king pool of manufacturing firms, based on "parochial fiscal and economic interests" (Boarnet and Crane 189). Many jurisdictions are engaged in the high stakes game of offering millions of dollars in loans, subsidies, and abatements to retain jobs and lure more businesses across local borders. All a company has to do is announce that it plans to move its headquarters to another jurisdiction and the home jurisdiction immediately raises a lucrative package of subsidies to dissuade the move. This competition has resulted in social and economic inequities and the geographical isolation of communities throughout the region. Without a joint metropolitan authority overseeing economic development, the region could end up being divided into the haves and the have-nots: "Problems have reached a scale that simply defies the powers of municipal or county level institutions, while regional structures as so distant from the individual that they lack the legitimacy needed in the eyes of most to serve as implementation vehicles" (SCAG, 1993, p. 9). The Southland is in dire need of a regional planning authority with management powers.
Regarding long-term goals to be achieved by the joint metropolitan authority, the agency should align its goals with those developed by SCAG in its regional comprehensive plan. SCAG's goals focus on the standard of living, quality of life, and achievement of equity in the region. The goal components are broken into the following categories: economy, growth management, mobility, air quality, housing, human resources, open space, water supply, water quality, energy, hazardous waste, solid waste, and implementation. In particular, SCAG focuses on three broad economic goals for the region, which direct all the listed goals and actions.
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