C I T Y L I G H T S Descriptions of the
potholes left on the city’s website show the extent of the problem. In a February 8 request,
posted to the City of San Diego, a resident writes of “at least 20 potholes on the stretch of road, Carrol Road between Camino Santa Fe and Miramar. It’s so dan- gerous to drive, everyone just swerves in the other lanes to avoid all the pot- holes. This needs immediate attention, someone is going to get killed on this stretch of road.” One Clairemont resident
wrote in a February 3 com- plaint of “Another pothole that has bent and now broke [one] of my rims. I want my rims fixed this is ridiculous.” A man in La Jolla wrote
to inform the city of a large pothole in La Jolla. “Large pothole in this area caused a flat tire on my vehicle. I hit the pothole during the evening when it was raining which made it difficult to see and therefore unavoidable.” In a January 2015 report,
city staff identified $580 mil- lion needed for street and road-pavement repairs and modification projects, or 15 percent of the city’s $3.9 bil- lion infrastructure backlog. The dollar amount increases when factoring in repairs to sidewalks and the addition of bike lanes.
Road to perdition San Diego’s roads have been in disrepair for years. According to a 2016 road- assessment survey, 60 per- cent, or 1800 miles out of San Diego’s 3000 miles of paved streets, were consid- ered to be in “good condi- tion,” whereas 34 percent, or 1020 miles, received a fair grade. Last year, road crews filled approximately 33,000 potholes, according to city numbers provided to the Reader. Despite the average num-
bers, city officials and mayor Kevin Faulconer lauded
C I T Y L I G H T S
C I T Y L I G H T S UNDER THE RADAR
Golfcrest Drive near the base of Cowles Mountain (with road work signs suggesting repairs are underway)
the report. Just five years earlier, in 2011, engineers identified only 35 percent of San Diego’s roads to be in good condition. “We’re going in the right
direction, but we still have roads that need fixing,” Faulconer told a city-coun- cil committee in September 2016. “It’s a quality-of-life issue. Whether you are driv- ing your car or riding your bike, San Diegans deserve good roads.” In an effort to address
the problem of crumbling streets, Faulconer has set aside $109 million in fis- cal year 2017’s budget with promises to repair 1000 miles of streets over the course of the next five years. Despite the improve-
ment, the fact is that 40 per- cent of San Diego’s streets are in poor condition. That much has been evident in the growing number of lawsuits filed by pedestri- ans and cyclists hurt as a result of San Diego’s poor
road conditions. Accord- ing to city data, the city has paid nearly $667,000 in legal settlements for pedes- trians and cyclists injured on city streets. Most recently, in December 2016 the city agreed to pay $235,000 to cyclist Cathleen Summer- ford who suffered serious injuries after running into a 3-inch-by-15-inch pot- hole on Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. Settlements and legal
payouts will not end any- time soon. Trials in other cases involving potholed city streets are scheduled for later this year. Samantha Ollinger,
executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group BikeSD, criticized the city for taking a response-driven approach to repairing San Diego roads and having to shell out hundreds of thou- sands of dollars in legal set- tlements that could have been spent making sure continued on page 31
Like Trump, like Bersin The tumultuous rollout of president Donald Trump’s immigration policy has at least one member of the Fifth Estate yearning for the good old days of Alan Bersin, the controversial border czar under Democratic president Bill Clinton and later head of Customs and Immigration under Barack Obama until the senate failed to confirm him. “When I began as U.S. attorney in San Diego during the Clinton administra- tion in 1993, the border was in fact out of control. Illegal immigration was rampant,” says Bersin in a February 13 online piece by Sebastian Rotella of Pro-
Publica.com. “We went from 3000 Border Patrol agents to 22,000 agents today, more than 18,000 of them on the south- west border. There were massive investments in technology, air reconnaissance, sensors. This completely altered the border.” But there remains room for improvement,
adds Bersin, sounding to some like a prospective lobbyist for military contractors eager to mar- ket costly border-protection gear to the govern- ment. “To the extent that President Trump means strengthened border security, I am fully in favor of the idea that the rule of the law, secure bor- ders, and public safety should prevail.” Bersin says he would bolster Trump’s proposed brick-and-mortar wall with Mexico with high-tech alter- natives. “You need a strategy that involves layered defense: deployed patrols, sophisticated sen- sor equipment, and surveillance from the air.” Back in May
the form but did not enter the date that she signed it,” the senate finance committee report found. “It appears that the nominee [Bersin] was not famil- iar with the form I-9 requirements to establish that an employee was legally authorized to work in the United States.”
Alan Bersin seems a pro on immigration
policy...and a beginner on how to properly vet household personnel.
$250,000 immi- gration art Public art, $1.2 million worth, is being commissioned by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to adorn the main airport’s forthcoming Federal Inspection Services facility, says a Febru- ary 8 call for propos- als. “This opportunity is
for an Artist or Artist team to
design, fabricate and install an art glass treatment within an approximately 270´
Art-starved?: baggage claim at Lindbergh Field, aka San Diego International Airport
2010, Bersin had his own immigration dust-up when it was revealed during his senate confirmation hearings for cus- toms chief that he repeatedly failed to properly vet his household help regarding their legal residency. “Mr. Bersin did not timely and completely prepare and maintain Forms I-9 for any of the ten house- hold employees he employed, as required by law. One I-9 was timely prepared by an employment agency, but the employee did not sign or date the form and Mr. Bersin’s spouse, Lisa Foster, signed
long by 13´ high partition wall along the south edge of the baggage claim hall of the FIS facil- ity,” says the notice. “The artwork design may be composed of abstract elements or feature narra- tive content that unfolds across the width of the wall. The artwork will be visible from both the interior of the baggage claim hall and the exterior curbside area, particularly when illuminated at night. The imagery that comprises the design should reflect a cohesive theme or approach.” The cost is estimated to be $900,000. In addition, artists are being sought to “fab- ricate and install a suspended artwork within the ‘meeter/ greeter’ lobby of the Federal Inspection Services facility. The meeter/greeter area is where friends and loved ones await and unite with arriving international pas- sengers. The art- work design should be light and airy, and communicate a sense
of welcome and embrace reflective of the function of the site. The selected Artist may consider subtly activating the work with analog kinetic features or including integrated lighting elements.” The estimated price tag is $250,000.
Stadium payoffs The controversial plan by a stealthy group of La Jolla money men known as FS Investors to replace city-owned continued on page 31
San Diego Reader February 23, 2017 3
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS WOO
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