Commentary : Things Aren’t All That Rosy in ‘America’s Finest City’

The San Diego that was, is no more. We are no longer some obscure border city. People no longer call us a “Navy town.” The city’s dominance by what author John Gunther once called “geranium growers” is long past. Like it or not, we have become a major American city.

Like many, I am frequently distressed by what I see happening to the city I love. I know God does not allow us to reclaim the past, but that realization does not lessen the mounting frustration I feel over the steady erosion of a quality of life that made this city so special.

We have serious problems that will not go away by pretending they don’t exist. Invoking memories of the past will not save the future. Preferring the bliss of ignorance to the pain of knowledge may appeal to many, but it is a frame of mind that imperils our ability to confront major issues.

The problems we face--growth, the breakdown of our sewer system, inadequate police protection, water shortages, airport relocation and an outmoded form of municipal government--are within our means to resolve. However, they require leadership, not alone from those in political positions, but from the business and private sectors as well. We have not had that leadership, which is why these problems have reached such serious dimensions:

- Growth: It is the most pressing of issues because from it all others arise. The city’s inability to establish a growth policy and stay with it means both builders and environmentalists are constantly jerked around. No sooner is a building moratorium imposed then it is lifted because someone threatens a lawsuit. Faced with a growth-limiting proposition on the November ballot, the city reacts by attempting to substitute one of its own. The consequences of this yes-we-do, no-we-don’t approach to policy are confusion and consternation all around.

I find it difficult to accept that a solution to the demands of growth is beyond our means. While it is thought “smart” politics to beat up on builders, it is an endeavor that achieves little in real terms. The portrayal of builders as greedy, ravenous creatures whose sole objective is to destroy the quality of life here is irresponsible. There are builders whose mentality may be defined as plow-it-up and pave-it-over, but the entire industry should not be penalized because some in the profession have the aesthetics of a slug.

Builders, no less than environmentalists, have a right to expect a coherent policy from the city; what they have gotten is anything but.

While I have no sympathy for builders who want to litter hillsides and canyons with condominium projects, thus destroying one of the most vital and attractive of San Diego’s physical characteristics, I do understand their bitterness over public policies so frequently in a state of flux; policies not enhanced by a city Planning Department sorely in need of reform.

- Sewers: The sewer infrastructure of this city is breaking down. It is so serious a problem that the estimate of costs to upgrade it has been in the billions of dollars.

The city’s Band-Aid approach to dealing with sewer spills is not working. The constant pollution of Mission Bay alone--all or part of it was closed 277 days the past two years from the spillage of raw sewage--is ample proof of how inadequate the city’s efforts are.

What’s needed is a massive commitment of men and materials to replace a bad system--one that is a direct threat to the health and well-being of this community.

Failure to face this problem--and face it now--should eliminate the pretense of San Diego’s being called “America’s finest city.”

- Water: We’re running out of water, but our ability to delude ourselves about this critical resource is unending. Presently, we’re at the limit of our pipeline capacity, meaning we cannot bring in any more water than we already do. Plans to build another pipeline, at one-half of present capacity, which assumes the availability of water from somewhere else, are 12 years in the future.

San Diego’s annual rainfall cannot support all the flora and fauna that grow here. If you want to know what this city looked like before Colorado River water arrived, look to the brown hills of Tijuana.

Northern California water reserves are down by 25%. The Metropolitan Water District has placed San Diego on a one-year notice--the first time ever--that, if the Northern California situation doesn’t improve, it will either reduce or cut off water needed for San Diego agriculture, an important aspect of this region’s economy.

But, if you are looking for answers on how we meet the issue of finding additional water resources, beyond feebly advanced “conservation” proposals, you will look in vain. It simply isn’t there. In the meantime, the clock keeps on ticking.

- Police: Consider this: Of America’s largest cities, only two, San Jose and San Antonio, have fewer police officers per person than San Diego. It is scary to realize that, on any given eight-hour shift of the San Diego Police Department, fewer than 400 officers may be on the streets. Four hundred officers to deal with a population of more than 1 million people is not a statistic designed to increase one’s sense of security, especially at a time when violence on our city streets is on a dramatic upturn.

What’s being done about it? Damn little.

Efforts to increase the police force are met with budgetary limitations, which are real enough, but there is a marked failure to consider other means by which this critical need for officers might be met. Like many “political,” issues this one will be ignored as long as those in public office think it is safe to focus their attention and energies elsewhere.

Meanwhile, other local police agencies, including the marshal’s office, consisting mainly of glorified process-servers, offer higher salaries for a job virtually devoid of danger. Why is that allowed? Why is it tolerated? Why should the San Diego Police Department have to compete with other law enforcement agencies in the area of salary? The officers who face the biggest danger should receive the highest compensation. Period.

- Airport: We need a new one. Yes, I know, Lindbergh Field is so close to everything, and the view of downtown and Balboa Park on final approach to its one runway is very pretty, but it is an inadequate facility in a dangerous location. Moreover, we’re nearing the end of Lindbergh’s capacity to deal with increasing passenger loads.

Over the years, various locations have been offered as potential sites for a new airport. The location most often mentioned is Miramar, the most logical of potential sites. Of course there is a slight problem: Miramar is under the control of the Navy. I refuse to believe, however, that the Navy must have the last word on this.

Accomplishing it would be difficult. But, if the city, the San Diego Unified Port District and the federal government work together, I believe they can find a way to build a new airport. The city must be the catalyst, however.

- Government: The present council-manager form of government was adopted by San Diego in 1932. It is a system that ill-serves a major city, and it is not serving the interests of this city now.

We need a strong mayor form of government. We need to put the power where the responsibility is--with elected officials. The City Charter gives the day-to-day authority to the city manager, a person not directly answerable to the voters.

When Pete Wilson was mayor he was smart enough, skilled politically to such a degree that he assumed the de facto powers of a strong mayor. He demonstrated leadership in office, even if much of the time that leadership was based on power he did not legally have.

Major decisions made today concerning San Diego are not made by the city manager, but by the mayor and the City Council.

That’s a fact of political life, so why continue the charade? Why pretend we function under one system when, in reality, another is in place?

The Charter Review Commission appointed by the mayor and council has a chance to do something about this, to put an end to the lie that the city still operates as it did more than 55 years ago. Whether it has the courage remains to be seen.

Six problems. Six serious issues. Each goes to the heart of this city’s future. How they are resolved will determine whether the quality of life here, once so taken for granted, continues to slip away--or whether we will act to preserve it.

When people tell me how wonderful San Diego is, I always respond with caution. I do so in the knowledge that perception is not reality. Between the things that seem, and those that are there, is often a sizable discrepancy. But San Diego still has the chance to be as wonderful as others think we are.