Water Quality Improvement Policies: Lessons Learned from the Implementation of Proposition O in Los Angeles,California |
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Authors: | Mi-Hyun Park Michael Stenstrom Stephanie Pincetl |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 16D Marston Hall, 130 Natural Resources Road, Amherst, MA 01003, USA;(2) Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 5714 Boelter Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1593, USA;(3) Institute of the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), LaKretz Hall, Suite 300, 619 Charles E. Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496, USA;(4) Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Riverside, USA |
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Abstract: | This article evaluates the implementation of Proposition O, a stormwater cleanup measure, in Los Angeles, California. The
measure was intended to create new funding to help the city comply with the Total Maximum Daily Load requirements under the
federal Clean Water Act. Funding water quality objectives through a bond measure was necessary because the city had insufficient
revenues to deploy new projects in its budget. The bond initiative required a supermajority vote (two-thirds of the voters),
hence the public had to be convinced that such funding both was necessary and would be effective. The bond act language included
project solicitation from the public, as well as multiple benefit objectives. Accordingly, nonprofit organizations mobilized
to present projects that included creating new parks, using schoolyards for flood control and groundwater recharge, and replacing
parking lots with permeable surfaces, among others. Yet few, if any, of these projects were retained for funding, as the city
itself also had a list of priorities and higher technical expertise in justifying them as delivering water quality improvements.
Our case study of the implementation of Proposition O points to the potentially different priorities for the renovation of
urban infrastructure that are held by nonprofit organizations and city agencies and the importance of structuring public processes
clearly so that there are no misimpressions about funding and implementation responsibilities that can lead to disillusionment
with government, especially under conditions of fiscal constraints. |
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Keywords: | Proposition O Clean Water Act Total Maximum Daily Load Stormwater management Water quality improvement Fiscal constraints Participation |
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