San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Tony Young
Aside from the fact that a mass killing of redevelopment would get Brown only about one-sixteenth of the way to a solution to the $26.6-billion deficit—hardly making for an easy way out—it’s local officials like Young who appear to have no stomach for difficult choices.
At the press conference, CityBeat asked Sanders, Faulconer, Gloria and Young if they’d be willing to urge Republican state legislators to agree to Brown’s request to place measures on a special-election ballot this year that would extend sales, income and vehicle tax increases that voters passed in 2009. The tax extensions, if successful, would cut the budget deficit nearly in half. Brown needs a few Republicans to go along with the majority Democrats in order get the measures on the ballot. Only Sanders answered, saying he isn’t willing to negotiate over taxes until Brown comes to table to discuss redevelopment.
After the press conference, Young said he’s not willing to campaign for a tax extension. Why? First, he said it would have no chance of passing. Maybe not, but it certainly can’t pass unless it gets on the ballot. Then he cited Prop. D, San Diego’s proposed half-cent sales-tax increase that voters overwhelmingly defeated last November. Aside from the fact that Prop. D would have increased taxes while Brown’s proposing extending taxes that people are already paying, Young did nothing to help campaign for Prop. D. He wanted it to pass but wasn’t willing to ask his constituents to vote for it.
Young then repeated his charge that Brown was taking the easy route by wanting to kill redevelopment while sidestepping other politically unpalatable options, such as reforming prisons. State lawmakers tried to relax criminal-sentencing laws in 2009 in order to save money by reducing prison populations. We don’t recall Young leading any cheers for prison reform back then; nor do we recall him criticizing Assemblymember Marty Block when Block, a Democrat, joined Republicans in voting no.
Young, a Democrat, wrapped up his analysis by doing his best impression of Republicans Sanders, Faulconer and City Councilmember Carl DeMaio, chiding state lawmakers for not cleaning up their own mess by cutting spending and reforming employee pensions. Yawn. Yes, state employee pension levels are currently unsustainable, but that equation necessarily involves revenue. Pension spending is just one line item in a complicated state budget—you could end annual pension and prison spending and still not close the current deficit. And Brown’s budget includes more than $12 billion in spending cuts, much of it from higher education and social services. The road to the present budget crisis has many twists and turns, starting with 1978’s Prop. 13. (The Sacramento Bee has a good explainer at sacbee.com/budget— scroll down to “Overview of California’s Budget Crisis.”)
We don’t know if local officials could exert much influence over their counterparts at the state Capitol, but if they want to save redevelopment, they had better try. We would think Brown would trade $1.5 billion in redevelopment savings for a chance at $12.5 billion in tax revenue any day.
Brown is a heavyweight who approaches negotiations the way they should be approached—from a firm position. Young, on the other hand, is acting like a lightweight city politician who loves to complain about the big, bad state but isn’t willing to stick his neck out when the going gets tough. Young either needs to grow a spine or refrain from silly finger-pointing and empty rhetoric—or both.
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