14000 San Bernadino Avenue
Fontana, California 92335
U.S.A.
Company Perspectives:
California Steel Industries, Inc. will be the most competitive and profitable steel company in the Western United States, and we will seek growth opportunities in order to improve upon our market leadership.
History of California Steel Industries, Inc.
California Steel Industries, Inc. (CSI) ranks as the largest producer of flat-rolled steel in the western United States. CSI does not manufacture steel. The company buys steel slab from third-party vendors and processes the slab into finished steel products, producing hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized coil and sheet. CSI also produces electric resistance welded pipe. The company's steel products are used in a variety of goods, including appliances, home furnaces, automobile wheels and rims, plumbing fixtures, water heaters, lighting fixtures, decking, and tanks. CSI serves customers in the 11 states west of the Rocky Mountains from its 450-acre manufacturing facility in Fontana, California, 50 miles east of Los Angeles. The company is owned by JFE Steel Corporation (formerly Kawasaki Steel Corp.), a major steel producer in Japan, and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce Ltd., a state-owned Brazilian natural resources company that ranks as the world's largest iron ore producer and exporter.
Origins
CSI began its business life by occupying what had once been home to the largest steelworks in the western United States. The integrated mill in Fontana, California, was built in the 1940s, becoming the jewel of the steelmaking empire controlled by Kaiser Steel Corp. The 350-acre facility bustled with activity in its prime, employing more than 2,500 workers and holding sway as the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi. By the beginning of the 1980s, however, the luster was gone from the Fontana steelworks. The success of foreign competitors, high interest rates in the United States, and adverse conditions in the domestic steel industry drained the factory of its vitality. Financial losses mounted, forcing Kaiser's management to admit defeat and declare bankruptcy. Employees at the Fontana plant were laid off and the mill was closed down, its machinery, presses, and equipment left to lay idle in late 1983.
One individual who was acutely aware of the Fontana closure was Michael Wilkinson, a British-born entrepreneur and steel executive who relied heavily on Kaiser's output. At the time of the Fontana closure, Wilkinson had spent the previous quarter-century owning and managing various steel-related enterprises, building a career that eventually tied his success to the success of Kaiser--the nexus that motivated the formation of CSI. Wilkinson worked at Steel Company of Canada in Hamilton, Ontario, between 1957 and 1962. For the next five years he managed several divisions of steel distributing companies in Toronto and Vancouver. His career in the United States began in 1975 when he formed a partnership with an Italian trading company to acquire Lafayette Metals, a steel producing and distributing company based in Long Beach, California. In 1978, he formed Tecrim, an automobile wheel rim manufacturer, and he acquired 50 percent of Cal Metal Corp., operator of a mill in Irwindale, California. It was through Tecrim and Cal Metal that Wilkinson felt the sting of the Fontana closure; both companies obtained nearly all their steel from Kaiser, ranking among the steelmaker's largest customers.
The closure of the Fontana plant struck the region's steel community hard, particularly Wilkinson. Steel prices rose after Kaiser's steelworks closed. Wilkinson labored to find other suppliers to feed his companies with sufficient amounts of steel product. The idea of acquiring the deserted Fontana plant occurred to Wilkinson soon after Kaiser declared bankruptcy, its genesis springing from his own need for steel and by impending legislation. Wilkinson believed the International Trade Commission (ITC) was preparing to take a stand against subsidized steel imports. "It was very apparent," he said in a May 17, 1985 interview with Iron Age, "that the government was going to do something about unfairly traded steel coming into this market. That was an attraction." The threat of foreign-made steel becoming harder to secure and more expensive to buy exacerbated the effect of Kaiser's collapse, prompting Wilkinson to move ahead with acquiring the Fontana plant. Shortly after the ITC ruled in July 1984 to impose sanctions against subsidized imports, Wilkinson made his offer to acquire the Fontana plant. He sold 49 percent of his Tecrim assets to a Japanese trading company, Itoman & Co., and enlisted the support of two well-financed, well-known corporate partners, Japan-based Kawasaki Steel Corp. and Rio Doce Ltd., the U.S. subsidiary of the state-owned Brazilian natural resources company, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce Ltd. (CVRD). The three partners paid $110 million for the former Kaiser plant, concluding the deal in August 1984. The company formed to manage the plant was CSI, a steel company 50 percent owned by Wilkinson, 25 percent owned by Kawasaki Steel, and 25 percent owned by CVRD.
