Bad grades in quality of life

cityscape roundupThe grades are in -- and they don’t look good.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments has released its annual quality-of-life report card for the six counties making up Southern California, and this year there are more D and F grades than A’s and Bs.

“If one of our children brought home these grades, we would have a problem,” said Ronald Loveridge, the mayor of Riverside.

The annual report came on the heels of the governor’s State of the State address and tackled seven areas affecting Southern Californians’ quality of life. Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Debbie Cook helped present this year’s report, which included its first F grade.

That distinction went to the “mobility” category, thanks to what area politicians described as increasing congestion. The report found that Southern California continues to experience the worst traffic in the nation, with Orange County commuters spending more than 90 hours a year stuck in traffic. Highway fatalities continue to rise here as the national average keeps dropping, the report found. Carpool usage, on the other hand, continues to drop.

“We see this as a challenge rather than a setback,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke said. “We all know it’s a dire situation. It’s intolerable and totally unacceptable.”

The state needs to make a major investment in transportation infrastructure, Burke said, and stop raiding highway funds allocated from Proposition 42 money. County and municipal governments also need to take a larger-scale approach to building communities, the report found, and plan housing projects that can be sustained with nearby jobs.

Here is how the region did in some other areas:

Employment: B. Southern California continues to gain jobs, while its tourism and hospitality industry has almost completely recovered from the recession brought on by the 9/11 attacks. The unemployment rate continues to decline, although it still ranks slightly above the national average.

Income: C. For the first time since 2000, the region saw a substantial gain in income levels, with an average growth of about 2%. But at $31,477, the spike equals only 85% of the country’s average of 17 other metropolitan regions.

Housing: D. Southern California continues to have the highest housing cost burdens in the nation, with 45% of homeowners and 54% of renters allocating more than 30% of their monthly income on housing expenses.

Air Quality: C. Air in the area continues to fall behind federal improvements, but high pollutant days have dropped substantially from last year.

Education: D. Test scores for middle and high school students continue to lag behind the national average, except in Orange County. Only 40% of high school students in all counties have completed the required courses for the University of California and California State University systems.

Safety: B. Violent crime rates continue to drop, including a 10% fall from 2004 to 2003. Juvenile crimes however, remain stagnant, and increasing costs to house violent and nonviolent offenders continues to tap the state’s coffers.

Quiksilver moves operations inland

The Huntington Beach surfing giant has announced plans to relocate a portion of its Surf City warehouse operations to Mira Loma in hopes of taking advantage of lower rents in the Inland Empire.

Chief Executive Bob McKnight said his company will keep its 550,000-square-foot facility in Huntington Beach but will move its Quiksilver and Roxy footwear storage to Mira Loma. The company also plans to close two Vista facilities and move its DC shoes storage facility to Mira Loma.

Quiksilver has experienced record growth in the past three years, doubling to nearly $3 billion in sales for 2005. Vice President John Shipe said the recent move is necessary to accommodate the company’s rapid growth. Construction of the Mira Loma facility is expected to be completed in the summer, and Quiksilver will lease the space for the next 10 years.

City Council meetings available online

The City Clerk’s office has announced plans to begin broadcasting City Council meetings online.

Beginning Jan. 17, the public may view City Council meetings live and archived meetings dating back to Jan. 3, as well as other Channel 3 broadcasts. The programs can be accessed on the city’s website, www.surfcity-hb.org.

The new broadcast system will provide access to all, allowing those who do not subscribe to Time Warner cable to watch the meetings remotely.

The software used for the new system, called the Granicus Solution and will also allow viewers of archived meetings to jump ahead to a specific agenda item with the click of a mouse. Staff reports regarding agenda items that have been submitted to the council are accessible on the same screen via links.