SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Vote Yes on Propositions B and C

Given some of the San Diego City Council’s recent debates, recommending an expansion of that governing body seems akin to inviting more tongues to the tower of Babel. But we’ll take the long view here. Adding two seats to the current eight-member council should increase the electoral clout of minorities and improve representation for San Diegans in general.

Proposition B, placed on the June 5 ballot as the result of an out-of-court legal settlement, would accomplish this reform. It deserves voter support.

San Diego’s Latinos have long argued that their voting power does not reflect their 16.9% share of the city’s population. In 1990, they can still point to this embarrassing fact: no Latino has ever been elected to the City Council without first being appointed to fill a vacant seat.

The council’s new district-only election system enhances black and Latino voting power, because candidates chosen by district voters no longer must face citywide runoff elections. Now San Diego should take the next step and reorganize itself into 10 smaller districts, at least one of which would, depending on how the lines are drawn, include a sizable portion of the city’s Latinos.

San Diego’s population has increased by a half-million since the council was expanded from six seats to eight in 1965. Providing two more council members and adequate staff would provide somewhat better representation and access to elected representatives than the current system.

The expansion would cost at least $1 million in 1993, when the plan would be implemented, and nearly as much annually thereafter. That may mean higher taxes. It is a price voters must be willing to pay if new council members are to have a full complement of staffers to provide access and service.

City voters also should approve Proposition C, which allows for a reapportionment prior to the 1993 municipal election for the expanded council, if it turns out that the census figures used for the 1990 reapportionment prove to have been faulty measures of the city’s actual minority population. The City Charter prohibits redistricting twice in less than four years, but Proposition C would provide a one-time waiver of the rule.

Proposition C would have been better if it had required redistricting after each census. A 10-member council should adopt the habit of re-drawing boundaries only after census figures are out.