Posts Tagged ‘san diego city council’
You wanna win? Be present
Dwayne Crenshaw and meMost people know nothing about local politicians and just about everyone else knows one or two things about them. So if the one thing a politician is known for is charm, he or she is probably winning on Election Day.
I haven’t seen any research that tells me this but it’s a theory that makes sense to me. To find out what I’m talking about, chat up San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria. He packs a lot of charm into a 60-second conversation. Gloria, and successful politicians like him, have a genuine interest in people.
An Analysis of the District 4 Special Election Precinct Results
Last Tuesday, the City of San Diego held a special election to fill the vacancy left in the 4th Council District by outgoing Councilmember Tony Young. Using GIS software and data from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters and the United States Census Bureau, the National University System Institute for Policy Research conducted an analysis of the precinct results, and Tweeted its findings this morning. Below is a Storify transcript of those findings.
Port Commissioner Veto: Filner Win or Gloria’s Failure of Leadership?
This morning’s UT had a scathing editorial which proclaimed: “That scream you heard just after 3 p.m. Monday was the San Diego City Council slitting its own throat.” The editorial noted the Council’s failure to override Filner’s veto was a “huge political victory in his (Filner’s) first tug-of-war with the council.” Read the entire editorial here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/11/port-commission-filner-veto-gloria-council/
What the editorial doesn’t directly address is Council President Gloria’s failure of leadership. Despite being awarded the title of Council President by acclamation, Gloria was unable to secure even one override vote from his 3 other democratic colleagues. To date, his coalition of 5 has been the 4 Republicans; a coalition that one can only assume is built upon convenience for the Republicans, not any sense of loyalty that he should have secured from his democratic colleagues.
Faulconer’s open letter to Mayor Filner
Today, Mayor Bob Filner and two new San Diego City Councilmembers — Mark Kersey and Scott Sherman — were sworn into office. In his op-ed in Sunday’s U-T San Diego, Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer laid out areas the new mayor and City Council can focus on together to keep City Hall accountable and working for San Diegans. In case you missed it, you can read Faulconer’s open letter to Mayor Filner here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/01/a-councilmans-message-to-mayor-elect-filner/
Matt Awbrey is Communications Director for Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer.
‘This race between Ray Ellis and Sherri Lightner could be a real game changer’
There is a segment that ran yesterday on KOGO (95.7FM/600AM) we think is worth sharing because it touches on an important political storyline that has yet to gain a lot of traction. Tony Manolatos, a communications consultant and Rostra contributor, and KOGO’s LaDona Harvey discussed the race between Ray Ellis and Sherri Lightner for the San Diego City Council District 1 seat. You can listen to the segment here (fast-forward to the 21:11 mark), or read the transcript:
At Least the Fleece Awards Were Cute: SDCTA Hands Out 2012 Goldens
Smart governing decisions saving taxpayer dollars and collaborative initiatives took top honors, while cavalier attitudes and lost opportunities were called out and shamed at the San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA)’s 17th annual Goldens Awards Dinner, held at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in Mission Valley.
Remote controls were nowhere in sight as the evening’s theme “Taxpayer TV: We Can’t Make This $#!% Up!” entertained the appreciative audience who shared the details of the exclusive video parodies highlighting the program via social media. As in past programs, elected officials, members of the news media and other public figures willingly humiliated themselves in a good-natured send-up of the year in government news and achievements in San Diego.
Council candidate says DeMaio pressured him to drop out
San Diego mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio tried to pressure 7th District City Council candidate Rik Hauptfeld into ditching his campaign in an apparent effort at improving fellow Republican Scott Sherman’s chances of winning the seat, Hauptfeld said today in an exclusive interview with San Diego Rostra.
DeMaio’s campaign manager, Ryan Clumpner, issued a statement denying the allegation.
“He met with Rik once, and was very clear that he was not asking him to drop out of the race,” Clumpner said.
Bipartisan City Council Coalition Vows To Cut Red Tape So S.D. Businesses Can Create Jobs
Faulconer, Young and Zapf seek "Regulatory Relief" for San Diego businesses
“Time is money.” It’s an all-American saying that every small business in San Diego lives by.
Today, City Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer joined Council President Tony Young, Councilmember Lorie Zapf, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and Building Industry Association of San Diego to committ to helping businesses spend less time navigating the City bureaucracy so they can focus on generating more money – for their families, for our local economy, and for job creation.
