Welcome to the USA

It’s been a big week in travel. On Sunday, I once again braved US customs and made it south of the border. But I get the feeling it was touch and go. US Customs and Border Control has been written about by many. I love Bill Bryson's description of the lunacy of requiring a customs form to be filled in for an infant which asks questions such as "are you, or have you ever been a communist?" This is the same form that asks whether you plan to engage in acts of moral turpitude, which I'm always tempted to answer with a 'yes'. While it's never a fun experience, the guards are usually polite. This time though, I watched some interesting displays of lack of humour and God complex that were above and beyond the norm. Thankfully they weren't directed at me so I'll just slink off quietly without saying anything more on the matter. But I don't think they understand the irony of working under a sign that says "Welcome to the United States of America" when the paranoia exhibited is anything but welcoming. Nonetheless, I made it through and spent the first three days in the City of Angles.

LA is a strange place. Obviously it is well known to everyone as a major hub of the rich and powerful. But I do wonder exactly why anyone wants to live here? Beverley Hills is nice enough but there are plenty of lovely suburbs attached to much more attractive cities. I guess if you’re in the film or television industry, it’s the best place to be but I wonder at the fact that a place full of very talented creative-types would countenance living in such a sinfully unattractive place. Unless of course they don’t leave Beverley Hills. Ever. Because you don’t have to go far for the manicured lawns and pretty streetscapes to turn to a sprawling concrete...er.....well, sorry to all Angeleans....mess.

Even Hollywood Boulevard is underwhelming when it comes to style and charm. I began to wonder about the prestige of having a star on the walk of fame. It seemed an almost ignominious honour once I saw it in the flesh. I’m also curious about the design principles behind it. The stars (thousands of them) aren’t in alphabetical or chronological order. So a star of the 40s could be right next to a current day starlet. The placement is also odd. For example, Frank Sinatra’s star is now outside a rather dirty tattoo parlour, while Godzilla’s star is outside the doors to the very ostentatious Chinese Theatre. In some parts of the Boulevard, stars are doubled-up, while in other parts there are multiple blanks in a row. It surprised me just how many stars there are and how few of them were names I recognised. There was a star for "The Original 5th Dimension". Apart from not knowing them/it, the name suggests there was a later or false 5th Dimension. Really? Who was Ethel Merman? Elmo Lincoln? Lon Chaney? Dennis Day? Of course this is evidence that I simply do not know everything (yes, I am surprised) and given how long the film industry has been around I guess there would be lots of stars but the stars are not reserved just for the film industry. Thomas Edison has one too. And as for the names I didn’t know, I guess it goes to show how few people create a really lasting legacy. It was somewhat ironic that the most photographed names were cartoon characters - Mickey, Donald, Bugs, Woody Woodpecker all have a star of their own. One wonders why their creators weren’t credited instead (at least in small print somewhere on the plaque). Life is obviously pretty good if my most pressing worry is trying to work out the logic of the walk of fame.

On Wednesday, I picked up a hire car, tuned into the Outlaw Station and headed east out into the desert. My destination: La Quinta, California, just past Palm Springs. I was told by my friend Nancy (who I was visiting) that La Quinta is a small town, so I had a bit of a giggle when I drove in and the welcome sign declared that the population was over 41,000. Obviously small is relative.

La Quinta is part of the Coachella Valley and is in the midst of some very interesting landscapes. Desert is not far wrong as far as appearance and temperatures go but interestingly, it is a citrus and date growing area. There is a big, salty in-land lake that they desalinate. They also bring in irrigation water from the Colorado River by open channel - WTF???? I was horrified that a nation so advanced in so many ways could get something so basic so terribly, terribly wrong. Especially since the Colorado is over-drawn and basically dying from the mouth up. It’s one of the areas predicted as a high-potential flashpoint should World War Water ever break out. What are they thinking?

On the upside, between Palm Springs and La Quinta I found the largest wind farm I have ever seen. When Nancy said “you’ll drive past our windmills” I had no idea what I was in for. Turns out that the “wind farm on the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass in the San Bernadino Mountains contains more than 4000 separate windmills and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley” (www.palmsprings.com). Wow.

In my view, these two contrasting examples show the influence of profit in making infrastructure decisions and the importance of clear regulatory signals in ensuring good environmental (and thus social and economic) outcomes. See, I’m still a public policy nerd even on holidays.