A few days ago I posted an article noting that simply having a Republican mayor in a city doesn’t guarantee that person a seat on the San Diego Association of Governments board.
Last week, Vista Mayor John Franklin nominated himself as the city’s representative to SANDAG, but his city council colleagues — a majority of them Democrats — denied him the post. Given that in many cities the mayor solely has the authority to nominate, in Vista that played out with Franklin not offering up another name for consideration, for now leaving the SANDAG seat open.
In an era of the volatile SANDAG board jousting over significant issues like the controversial Regional Transportation Plan and the potential of road user fees (sometimes called vehicle mileage taxes) being charged on drivers, the countywide planning agency has become highly partisan.
As noted previously, some area GOP mayors were heartened by fellow Republicans getting elected to mayoral posts around the region, especially in Chula Vista with the election of John McCann. As Chula Vista is the second largest city in the region, a Republican representative would have a huge impact on the “weighted vote” numbers at SANDAG, in which voting outcomes are based on each city’s population instead of simply one vote per city.
Yes, I’ve backed into this for the sake of some background and explanation.
Suffice it to say here that the results of last night’s Chula Vista City Council meeting are that Mayor McCann will not be the SANDAG rep, with the Dem council majority opting for themselves, or as some might call it, “everyone but McCann” to serve as the city’s primary, first alternate and second alternate positions. Respectively, that’s Andrea Cardenas, Carolina Chavez, and Jose Preciado.
It’s not clear yet what this all means as far as pure numbers at SANDAG. With Vista out for now, it looks presently like a 9 Dems, 8 Reps situation with at least one city TBD as to whether they select a D or an R.
That is, if anyone besides me is counting. (Tongue pasted to cheek.)
Comments 5
Freedom of travel should not be a partisan thing and that’s what it’s come down to! Democrats are supposed to be for the working-class but their transportation decisions hurt the working class and low income families the most. How long will it be before we look like the former Soviet Union where only the rich and party elite can afford the freedom of travel we enjoy today.
I can see scenario where they make buses and trolleys free. Then we will all wholly subsidize their cost, which I bet are doing to the tune of about 75% now? Of course, I advocate taking a bicycle, which requires no subsidies!
Interesting how two city councils, Chula Vista and Vista, could both stop their recently elected mayors from choosing the Sandag representative, that is normally the mayor’s selection and often the mayor themselves. Hmmm…Curious!
Well, if the Democrats ramrod through SANDAG’s approval for a mileage tax and multiple sales tax increases, it might not bode well for their locals running for city council races in upcoming elections. The city council Democrats are now on record supporting this madness.
And even if SANDAG votes to support all this, these taxes still requires a vote of the electorate countywide. Even Democrat voters don’t like this idea. There’s a GOOD chance those taxes are not gonna pass.
Upsetting. We lost Vista by only 30 votes! So sad :/