In the hands of Wilkinson and his two partners, the Kaiser complex was geared to be a quite different type of steel factory. Kaiser had produced steel in Fontana; CSI would not make steel. Instead, Wilkinson intended to purchase steel slab from suppliers--primarily from offshore sources in Mexico, Europe, and South America--and to create finished steel products from the slab, the cold-rolled, hot-rolled, flat-rolled sheet, strip, and coils that would compose CSI's product line. Wilkinson, who initially employed only a fraction of the workforce Kaiser had employed, also changed the way the factory operated. "We chucked out the time clocks and put all our people on salary," he explained in his interview with Iron Age, eschewing the unionized workforce of Kaiser's day. "We got away from the old job descriptions limiting what an employee can do," he added. Wilkinson hoped the combination of reduced labor costs, greater efficiency, and the proximity of CSI's customers (Wilkinson's nearby companies were expected to consume roughly a third of the plant's output) would enable him to compete against the foreign competition that had brought down the once-mighty Kaiser.
CSI's attempt to succeed where Kaiser failed officially began in late November 1984. Using slabs shipped from Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica de Tubarao (24.5 percent owned by Kawasaki Steel), CSI delivered its first order to a tubing manufacturer. During its first full year of operation, profits eluded the company as it struggled to eclipse the break-even output of 600,000 tons targeted by Wilkinson. The company achieved profitability in 1986, but by the time CSI moved into the black more dramatic news took center stage. What ensued in 1986 became a struggle for CSI itself.
Ownership Battle in 1986
At the start of 1986, talks of restructuring CSI touched off a bitter battle among the company's three owners. The episode began without acrimony, first made public in January 1986 when discussions of a realignment were revealed by American Metal Market. The company was on the verge of profitability, but the losses incurred since CSI's inception required an injection of cash, $25 million according to reports. Because Wilkinson lacked the financial resources of his two massive corporate partners, his contribution to CSI's capital infusion presumably meant his stake in the company would be reduced. In a January 10, 1986 American Metal Market article, Wilkinson said the proposed changes "are not significant one way or another," but within months the tenor of the discussions changed. Negotiations broke down among the partners, leading Wilkinson to assert, "I'm not selling any of my stock and I'm not going down to a minority position," according to the June 20, 1986 issue of American Metal Market. Kawasaki and CVRD responded by taking Wilkinson to court. Wilkinson filed a countersuit in July 1986. The contentious struggle was resolved several months later, ending with the sale of Wilkinson's 50 percent stake and his complete disassociation with CSI.
In the aftermath of the ownership battle, CSI settled on its course, developing into a profitable, growing steel enterprise. The first profits registered in 1986 set a precedent that was followed for the remainder of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s. The success of the company coupled with the financial resources of CVRD and Kawasaki Steel allowed for a major capital improvement program, giving the company modern and efficient machinery to expand its production output. In 1993, the company embarked on a six-year modernization program aimed at reducing operating costs, broadening its product line, and increasing production capacity. CSI spent roughly $250 million on the program, increasing the amount of tons billed during the period by nearly 90 percent.
An indication of the prosperity and optimism pervading the Fontana headquarters was demonstrated during the late 1990s. In 1997, with still two years to go on its modernization program, company officials began discussing the possibility of another major expansion program. Their confidence drew its strength from the company's admirable performance during the mid-1990s. Annual sales topped $700 million as production increased 70 percent to 1.7 million tons. The increase was achieved by only increasing payroll from 850 to 945 workers, which meant the gains were realized, in large part, by operating more efficiently. In response, management began considering another $250 million improvement project, one that flirted with the idea of CSI making steel for the first time in its history. The plan to produce steel for the company's sheet metal rolling operation was abandoned in 1998, but the exploration into the idea pointed to the vitality of CSI.
By the end of the 1990s, CSI was a well-established, profit-making enterprise, firmly footed as a fixture of the steel community in the western United States. In 1999, a year in which the company posted a record high $47 million in net income, it ranked as the largest producer of the flat-rolled steel in the West. CSI served customers in the 11 states located west of the Rocky Mountains, devoting much of its manufacturing operations to the production of hot-rolled sheet and coil, which accounted for 47 percent of total tons billed at the end of the decade.
CSI in the 21st Century
CSI's impressive record of profitability came to an end as the company entered the 21st century. In the first three months of 2001, the company posted a quarterly loss of $1.9 million, the first loss recorded in 15 years. The company's president and chief executive officer, Lourenco Goncalves, listed a combination of weak demand, low prices, and out-of-state competition as causes for the loss, but most of his frustration was directed at escalating energy prices in California. In the first quarter of 2001, CSI's electricity bill increased 25 percent, a price hike far outstripped by the $5 million the company had to pay for natural gas, a 725 percent increase. The company recovered in the second quarter, but the $3.4 million posted in net income for the period was wiped away by a $3.4 million loss in the third quarter. For the year, CSI ended with a deficit, registering a $3.7 million loss.
