War on traffic III.

WITH a budget deal in place and his popularity back in the mid-60 percent range, Arnold Schwarzenegger is on swagger overload these days--even, according to an account in the Los Angeles Times, daring to smoke one of his stogies in a non-smoking hotel suite.

And when it comes to the way state government is structured, the governor is both strident and insistent that a wholesale restructuring is on the way, much of it likely fueled by the findings of the California Performance Review, a task force he appointed to look into ways of streamlining Sacramento.

"By the time it's over," he told reporters, "there will be revolutionary kind of change and remake of government. And it will be updated, basically. That's the way it should be."

Those are blustery comments and there's no telling whether Schwarzenegger has the resolve to make government more efficient. Judging by the recent budget compromise, which extends the state's financial troubles into future years, much as Gray Davis did, the revolution seems a bit premature.

But never mind. At least the guy recognizes that the system has broken down, which is more than you can say for many of the vacant suits now in elected office. Not to belabor the obvious, but could you imagine Mayor Jim Hahn challenging the status quo? It's the current system--haphazard, chaotic and indelibly tied to special interests--that got guys like him where they are now.

Which brings me to the war on traffic--well, it's not really a war anymore, it's near-total surrender. The time-honored way of funding transportation programs--that is, having city and state officials figure out which Washington lawmaker is horse-trading what program--is not doing much to relieve the congestion that threatens to rip the lifeblood of this community.

Repeat after me: Washington just doesn't care. If you have any doubt, just consider the billions of dollars that Californians pay out in federal gasoline taxes, only to be shunted out of their fair share when it comes time to dole out highway and mass transit appropriations.

If this was the private sector and investors were being similarly rooked, there would be investigations and resignations and maybe even an indictment or two. Most of all, there would be substantive reforms to see that the misdeeds are not repeated. But in the world of government, people get rooked all the time without anyone raising a fuss.

So, we have our local officials meekly accepting whatever pennies Washington chooses to provide--and then, come election time, they cite those meager gains in seeking another term. The crazy thing is they often get reelected because voters have stopped paying attention.

Meanwhile, the congestion just gets worse. We are told to get used to it--that the area is growing too quickly for the roadways to accommodate all those additional cars and tracks.

Get used to it? But how does that jibe with Schwarzenegger's call for revolution?

Over the past two weeks, I have been writing about new ways of looking at the traffic mess--focusing primarily on the addition of toll lanes that would be privately financed and then paid for by toll fees. It's not exactly a new idea and there are many roadblocks to it working well but at least it offers an alternative to what is now a lost cause.

If only there were people in government willing to admit that the current approaches don't work and that it's time to try out new ones. The governor's swagger is a good first step, but only if it ultimately unclogs the roads. Otherwise, it's just an act, just politics.

Mark Lacter is editor of the Business Journal.