$5 Billion Proposed for Public Works

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis’ commission on public works, beginning what could become a massive undertaking, called Monday for $5 billion in spending as an initial payment toward rebuilding California’s housing, parks, water and transportation systems.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Maria Contreras-Sweet, Davis’ secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, recommended to Davis that the first phase be paid for by voter-approved bonds to be placed on ballots next year.

But noting that cost estimates of California’s needs range up to $100 billion and beyond, Bustamante said the state will need to find other ways of paying for the array of projects, including turning to private enterprise.

Bustamante and Contreras-Sweet said voters would be asked to approve a maximum of $5 billion next year. However, the report lists $6 billion worth of immediate needs: as much as $2 billion for water projects; $2 billion for parks; up to $1 billion for housing, and as much as $1 billion for transportation.

Davis appointed the commission at the start of the year, naming Contreras-Sweet and Bustamante as co-chairs. The commission includes academics, political officials, leaders of labor and business and environmentalists. Its work will continue into next year.

“This is not the way we used to do business,” Bustamante said of the commission and its long-range planning. Contending that the state has allowed its public works systems to fall into disrepair, Bustamante added: “We’re going to try to make it as comprehensive as we can, after 30 years of neglect.”

But even as Bustamante and Contreras-Sweet delivered the report to Davis, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) said the transportation recommendations were “woefully inadequate.”

“If you build houses and people can’t get from the houses to work . . . it’s not too helpful,” Burton said. “If you have parks and people can’t find the transportation to get there . . . it doesn’t make any sense.”

Burton wants the Legislature to place a huge transportation bond on the ballot next year. He initially proposed a $16-billion measure, spread over four general elections, but has since pared it back to $8 billion.

At either figure, there would still be needs. The cost of rebuilding the transportation system to accommodate California in the next century has been estimated at $42.8 billion to $122 billion.

“We’ll send him some cookies later. We’ll fix it,” Bustamante said, referring to Burton’s concern that the commission failed to consider transportation needs. The $500 million to $1 billion requested by the commission for transportation improvements focuses primarily on passenger rail and ferries.

Contreras-Sweet said she is unsure that voters would approve a bond for highways. Motorists already pay for roads through the tax on gasoline, she noted.

“I have to learn more about whether or not the public is ready to fund through a bond their highways,” Contreras-Sweet said. “They are already using their gas taxes. We need to understand if they are ready to accept a bond on top of that.”

In the housing component, the task force recommended that bonds of between $750 million and $1 billion be placed on next year’s ballot.

Some of the money would be used to provide home loans for teachers, police officers and firefighters, who are priced out of many markets. The subsidies would allow them to afford homes in more expensive communities where they work. The bond also would subsidize housing for migrant workers, homeless people, and the lower-income elderly.

The commission also called for as much as $2 billion to clean up water pollution and improve water delivery from Northern California to drier parts of the state in the south. Up to $2 billion more would go for parks and purchases of open space.

“It’s the start,” said Michael Paparian of the Sierra Club, a commission member. “There’s a recognition that parks and open space are part of the state’s infrastructure. We think that’s a very good thing.”

The committee cited a variety of other needs, including wiring for school computers and retrofitting hospitals so they meet earthquake standards. The cost of rebuilding hospitals could be as high as $10 billion, according to the commission. But the committee deferred its recommendation on hospitals and computers until it gathers more data.