Bankruptcy in California The Tale of Three Cities: Vallejo, Stockton and San Bernardino Robert Benedetti Center for California Studies, CSU Sacramento and University of the Pacific, Stockton
Bankruptcy in CaliforniaThe Tale of Three Cities: Vallejo,
Stockton and San Bernardino
Robert BenedettiCenter for California Studies, CSU
Sacramento and University of the Pacific, Stockton
Theories from Scholars
• Harvey: Neo-liberal urban policies• Baldassare: State fiscal austerity• Baldassare: Local political fragmentation• Baldassare: Local voter distrust• Erie, et al.: Local political culture• Erie, et al.: Local political leadership• Erie, et al.: Local political structures• Ostrom: Tragedy of the commons
Neo-Liberalism and Cities
• Gentrifications and return to center cities• Information technology, partnerships and
innovation centers in center cities• Growth of rapid transit and communication
networks beyond suburbs, poor on the road• Large developments, environmental
regulations and cities hunger for tax revenue
States withdrawal from cities
• Federal withdrawal is model; programs, military bases.
• Local home rule without resources in the name of equity; fluctuating distribution formulas.
• State fiscal problems force withdrawal of local resources (license fees, redevelopment agencies)
• State centralization of pension funds (CALPERS)
What Can Be Done?
• Traditional Remedies: sales tax, cut services, lease property, continue negotiating, new leadership
• Volunteerism, expanded citizen participation• Return to quest of vision of the city• Expand interest groups beyond developers and unions• Attract the arts, expand educational and research centers• Stimulate innovation centers, regional partnerships• Reform State policies regarding regional urban development
including affordable housing, business location, local tax base, public safety, training for local officials, pension reform, urban observatories, and more.
Bibliography• Mark Baldassare, When Government Fails: The Orange County
Bankruptcy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998• • Steven Erie, Vladimir Kogan, and Scott A. Mackenzie, Paradise
Plundered: Fiscal Crisis and Governmental Failures in San Diego (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011
• • David Harvey, Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban
Revolution, London and New York, Verso, 2012• • Elinor Ostrom, "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance
of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review 100:3:641-72 (2010)