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Politics and Growth in the Southwest
Rob Melnick
Morrison Institute for Public Policy
Arizona State University
First it was water. Without adequate supplies of it, thesouthwest would not have grown into the booming area it is today.Thus, the prewar southwest's political landscape was shaped bythe ability of politicians and business leaders to control thisnatural resource.
Next, it was war. World War II transformed most of today's majorurban areas in the southwest and west from agricultural andmining centers to manufacturing and distribution powerhouses.This shift had a profound effect on the region's politics.
Today, it's growth.
In 1940, the metropolitan population of the west accounted forless than 9 percent of the total U.S. population; today, itaccounts for more than 25 percent. Such rapid expansion has madegrowth the umbrella for the political issues which command themost attention from the region's politicians and politicalobservers. Urban sprawl, private property rights, spotted owls,mass transit, immigration, education funding and so many other"hot" public policy issues ultimately converge in discussions ofthe impacts of growth. As a result, growth is the most powerfulforce affecting the political dynamics of the southwestern regiontoday.
To be sure, growth has been both good and bad for the people wholive in this part of the country. While they have enjoyed themany economic benefits which accrue from fast-paced growth, rapidgrowth and suburbanization of southwestern cities have also ledto myriad problems of social and economic isolation (particularlyamong ethnic minorities); an explosion of "neighborhoodassociations"; the establishment of "urban growth boundaries";the creation of the Wise Use movement; and to what historian CarlAbbott calls "quality of life liberals". Each of these groups orcircumstances plays a role in determining who gets elected topolitical office these days and/or who gets enough money to doso.
Whether it's Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque or Denver, bothlocal and state-level politicians must now deal with the politicsof growth. Not long ago, the political equation for doing so wasrelatively simple--the business community favored public policieswhich support and stimulate growth, so politicians did so aswell. Now, it's more complicated.
For one thing, the "old guard" of the business community in thesouthwest is turning over the reins of power to members of thebaby boomer generation, which has a somewhat differentperspective on the economic and lifestyle tradeoffs associatedwith rapid growth; for another, powerful and politicallyorganized anti-growth forces--from NIMBY groups to statewideenvironmental coalitions--must now be considered a potentialfactor in defeating (but usually not electing) candidates.
A recent and widely circulated report from the bellwether stateof California put a fine point on this issue. "Beyond Sprawl: NewPatterns of Growth to Fit the New California" sent a strongmessage into many political offices in the southwestern andwestern region. Sponsored by an unusual coalition which includeda government conservation agency, a non-profit low income housingorganization, an environmental group and the Bank of America, thereport makes a case for the "crossroads of change" whichCalifornia is facing regarding its public policies on growthissues. One road--continued unbridled growth and sprawl-- itsuggests, will lead to long-term adverse impacts on the state'senvironment and its economy; but the alternative path--gettingsmarter about growth--necessitates a sea-change in the way thatpoliticians think through this complex subject.
As analyst Jeff Gersh and former Governor of Colorado RichardLamm have observed, growth has put the west and southwest "atrisk"; at risk of losing the very things that brought so manypeople to these areas in the first place--wide open spaces, clearskies and economic opportunity. And so too, politicians in thispart of the country are at risk; at risk of making a move thatwill lose favor with one side of the growth issue or the other.
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