2 San Diego Uptown News | Feb. 18-Mar. 3, 2011


NEWS


Hillcrest hosts San Diego’s ‘Roadmap to Recovery’


By Scott Landheer SDUN Reporter


A spirited debate flared up at


the Hillcrest Town Council meet- ing on Feb. 8 as big names in San Diego politics presented their plans to get the city out of its cur- rent financial crisis. Moderated by Scott Lewis, CEO


of voiceofsandiego.org, the forum was made up of: Carl DeMaio, San Diego City Councilmember; Mi- chael Zucchet, general manager, San Diego Municipal Employees Association and former City Coun- cilmember; Mike Aguirre, former San Diego city attorney; and Alan Gin, associate professor of eco- nomics at University of San Diego. Each participant was given


20 minutes to present. Residents were encouraged to submit ques- tions in writing to Lewis. Focusing on three aspects of


his “Roadmap to Recovery,” De- Maio said the city needs a com- prehensive plan, reform of the pension system and to refigure how the city delivers services by looking for best management prac-


tices. “There is no way that we will be


able to fix our city’s financial prob- lems or save any of our services from further cuts if we do not re- form the pensions,” DeMaio said. “Mathematically, the realities are sobering.” Lewis introduced Aguirre to talk about bankruptcy. “When you’re in elected office,


it’s hard to talk about bankruptcy,” admitted Aguirre in response to Lewis saying that Aguirre himself didn’t like to talk about bankrupt- cy when he was city attorney. “There is no way to make the


San Diego pension system work,” Aguirre said. “The way that we get out of this—and there’s only one way to get out of it—is to shrink the debt. The way you shrink the debt, now, is in the bankruptcy court.”


Aguirre said San Diego should


still ratify all of its other commit- ments and bond obligations so there would be no issue with cred- it. Everyone who actually worked and contributed to the pension would receive all of the benefit,


but those who got credits and didn’t pay for them would not. Lewis


introduced Zucchet, who pro- vided the comic relief by describ- ing himself as a “recovering poli- tician,” representing the largest union.


Carl DeMaio Zucchet criticized a chart used


in DeMaio’s plan that showed pen- sion payments climbing to near $500 million by 2024, when the chart stops. Zucchet pointed out that the pension actuary projects numbers 30 years out. “Why stop after the first 15


years?” Zucchet asked. “It gets dramatically better after the first 15 years. First it falls off a ledge, and then it falls off a cliff. And the pension payments decrease by hundreds of millions of dol- lars. It just so happens in the


see Roadmap, page 8 Gov. Brown’s budget proposal


threatens redevelopment agencies Could Uptown's revitalization falter under the new restrictions?


By Margie Palmer SDUN Reporter


Gov. Jerry Brown has told Cali-


fornians that a “vast and historic” restricting of government opera- tions would need to take place in order to balance the state’s $25.4


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billion budget deficit. Yet one pro- posal in the governor’s fiscal year 2011-12 budget plan—the disband- ment of redevelopment agencies— has garnered harsh criticism from elected officials. Established by the passage of the California Community Redevel-


opment Law in 1945, the function of redevelopment agencies (RDAs) is to invest money in deteriorating or blighted neighborhoods to spur re- vitalization and increase economic activity. Through that process, property values within an area in- crease, allowing for an increase in property tax revenue. These in- creases—referred to as tax incre- ments—are then utilized by local governments to help finance future redevelopment projects. Annual statewide tax increment


funds total approximately $5 billion. Although state law requires 20


percent of increment funds allo- cated to redevelopment be utilized to subsidize low-income housing, a number of municipalities continue to carry large balances for hous- ing expenditures. Brown said that because of this abuse of funds, and because little evidence exists that redevelopment attracts businesses to California, that those monies should be put to better use, such as funding schools, law enforcement and fire protection agencies. San Diego City Councilmem-


ber Todd Gloria, whose district includes neighborhoods within Uptown, said that the disbandment of redevelopment agencies will do more harm than good. “Getting rid of redevelopment


will have a tremendous effect on our neighborhoods,” Gloria said. “Although most people think of redevelopment as funding big proj- ects such as Petco Park, the Con- vention Center and the downtown library, the majority of our time is spent on creating affordable hous- ing and neighborhood-scale infra- structure projects.” Among those projects are side-


walk improvements, street light upgrades and the Renaissance at North Park, which created 110 units of affordable housing at Uni- versity Ave. at Oregon St. City Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer has also been a


see Redevelope, page 5


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