Public Vote on a New City Hall in SD – Can Downtown Power Brokers Flip One of the Four Councilmembers?

The political drama surrounding the effort to move forward with building a new City Hall building never seems to stop.

Back in February, four members of the City Council announced that they wouldn’t support moving the project forward without it going to a public vote, presumably in the November 2010 election.

The four on the Council to take this stand were Donna Frye, Sherri Lightner, Carl DeMaio and Kevin Faulconer.

In spite of this apparent commitment, the pressure seems to be turning up as of late to avoid letting voters decide on this $300 million project. The U-T reported on a prominent downtown lobbying group, the “Downtown Partnership,” urging City officials to reverse course and make a decision to move forward with the project without a letting voters decide. From the U-T:

“In addition to being legally unjustified, a November ballot measure will cost the taxpayers over $250,000,” Partnership Board Chairman Scott Maloni said in a statement. “Such a wasteful expenditure is unconscionable at a time when limited resources are forcing the City to close libraries; leave parks unmaintained and require rolling ‘brown outs’ at fire stations.”

First, a comment to Mr. Maloni: Despite what self-appointed “elites” like Malin Burnham seem to think, taxpayers aren’t too stupid to judge the merits of building a palace for downtown city government when the City is teetering on financial insolvency. Maloni objects to spending $250,000 on letting taxpayers decide if they smell a rat behind the numbers on a project that is promised to “save them money”?! Compared to $293.5 million, $250,000 is a drop in the bucket. (Quick math: 0.085%, to be exact).

But the real story here is not the Downtown-bloc putting pressure on the Council to get what they want. That’s status-quo in San Diego. The story is this: which one of the four might they be able to flip? Let’s take a closer look:

Donna Frye: She answered this question for us this week.

“It may be legally OK [to build without a public vote], but for me it’s not OK at all; this is a giant project…It’s time the public be able to have a voice in how their money is going to be spent or not be spent.”

Carl DeMaio: When pigs fly. This guy has been the lead opponent of this project since the beginning. I just can’t see him doing anything to help the project move along.

Kevin Faulconer: Given that he represents downtown, he seems like the most susceptible to flip-flopping if the powers that be in his District really turn up the heat. But Faulconer has worn his support for putting the project to a public vote like a badge of honor, so much so that I put him as the LEAST likely to flip his vote next to DeMaio. His ballot statement this most recent election contained this promise:

“I pledge to block any new City Hall project that does not include a public vote. I will ensure your priorities are reflected in City spending.”

To me, he risks SERIOUS political repercussions for a flip-flop of that magnitude right after making it a major campaign pledge. I don’t think he could flip even if he wanted to.

Sherri Lighter: By far one of the more quiet members of the Council, she seems like the only possibility left. But does she have any allegiance to the downtown establishment? That remains to be seen, but recent evidence says, “no.” She opposed the new downtown library along with DeMaio, so it would appear she doesn’t simply cave to their pressure. If she retains her position, it appears that none of the other three will, either.

Given how eager the union-beholden members of the Council like Hueso, Gloria and Emerald are to rubber stamp this project without putting it on the ballot, do you think there may be some labor union goodies built-in to that cost figure? Perhaps a Project Labor Agreement (PLA)? Or maybe union labor is already built-in to the costs? Could the costs to taxpayers be lower without handing labor a practical monopoly on this construction project? (I posted on Marti Emerald talking about the financing coming from a union trust fund several months back. Why would a union trust fund chip in cash without getting something in return? Answer: they wouldn’t.)

Here’s to hoping that we all get the final say on whether this proposal gets to proceed in November. The ability of Faulconer, DeMaio, Frye and Lightner to hold their position amidst sure-to-increase establishment pressure will be the deciding factor.