Report: New SD City Council Districts Will Spur More Competitive Elections, Shape Future Policy Debates
SAN DIEGO – New Council District lines drawn for the City of San Diego will likely create more competitive elections and shift the balance of power at City Hall. Those are the major findings of a new study published today by the National University System Institute for Policy Research (NUSIPR).
On August 25, 2011, the seven members of the City of San Diego Redistricting Commission adopted new boundary lines for City Council Districts, while also adding a ninth Council seat. NUSIPR used GIS and database software to analyze voter data available from county, state and federal government agencies.
Faulconer to Review Over 300 Recommendations to Improve City Operations and Boost Efficiencies
Audit Committee to also consider proposal that could recover up to $500,000 from payment errors
Have an idea to fix City Hall and save taxpayer dollars? The independent City Auditor has over 300.
This morning at 9:00 at City Hall, Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer — chair of the City Audit Committee — will be reviewing 313 recommendations to save tax dollars and improve City of San Diego operations. 176 recommendations from independent City Auditor Eduardo Luna have not been implemented, with some dating back to 2008. Faulconer will be pushing the City to follow through on putting these ideas into effect.
Attention, Class: This WILL Be On The Test Monday
Rostra columnist Jim Sills posted a question on my recent post “Calling San Diego Taxpayers: Oppose the “Jobs Tax” asking San Diegans to oppose a proposal by the San Diego City Council to double linkage fees.
Sills had the courage (and the smarts) to ask an obvious question. What the heck is a “linkage fee”?
I called on Chris Cate, Vice President of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association to get a little schooling on this for Rostra readers. Cate was happy to oblige.
Hey, pipe down there, you in the back. Pay attention – this WILL be on the test!
Calling San Diego Taxpayers: Oppose the “Jobs Tax”
The San Diego County Taxpayers calls upon San Diegans to voice their opposition to a proposal by the San Diego City Council to double the so called “linkage fee” charged to construction projects in the City of San Diego. This fee is yet another short-sighted job killer and SDCTA is strongly opposed to this increase.
The Council will also consider setting this fee on “auto-increase” going forward, a sneaky little maneuver which no longer requires a vote of your elected officials to increase this job-killing tax. This action may be taken despite a historic recession and without regard for the concerns voiced by business leaders that this would further hurt jobs creation and economic recovery in San Diego.
Help For Small Businesses in San Diego?
Lorie Zapf and Tony Young have released a Small Business Assistance Package designed to help small businesses cut through the red tape of city government and get the local economy growing. The effort is in part the result of an outreach effort by Zapf to small businesses. Some key provisions.
1. Code Compliance Amnesty
2. Small Business Liaison / Code Compliance Representative
3. Reinstitute Regulatory Relief Days
4. Business Improvement District Enhancement/Small Business Policy Innovation Zones
5. Implement Sunset Clauses in Business Regulations
A Q&A: Cuts to libraries and rec centers
I received an email Thursday from Voice of San Diego’s City Hall reporter asking for the councilman’s position on proposed cuts to libraries and rec centers.
I had written a blog post a day earlier on San Diego Rostra that said some local reporters weren’t giving the City Council much of a say in stories about the proposed cuts.
The email from Liam Dillon at the Voice said he was asking each council office the same questions, which resulted in a post published yesterday.
The threat of cuts to libraries and rec centers continues to gall some San Diegans, so I’m going to share each of the questions the reporter asked along with our response:
Odds of saving libraries and rec centers better than Lions making playoffs
Stories about budget cuts are easy to tell and reaction is fierce, but the coverage is often misleading
Just about every media outlet has recently and repeatedly told San Diegans the news isn’t good – massive cuts to your libraries and rec centers are coming.
It’s a great story for the overworked journalist. Easy to report. Easy to write. Readers, who rarely respond, write strongly worded letters to the editor. This prompts more of the same stories.
All of this would be okay if the storyline was a straightforward tale about pending cuts – but this is only half the story.
In San Diego: Employees vote; taxpayers don’t
Starting today, an important election involving city finances is taking place in San Diego, but taxpayers won’t be casting the votes.
Nope, this election rests with city employees, who have a week to vote on whether to eliminate a controversial and costly employee benefit – the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP).
Yes, in San Diego, employees have the final say when it comes to eliminating their own retirement benefits. Most taxpayers probably have no idea this practice exists, but it’s alive and well – and guaranteed under the City’s Charter.
Specifically, Charter Section 143.1 says:
We are not an ATM
Today’s editorial in the Union-Tribune is spot on, and I love the pocket-veto reference at the end. I made a similar argument last week.
Initially, when I heard labor and school leaders were walking the council floor trying to drum up support for a loan/advance I asked: “They want it added to the $4 billion wish list?”
