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The Economist on December 16, 2006 noted that the San Joaquin Valley has about the same percentage of residents in poverty as the Central Appalachian Region, a region long synonymous with poverty. However, a higher proportion of San Joaquin Valley households are receiving public assistance, even though the San Joaquin Valley has far more immigrants not eligible for welfare. Fresno has the most concentrated poverty in the US, defined by the share of people living in areas where more than 40 percent of the population is also poor.

The 26-member California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, created June 24, 2005, will work through 2008 to diversify the San Joaquin Valley economy beyond agriculture. According to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, "the San Joaquin Valley already is the number-one agricultural area in the world, but we can diversify the economy and make it even stronger." The San Joaquin Valley has a per capita income 32 percent lower than the statewide average, college attendance rates half the statewide average and violent crime 24 percent higher than the statewide average.

Victor Lopez, who has been mayor of Orange Cove http://www.cityoforangecove.com) for two decades, soundly defeated two opponents in November 2006 elections. Orange Cove is a city of 10,000 with 1,700 registered voters, and 851 voters cast ballots. Most residents are seasonal farm workers who harvest navel oranges. [California had a record 91 million 40-pound carton crop in 2005; the 2006 crop is expected to be only 66 million cartons].

About 40 percent of Orange Cove residents are poor, and Lopez is credited with bringing $63 million in federal and state grants to the city, which has a budget of $16 million a year. In 2002, HUD designated Orange Cove a renewal community, which provides tax breaks for businesses operating in the city. Critics say Lopez put many members of his family on the city's payroll. Orange Cove has 40 gang members, and in September 2006 they were prohibited from associating in public.

Air. The 25,000-square-mile San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has some of the most polluted air in the US--Los Angeles had 86 violations of the smog standard in 2006, and the San Joaquin Valley had 85. San Joaquin Valley air is supposed to meet federal standards by 2013. In December 2006 officials proposed an "air quality empowerment zone" that would give businesses tax breaks if they replaced polluting vehicles. The plan, which would have to be approved by state and federal authorities, is opposed by some environmentalists who say it would simply give tax breaks for obeying environmental laws that will require new vehicles in any event.

The federal government approved empowerment zones in 1993 to promote employment with, for instance, tax breaks of $3,000 for each worker hired. A Government Accountability Office study (GAO-06-734SP) said that it could not determine if empowerment zone status was responsible for observed reductions in poverty and unemployment.

In June 2006, Kern county voters approved Measure E to prohibit Los Angeles from dumping 250,000 tons of sewage sludge a year on the 4,200-acre Green Acres Farm it owns in the county. Los Angeles sued, and in November 2006 a federal judge enjoined Kern county from enforcing the ordinance as scheduled.

Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth founded a town for Blacks in 1908 in Tulare County that has been preserved as a State Historic Park. A Basque immigrant wants to build a 12,000 cow, 60-employee dairy adjacent to the park, prompting protests from Blacks.

Housing. Tejon Ranch Co (TRC) owns 270,000 acres in southern Kern county, and wants to develop 23,000 homes in the so-called Centennial development. TRC has offered to set aside 100,000 acres as an environmental preserve, but environmental groups want more preserve and fewer houses. TRC already opened the Tejon Industrial Complex, and is planning Tejon Mountain Village with 3,450 estate homes.

Migrant workers living in McGonigle Canyon, adjacent to an upscale neighborhood in Rancho Penasquitos, have been targeted by advocates providing services, police and health officials, and anti-migrant groups. In November 2006, some 180 men camped in the canyon were ordered to leave, but some reports said that migrants soon returned after their makeshift camp was destroyed.

The state regulates employee housing. SB 1802, signed into law in September 2006, allows growers to increase the number of beds allowed in group quarters from 12 to 36. California Health and Safety Code Section 17021.6 says: "Any employee housing providing accommodations for 12 or fewer employees shall be deemed an agricultural land use designation for the purposes of this section. No conditional use permit, zoning variance, or other zoning clearance shall be required of employee housing that serves 12 or fewer employees that is not required of any other agricultural activity in the same zone."
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgibin/calawquery?codesection=hsc&codebody=&hits=20)

AB 2763 would have allowed "relocatable housing" to be placed on farms to house seasonal workers; it did not win approval in the Assembly in 2006. According to advocates for AB2764, California first established standards for private labor camps in 1915. In 1955, growers registered more than 9,000 labor camps, but the number fell below 5,000 in 1969, and to 800 in 2006.

Voters. There were 142 million registered voters in November 2006, including 9.3 million Hispanics. According to exit polls, US voters in November 2006 were 80 percent white, 10 percent Black, and seven percent Hispanic, about the same as in 2002 elections. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/20061108_ELECTION_PORTRAIT_HOUSE.html). About 70 percent of Hispanics voted Democratic and 30 percent Republican in November 2006. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that Hispanics accounted for 40 percent of the increase in US population between 2000 and 2004, but, because of their comparative youth, low income, and often unauthorized status, only 10 percent of the additional voters.

According to exit polls, 69 percent of Hispanic voters, and 62 percent of all voters, said immigration was very important to their vote in November 2006.

California's voters were 75 percent white, 12 percent Latino, six percent Black, and three percent Asian, according to Los Angeles Times exit polls; the Asian share of the vote was down from six percent in 2002. California voters were asked if illegal migrants employed in the US should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, and 63 percent said yes, while 29 percent said no. The We Are America Alliance, which organized marches for immigrant rights in Spring 2006, raised a third of the $1.6 million it planned to spend on voter mobilization.

"Immigrants in the San Joaquin Valley," The Economist, December 16, 2006. Garance Burke, "Central Valley mayoral election hinges on the right to dance," AP, November 1, 2006.