When the severity of California's energy crisis ebbed, CSI regained its financial health. In 2002, the company billed more than two million tons of steel products for the first time in its history. More important, the losses recorded the previous year were thoroughly swept away with the $35 million in profit recorded in 2002.
As CSI prepared for its 20th anniversary, the company could claim to have achieved what Kaiser did not: make the Fontana steelworks a profitable, thriving enterprise. The leadership of the company changed as its anniversary approached, giving it the management team to guide its future course. In 2003, Goncalves resigned to head Houston-based Metals USA, leading to the appointment of Vincente Wright as president and chief executive officer. Wright, who joined CVRD in 1975, put together the slab supply contract in 1984 that helped CSI begin operations when he was the 29-year-old marketing manager at Siderurgica de Tubarao. In mid-2004, Wright was appointed chairman of the company, paving the way for the promotion of Masakazu Kurushima to the posts of president and chief executive officer. Kurushima began his career at Kawasaki Steel in 1972, rising to head the company's U.S. subsidiary before being tapped to lead CSI. To these two individuals fell the responsibility of ensuring that CSI's future was as successful as its past.
Principal Subsidiaries: CSI Rolling Mills, Inc.
Principal Competitors: Oregon Steel Mills, Inc.; USS-POSCO Industries; Steelscape, Inc.
Related information about California
pop (2000e) 33 871 600; area
411 033 km²/158 706 sq mi. State in SW
USA, divided into 58 counties; the ‘Golden State’; originally
populated by several Indian tribes; discovered by the Spanish,
1542; colonized mid-18th-c; developed after gold discovered in the
Mother Lode, 1848; ceded to the USA by the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, 1848; joined the Union as the 31st state, 1850; major US
growth area in the 20th-c; now the most populous US state; capital,
Sacramento; other chief cities, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Oakland, San Diego; bounded S by Mexico and W by the Pacific Ocean;
mountainous in the N, W and E, with dry, arid depressions in the S
(Mojave and Colorado Deserts) and SE (Death Valley); Klamath Mts in
the N; Coast Ranges in the W run parallel to the Pacific; Sierra
Nevada in the E, rising to 4418 m/14 495 ft at Mt
Whitney (state's highest point); foothills of the Sierra Nevada
contain the Mother Lode, a belt of gold-bearing quartz; the Sierra
Nevada and Coast Ranges are separated by the Central Valley,
drained by the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, a major
fruit-producing area; climate gives a wet and a dry season, with
most rainfall November–March; record heatwave with 136 deaths (Jul
2006); legislation proposed to cut carbon dioxide emissions, 2006;
a zone of faults (the San Andreas Fault) extends S from N
California along the coast; earth tremors commonplace; major
earthquakes in San Francisco, 1906, 1989, and in Los Angeles, 1993;
devastating wildfires in the south, 2003; centre of the US
microelectronics industry in Silicon Valley; oil, natural gas, and
a wide range of minerals; vegetables, grain, livestock; food
processing, machinery, defence industries, transportation
equipment, fabricated metals, cotton, wine (vineyards in over 40
Californian counties); increasing Hispanic and Asian populations; a
major tourist state, with several national monuments and parks
(Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Redwood), the film industry,
Disneyland.
noncompliant
California is a state spanning the southern half of the west
coast of the contiguous United States. With a population of 37 million and an
area of 158,402 square
miles (410,000
km²),
California is the largest
U.S. state in population and the third largest in
area. Spain colonized the coastal areas of
the territory starting in 1769. As a result of the Mexican War of
Independence, California became a part of the Mexican Republic in 1821. It was captured by the United
States in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) which was concluded
with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The California Gold
Rush of 1848-1849 brought about 90,000 additional U.S.
immigrants into the state, and California became the 31st state of
the Union in 1850.
