From Neighbors for a Better San Diego
Now that the 2024 election is final, Neighbors For A Better San Diego would like to highlight several trends that may have been missed while attention was given to more high-profile races:
SANDAG’s transit plans aren’t credible. NFABSD has repeatedly emphasized the flawed assumptions of SANDAG’s transit plans, especially as applied to San Diego’s overreaching Sustainable Development Areas. In rejecting SANDAG’s 1/2 cent sales tax increase (Measure G) and opposing Circulate San Diego’s candidate for the 79th Assembly District, voters are telling SANDAG to focus on realistic, cost-effective transit.
San Diego needs to rethink land use and housing development. The torrent of YIMBY policies to deregulate the housing industry has failed to meet the demand for moderate and low-income rentals. Existing naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) is being torn down to build premium high rises. Additionally, competition from ADU apartment developers and short-term vacation operators has made San Diego one of the country’s most expensive housing markets, squeezing first-time homebuyers out of the market.
Trust goes a lot farther than bullying. The hallmark of the Gloria administration has been blaming, marginalizing, and silencing those who question housing and homelessness policies that lavish special interests with favors while doing little to address the city’s needs. This explains the Mayor’s underperformance relative to other incumbents as well as the defeat of San Diego’s 1-cent sales tax increase (Measure E), even as voters in other cities in San Diego County trusted that their elected officials would make wise use of sales tax increases.
The overarching message of the election is that voters are tired of a City government that relies on divisive rhetoric to cover bad policies rather than uniting residents around pragmatic, data-driven policies that are convincing on their merits. NFABSD hopes that the voters will be heard and respected by City Hall and that the Mayor, Council, and Planning Department will consider the input of all stakeholders in future city planning.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who ran for office. We especially thank those candidates who attended our forums and responded to our questionnaire for being willing to present their positions directly to the public.
Not passing G and E says volumes with an 11.7% water rate hike coming and the ensuing trash tax on the horizon.
Stay strong, San Diego, and keep expressing your displeasure with TG…particularly with regard to his abhorrent (and transparently self-serving) actions to (in his words) address the housing crisis. By allowing thousands of permitted STVRs and supporting luxury high rises (with only a handful of “affordable units”) in neighborhoods that lack the infrastructure to support them, he has shown his true lack of regard for a very real crisis. It’s a shame to see our beloved neighborhoods, each with their own character and charm, destroyed for the sake of developers’ profits and with NO additional affordable housing actually created.