Who Pays The Cost Of Living In Paradise?

"Another natural disaster, another lesson. But not the predictable lesson...People are too drawn to the beauty and the lifestyles. There's too much money to be made by developers. And too many campaign dollars to be paid politicians who make decisions on land use..."

"The more people we cram into California - not just beneath the pines and along the waterfronts, but into the comfy suburbs and struggling inner cities - the more it's going to cost each of us. Cost us not only to retain some semblance of the California lifestyle, but often to survive. There's a premium to be paid for living here, and it keeps rising."

"Who pays? Not just the neighborhood. All Californians do. And so do the feds."

"Never mind natural disasters. Just packing people into densely populated areas causes problems."

"Just getting people into crowded cities for work requires increasingly more tax dollars to build longer, wider freeways - or improving rapid transit. Either way, it's public money."