Bankruptcy in CaliforniaThe Tale of Three Cities: Vallejo,

Stockton and San Bernardino

Robert BenedettiCenter for California Studies, CSU

Sacramento and University of the Pacific, Stockton

Vallejo and Stockton as Satellites of San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento

San Bernardino as Satellite of Los Angeles and San Diego

Demographics

Theories from Scholars

• Harvey: Neo-liberal urban policies• Baldassare: State fiscal austerity• Baldassare: Local political fragmentation• Baldassare: Local voter distrust• Erie, et al.: Local political culture• Erie, et al.: Local political leadership• Erie, et al.: Local political structures• Ostrom: Tragedy of the commons

Neo-Liberalism and Cities

• Gentrifications and return to center cities• Information technology, partnerships and

innovation centers in center cities• Growth of rapid transit and communication

networks beyond suburbs, poor on the road• Large developments, environmental

regulations and cities hunger for tax revenue

States withdrawal from cities

• Federal withdrawal is model; programs, military bases.

• Local home rule without resources in the name of equity; fluctuating distribution formulas.

• State fiscal problems force withdrawal of local resources (license fees, redevelopment agencies)

• State centralization of pension funds (CALPERS)

Local Responses

What Can Be Done?

• Traditional Remedies: sales tax, cut services, lease property, continue negotiating, new leadership

• Volunteerism, expanded citizen participation• Return to quest of vision of the city• Expand interest groups beyond developers and unions• Attract the arts, expand educational and research centers• Stimulate innovation centers, regional partnerships• Reform State policies regarding regional urban development

including affordable housing, business location, local tax base, public safety, training for local officials, pension reform, urban observatories, and more.

Bibliography• Mark Baldassare, When Government Fails: The Orange County

Bankruptcy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998• • Steven Erie, Vladimir Kogan, and Scott A. Mackenzie, Paradise

Plundered: Fiscal Crisis and Governmental Failures in San Diego (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011

• • David Harvey, Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban

Revolution, London and New York, Verso, 2012• • Elinor Ostrom, "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance

of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review 100:3:641-72 (2010)