A sweeping new poll finds that Southern Californians overwhelmingly want housing and infrastructure built faster and cheaper, but don’t trust their elected officials to get it done.
The poll — conducted by the British company Thinks Insight & Strategy — surveyed 5,000 California residents and proves that officials in office in the Golden State aren’t trusted to make things more affordable or improve roadways, Politico reported.
The results — which were shared exclusively with the outlet — found that 85% of those surveyed feel that their lives would be better served if officials could improve the insane cost of living in the state, energy problems, and build a working high speed rail, per the report.
However, 75% said the reason it takes so long to fix anything is because of special interest lobbying and poor government management that accompany these issues, per the report.
Another 31% felt the reason infrastructure in the state was such a mess was due to the insanely strict environmental rules and regulations.
“Voters overwhelmingly support infrastructure,” Jon Switalski, executive director of Rebuild SoCal Partnership — who commissioned the poll — told the outlet.
“But there is a hesitation around relaxing environmental review because in the absence of everything else voters do not trust that what comes next will be better.”
Focus groups accompanied with the poll found similar results, with many being frustrated with the amount of time it takes for things in the state to get built, how much money it costs, and suggesting that money was just being pocketed by what they described as “key actors.”
In particular, the issue of the Golden State’s high-speed rail boondoggle came up, with those in the groups expressing agitation over the project that once promised to connect LA to San Francisco by 2020, and is now barely just beginning with a small portion of the track in the Central Valley to be supposedly completed by 2030.
“It was supposed to be $20 billion. It’s now going to be $130 billion,” one participant in the focus said. “Like, how do you screw up 6 times?”
The poll found that by more than a 2-1 margin, voters were also opposed to removing environmental regulations like the California Environmental Quality Act for urban homebuilding (CEQA), even if it meant that doing so would speed things up.
“The tension that comes through in this study is that it’s difficult in a low-trust or no-trust environment to move fast to just strip away regulations,” Switalski said.
“The general public is thirsty for improvements in infrastructure because they see the direct impacts on their lives. But it takes a better process.”
Residents in Los Angeles county and several surrounding areas participated in the poll conducted between February and March. It was done through the phone and online, in both English and Spanish.
The Post reached out to the group who commissioned the poll for further comment.
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