Dean Florez for California Lt. Governor 2010: Future Driven Infrastructure

“You can’t stand for your convictions if you always stand with the crowd.”
-Dean Florez

No Barriers

Physical space constraints limiting capacity in our schools and workplaces can be overcome in the new technology-driven century. Dean will push policy makers in the deployment of next generation broadband communication, making it available to all Californians through the tools of local general plan inclusion so that broadband penetration is as universal as telephone service.

Connecting Californians

The cost of intra-state travel is a barrier for those who want to see the wonders of this great state. The promise of an integrated high-speed rail system must be realized if California is to remain a global economic leader. Dean will ensure that all segments of California’s high-speed train system are built, including feeder lines so that every Californian has affordable and equal access to a mass transit solution long overdue.

Solar Parks

California needs a new energy delivery infrastructure that takes into account that renewable energy will be produced in some of the farthest corners of our state. Dean supports carefully planned efforts to build solar power plants in the Mojave Desert and upon rooftops throughout the state which can supply clean power to our electricity grid.

TV to Internet

The importance and influence of computer technology and the Internet in the next decade will dwarf that of television. Our information infrastructure, which provides open access to enormous amounts of data centers of knowledge, will be the backbone of our future economy. Dean will spearhead an effort to get policy makers to pay attention to how Internet use may affect all forms of media and the ways in which people use each for information and entertainment. Dean believes the Economic Development Council the Lt. Governor oversees should focus on the issues of intellectual property, downloading and peer-to-peer networks, looking at the ways in which they are used, the frequency of use, the effectiveness of measures to protect IP privacy and the effects upon our economy.

Water 2100

Without a reliable and proven water delivery system, California will wither. Global warming and population growth demand that our water supply system is well managed. Dean believes we need to continuously upgrade our water delivery system while we plan for necessary water projects. With the population expected to reach 92 million Californians by 2100, Dean recognizes we cannot continue to live on a system built in the 1960's for a population of 15 million people. Dean will fight for changing reservoir and groundwater operations, water allocations (including water markets), and water-use efficiency until necessary water surface and underground storage projects become operational.

Early in his legislative career, Dean negotiated and helped pass a $7 billion transportation financial package, (AB 2829; 2000) one of the state's largest investments in transportation funding. The package included over $1 billion for local streets and roads and millions in public transportation projects.

Dean also supported new funding for highway safety, traffic reduction and port security through an innovative goods-movement legislative package and reforms (SB 1266; 2006). Over $19 billion dollars were invested in a variety of projects, including highway and rail construction, buses, local transportation projects and upgrades to California's ports.

Dean was first to create a process where low- and moderate-income housing units received priority water and sewer service (SB 1087, 2005) as a means to improve our communities, encourage infill-housing and better California's housing stock.

California's infrastructure needs are often times unmet as a result of environmental degradation of the soil and natural resources at the site of proposed projects. Dean supported legislation to spend over $60 million dollars to recycle underutilized industrial property by implementing a promising brownfield clean-up program throughout California. (SB 86, 2007)