Although the state's sunny climate has given it a historic
reputation for being laid back compared to the East
Coast, the $1.55 trillion (as of 2005) California economy is larger than
all but the top 7 national economies in the world www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/01/data/dbcoutm.cfm?SD=2005&ED=2005&R1=1&R2=1&CS=3&SS=2&OS=C&DD=0&OUT=1&C=512-941-914-446-612-666-614-672-311-946-213-137-911-962-193-674-122-676-912-548-313-556-419-678-513-181-316-682-913-684-124-273-339-921-638-948-514-686-218-688-963-518-616-728-223-558-516-138-918-353-748-196-618-278-522-692-622-694-156-142-624-449-626-564-628-283-228-853-924-288-233-293-632-566-636-964-634-182-238-453-662-968-960-922-423-714-935-862-128-716-611-456-321-722-243-965-248-718-469-724-253-576-642-936-643-961-939-813-644-199-819-184-172-524-132-361-646-362-648-364-915-732-134-366-652-734-174-144-328-146-258-463-656-528-654-923-336-738-263-578-268-537-532-742-944-866-176-369-534-744-536-186-429-925-178-746-436-926-136-466-343-112-158-111-439-298-916-927-664-846-826-299-542-582-443-474-917-754-544-698&S=NGDPD&CMP=0&x=31&y=8
and is responsible for 13% of the United States' $13 trillion
gross
domestic product (GDP). The state's major predominant
industries include agriculture, entertainment, light manufacturing, and tourism. California is also the home of several
significant economic regions such as Hollywood (entertainment), the California Central
Valley (agriculture), Silicon Valley (computers and high tech), and the Wine Country (wine). The states of Nevada, Utah,
Arizona, and Wyoming, were claimed by Spain
and Mexico but were almost totally undeveloped, with about 100
settlers in Arizona.
The name California is most commonly believed derived from a
storied paradise peopled by black Amazons
and ruled by Queen
Califia. The myth of Califia is recorded in a 1510 work The Exploits of
Esplandian, written as a sequel to Amadís de Gaula
by Spanish
adventure writer García Ordonez Rodriguez de Montalvo.Person-Lynn,
Dr. Kwaku. The island everywhere abounds with gold and precious
stones, and upon it no other metal was found.Person-Lynn,
2004.
It is thought that the myth of Califia later helped fuel Spanish
exploration in the New
World.
Others suggest the word California may come from the early
Spanish explorers who entered California via the hot southern
regions and referred to California as being "hot as an oven" or a
"lime oven" ("cali > hot", "fornus->forno > oven" + ending
"ia" for a place;
Geography
California borders the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the Mexican state of Baja California. With an area of 160,000 square
miles (411,000
km²) it is the
third largest state in the U.S and is larger than Germany in size.
Most major cities are at or near the Pacific coastline, notably
Los
Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach,
Oakland,
Santa
Ana/Orange County, Riverside/Moreno
Valley, San Bernardino and San Diego.
However, the capital,
Sacramento, is in the Central Valley. In the middle of the state lies
the California
Central Valley, a huge, fertile valley bounded by the coastal mountain
ranges in the west, the granite Sierra Nevada to
the east, the volcanic
Cascade Range in
the north
and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. With
dredging, several rivers have become sufficiently large and deep
that several inland cities (notably Stockton and
Sacramento) are
seaports. The southern
part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San
Joaquin Valley (drained by the San Joaquin River), while the northern half is
known as the Sacramento Valley (drained by the Sacramento River). The
Channel Islands are located in the southern part of the
state, stretching from Santa Barbara to Orange County. They and the
largest island, Santa
Catalina Island are attractive to visitors.
In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning
Snowy Range in Spanish), which include the highest peak in the
contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4421 m). Also located in
the Sierra are the world-famous Yosemite National
Park and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by
volume. To the east of the Sierra are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential
seabird habitat. In the
south lay the Transverse Ranges and a large salt lake, the Salton Sea. To the northeast
of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest, hottest point
in North America,
Badwater Flat. Indeed,
almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with the
Coachella
Valley and Imperial Valley routinely experiencing extreme high
temperatures during the summer. The Coachella Valley in
Riverside
County is famous for its popular tourist destination Palm Springs,
California. Other Coachella Valley communities include Bermuda Dunes, Desert Hot Springs,
Indian Wells,
Palm Desert,
La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Indio, Coachella and Cathedral City.
Along the densely populated and long California coast are several
major metropolitan areas, including San Jose-San
Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach,
Santa Ana-Irvine-Anaheim, Riverside-San Bernardino, California and
San
Diego. Winter temperatures seldom reach freezing and summer
temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (low 30's
Celsius).
California is famous for earthquakes due to the presence of a number of faults,
in particular the San Andreas Fault. While powerful earthquakes in the
United States have occurred in other states such as Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Missouri (along the New Madrid fault),
people are more aware of California's earthquakes due to their
frequency and tendency to strike in highly populated areas.
California is also home to several volcanoes, some active such as Mammoth Mountain. Other
volcanoes include Lassen
Peak, which erupted from 1914 and 1921, and Mount Shasta.
Climate
Different regions of California have very different climates,
depending on their latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast.
Most of the state has a Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. The cool California Current
offshore, enhanced by upwelling of cold sub-surface waters, often creates
summer fog near the coast.
however 4 °F and 35 °F (2 °C and 20 °C) between Santa
Barbara and Death
Valley.
Westerly winds from the ocean also bring moisture, and the northern
parts of the state generally receive higher annual rainfall amounts
than the south. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada,
have a mountain
climate with snow in
winter and mild to moderate heat in summer.
