“Here’s
Your SIGN”
San Diego
Grammatical
note: Apostrophes are not allowed in a
URL, so the ‘ in here’s is omitted in the link.
Executive Summary
for people unable to read anything with more than the 280 characters in a Tweet:
A citizens’ ballot initiative is the
best way to force the historically corrupt San Diego city government to require
new large housing developments (a) to have substantial amounts of affordable
housing and (b) to mitigate the adverse effects of such developments.
I
live in San Diego, California. Lots of
people think that the most pressing issue facing the city is the shortage of
housing, especially housing for the lower middle class and the middle
class.
The pay-to-play
City government, controlled by its puppet masters in the Housing Industry, says
that the best way to increase the affordable housing supply is to allow the
Housing Industry to build whatever it wants to, wherever it wants to, and with
no priority for infrastructure needs.
Sure….
For the people who
buy into what the City government and Housing Industry say,
“Here’s
Your SIGN”
San
Diego
https://heresyoursignbackground.blogspot.com/2022/09/heres-your-sign-background.html
The reality
1.
San Diego is noted for having
-
A world-class university (University of California, San Diego)
-
World-class biotech (e.g., Illumina) and high-tech (e.g., Qualcomm) companies
-
World-class weather, by some measures the best in the U.S. and perhaps in the
world
-
Outstanding theater, cultural, family activities, and beaches (except for a few
frequently contaminated by sewage from Tijuana)
-
The most expensive per KWH electric rates in the continental U.S.
-
Decaying and inadequate infrastructure
-
Third-world streets
- Third-world
corruption in local government, but with first-world dollar figures
2. San Diego’s city government has a long
history of corruption, even to the point several years ago of the City Council
effectively doing the bidding of the adult entertainment industry. San Diego
old-timers know that when you wanted a favorable outcome from City government,
you would bring a sack full of cash when you talked to a decision-maker. These days, you bring your Bitcoin wallet.
Strip club owners
and the like come and go. The constant
in the corruption and pay-to-play in San Diego city government has been the paid-for
influence of developers, contractors, and major property owners. We won’t bother to give examples here; the
reality is well known to all San Diego residents except, perhaps, a few with
their heads in the sand.
The general
attitude of decision-makers in City government is, “Yes, we’re corrupt, and
everybody knows we’re corrupt. But if
you vote us out, what’s to guarantee our replacements won’t be worse.” And frequently the replacements have been
worse.
3. The most egregious recent example of City
giveaways to the Building Industry is the so-called “Complete Communities”
program. The Building Industry is
essentially allowed to build whatever housing it wants wherever it wants, with
no consideration for parking needs, height limits, increased traffic
congestion, or other infrastructure needs (parks, water, sewer, libraries,
etc.) – a multi-billion dollar concession to the Housing Industry. The arguments are that
a. On-site parking
won’t be needed; residents will take public transportation or Ubers, ride bicycles,
or walk to their work. To the contrary,
it is well established that in spread-out cities like San Diego about 75%-80%
of people will drive their own cars to work, and the rest will use other
transportation modes.
b. “Complete
Communities” will result in lots of affordable housing. The reality is that less than 10% of such
residences will be required to be affordable to people with incomes less than
$100,000 per year in 2020 dollars – a token amount of affordable housing.
Here are links to
a scathing analysis of the “Complete Communities” scheme.
In Word format:
In pdf format:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jN_67ekZFr9rPnhNswZNcjNpvbLZZDLf/view?usp=sharing
4. And the beat goes on. The City is proposing a major housing
development in the Midway district, an area already with some of the worst
traffic in San Diego (and that’s saying something!). Is there anything in the plan about relieving
traffic congestion? You guessed it. The developer selected by the City, at the
urging of the Mayor, is mainly notable for giving more than $100,000 to the
Mayor’s election campaign, not for successfully completing major projects. “Pay to Play” could well be the City
government motto.
This housing
project requires a citywide vote to allow taller buildings in the project. The historical ploy of the City government
and the Housing Industry is to pit one part of the city against the
others: “Why should this area have only
relatively short buildings?” The people
in the area that will be negatively affected have a hard slog to get the rest
of the city on their side. BTW: The ultimate goal of the City government and
the Housing Industry is to remove the 30-foot building height limit “West of
the 5” in places like Pacific Beach, which would be yet another multi-billion dollar
windfall for the Housing Industry.
If it’s unlikely
that the residents of San Diego can win battle-by-battle to stop the long-term
war by the City government and Housing Industry to turn San Diego into a
quarter-scale Los Angeles, how can the war be won? That brings us to the question:
What’s the non-stupid solution?
If going along
with the long-term plans of the City government and their puppet masters in the
Housing Industry is stupid, and fighting against each step in their plans is
futile, what’s the solution to wanting more affordable housing and not further
degrading the quality of life of San Diego residents?
What is needed is
a Citywide movement to pass a Citizens’ Initiative to stop the City government
and the Housing Industry from further degrading the quality of life of San
Diego residents, to stop the march to perpetual gridlock, to inadequate and
failing infrastructure, and – in general – to stop San Diego from becoming a
quarter-scale Los Angeles.
Here are links to
a draft of such an initiative which will both
a. Require large
new housing developments to have significant – not token –amounts of affordable
housing.
b. Require large
new housing developments to completely mitigate their adverse effects, or to
compensate both the City and residents adversely affected by the developments.
Draft Citizens’
Initiative in Word format:
Draft Citizens’
Initiative in pdf format:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wK3wCsiweYDdkD6jBV2sSLvhT5Ey8DPm/view?usp=sharing
If such a
Citizens’ Initiative were passed by the voters and became law, San Diego could
look forward to a much brighter future.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is
that the Housing Industry and their puppets in City government will fight tooth
and nail to prevent such a Citizens’ Initiative from becoming law. There’s an old saying, “Commonize costs and
privatize profits.” That is, the goal of
the Housing Industry is to have the taxpayers shoulder the infrastructure and other costs
attributable to their housing developments, and to have the needed
infrastructure costs not eat into their profits. They also want to build whatever level of
housing is most profitable for them, which is mainly luxury-level housing.
We can expect a
heavily-financed all-out war by the Housing Industry against such a Citizens’
Initiative, including a media and mail blitz, and outright lies from both the
Housing Industry and City government officials. about the consequences of the
Citizens’ Initiative (“If this passes, there will be no new housing built in
San Diego!”).
When the Citizens’
Initiative passes, the Housing Industry and their puppets in City government
will try to take legal action to block its implementation. That’s why it’s absolutely necessary for the
Citizens’ Initiative to include severe consequences for any organization, individual,
or government that unsuccessfully tries to block it.
How can such a Citizens’ Initiative be
passed?
The key isn’t
money; it’s a massive grass-roots campaign where neighbors talk to neighbors to
counteract the inevitable lies of the Housing Industry and their puppets in
City government.
The City
government in already in the process of disregarding and making irrelevant the
input of community planning groups and local town councils. These are considered speed bumps on the road
to the goals of the Housing Industry and their puppets in City government. If these groups got together to advance and
support a Citizens’ Initiative, and persuaded neighbors to talk to neighbors,
there might be a chance for San Diego to grow, to have the needed affordable
housing it needs, and to maintain its quality of life.
One can hope.
