Bill Coleman ,Randy McMills

As we root the San Jose Sharks on to victory, we recognize that great hockey players are not the sole contribution Canada can make to California's economy. Canadians can also teach us a lot about how to fix our state's crumbling roads, bridges, levees and schools.

California's infrastructure has been skating on thin ice for decades, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intimated in his State of the State address last night. Today, we face an infrastructure shortfall in excess of $500 billion to meet the needs of our current and rapidly expanding population. Given the state's $14 billion budget deficit, California will not be able to bridge its infrastructure gap through traditional pay-as-you-go or bonding strategies.

It is time we learned from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and other nations that have been using public-private partnerships (often called P3s) for years to design, build, finance, operate and maintain infrastructure projects in a way that speeds their delivery, maintains quality and saves tax dollars. Schwarzenegger is proposing an ambitious strategy that would allow California to use these partnerships to address California's crumbling infrastructure. In association with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, we strongly support this strategy. Here are just a few reasons why.

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Posted by dcjaya at January 9, 2008 8:12 PM