La Jollans Seek Some City Powers

Aiming at a larger voice in their own future, La Jollans are working on a plan in which neighborhood governments would assume some key local decision-making powers from the San Diego City Council.

According to a recent study authorized by La Jollans for Local Control, the wealthy seaside enclave could become a pilot project for other San Diego neighborhoods seeking a greater role in overseeing the way city funds are spent on public services.

San Diego would still provide major services such as police and fire protection, refuse collection, and water and sewage treatment. But services such as building code enforcement and public housing management would be handled on a local level.

The problem, locals say, is that the San Diego city government is becoming too centralized. Their plan is to take some community matters out of City Hall and solve them on a grass-roots level.

“When the city tries to do it all on its own it often gets burdened by details, and the bureaucracy merely stretches,” said Rob Whittemore, chairman of La Jollans for Local Control. “We want to see what details we can work out on our own.”

Many La Jollans realize that a drive for any form of independence will not come without a fight from San Diego city officials. Many say the chances of incorporation or even getting a limited form of local control are “about as good as the south seceding from the Union without a Civil War.”

Paul Downey, a spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, acknowledged that the neighborhood government plan would encounter rough sailing within the City Council.

“I don’t think you’re going to see any support for an idea like that--such a radical change in the government structure,” he said. “There’s going to be little support for a new neighborhood body with a say-so over even a portion of the budget.

“That’s what the City Council was elected to do. You’d be breaking up San Diego into a bunch of small mini-governments. I mean, I guess we’d then have to do the same for San Ysidro and other cities. Where would it stop?”

Whittemore said his group is still interested in the possibility of incorporating La Jolla and has joined a Los Angeles-based consortium seeking to change a state law that gives cities a veto over incorporation.

The local group has been contacted by the New Wilmington Committee, an organization seeking to consolidate the efforts of more than a dozen would-be cities throughout Southern California and lobby Sacramento legislators to ease the restrictions on the creations of new cities. Wilmington is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles seeking incorporation.

But that lobbying effort could take years. In the meantime, Whittemore said, La Jollans are exploring ways to expand their own voice in local government.

The results of a study outlining an elected neighborhood government that would assume control over a small part of city revenues targeted for the area will be presented next week at a meeting of La Jollans for Local Control.

“The basic services would still be provided by the city,” Whittemore said. “But this way the community could have discretionary control over some part of the budget. We might decide that having concrete streets is very important to us--more important than the stoplights for which the city has allocated.”

Locals could also decide to hire extra police protection or reallocate existing police services--whatever could be worked out with the Police Department, Whittemore said.

Another facet of the proposed plan--based on a elected neighborhood government proposal defeated by voters in Sacramento County--would give the city 30 days to consider measures voted upon by the neighborhood group, he said.

“Whatever happens in La Jolla could happen citywide,” Whittemore said. “We could be a pilot program that could help to relieve the burden of some city agencies such as the planning department that are spread real thin right now.”

The duties of the neighborhood government could be handled by a newly elected body or a group such as the La Jolla Community Planning Assn.

Such details could be worked out in the coming months if the idea receives enough popular support, he said.

In the meantime, La Jollans for Local Control plans to approach community groups in La Jolla--including the Town Council and the La Jolla Community Planning Assn.--for their opinion on the plan before soliciting the views of the mayor, City Council members and citywide community planning members.

The group will also authorize a second study to examine the taxes La Jollans pay versus the city services they receive. That study should take about four months to complete, Whittemore said.

“We anticipate that the amount of taxes will be much greater than the level of service,” he said. “We want to see just how much the disparity is. The purpose of a city is not to have the richer communities supporting the poorer ones. We should get what we pay for.”

A recent poll of residents showed that La Jollans have growing concerns over a lack of police presence in their community, a decaying roadway infrastructure and a feeling that city government is so big that it fails to discern their needs.

Lisa Gonzalez, an aid for Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer, who represents a city district that includes La Jolla, said city officials are waiting for the results of the second study--to see if La Jolla is indeed being shortchanged in the services it receives for its tax dollars.

“Is La Jolla getting its fair share?” Gonzalez said. “We don’t know. The councilwoman is waiting for the study to be done so she can have some real numbers to look at.”

But Councilman Wes Pratt, whose district includes Southeast San Diego, said it is preposterous for La Jollans to assume that poorer neighborhoods rely on their tax dollars.

“That’s humorous,” he said. “I was under the impression that people were entitled to their services from the city of San Diego, not La Jolla. They too have services--libraries and things--that are provided by the city as a whole. It’s a give-and-take situation.”

La Jollans for Local Control is an offshoot of “Incorporate La Jolla,” another grass-roots effort that was formed last year with the single aim of incorporation.

“In the beginning, there was an awful lot of San Diego bashing going on, and that was not healthy,” Whittemore said. “We’ve got to work together with city officials to make the system work better.”

Whittemore, a 46-year-old La Jolla real estate broker, also said he plans to step down next week as chairman of the group. “I think we’re right on target on where we ought to be,” he said.

“I promised I would give it a year. Now it’s time for someone else to take over the reins.”