Political columnist Dan Walters opines on the failure of northern Santa Barbara County to break away and form Mission County. Walters suggests that counties may no longer be relevant and suggests replacing them with regional entities.
California became a state in 1850 and was divided into 27 counties, which divided further into 58 counties by 1907.
"Ironically enough, were those 27 original counties to have survived intact, they would have roughly comprised what many 21st-century civic reformers believe California needs: more regionalism."
"Overwhelmingly, by a 4-1 margin, the county's voters (on June 8) rejected a proposal to create a new county, dubbed Mission County, out of Santa Barbara's northern half. The northerners -- residents of Santa Maria, Lompoc, etc. -- had been chafing about political dominance by the whiter, wealthier and more liberal southern portion of the county (Santa Barbara, Montecito, etc."
"The more rational approach to the Santa Barbara dilemma and similar situations throughout the state would be to rethink the whole notion of county government in a California that is approaching 40 million residents.
Counties should either disappear altogether or evolve into multipurpose regional entities to make them more relevant to 21st-century economic and social realities. If they were to survive as regional governments, their boundaries should be realigned and their governing structures -- now five-member boards of supervisors with a few independently elected department heads -- should be modernized as well. It's simply ludicrous that the 10 million-plus residents of Los Angeles County are governed by just five supervisors."
Thanks to The Roundup
FULL STORY: Dan Walters: Mission County rejected, but need for county reform remains
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