Earlier this week, Jerry Sanders unveiled his budget proposal (full proposal here) for city council review and vote. The budget is, perhaps unsurprisingly, mostly a corruption of the notion of "fair" and revives the locally legendary magic budget fairy to close a $60 million gap. It's a mess all around, but budget cuts unnecessarily target retirees and low-income city employees in the name of "fairness" and far too many are willing to roll over because it's easier and deficits are scary.
$11 million in fees and $3.8 million from the Library Systems Improvement fund are, at first blush, relatively minor. But the rest of the $60 million will come from several eyebrow-raising locations. $17.8 million will come from a surprise rainy-day fund that nobody outside of the financial folks seemed to know about until recently (efficiency at its finest). As Councilmember Gloria noted, reflecting on a midyear budget vote to close 7 libraries and rec centers "I shudder to think what would have happened if the council consented to doing that only to find $17.8 million that is currently available." The City Attorney tried to defend nobody having any idea about this money by basically saying 'running a city is complicated'. It fell to City CFO Mary Lewis to defend the mayor's office:
"In prior budgets, we were looking at how do we right-size the city," Lewis said. "It was just a different policy discussion about the budget and balancing the budget."
I mean, I suppose running a city is complicated. But I mean, if it's your job...
The remaining $30 million would come from an across-the-board 6% paycut for all city employees from the mayor on down. You may be familiar with this concept under other names like flat tax, fair tax, increased sales tax, etc. Basically, a regressive financial hit cloaked in the guise of fair. Thing is, rent and utilities and food and gas and a thousand other things that people need in order to live don't change in price based on percentage. So as has been explained a thousand times before, without allowances for cost of living, these sorts of cuts hit hardest those who make the least. Which is a problem for its proponents..
I don't know what the specific ratio of placating-the-masses to completely-out-of-ideas might be, but San Diego's city government is asking for ideas. The big one is Mayor Sanders soliciting lightning bolts on budget cuts. I'm kinda terrified to imagine what this might elicit, but maybe there'll be a few gems. At the very least, it's a nice shift from his consistent (if often unsuccessful) fits of dictatorial governance.
At the same time, a charrette (pdf) is kicking off soliciting bright ideas for community redevelopment, specifically the Grantville area. SD Business Journal explains that the neighborhood "is undergoing a Master Plan transformation that could prove a blueprint for the greater redevelopment of our neighborhoods throughout the city."
There's lots of talk about "stakeholders" and communities investing in their own futures, which is a good start. And with the San Diego Democratic Party bouncing back fast from rock bottom in the June primary to strengthen its hold on the city council, hopefully this is the beginning of legitimate dialogue with the community. The November election brought a consumer advocate reporter (Marti Emerald), a long-time community volunteer (Sherri Lightner), and a Housing Commissioner and District Director (Todd Gloria) to the board. Three people who are, at the very least, used to soliciting opinions and perspectives from the broader community as an essential function of their professional lives. It's a valuable shift in mentality that the Mayor seems to also be picking up on, even if it's also a reflection of how few good answers seem to be forthcoming these days.
We'll have to wait a while for the payoff. In the meantime, a little more openness is a decent place from which to start.
Update I should add that Mayor Sanders has taken the request for ideas to twitter. It isn't exactly Debra Bowen, but it's a lot better than many politician accounts. At least he's stepping outside the tubes and into the ether.
With the San Francisco and Los Angeles Quarterlies ready to kick off tomorrow (watch out LA, I'm coming), let's take a pictoral tour through last week's San Diego event. Consider this an open thread, but focus on how great Calitics is :).
Some of the last revelers of the night (L to R: cmanaster, Ron Shepston, orangeclouds115, Major Danby, a very demonic looking Lucas O'Connor)
