I've been following Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa's colorful - and, I think, mostly correct - fulminations against the California state government, but I sympathize with Governor Brown's predicament: how to balance the state budget. Therefore, I would like to make a little proposal - based on an experience right here in Monrovia - to make a small cut in the state's expenses.
My proposal: Tell the Division of the State Architect to stop overseeing school construction. The DSA's task, according to its home page ( http://goo.gl/IGf4R ), is to "provide design and construction oversight for K–12 schools and community colleges throughout the State of California." But to the best I can determine, the main result of its oversight is to waste school districts' time and money.
This oversight requirement is insulting and wasteful:
- It is insulting: The point of the DSA's oversight appears to be to ensure that new construction will be in compliance with Title 24 (
http://goo.gl/q41yB ), some state energy-saving rules (
http://goo.gl/LjQd1 ). But requiring Sacramento to review schools' construction plans is like spitting in the faces of the cities' and counties' planning departments. It is saying they are either a bunch of stupid hicks who can't understand and enforce Title 24, or that they can't be trusted to enforce the law.
- It is wasteful. A few years ago a community group headed by Ed Gililland, now president of the Monrovia Board of Education, wanted to build a snack bar at Monrovia High School. This little building had to be approved by the Division of the State Architect. A snack bar! If I remember correctly, it got stuck in the state bureaucracy for years, while all the time the cost of construction was rising, while all the time the students were deprived of the use of a new snack bar.
Solution: Do away with the oversight part of the DSA and turn it over to local planning departments, where it belonged in the first place. Eliminating pointless enforcement will save the state money and will save local school districts unnecessary and expensive delays in new construction.
Just a gripe I've wanted to air for years.
- Brad Haugaard
Great suggestion... Big Gov't = Big Waste.Why can't the regular building inspector deal with title 24 and any environmental issues during the building process?
ReplyDeleteWell said, Brad. After spending quite some time watching the MUSD staff deal withthe DSA over the past few years, I can agree with your assessment. The wordthat comes to my mind about the DSA is "useless." Closing that dept., or re-configuringit to be more efficient, would save Californians a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right.
ReplyDelete