Environmentalists trying to hijack funds meant for freeways.

THE cuckoos are coming! The cuckoos are coming!

They are on their way to hijack billions of dollars intended for California roads and infrastructure that voters approved just a few weeks ago. And their biggest target is where the problem is the worse: Los Angeles.

The cuckoo bird is known, of course, as nature's premier con man. It lays an egg among several others in the nest of another bird. The cuckoo hatches first, and with its first breathe mimics the call of those that built the nest. Then it destroys the other eggs, growing up with parents who never figure out why their recently hatched young one is often six times bigger than they are.

Much like the cuckoos, officials at some of California's more notorious environmental groups are trying to use bait and switch tactics to get their hands on the new $42 billion nest egg.

Cuckoos at the Sierra Club, the Planning and Conservation League and other so-called environmental groups did not support most of the recent initiatives. They opted to wait until the bond measures passed and then "make sure as much money as possible goes to transit and congestion relief rather than new road construction," said Capitol Weekly magazine, summing up the attitude of Sierra Club legislative director Bill Allayaud.

Translated, that means no money for where it is needed the most, new roads and better water systems. To the Sierra Club and their ilk, new roads are not the solution. They are the problem.

That is why they fought so hard against the 710 extension, the construction of 118 from Oxnard to San Fernando, and every other major road in Southern California.

Just a few years ago, Gov. Gray Davis said "California's era of freeway construction is over." Instead, voters decided Davis tenure should be over instead. And freeway construction in Los Angeles should begin again.

Diverting money

That, however, is not stopping environmental groups from trying to divert money for new roads to bike paths and bus stops and wetlands. They want us to believe this environmental pork barrel is really "infrastructure" or something they call "Smart Growth." When it is nothing of the kind. A classic cuckoo maneuver.

We've seen this game before all over California. Major road and water infrastructure projects were delayed and became far more expensive because of the bogus extras that environmentalists added to them.

Voters know our roads are over crowded and under funded to an almost criminal degree. We see it every day to and from work. We hardly need to read the studies that confirm Los Angeles has the worst traffic congestion in the country.

They also see our water and sewer infrastructure crumbling every day on local news shows that feature video with the most recent sewage spill or sinkhole collapse.

Today, more and more people know why: It's the cuckoos.

That is why Los Angeles voters supported the recent infrastructure initiatives by such a strong majority--as much as 76 percent in favor. The initiatives said nothing about wet lands and bike trails and bus stops.

Now it is time to spend the money, and the cuckoos are flocking.

The cuckoos could have proposed their own initiative. If their agenda is so important, they could simply ask the voters of California for the money. Just like the governor.

But they did not because cuckoos are users, not builders. Neither are they dumb. They know no one would believe that stopping new roads will really improve traffic. Which is what they say.

Or that delaying and diverting money to protect levees will make California waterways more secure. Or that buses and light rail or bikeways will ever remove even a fraction of traffic from the highways of Los Angeles. Because they won't.

So instead, the cuckoos wait until no one is watching. They invade our nest, lay their egg, and imitate the calls of people who are desperate for better roads. All the while planning to replace what we need with what they want.

Beware the cuckoo!

Michael Pattinson is the president and chief executive of Barratt American, a Carlsbad-based homebuilder. He also is the former president of the California Building Industry Association.