Southland Traffic Congestion and Housing Get Low Marks While Air Quality and Economy Make the Grade

SCAG's 2001 State of the Region Report Also Compares Southern California With The Rest of the Nation's Major Metropolitan Areas and Regions. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13 -- Southern California, while experiencing solid economic growth, safer streets and improved air quality, still falls short in terms of reducing traffic, meeting regional housing needs, and improving the quality of local education. This ``report card'' was included in the Southern California Association of Governments' (SCAG) 2001 ``State of the Region Report,'' to be released Thursday, December 13th by SCAG's Regional Council.

``Reducing traffic congestion remains one of Southern California's most pressing challenges, and it will only get more difficult to resolve as the region's population continues to grow,'' said Jon Mikels, SCAG President and San Bernardino County Supervisor. ``Addressing this current growth, and making sure Southern California's transportation infrastructure will be able to accommodate future growth, has long been one of SCAG's key objectives. We have made significant progress towards achieving this goal, but as the State of the Region Report points out, a great deal of work remains to be done.''

``The State of the Region provides a good indication of how Southern California is faring, where we are making progress and where more work is required,'' said Ron Loveridge, mayor of Riverside and chair of the Benchmarks Task Force that oversaw the Report's development. ``Our economy is holding up fairly well, and our air quality continues to improve. But these grades also indicate our region has a long way to go in certain areas. Southern California's political leadership at all levels needs to 'step up to the policy plate' to improve the quality of our educational system, meet ever-growing housing demand, and reduce congestion on our roads and highways.''

The SCAG State of the Region Report offered a mixed set of ``grades'' on seven key quality of life issues for the six-county (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura) Southern California region. The report card gave the region its strongest marks in the area of employment (B+), underscoring Southern California's continued economic boom and its increasing importance as one of the nation's major centers for manufacturing and trade. This year's grade, however, is slightly lower than last year (A-), due to a slowing of both the regional and national economy and an increasing concern for growing inequalities in personal income.

The region's air quality grade (B) saw noticeable improvement, up from 1999 (C) and last year (B-). For the second consecutive year, there were no full-scale smog alerts, as compared to 1980 when there were more than 100 such alerts.

At the other end of the spectrum, Southern California received its worst marks for the third consecutive year in the area of mobility (D) and education (D). An annual report by the Texas Transportation Institute rated the greater Los Angeles area as having the nation's worst traffic congestion and delays. And as in previous years, only one-third of Southern California's high school students took the necessary courses to meet entrance requirements at either the University of California or California State University systems.

The State of the Region report also graded Southern California in the following areas:

-- Income Growth (C): Despite slight increases in per capita income levels in every county except Imperial, the region's per capita income ($28,000) remains well below the national average of $28,550. -- Housing (C-): The Southern California housing market continues to be one of the nation's most expensive. With a five percent increase in the issuance of housing permits, housing construction continues to lag far behind short- and long-term regional housing needs. Additionally, an increasing jobs-housing imbalance is forcing many to either live in overcrowded housing closer to work centers or move to more affordable areas in the region's outlying areas and commute longer distances. -- Safety (B+): Following national trends, the region has experienced a lower rate of violent crime every year since 1992, as well as a steady decline in juvenile arrests.