Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee in Redding, CA

The State of the State, of sorts!


Last week about 80 of us gathered to hear one of the most enlightening speakers in California, Dan Walters. Dan has been a journalist for more than 40 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. At one point in his career, at age 22, he was the nation's youngest daily newspaper editor.Dan joined The Sacramento Union's Capitol bureau in 1975, just as Jerry Brown began his governorship, and later became the Union's Capitol bureau chief. In 1981, Mr. Walters began writing the state's only daily newspaper column devoted to California political, economic and social events and in 1984, he and the column moved to The Sacramento Bee. He has written more than 6,000 columns about California and its politics and his column now appears in more than 50 California newspapers. He has written about California and its politics for a number of other publications, including The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. In 1986, his book, "The New California: Facing the 21st Century," was published in its first edition. He is the founding editor of the "California Political Almanac," the co-author of a book on lobbying entitled "The Third House: Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento," and is a frequent guest on national television news shows.

He came to Redding to give our group, Shasta Voices, his views on where California has been over the past 40 years, and where we are now headed economically, socially, and culturally. A most interesting time, as he gave us a “walk through time” from the 1960’s through today. In case we have forgotten what California, and Redding, was like “back then”, here are some of his points.

Traditionally, California was primarily an agricultural and manufacturing state. Santa Clara County was a leading producer of various crops, located right in the middle of what is now Silicon Valley. Fishing played a big part in the state economy from Eureka to Santa Barbara and Ventura County. Logging was a big part of the north state and the Sierra’s, including Redding. Large auto manufacturing areas, like Ford in Fremont and GM in Southern California employed thousands, and the Oakland Shipyard was one of the largest in the nation. Fontana had the largest steel plant on the west coast, and airplanes were built from San Diego to the Bay area. After Korea and Vietnam, the nature of the California economy started to change. Oil fields closed, tire plants in the Central Valley relocated out of state, and chemical plants shut their doors due to environmental concerns. California had some tough years in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

To fill this economic void, and address the changing nature of the state, cities and counties, and the State, reacted by encouraging a “new economy’, and companies like Hewlett Packard, Intel, and Apple Computer emerged, joined by a whole new kind of “industry” called Healthcare. Almost overnight, where there were factories and orchards, we saw housing developments, with all of the trades and services involved with this industry, along with a new group of employees called immigrants. They came from all over to the land of opportunities, bringing with them their culture and traditions, and California started absorbing these folks at a record pace. Jobs were created and the economy was rapidly changing. Overnight, biotech and hi-tech companies sprang up, like Gentech in Vacaville and Google and Yahoo in Mountain View. What had been referred to as “Kansas on the West Coast” was quickly becoming the largest “melting pot in the world”, with population groups like Russians moving to Sacramento and Vietnamese to Orange County. This changing culture caused California to change its education strategy, for languages almost unheard of 10 years before were now being taught in the schools. Change would be, and is, the future of California. like it or not.

Today, California needs to create 250,000 jobs a year, just to keep pace with the growth. Every aspect of our lives, from water to transportation, to land use to healthcare is now an “issue” for the State. How the State deals with change, such as the graying of the baby boomers”, will affect each of us. Every service we receive, from good highways to good healthcare will be a ballot item, and each of us must realize that now, as in the 1800’s, California is still the “destination of choice” for many. The Gold Rush is still with us. Are we ready, is the question. Stay tuned.

Ron Largent
July 20, 2008