The Candidates State Their Cases. 2nd Council District : RICH GROSCH

Challenger Rich Grosch, 46, is former director of alumni affairs at United States International University and a former City Council aide . He chairs the Ocean Beach Planning Board. Grosch has a master’s degree from USIU. He lives in Ocean Beach.

The citizens of San Diego are upset. They perceive that the leadership of San Diego has failed them. They believe growth is out of control and feel their quality of life is deteriorating. The citizens are right.

The San Diego City Council has been putting its own political agenda ahead of the needs of the city for many years, and the voters are fed up.

The 2nd District in San Diego is unique, in that many district issues are also city issues of great import. Several of these offer startling examples of how personal political agendas take precedence over the best interests of San Diego.

Many residents in District 2 live in the crash zone for Lindbergh Field. They want Lindbergh Field closed now. The city of San Diego has long recognized the need for a new airport to replace Lindbergh. It would appear these needs are mutually supportive. In fact, council member Ron Roberts talked of closing Lindbergh Field when he was elected four years ago. It was a great way to get votes.

A study conducted by Sandag established East Miramar as the best location for a new airport: Central to the county; largest amount of open acreage for a non-residential crash zone; land already in public ownership--the logical solution.

Except, Ron Roberts now wants to be mayor. Too many San Diego voters live near this logical location. What to do? Let’s build an airport near the border and keep Lindbergh open.

This solution doesn’t serve the district, and it doesn’t serve the city. It just panders to NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) emotions. But it will help Ron get elected mayor. This is failed leadership.

Another example is public safety, which should be our first priority. Four years ago, Roberts pledged to increase the police force to 2 officers per 1,000 population. Now he and the city have abandoned this goal. Some say the goal is arbitrary. But we know the current number of officers is not doing the job. I say let’s rededicate ourselves to 2 officers per 1,000, using redevelopment funds to help pay for it.

When downtown redevelopment was begun, San Diego had fat budgets. We were promised these properties would be redeveloped and returned to the tax rolls to generate more taxes in the future. A good investment.

To spur the redevelopment, large amounts of property were removed from the general tax rolls and placed into a special category. As these properties increased in value, the additional taxes were set aside for more downtown redevelopment. In addition, the city loaned the redevelopment agency millions of dollars to get started.

But why spend tens of millions of dollars redeveloping downtown, if we are afraid to leave our homes? We could use much of this pot of property taxes for more officers if we change our priorities.

When these properties were removed from the regular tax rolls, county and school budgets also were affected.

So, returning downtown properties to the full tax roll would mean more money for our schools, for cultural and after-school programs.

More money would also be available for the county for mental health needs, and help get the sick off the streets.

These are higher priorities than shiny new buildings.

Except, Ron Roberts now wants to be mayor. Too many big donors are making big profits off of continuing downtown redevelopment. So Ron has pledged, “I will not take one dollar from downtown redevelopment for any reason.”

We need new leadership at City Hall.