By MICHAEL LEVINE
The optimistic, golden glow appeal that used to symbolize California has been replaced by an unfurrowed, Botoxed brow and perma-tan of an aging governor overseeing a crumbling, bankrupt infrastructure. California is the eighth largest economy in the world and a high-profile disaster. Our state cannot pay its workers and now issues IOUs, leaving many of our most dedicated employees strapped and powerless to do anything about it. The design of our legislative system prevents timely action to promote meaningful change, and many people think “Ahhh-nold” has turned into “Arghhhh-nold.”
I, for one, am appalled and ashamed by our current horrendous financial troubles. As a longtime media expert whose home and business have been located in Los Angeles since 1977, I’m not hopeful about the message this changing image of California will send to the nation and the world over the next few years.
California used to be known for its outstanding public education system. People from all over the country flocked to this state in the ’70s because they knew their children would receive a first-rate public education. State residency practically assured students entrance into any one of our many prestigious state universities. Today, California not only has one of the worst public school systems in the country for K-12, but our state government also has eviscerated funds for community colleges and universities.
Thousands of teachers have been pink-slipped. For every teacher laid off, many families suffer. Hundreds of thousands of students’ educations have been disrupted if not destroyed, and the outrage throughout the state is palpable.
Worst of all, generations of families throughout the rest of the world have aspired to attend California universities. They hope to build their own country’s infrastructure by learning through ours. If we let our schools deteriorate, we risk losing the hard-won prestige we have earned, as well as the resultant revenue that comes from the influx of eager foreign students.
This land of opportunity has turned into a landscape of unemployment. Detroit may cry “foul” because its automotive industry teeters on the verge of collapse, but California already has seen its aerospace industry decimated with no bailout remedy. One of Hollywood’s legendary institutions 20th Century Props is shuttering forever and putting its inventory up for auction because the film industry shoots fewer movies in California than elsewhere in the country. Just try finding someone to rent the kind of props needed for “Cleopatra” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Hollywood glamour
Still, the idea of Hollywood remains one of California’s most enduring and exported images. But its glamour has been eclipsed by real-life scandals and reality-based sensationalism. In the heyday of the old studio system, young stars and starlets could jeopardize their contracts if they misbehaved in public. Today, scandal has become almost a rite of passage, with shame a bygone notion. Even “Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab” which I heartily applaud as the most honest reality show produced for illuminating one of the darkest sides of Hollywood cannot exist without acknowledging the perils of being a public persona.
Most reality shows feature contestants eating live bugs or vying for a date with a gorgeous stud/babe. They seem fake and irrelevant at a time when real people struggle to hold on to their homes and feed their families. (Or get clean and sober, thanks to Dr. Drew Pinsky.) Who survives and what is lost sometimes comes down to choosing, sadly, between one’s own children or the family pet.
California reached a new image low recently when Los Angeles, itself struggling to stay afloat, announced that the city would pay a million dollars toward a parade to celebrate the Lakers’ championship. I have no qualm with having a parade, but not on the backs of the people who must clean up afterwards. Eventually several private donors ponied up in the face of public fury.
People across our country have every reason to believe we are crazy out here. We have lost all sense of proportion and propriety at a time when we should be more cognizant than ever before of our actions and the image they project. California’s official state motto is “Eureka.” It’s a Greek word that translates as “I’ve found it!” and state historians believe it refers to the discovery of gold, our state mineral. On a recent “Tonight Show,” Jay Leno said the state motto should be amended to “Welcome to California now available on eBay!” My concern is what happens if nobody bids.
Michael Levine is the founder of the public relations firm LCO-Levine Communications Office in Los Angeles and is the author of 19 books.
