Thursday, December 30, 2010

UT Editorial: Nathan's Work an Example of Raw Leadership

SDUT: Raw Leadership
by Scott Maloni & Lorena Gonzalez

Approval ratings for incumbent elected officials are abysmally low. People are tired of politicians not getting anything done. They are tired of bitter partisanship, they are sick of platitudes and political posturing – they just want their elected leaders to do what’s right and to produce real results.

Recently, this political utopia actually happened.

Two weeks ago, when the state budget was passed, San Diego’s legislative delegation successfully eliminated the financial cap on redevelopment investment downtown. This was a monumental act that will be a great benefit for our region for decades to come.

This effort will mean tens of thousands of new jobs, an expanded tax base to support critical city services and a continued commitment to ensuring that San Diego has a vibrant urban core. With the cap lifted, we can complete hundreds of projects, including transit improvements, affordable housing, parks, environmental infrastructure and an expansion of our convention center, just to name a few. Importantly, this means that we can complete the economic revitalization of San Diego while creating good, local jobs for our county’s residents.

By all accounts, the region has come a long way. Downtown redevelopment has transformed an unsafe, seedy area into a flagship for the country. Crime has dropped, economic activity has increased and tourists come here from across the globe. It has been a success for many, but the job is not done.

The City Council recognized this fact, and most members expressed a desire to lift the cap, as long as certain community improvements and job-quality concerns were explored. They voted to spend $500,000-$1 million to undertake a lengthy study. Stakeholders from across the spectrum, including the unusual partners, labor and business, agreed. Lifting the cap, and having a community conversation about how the money would be spent, was a great thing for the San Diego region.

So what’s in it for San Diego taxpayers living in suburban neighborhoods? Plenty. Downtown redevelopment has been a tremendous success for taxpayers, turning a blighted area that used to be a drain on city resources into an economic engine creating revenues that benefit every neighborhood in the city. Lifting the cap will result in a net increase of at least a quarter of a billion dollars in general fund revenue over the next 30 years. These new funds can be spent on police, fire and neighborhood services throughout the city.

State law requires that 20 percent of all new property taxes from downtown be set aside for affordable housing, resulting in the development of an estimated 4,600 affordable-housing units that can be built citywide. And many local leaders have committed to pushing for even more of that money to spent on affordable housing.

Bottom line, expanding redevelopment investment will generate more tax revenue for San Diego, not less.

So why the sour grapes now? Most of the hue and cry over the process is coming from phony advocates of economic expansion who never intended to support lifting the cap, or from politicians who are staking out their run for another political office. These actors have now been smoked out.

Despite the misgivings and misunderstanding on the part of some local pundits, this legislation was not unprecedented. In fact, a similar action was taken last year for the city of Glendora.

San Diego County historically is a “donor county,” sending more tax revenue to Sacramento than is returned. But through raw political leadership, our bipartisan delegation, led by Assembly members Nathan Fletcher and Marty Block, came together and did the right thing. They put party politics aside in order to get San Diegans working once again.

In this instance, the people of San Diego actually got what they wanted – a real commitment for good local jobs and economic expansion. Their leaders put aside partisanship and figured out how to work the system to benefit the region’s taxpayers. They stopped posturing and did something – something that will have a lasting, positive impact throughout San Diego.

Our leaders worked within this system to get an extraordinarily positive result for our region.

We want elected officials who can actually get things done, despite the broken system.

We are lucky that Assembly member Fletcher and our bipartisan delegation, comprised of Sens. Christine Kehoe, Denise Ducheny, Dennis Hollingsworth and Mark Wyland and Assembly members Block, Mary Salas and Martin Garrick, came together. They put local jobs and economic development before partisanship.

Moving forward, our City Council, which has full control of the funds and redevelopment projects, has committed to a process that ensures public input before one dollar is spent. Now is the time to stop criticizing success and join the effort to make sure that good projects move forward and the people of San Diego get working again.

Maloni is chairman of the Downtown San Diego Partnership. Gonzalez is secretary-treasurer and CEO of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

UT Editorial: Nathan's Work an Example of Raw Leadership

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