Nicholas Goldberg: You think California's recall system is dangerous? Check out the initiative process latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
From 2010 to 2020, the world fêted San Francisco. New startups, new graduates, new immigrants all wanted to share in its glittering promise. Second bedrooms, dining rooms, home offices, and garages filled up with roommates as we ticked toward 900,000 residents. The Bay Area had the power to harness this boom, to build a 21st century tax base at developers expense, and to fund the services our citizenry demands. San Francisco could have printed money enough to swim in. Alas, we blocked development, starved ourselves of property taxes, and wasted our boom. No choices but ours will cause any bloodbath to come for public employees. We did this to ourselves, but we don t have to keep making this mistake.