Commentary: Can Garcetti Calm the Owens Valley Waters?
From the Los Angeles Times:
“After a campaign of smart politics but small ideas, Eric Garcetti is poised to take the office that he won last month. As he does, here’s an item worthy of his agenda: Make peace with the Owens Valley.Residents of the Owens Valley rely heavily on Los Angeles; some even live in houses that they lease from the city’s Department of Water and Power, by far the largest landowner in the picturesque towns of the Eastern Sierra. And yet, many residents are understandably resentful of Los Angeles. They can’t vote in the city’s elections, and they hold little sway with the agencies that have, for 100 years, siphoned off the water from the Owens River and carried it away. In many ways, the Owens Valley today is a colony of Los Angeles.”