REPORT: 6-COUNTY REGION IS STAGNANT.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Los Angeles area freeways remain deplorable, its schools abominable and homes unaffordable for most residents, according to a year-end report card on the region released today.

On the bright side, Southern California scored higher grades in air quality, job growth and public safety.

The Southern California Association of Governments' State of the Region report, while optimistic about the economy, gave low marks in key areas important to long-term prosperity.

``The region needs to pay attention to transportation, education and state and local governments need to do a better job of encouraging housing development, particularly home ownership,'' said Los Angeles Planning Commissioner Mitchell B. Menzer, who contributed to the 130-page report.

``The real test, when it comes to producing housing, is whether the middle class can afford housing. When I was a kid, most could afford houses in the San Fernando Valley. But now it's different.''

The SCAG report - encompassing Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties - said the region showed stagnant progress in six of seven categories over the past three years.

Transportation ranked last among 68 metropolitan areas in a recent study, rating a D for ``notice of potential failure.''

Schools, which prepare only one-third of high school students for admission into California State University or University of California campuses, got a D.

Housing, with homes out of financial reach of one-third of most Southern California residents, ranked a C-minus.

``Southern California is presently in the midst of a housing crisis which, if not addressed quickly, could threaten our future economic prosperity and impede social progress,'' Menzer stated in the report.

While employment, with 3 percent job growth over 1999, scored a B-plus, it ranked less than last year (A-minus) because of the local and national economic downturn and concern about the widening rift between the rich and the poor.

Public safety, with a violent crime rate cut in half over the past decade with a steady decline in juvenile arrests, rated a B-plus, the same as last year.

Only the region's once infamous air quality - with more than 100 smog alerts annually before 1980 and none for several years - showed marked improvement, with grades of C to B-minus to B since 1998.

But while the legion of city leaders and regional experts who participated in this year's SCAG study are optimistic about the state of the region as a whole, there is growing concern that poor schools, highways and a lack of affordable housing could someday cripple growth.

A long-term decline in manufacturing might also hobble the region's young people.

``Not everyone is destined to become a computer programmer or a rocket scientist,'' state Librarian Kevin Starr wrote in his preface to the report. ``A society that is failing to foster the manufacturing sector is endangering whole portions of the population, most of them in their younger years.''

But not being able to buy a home within reasonable driving distance from work has become especially worrisome to area planners.

While 67 percent of the nation's households own their homes, only one-third of those in Southern California do. Orange County proved the least affordable, with 27 percent, followed by Ventura County, 32 percent; Los Angeles County, 37 percent; and Riverside and San Bernardino counties at 48 percent.

This week, more than 120 area city leaders attended a summit to discuss overcrowded living conditions, mind-numbing Southland commutes and an increasing jobs-to-homes imbalance.

To keep up with millions of expected new residents, the region needs to double its rate of housing permits, experts say. But even with permits in hand, there's little room for new homes.

``We are built out,'' said Torrance Mayor Dee Hardison, head of a SCAG housing and development committee. ``So we have to get creative with in-fill projects.''

That could mean more apartments, to the detriment of single-family homes, experts say. That might mean zoning changes, to the detriment of future parks and open space. That may mean tearing down old neighborhoods for new ones.

``On one side, environmentalists demand land be set aside for open space; on the other, a state demand for more affordable housing,'' said Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Bill Alexander, a SCAG member. ``It's a never-ending circus.''

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STATE OF THE REGION: STAGNANT