Industrialization in the LA Basin
Copyright Jack Mixner. 714 449 104. www.mixnerstrategy.com
It's an interesting time to suggest "standing up to the environmental interests" (Kotkin, A13) what with global warming and restricted water supplies in the LA Basin, but Kotkin suggests just that. He also suggests re-directing masses of graduating high school students not to college but to skills training and blue collar jobs that pay pretty well.
His example? The San Pedro/Long Beach harbor. If we don't cut the harbor some slack environmentally, and train more workers for jobs in the harbor, there could be ramifications. The most interesting possibility? Moving the harbor to Baja where there are lots of people looking for jobs, and minimal environmental concerns.
Sounds far-fetched until you think about it. Wouldn't take that much to build a new harbor in Mexico. Then all they'd need are rail connections going all the way across the northern part of Mexico capable of tapping connections up to Chicago, the mid-west, and the east. All because we didn't take the time to train enough trades workers and figure out a way to resolve the environmental issues.
Every time I hear about the Baja plan, I smile and think it'll never happen. Some Southern California possibility thinking and problem solving might be in order before we actually do lose a very useful - and job generating - asset.
Reference
Kotkin, Joel. The Myth of Deindustrialization. Wall Street Journal. 6 August 2007. A13.