lost ncarl- a thousand l)lack residents during the last decadernwhile gaining 3(),()()() Mexieans. “It’s weird,” said Douglas C-ottou,rna horn-and-bred Oxnard resident who nioed to Dallas inrn1996. “I was back in Oxnard for ‘rhanksgiing, and I didn’t seernanb()d I grew up witli.”rnBeeanse of the Hispanicization of blaek neighborhoods,rnblack political clotil has declined precipitoiish since peakingrnduring the 19(S0’s. There are onl four blacks in die 8()-meniberrnCalifornia assenibK and just two in the 40-meniber senate.rnStatew ide, fewer than 2^0 blacks hold office. At the same time,rnllierc arc 19 Latinos in the asscnibh and secn in the senate,rnand nearK 800 hold counh, municipal, and cit offices. ‘IbnirnBradle was Los Angeles’s first black nraor. He might also bernthe last. W ith blacks sinking below 1 5 ]3ercent and I ,ahnos nowrnexceeding 46 percent of Los Angeles’s popidation, the nextrnniav’or will likcK be brown. James Hahn, who reeenth defeatedrna Latino candidate for the office, might be the city’s lastrnwhite ma()r.rnii High poprdation densih ” and “California” used to bernniuhialh- exclusie terms. Rambling, one-stor- housesrnon large lots were common in the subrubs in the 1940’s andrnTO’S. NOW , because land has become so aiuable. new housingrntracts rareh feature one-stor” houses: Bmlding two-stories allowsrnthe decl()per to maintain the square footage of the housernwhile drastiealK reducing die si/e of the lot. Lhe old, spraw lingrnfeeling that was part of the relaxed ambiance of California suburbsrnhas been replaced b- dense declopmcut, because millionsrnof immigrants, almost all of them non-farglish-s|3cakiugrn(and most of them illegal and Latino), hae flooded C^alifornia’srncities and sent whites fleeing to the suburbs.rnBased on number of people per hoirsehold, the Golden Staternnow has eight of the comrtr”s ten most densch |3opidatcdrncities. Based upon mnnber of people per sc|uare mile (arnmethodolog diat woidd secur to eliminate (.California’s low-riserncities from contention), CJalifornia still has tie of the top tenrnmost denscK’ populated cities in the United States. Lhc numbersrncan boggle Hie mind. When a fire dcstTOed a fiirec-bcdroomrnhouse in Oxnard. six Latino families, totaling 4s men,rnwomen, and children, lost their home. “1 hank (k)d most ofrnthe kids were in school,” said the niofiier of six of die ^0 childrenrnin the household. “Onl 12 were at home.”rnDes]5itc such crowding, Oxnard ranks ouK fourth on die rosterrnof most denscK’ populated cities, trailing Santa .na, LIrnMonte, and L.ast L,os .ngeles. Santa Ana, Orange Count’srnlargest cit at >38,000 residents, fought the influx of illegalrnaliens and the coueomitant populafion explosion b passing anrnordinance in 1991 that limited the number of pco|)le whorncould inhabit arious hpes of dwellings. Lhc cih thought it wasrnreasonable, for example, to limit die iinmber of people li iiig inrna one-bedroom apartment to fie. I’aken to court, the eih’s anticrowdingrnordinance was initialK’ u])hcld, but eentuall it wasrnruled in alid b a .state appeals court, w hich declared that a staternhousing code (w hich allowed for denser habitafion) supersededrnthe ordinance.rnWith the ordinance imalidated, Santa Ana saw its pojjulationrngrow b more dian 45,000 during the 1990’s, despite tensrnof riiousands of people abandoning fire town for die subud)s ofrnsoudiern Orange County-. Santa Ana, once fiie bastion of diernwhite working class in Orange Counh”. is now onK’ 12 percentrnwhite, and faiglish is a second language in the elenieiitar-rnschools. Both the cih” council and school board now ha”c Ijafinornmajorifies.rnAs town after town in Calitornia goes the way of Santa Ana,rnthe Golden State is headed for a population densih that couldrnrival China’s in another sO or 40 cars. e t strangely, die SierrarnC’lub, die state’s oldest enxironmentalist group and once devotedrnto presering California’s wilderness and consering thernstate’s resources, not onl” refiises to call tor a reduction of legalrnimnngration but eeii refuses to attack illegal immigration.rn1 jOiig ago, die club was taken oer b}’ politiealh correct acti”i,sts,rnmost of whom ha e ne’er set foot upon the John Muir Trail, letrnalone hiked its entire lengdi lugging all their gear and suppliesrnin an old Kelh pack. Some of the genuine wilderness trekkersrnwho .still remained in the club pushed die quesfion of California’srngrowing populafion, immigration lcels, and illegal immigrationrnto a oc la.st vear b” propo.sing that die club adopt a policrnposition calling for restricfion and control. The proposalrnwas defeated h a 60 to 40 majorih”. I hae a sneaking suspicionrnthat, if fiiere were millions of foreign whites inundafing California,rndie Sierra Club would liac found die courage to passrndie pi”0|3osal.rnT “•he greatest cost of all cannot berncalculated in dollars: the lossrnof our national sovereignt); culturalrnheritage, and identit)’ as a people.rn1 he Sierra CClnb also remained silent on die issue of immigrationrnduring California’s recent power crisis. Repatriafing on-rnK” die illegal aliens and their offspring—upward of secn millionrnpeople—would mean no shortage of eleetricih, no morernwild riers dammed, and no new” power |)lants built. Californiarnis now in a plant-building fren/v, and the last of file free-flowingrnriers are being studied for power-generation potential. Anotherrns() years of illegal (and legal) immigration, and fliere will bernno ri”er left untouched b danrs and generators. Conserationrnis no answer, (“alifornia alread” has one of the lowest consumplionsrnof eleetricih” per capita of am industrialized state,rnand eleetricih’ use has declined fi”e percent per capita since diern1970’s.rnLooming on the hori/on is California’s next crisis, whichrnshoidd make brow nouts seem tame. California’s climatologicalrn]3attern is clear: a prolonged drought will occur. Widi millionsrnof people added to flic state’s populafion since die last dn spellrnand with no new water resources dexeloped —thanks to diernSierra Club and their allies—the situation could become desperate.rn7’he Sierra Club cannot ha”e it bodi wa”s. Lidier stoprnpeople from pouring across the border and drasticalh reduce legalrnimniigrafion. or dam eerthing down to creeks, build desalinationrnplants in e”er” coastal cit}”, sink a million w ells, seedrnthe clouds, and tow icebergs from Antarctica.rnLACU if bodi legal and illegal immigrafion are stopped, thernbirthrate among immigrant Lafinas in California will ensure arngrowth rate that will double flic state’s ])opulation in 50 ears.rnWhile white w”oinen in California each have fewer than twornchildren, immigrant Lafinas are ]5roducing more than four chil-rnNOVEMBER200r/2.!rnrnrn