This week's feedback

Studying outsourcing

This is in response to your Oct. 21 editorial, “Is Goldsmith a political bullshitter?” Rather than focusing on the details, let’s discuss the bottom line: Will “managed competition” reduce city expenses and help improve the San Diego economy?

This is a great opportunity to assess the value of “managed competition.” The mayor has already distributed some RFPs, and he plans to prepare more to outsource functions currently provided by city employees. The city needs to hire an independent entity to evaluate the financial benefits of this process. Costs for the past two years should be gathered and published prior to outsourcing work. Costs can then be gathered each year to compare prior costs to outsourced costs.

In addition to the direct costs, indirect costs must also be considered. If the city outsources jobs outside of San Diego, some people in San Diego will have no work and end up on unemployment. More houses will go into foreclosure, purchasing power will be reduced and our tax base will be negatively impacted. It’s even worse if the jobs end up outside the U.S. 

This is a perfect opportunity to evaluate the facts. Let’s not leave it up to a bunch of politicians to spin the results. I just hope one of the City Council members reads this and will move forward with this idea.

Waste of time and money

About “Still a swastika” [“The Front Lines,” Oct. 28]: It’s unclear to me as to why the U.S. Navy should allocate any funding for re-design of the barracks in question. What great cause does CityBeat feel they are crusading for? A construction which can only be seen via aerial photography, formed in the shape of a symbol widely recognized as offensive, is a quick front-runner wagon to jump on. 

The U.S. Navy has every right to deny request by the ADL. However, by way of response to both e-mail and public announcement, all indications point towards the ultimate goal expected by of those offended. 

An expensive and time intensive re-design of a functional structure to appease CityBeat and other easily offended human beings should not be a priority in military defense spending. Contrary to your belief, this structure holds zero connection to Nazi Germany and the ideals of the political party in power during the distant past. People are not being cooked to death inside this structure, none of the rooms contain cruel and unusual physical punishment chambers and unless your column writer can produce evidence of such actions within, you are not only bringing to light a non-issue, you are also wasting valuable energy and ink in the equivalent act of expecting a neighbor to remove an offensive design and/or color scheme within their backyard because, by chance, you were browsing on Google Earth and happened to notice a portrait of Norv Turner covers the bottom of their pool.

Fiction flopped 

CityBeat is a terrific weekly with first-rate editorials and very talented writers. Decker, Kolodenko, Belfer, Luna, et al, consistently produce thoughtful, funny and (agree or disagree) compelling material. It’s great reading—sadly, unlike the Fiction 101 winners [Oct. 14]. 

With a few exceptions they were, well, the opposite of thoughtful, funny or compelling.  Yes, I know it’s a different genre, but c’mon.  It’s as if the judges were stoned or scored points for incoherence and sophomoric wit. Not trying to be highbrow, but surely there’s better stuff out there. Hope we see it next year. 

Up with gentrification 

Contrary to the letter writer who pronounced gentrification a failure in North Park [“Farewell, Forte,” Sept. 2], The Advocate featured North Park’s success in the “Adventure” section of its November ’09 issue. (When the premier national LGBT magazine recommends your neighborhood as a travel destination and pronounces your gentrification successful, I’d say that’s pretty compelling evidence.)

Kicked off by The Mission opening a location here, gentrification continues to bring amazing eateries to North Park, particularly on 30th Street. The Linkery is rated the top farm-to-table restaurant in the country.

An out-of-town guest dining at George’s (La Jolla) was advised—by George’s waitstaff—of four recommended restaurants, all on 30th.

Sure, gentrification of El Cajon Boulevard is a tough sell, but I didn’t think that was the goal of the North Park Main Street (NPMS) organization—El Cajon is just too darned ugly, with few, if any, historic buildings to preserve. However, University and 30th have really turned around since I moved here in 1996, when NPMS gentrification efforts began.