They Say It Never Rains in Southern California...

...but Mayor Villaraigosa says it can pour, as Rick Orlov notes in an article on the mayor's speech in Woodland Hills. Orlov says the mayor "warned business leaders the city is in for continued hard times," and admitted there isn't much that the city's leadership feels it can do to avert hardship.

Los Angeles has promising weather and location in its favor, as well as a charismatic way that captures the imagination of the planet. But working against it is a lack of vision among the politicians of the region and the state.

Los Angeles and California become victims of their own hare-like success, unable to realize that tortoises are catching up.

Passing through the Dubai airport a short while back, I was struck by how a backwater nation used oil revenues to build physical and economic infrastructure that can sustain it as a global center for the long haul.

L.A. and California must learn to compete in the global economy. It may not look as pretty or as fair or as environmentally friendly as some would like. But, I ask my Friendly Fire colleagues: Is there any other way to ensure we don't become a Baltimore in coming years?