On the east side of the mountains is a drier rain shadow. California's
desert climate
regions lie east of the high Sierra Nevada and Southern
California's Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges. The
low deserts east of the southern California mountains, including
the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower Colorado
River, are part of the Sonoran Desert, with hot summers and mild winters; the
higher elevation deserts of eastern California, including the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and the
Modoc Plateau, are
part of the Great
Basin region, with hot summers and cold winters. During the
summer months, especially from July through early September, the
region is affected by the Mexican Monsoon (also called the "southwest monsoon"),
which drives moisture from the tropical Pacific, Gulf of California,
and/or Gulf of
Mexico into the deserts, setting off brief, but often
torrential thunderstorms, particularly over mountainous
terrain.
In the northern portion of the Mojave Desert on the east side of the state is
Death Valley, which
is the hottest spot on the Western Hemisphere. The highest temperature in the
Western Hemisphere, 134 °F (56.6 °C), was recorded in Death Valley
on July 10, 1913. The State of California is
part of the Nearctic
ecozone, and spans a
number of terrestrial ecoregions, and is perhaps the most
ecologically diverse state in the United States.
California has a rather high percentage of endemic species.
Furthermore, California is home to the largest trees in the world,
the Giant
Sequoias.
California's native grasses were perennials, which stayed green year-round in most of the
state's subclimatesUnited States Department of Agriculturearticle on California's
perennial native grasses.
National Parks and Monuments
-
Main articles: List of areas in the National Park System of the
United States, List of United States national parks by state, and
List of National Monuments of the United
States.
To protect and preserve the state's biological diversity,
natural beauty, and historic heritage, the U.S. National Park
System has acquired control over a huge number of places within
California. The most prominent by far is Yosemite National
Park (which protects Yosemite Valley), followed closely by the Kings
Canyon-Sequoia National Park complex (which protects the most
massive trees in the world) and Redwood National
Park (which protects the tallest trees in the world).
Half Dome, in Yosemite, figures prominently on the reverse side
of the California state quarter.
History
The area was inhabited by more than 70 distinct groups of Native
Americans before European contact. On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez
Cabrillo landed in what is now San Diego Bay claiming it for
Spain. Spanish traders made sporadic visits with the Manila Galleons as early
as 1565. The British
explorer Sir Francis
Drake made contact in 1579. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast
of California in 1602.
Spain colonized the territory with the
1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolà
in conjunction with the creation of the system of Military Districts and Spanish
Missions in California between 1769 and 1823.
During the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), in the town of
Sonoma forty U.S.
settlers revolted and established the California Republic,
an independent republic, June 14, 1846. The California Gold
Rush of 1849 brought a huge population of immigrants into the
area, and California became the 31st state of the United States in
1850.
The entire region originally known as California was composed of
the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja
California and much of the land in the current states of
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, known as Alta California.
California groups also were diverse in their political organization
with bands, tribes, tribelets, and on the resource-rich coasts
large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Except for the Mojave Indians living along the
Colorado River no California Indians grew any domesticated
crops.
The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues
Cabrilho in 1542
working for the Spanish Hernan Cortes. The first to explore the
entire coast and claim possession of it was the English man
Francis Drake in
1579. San Francisco for St.
Francis of Assisi, San Jose for St. Joseph of Nazareth and San Diego for St. Didacus).
These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, and Old Spanish Trail to
cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts surrounding
California.
In this period, some nobles of Imperial Russia made brief attempts to explore and
claim parts of California, particularly at Fort Ross, but these were
limited by a lack of Imperial interest.
California was poorly settled until modern public health eliminated
the endemic outbreaks of yellow fever, malaria and plague, caused from the area?s lack of frosts, which
kills mosquitoes and fleas.
In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the
California
Republic was founded and the Bear Flag was flown, which
featured a golden bear and a star. Citrus was widely grown
(especially in the form of oranges), and the foundation was laid
for the state's prodigious agricultural production of today.
During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated
with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the
Lincoln Highway
and Route 66. It
is one of four majority-minority states.
The largest named ancestries in California are Mexican (25%), Filipino, German,
Irish, and Asian citation needed. Mexican Americans and Chicanos predominate in Southern California
such as the Imperial
Valley, the Central Valley, Salinas, and parts of the San Francisco Bay
Area. San Francisco has the greatest concentration of Asian Americans in the
continental United States, with Chinese Americans numerous in San Francisco, Alameda,
San
Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. Southern California has
perhaps the largest Taiwanese American community in the United States
particularly in San Gabriel Valley, and communities such as Cerritos,
Irvine (in
Orange County), and some in the South Bay, Los
Angeles Area. Filipino Americans are particularly numerous in
San
Mateo and Solano counties, and in communities such as Baldwin Park,
Covina,
West
Covina, and the community of Eagle Rock in Los Angeles. There are large
Korean American
communities in Koreatown of Los Angeles as well as East San Gabriel Valley,
Cerritos, South Bay, Los Angeles, and in North Orange County.
