. The mass transit system will enable the urban residents, including low-income residents to be effectively connected with education, employment and civic opportunities. This is a necessity for eco-equity since a significant capital investment is necessary to operate a motor vehicle.

Open Government:
Government process in the Inland Empire becomes more transparent, and citizens are able to more effectively engage their elected representatives in a town hall setting. Government meetings are well attended by residents as they engage in political process, creating a forward vision for the region, and not just in a defensive posture against planned developments or spending. Citizen participation in government is sustained and enduring, with elected officials and administrators of governments and agencies placing openness of process and participation of all residents as their top priority. The goals of elected officials and that of their constituents will be kept in harmony through consensus on the future vision gained in public meetings.

Green Tech Parks:
Our enterprise zones on the former Air Force bases will become manufacturing centers for electric car engines, wind turbines, solar arrays and other materials needed for the transformation of the fossil fuel economy into a green economy. These enterprise zones will have adequate transportation links to make them accessible to all residents of the community, regardless of income level.

Research Led Economic Growth:
Local Universities and colleges, both public and private, become centers for green technology and research. There will be a strong emphasis on education and training of both workforce components and researchers who will work on the next generation of green technology in fields like sustainable building design, electric engine design, transportation network design, regenerative processes, solar panel design, wind turbine design and other related fields. The focus will become adding value on the knowledge based, research and design oriented parts of the green economy. The faculties for environmental studies, urban planning, business at our local universities and colleges will gain a reputation for being the research leaders in environmental research and planning.

Logistics and supply chain management will also be studied in our regional schools, enabling our region to gain the benefits from all aspects of the transportation industry, not simply the low-wage sector and warehousing. Businesses specializing in software production for supply chain management, database systems, GIS and other such technologies will see the Inland Empire as the location for their growth needs.

Improved Educational Quality:
Educational outcomes in the Inland Empire improve, from pre-kindergarten through higher education. Our research university, UCR becomes a specialized center for green technology research, and gains a ranking for research and development among the top universities in the University of California system, such as UCLA and UC Berkeley. Other regional degree granting institutions, public and private will rise in national rankings as the region gains a reputation for excellence in environmental research and technology. The rate of attendance at preschool programs will rise, especially in economically disadvantaged areas in the region. Schools provide all graduates with the opportunity to be competitive in the college admissions process, and also in normal civic life. Crime and juvenile delinquency rates in the community will be much lower as communities hard hit by the decades long economic crisis will regain economic parity and rise above the poverty line.

Recommended Plan of Action

Regional Government Council:
Establish a council of governments for economic development and planning in the Inland Empire. This Joint Powers Authority will include city mayors from all cities in the Inland Empire, and the boards of supervisors from Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Also present at a monthly meeting of this council for the Inland Empire will be representatives from the offices of all of California’s representatives in Washington D.C. and Sacramento. This council will be established by statute, and will pro-actively seek to regain dominance of the visioning and planning process for the future of the Inland Empire. The meetings of this body will be held at a time and place that are convenient for all citizens to attend, and it will be the primary forum in which regional civic discussion will take place.

It is understood that this undertaking will take time and effort to develop a consensus among elected officials, and author the statute laying down the responsibilities of this council. In the interim, the recommendation is to maximize the use of the two regional councils that already meet on a monthly basis, San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), and the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC). Making these two bodies the focal points for civic participation and input will allow the public to engage rapidly with the decisions that shape the region. The meetings time and place for both bodies should be reviewed to ensure that any member of the public who wishes to participate in deliberations can attend and make his or her views and thoughts known. With the region in crisis mode, all alternatives should be considered, such as night or weekend sessions to enable public participation.

Green Tech Branding:
The Inland Empire will undertake the task of re-branding itself as the world’s center for green technology and innovation. The goal is to make sure that the two words Inland Empire are synonymous with green technology and research the way Silicon Valley is synonymous with cutting edge information technology. The public relations departments of all local governments, chambers of commerce and local businesses will act in concert to promote the Inland Empire as a geographical space in which high-tech research in environmental and energy technology take place. The vision set out in a public visioning process, and the input of local residents will the promoted by a sweeping public relations campaign that seeks to tie the rebirth of the Inland Empire with the president’s economic recovery proposal. The theme of economic recovery through re-tooling of the economy and increases in efficiency will be met with an aggressive local effort that utilizes the national vision to create a local vision for a green Inland Empire.

Vertical Integration of Education:
Education resources should be vertically integrated to allow for a seamless transition from pre-kindergarten to K-12 schools and then onto higher education if such is the case. A regional education council that brings together representatives from UC Riverside, CSU San Bernardino, Crafton Hills College, Chaffey College, San Bernardino Valley College, Cal Poly Pomona, University of La Verne, Loma Linda University, University of Redlands, La Sierra University and others should be established by public officials who work to create a forum in which regional educators can co-operate on the planning necessary to implement green technology clusters in the region. The regional education council will be part of the council of governments, and will work in tandem with that body.

