I'm cruising south from Riverside on the 215 Freeway, past dozens of new-home billboards and fields of dusty boulders, straight into the heart of California's future.
"Visit Our New Neighborhood," says an ad for Meritage Homes, and there are others for The Lakes, Thornbury, Waterford, Canterwood and so on and so forth.
If you believe the state Department of Finance, Riverside County will be California's second most populous county after Los Angeles County by midcentury. But a new report says a slump in the Inland Empire real estate market is contributing to a 36% drop in Southern California home sales.
So what should we believe? Is the party over in the Inland Empire, or has it only just begun?
I didn't know if I could answer that, but I decided to try.
Last week I called Ron Goldman, Riverside County's planning director, who told me he needs 10 new employees to process 5,000 development applications, even though there's been a downturn of late in actual construction. As he sees it, the rate of growth may slow a bit. But it's still coming.
And what will planners in the already congested area do about highways, traffic, air quality, jobs and water?
"We're certainly looking at all those issues," Goldman said.
But are they looking hard enough, I wonder, as I pull off the 215 at Newport Road in Menifee. Grading equipment and new rooftops are visible as far as I can see. At the first intersection I come to, I'd need six hands to scribble the names of all the new developments listed on a sign, with arrows pointing every which way.
I drive past several of them before entering a "master-planned community" called The Lakes, with nearly 1,000 homes built or under construction. Near the sales office I see workers landscaping the shores of one of three man-made lakes.
"Where's the water come from?" I ask two laborers, wondering if "The Dunes" would have been a smarter concept than "The Lakes," given the state's water shortage.
They say they have no idea and refer me to the sales office, where no one can answer the question. But I pick up a brochure that says, "Lake Newport, Stillwater Lake and Southshore Lake are stocked with enough fish to delight any catch-and-release angler."
Who will have time for fishing, I wonder, in a development that will include a Community Bay Club, Sports Park, Splash Pad, Water Slide, Junior Olympic Pool, Lap Pool, Biking Trails, Paseos and Gated Entrances?