South Bay,
Los Angeles also has a large Japanese American
community too. The City of Long Beach has
one of the largest Cambodian American communities in the United States.
Westminster has one of the largest Vietnamese American
communities and is often dubbed "Little Saigon". The community of Artesia and nearby
Cerritos,
as well as Fremont in the Bay Area have a large Asian Indian/South Asian
American community. California also has one of the largest
numbers of Armenian Americans and Persian Americans,
with estimates of up to 500,000 persons in Southern California,
and 20% of Beverly
Hills being of Persian descent.
Languages
As of 2000, 60.5% of California residents age 5 and older speak
English at home
and 25.8% speak Spanish. Chinese is the third most spoken language at 2.6%,
followed by Tagalog at 2.5% and Vietnamese at
1.3%.
The indigenous languages of California number more than one
hundred and show great diversity making California one of the most
linguistically diverse areas in the world. All of California's
indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward
language
revitalization.
Since 1986, the California Constitution has specified that English is
the common and official language of the state. 19%
The majority of California's Roman Catholic membership are of Irish and Hispanic ancestry.
As with many other western states, the percentage of
California's population identifying themselves as "non-religious"
is comparatively high in relation to the rest of the U.S.fact
Economy
As of 2005, California's economy is larger than all but seven
national economies in the world. www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/01/data/dbcoutm.cfm?SD=2005&ED=2005&R1=1&R2=1&CS=3&SS=2&OS=C&DD=0&OUT=1&C=512-941-914-446-612-666-614-672-311-946-213-137-911-962-193-674-122-676-912-548-313-556-419-678-513-181-316-682-913-684-124-273-339-921-638-948-514-686-218-688-963-518-616-728-223-558-516-138-918-353-748-196-618-278-522-692-622-694-156-142-624-449-626-564-628-283-228-853-924-288-233-293-632-566-636-964-634-182-238-453-662-968-960-922-423-714-935-862-128-716-611-456-321-722-243-965-248-718-469-724-253-576-642-936-643-961-939-813-644-199-819-184-172-524-132-361-646-362-648-364-915-732-134-366-652-734-174-144-328-146-258-463-656-528-654-923-336-738-263-578-268-537-532-742-944-866-176-369-534-744-536-186-429-925-178-746-436-926-136-466-343-112-158-111-439-298-916-927-664-846-826-299-542-582-443-474-917-754-544-698&S=NGDPD&CMP=0&x=31&y=8
California is responsible for 13% of the United States gross domestic
product (GDP), while the state population constitute only 12%
of the United States population. The gross state product
(GSP) is about $1.55 trillion ($1,550,000,000,000, as of 2004), making it
greater than that of every other U.S. state, and most countries in the
world (by Purchasing Power Parity).
California is also the home of several significant economic regions
such as Hollywood (entertainment), the California Central
Valley (agriculture), Silicon Valley (computers and high tech), and wine producing regions such as Santa Barbara and
Northern California's Wine Country.
The predominant industry, more than twice as large as the next, is
agriculture,
(including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and wine). entertainment, primarily television by dollar volume, although many
movies are still made in
California; light manufacturing, including computer hardware and
software; and the
mining of borax.
Per capita personal income was $33,403 as of 2003, ranking
12th in the nation. The Central Valley has the most
extreme contrasts of income, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. Recently, the
San Joaquin Valley was characterized www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/links/CRS%20San%20Joaquin%20Valley%20Report.pdf
as one of the most economically depressed regions in the U.S., on
par with the region of Appalachia.
Many coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas
in the U.S., notably San Francisco and Marin County.
The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically
Silicon Valley,
in Santa Clara and San Mateo
counties, are currently emerging from economic downturn caused
by the dot.com
bust, which caused the loss of over 250,000 jobs in Northern
California alone. The international boom in housing prices has been
most pronounced in California, with the median property price in
the state rising to about the half-million dollar mark in April
2005.
California levies a 9.3% maximum variable rate income tax, with 6 tax brackets.
As for air travel, Los
Angeles International Airport and San
Francisco International Airport are major hubs for
trans-Pacific and transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen
important commercial airports and many more general aviation
airports throughout the state's 58 counties.
