wapo via msnbc on sprawl vs nature, and fire:
"The weapons of mass destruction have been found," a San Diego resident wrote in the letters page of Thursday's Los Angeles Times. "They are poor land-use planning, budget cuts, arsonists and one foolish hunter."
via DeLong, Matthew Yglesias Can't See The Forest For The Timber Company Profits:
I should state at the outset of my discussion that I do not give a damn about America's national forests and that if George W. Bush wants to let the timber companies cut them all down, I wouldn't be particularly upset...
LA Times, Little of Tax Hike Goes to Fight Fires:
Ten years ago, voters statewide passed a half-cent sales tax increase to provide money for county and city public safety programs. Proponents credited the measure's success, in part, to wildfires that burned hundreds of homes in Southern California the week before election day.
...when Proposition 172 was passed, a lot of people who voted for it assumed that some of the money would be going to the Fire Department and that hasn't happened."
Ten of the 28 counties that responded to informal surveys by the California State Assn. of Counties in 2001 and 2003 reported using Proposition 172 money for fire protection...Most of those reported using just a small amount for fire, such as .8% in Placer County and 5.63% in Santa Cruz.
New York Times, In California's Inferno, an Oasis of Planning Stands Out:
"With more people being born than dying, we add 400,000 to 700,000 people a year, even if no one ever moves again into California," said Timothy P. Duane, an associate professor of environmental planning and policy at the University of California, Berkeley, who has written about wildfires. "That is a Fresno to a San Francisco every year. That is a lot of people that need to go somewhere."
No comments:
Post a Comment