Green Job Corps:
A green job corps should be created in conjunction with local non-profits to be the gateway through which vocational training and re-training programs from the community colleges and ROP system link manpower with job opportunities in the green economy. The immediate opportunity is the increase in energy efficiency for buildings. These weatherization and retrofit programs will employ large numbers of green collar workers, many of whom are currently unemployed due to the collapse of the housing market. The estimated fourth of the population of San Bernardino who live below the poverty line should be the demographic that the green jobs corps aims at, revitalizing the community fabric and reducing crime as economic conditions improve for the lowest income groups.

Research Led Growth:
Environmental studies departments at area universities and colleges will be targeted for additional faculty appointments, with a focus on drawing in researchers who have a demonstrated interest and achievement in solar, wind, water conservation, energy efficiency, environmental design and other such technologies. Regional governments should provide resources to faculties in helping locate talent outside the region, or grow talent within the region for producing new ideas and designs for the next generation of green buildings, solar panels, electric car engines and other such products. Where universities have an established reputation, such as UC Riverside in engineering, efforts will be made to brand the contiguous area around that school as a local cluster for that discipline. Focus on the creation of small businesses from the research ideas developed at the research institutes within the academic sphere. Promote small business startup help and low interest loans for promising ideas coming out of these schools. Fund extra programs and initiatives like Office of Technology Transfer and commercialization at CSU San Bernardino.

Green Mass Transit:
Complete the High Speed Rail link plans both inter-regionally and intra-regionally. These projects include, but are not limited to Metro Gold Line Extension to Ontario Airport, Redlands Rail Project, Perris Metrolink Extension project, and the proposed LA-San Diego via Inland Empire link. Expand programs like the Omnitrans SBX bus route proposals to cover a wider area. Identify the future clusters of industry, such as the enterprise zones on the airports (former air bases) and university enterprise zones. Ensure that frequent bus service links these areas to all residential zones. Complete repairs on roads and bridges that have been targeted for re-haul, but are not completed due to lack of funding.

Unified Regional Development Vision:
Synchronize the re-development agencies in various jurisdictions through an umbrella body answering to the council of governments. Bring together the efforts of the re-development agencies of the various cities with those of the March JPA, IVDA, and the Southern California Logistics airport in Victorville. Ensure that the vision plan set at the regional level through the concerted visioning process for a green economy by the council of governments with significant citizen input becomes the master plan for the region. Public officials should take ownership of the visioning and planning process, not abdicate to private capital and its plans for our future. While the input of private entities should be encouraged and welcomed, the lead role should be taken by elected officials who answer to the residents of the various constituencies. Since public money and incentives are offered for re-development, the lead should remain within the oversight of the public in an agency process of elected local leaders.

Eco-Equity:
Ensure that eco-equity predominates the planning and implementation process for the re-tooling of the Inland Empire economy. In jobs, education, training, business ownership opportunities, a guiding principle should be equality of access and opportunity for all residents, regardless of geographic location, or current socio-economic status. A two-tier system should be avoided, where those at the bottom of the ladder in the current failed economy remain at the bottom of the ladder of opportunity in the new green economy.

Conclusion

The lack of a comprehensive regional plan, and the political courage to implement it, have caused our region, the Inland Empire to be one of the hardest hit areas in the nation in this economic downturn. The devastation ranges from the economy to the environment, which has been pillaged by the unsustainable policies of the past decade. We need a clean break with the past, and a new vision moving forward. With this current economic crisis also comes the opportunity to retool the economy in a new direction, and according to a new plan. To have the Inland Empire live up to its potential as a quality community that generates sustainable living for all residents, the first step is re-branding ourselves as something other than “cheap land” An appropriate motto might be more along the lines of . . . “Inland Empire, smarter and greener than you think.”

The public agency process must be revived on a regional level to lead the way forward according to a vision set by elected officials in consultation with citizens in a transparent manner. Organizing for America is ready to support this agenda for change in the Inland Empire.

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Inland Empire- Smarter and Greener | Report to Admin

By Daisy from San Bernardino, CA Feb 1st 2009 at 7:01 pm EST (Updated Feb 1st 2009 at 7:01 pm EST)

I am impressed with your proposal for the re-branding of the Inland Empire.
As a local citizen, I am aware of the social and economic disparities in the San Bernardino area. With your knowledge of governnment and the collaborated vision of concerned citizens and elected officicals, I believe we make that change.

Thank you,

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