California also has several important seaports. The giant seaport complex formed by the
Port of Los
Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California is the
largest in the country and responsible for handling about a fourth
of all container cargo traffic in the United States. The Port of Oakland handles
most of the ocean containers passing through Northern
California.
Intercity rail travel is provided by Amtrak. Los Angeles and San Francisco both have
subway networks,
in addition to light
rail. Metrolink commuter rail serves much of Southern California, and
Caltrain commuter rail
connects San Jose and Gilroy (commute hour only) to San Francisco. Altamont Commuter
Express (ACE) connects Tracy, Livermore and other edge cities with San Jose. the
North
Bay and South
Bay regions are not currently included in the system. San Diego has Trolley light rail and
Coaster
commuter rail services. Nearly all counties operate bus lines, and many cities operate
their own bus lines as well.
Both Greyhound
and Amtrak provide intercity travel services.
The rapidly growing population of the state is straining all of its
transportation networks. If built, the system would provide a
TGV-style high-speed link
between the state's four major cities, and would allow travel
between Los Angeles' Union
Station and San Francisco's Transbay Terminal in two and one half hours.
Law and government
California is governed as a republic, with three branches of
government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of
California and the other independently elected constitutional
officers; the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and
Senate;
and the judicial
branch consisting of the Supreme Court of
California and lower courts. The state also allows direct
participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification.
The Governor
of California and the other state constitutional officers serve
four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The California
State Legislature consists of a 40 member Senate and 80
member Assembly. Members of the Assembly are subject to
term limits of 3
terms, and members of the Senate are subject to term limits of 2
terms.
For the 2005–2006 session, there are 48 Democrats
and 32 Republicans in the Assembly. Schwarzenegger was only the
second governor in the history of the United States to be put into
office by a recall of a sitting governor (the first was the 1921
recall of North
Dakota Governor Lynn J. Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis (1999–2003), who
was removed from office by the October 2003 California
recall election.
The state's capital is Sacramento. During California's early history
under European control, the capital was successively located in
Monterey
(1775–1849), San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo
(1852–1853), Benicia (1853–1854), and San
Francisco (1862). The capital's final move to Sacramento was on
February 25,
1854 where it has been
located since, except for a four-month temporary move in 1862 to
San Francisco, which was due to severe flooding in
Sacramento.
California's judiciary
is the largest in the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges,
while the state's federal system has only about 840). font-size:
95%;">
Presidential elections results
Year
|
Republican
|
Democratic
|
| 2004 |
44.36%
5,509,826
|
54.31%6,745,485
|
| 2000 |
41.65%
4,567,429
|
53.45%5,861,203
|
| 1996 |
38.21%
3,828,380
|
51.10%5,119,835
|
| 1992 |
32.61%
3,630,574
|
46.01%
5,121,325
|
| 1988 |
51.13%5,054,917
|
47.56%
4,702,233
|
| 1984 |
57.51%5,467,009
|
41.27%
3,922,519
|
| 1980 |
52.69%4,524,858
|
35.91%
3,083,661
|
| 1976 |
49.35%3,882,244
|
47.57%
3,742,284
|
| 1972 |
55.00%4,602,096
|
41.54%
3,475,847
|
| 1968 |
47.82%3,467,664
|
44.74%
3,244,318
|
| 1964 |
40.79%
2,879,108
|
59.11%4,171,877
|
| 1960 |
50.10%3,259,722
|
49.55%
3,224,099
|
California's legal system, like all other states (except
Louisiana), is explicitly based on English common law but carries a few
features from Spanish civil law,
such as community
property. Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment
and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country (though Texas is far more active in
carrying out executions).
At the national level, California is represented by two senators
and 53 representatives, as of 2005. (Since California is the most
populous state in the Union, its counts of Congressmen and
Presidential Electors are also the largest.) The two U.S. Senators from
California are Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans
represent the state in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
California is considered a reliably Democratic state. Once very conservative, having elected
conservatives such as Ronald Reagan as governor and William Knowland as
senator, California has flipped sides in recent decades and became
a Democrat voting state, having elected statewide liberals such as
Dianne
Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to the Senate.