“No,” I was told. “They want the money now.”
And they want it from an agency that is going out of business if the governor gets his way.
DeMaio Celebrates Another Victory for Taxpayers; CCDC To Assume Payments on Petco Park Debt
On the heels of the City Council action today to transfer debt service for Petco Park from the City’s General Fund to the Redevelopment Agency, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio released the following statement:
“Five years ago, I proposed that the City protect the General Fund by transferring annual debt service payments for Petco Park to the Redevelopment Agency and Centre City Development Corporation.
Today the City Council finally voted to permanently transfer these payments.
San Diego City Hall – Reading the Tea Leaves
Two articles in today’s U-T point to the growing realization by the City Council that the issues of fiscal responsibility raised by the Tea Party are the new reality.
Item 1. The council appears poised to rescind the big box economic analysis law in the face of Walmart’s successful petition drive. Key swing vote, Tony Young, council President is quoted as saying:
“With the city facing significant unemployment challenges and historic budget deficits, it is difficult to see the sense of spending over $2.5 million for a special election,” he said in a statement. Young said the money could be better spent elsewhere as the city faces a $53 million budget deficit.
Walmart San Diego – Labor’s Flawed Logic
Lorena Gonzales makes some absurd arguments in today’s U-T editorial section on the law to block WalMart from setting up “big boxes” that sell groceries without a special economic impact analysis that no other business is subject to. Here is the core of her argument, Superstores have unknown and potentially economic impact, so they should be required to submit to a special analysis before being approved. News flash, all new businesses have an unknown economic impact. If they didn’t then the central planning of the former Soviet Union would have made it the richest nation on the planet. Further, even if an analysis is performed, it is unlikely to predict the true effects of any new business. After scaremongering and passing along numerous lies regarding Walmart, she accuses the business of “bullying” the City Council with its petition drive. Bullying? Really? Exercising constitutional rights when being subjugated by local government is bullying? Remember this, which also applies to local government:
Earliest Race Returns Show Rider In Front
While San Diego’s voters won’t be casting ballots for months to come, there’s still plenty of competition among current and aspiring officeholders. In a head to head battle at the Scripps Ranch Four Mile Run last Sunday, December 12, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and would-be officeholder Steve Rider both finished in the top three of the 30 – 34 old mens’ division. In this race, Rider placed first with Fletcher coming in third.
San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio also ran the race and put in a respectable time. You can view all the results here.
Wayne says he will return contribution
Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat contacted SD Rostra to note that in response to his inquiry resulting from Jim Sills’ post of last night, San Diego city council candidate Howard Wayne said he ordered his treasurer to return the $100 contribution from Amerland’s Jules Arthur.
Rostra has verified the information as accurate; Wayne indicated he has directed the return of the funds.
The other question posed by Mr. Sills yesterday was how Wayne could have taken the donation, given the local media attention regarding the legal travails of Arthur. That question remains open.
On June 22, 2010 the Solano County DA’s office charged businessman Jules Arthur, and 4 associates, in the deaths of 2 senior citizens killed in an accidental Vallejo fire. (source Vallejo Times-Herald, Sept. 4, 2010).
The prosecutors say a Vallejo senior citizen project owned by Arthur’s San Diego-based ‘The Amerland Group’ burned down. 2 people lost their lives. The fire’s origin was purely accidental, but local newspapers report the building’s fire alarm system had been turned off. Arthur and his colleagues adamantly deny the DA’s charges of involuntary manslaughter and elder abuse. Their next hearing is set for October 18th in Fairfield, California.
If We Say It Enough, They’ll Believe It
The Yes on D campaign in support of the proposed half-cent sales tax increase in the City of San Diego has finally ginned up its efforts, less than eight weeks before election day. I suppose it took that long for the public labor union checks funding the campaign to clear.
Its first news release announced the campaign’s team members. It wasn’t the names that caught my eye. It was the logo. I nearly shot my coffee through my nose when I saw it. Fair warning to you before you take a look: http://www.twitpic.com/2nfisf
Evidence the SD sales tax is doomed
When the San Diego city sales tax was first agreed to this week by the city council, there was a short “Breaking News” piece on the U-T website. The next day there were over 200 comments. But what struck me was the OVERWHELMING rejection of the tax by commenters. Normally there is a hyperactive cadre of government employees commenting away (often on govt time), but they seemed reticent to come out and play on this.
Then today (Sunday 8/8/10) the U-T published seven letters to the editor about the city sales tax increase — ALL opposed. And I didn’t write any of ‘em!
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