SACRAMENTO — If swimmers in Santa Monica Bay bump into trash or bacteria this summer, one culprit will be California's budget impasse.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of voter-approved projects have been halted because of the state's financial problems. That includes $12 million that the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission was counting on to prevent dirty storm water and filthy runoff from draining into the bay.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, January 24, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Environmental projects: An article in Wednesday's California section about state environmental projects in jeopardy gave the wrong first name for the district manager of the Resource Conservation District in Ventura County. His name is Marty Melvin, not Mark Melvin.
"People expect to be able to enjoy the beach and not come home sick," said state Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), chairwoman of the state Senate Water and Natural Resources Committee.
The money freeze has immobilized construction of new biking trails along the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino and Orange counties. It has stopped plans to tear down the Matilija Dam in Ventura County and restore the sediment-filled Matilija reservoir. It has impeded efforts to boost the populations of salmon and steelhead trout off the coast of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The halting of such projects is one of the most concrete results of California's cash crunch.
Last month the state's top financial officials froze all state projects that rely on borrowed money. The funds for the environmental projects come mostly from four bond measures approved by voters since 2000.
In all, more than 750 environmental projects in Los Angeles County and the four surrounding counties have had their funding, totaling $420 million, stopped, according to an analysis of state records. Environmental projects dominate the list, which also includes the construction and improvement of recreation and performing arts centers, museums and tennis courts.
"The will of the people has been completely ignored," said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, a nonprofit devoted to Southern California's coastal waters that has had its funding frozen. "Overwhelmingly, these bond measures got approved . . . by the people of the state of California."
In most cases, the freeze has meant postponing plans for new roads, dams and schools. But many of the environmental projects are ongoing efforts being done through nonprofits charged with conserving parks, wildlife, water and mountain areas of the state.
Mike Chrisman, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's secretary for Natural Resources, said most of these projects are not going to be done until the state's financial problems are resolved.