Even some recent Republican politicians elected statewide, such as
Governors Pete
Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger are considered members of the more
moderate wing of the national party. California's Republican
dominance in the mid-20th century had to do with strong GOP support
outside San
Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles; Bush received a majority of votes in more
than half the state's 58 counties, but still lost California's 55
electoral votes to John Kerry, who won 54.3% of the popular vote,
by a margin of 9 percentage points due to Kerry's overwhelming
totals in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
In August 2006 Governor Schwarzenegger went against the Bush
administration, in passing the strictest anti-pollution laws
anywhere in the world.citation needed
Ballot qualified political parties
- American Independent Party: link
- Democratic Party: link
- Green Party: link
- Libertarian Party: link
- Peace and Freedom Party:link
- Republican Party: link
Important cities and towns
Image:Sacramento from Riverwalk.jpg|Sacramento
Image:DowntownLosAngeles.jpg|Los
Angeles
Image:Sandiego_1_bg_071302.jpg|San
Diego
Image:Lightmatter sanfrancisco.jpg|San
Francisco
Image:SanJoseDowntownIMG016elf wb.jpg|San Jose
Image:Long Beach, CA at night.jpg|Long
Beach
Image:La2-oakland.jpg|Oakland
Image:Anaheimdland.jpg|Anaheim
The state of California has 478 cities, the majority of which are
within one of the large metropolitan areas. Sixty-eight percent of California's
population lives in its two largest metropolitan areas, Greater Los
Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Los Angeles
| 10,245,572 |
4,061 |
2,344 |
Los Angeles
|
| 2 |
Orange |
3,072,336 |
789 |
3,606 |
Santa Ana
|
| 3 |
San
Diego |
3,066,820 |
4,200 |
670 |
San Diego
|
| 4 |
San Bernardino |
1,991,829 |
20,052 |
85 |
San Bernardino
|
| 5 |
Riverside |
1,953,330 |
7,207 |
214 |
Riverside
|
| 6 |
Santa Clara |
1,773,258 |
1,291 |
1,304 |
San Jose
|
| 7 |
Alameda |
1,510,303 |
738 |
732 |
Oakland
|
| 8 |
Sacramento |
1,385,607 |
966 |
1,267 |
Sacramento
|
| 9 |
Contra Costa |
1,029,377 |
720 |
492 |
Concord
|
| 10 |
Fresno |
899,514 |
5,963 |
134 |
Fresno
|
Note: table was compiled using California State
estimates from 2006 for population
and Census 2000 for area and density
For a list of important suburbs within the above areas, see
List of urbanized areas in California (by
population).
|
25 wealthiest places in California
Thanks to the state's powerful economy, certain California
cities are among the wealthiest on the planet. The following list
is ranked by per
capita income:
- Belvedere, California – Riverside
County $76,187
- Malibu,
California – $66,776
Note: Marin County ranks as the wealthiest county in the United States based on per
capita personal income.
30 poorest places in California
Many California communities rank among the poorest in the
western world according to the measure of per capita income. The
following list is ranked by increasing per capita income,
first number is state ranking:
1076 Tobin,
California - Plumas County - $2,584
1075 Belden,
California - Plumas County - $3,141
1074 East
Orosi, California - Tulare County - $4,984
1073 London,
California - Tulare County - $5,632
1072 Cantua Creek, California - Fresno County -
$5,693
1071 Indian Falls, California - Plumas County -
$5,936
1070 Westley,
California - Stanislaus County - $6,137
1069 Cutler,
California - Tulare County - $6,254
1068 Mecca,
California - Riverside County - $6,389
1067 Richgrove, California - Tulare County - $6,415
1066 San
Joaquin, California - Fresno County - $6,607
1065 Woodville, California - Tulare County - $6,824
1064 Kennedy,
California - San Joaquin County $6,876
1063 Mettler,
California - Kern
County - $6,919
1062 Mendota,
California - Fresno County - $6,967
1061 Terra
Bella, California - Tulare County - $7,034
1060 Parlier,
California - Fresno County -$7,078
1059 Orange Cove, California - Fresno County -
$7,126
1058 Parksdale, California - Madera County - $7,129
1057 Earlimart, California - Tulare County - $7,169
1056 South Dos Palos, California - Merced County -
$7,170
1055 Winterhaven, California - Imperial County -
$7,220
1054 Shackelford, California - Stanislaus County -
$7,250
1053 Palo
Verde, California - Imperial County - $7,275
1052 Biola,
California - Fresno County - $7,375
1051 Kettleman City, California - Kings County
- $7,389
1050 Arvin,
California - Kern
County - $7,408
1049 Coachella, California - Riverside County -
$7,416
1048 Bret
Harte, California - Stanislaus County - $7,481
1047 Traver,
California - Tulare County - $7,642
Education
Image:Berkeley glade afternoon.jpg|UC
Berkeley
Image:Stanford campus aerial photo.jpg|Stanford
Image:RHall.JPG|UCLA
Image:USC Bovard Auditorium enh.jpg|USC
California's public educational system is supported by a unique
constitutional amendment that requires 40% of state revenues to be
spent on education.
The elementary
schools are of varying effectiveness. Mandatory full-time
instruction begins at age 6.
The preeminent state research university is the University of
California, which employs more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution in
the world and is considered the world's finest public university
system. The nine general UC cam
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