Residents From Across San Diego and Councilmembers Question Mayor Gloria’s Budget Priorities — But Where Is Outrage from Ocean Beach?

Mayor Gloria is struggling against the pushback by residents from across San Diego and by City Council members in reaction to his proposals to offset a $258 million budget shortfall. He has proposed deep cuts to parks, libraries, recreation centers, youth programs, bathrooms during the off season, beach fire pits, and San Diego Humane Society’s animal services.

In the midst of all this, Voice of San Diego calculates that the city is headed “for its biggest budget showdown in the 20 years since the city adopted the strong-mayor form of government.” Gloria and councilmembers “not only disagree on top priorities, they are showing open contempt for one another.” Councilmember Henry Foster mused that perhaps it’s time to scrap the strong Mayor system. The Voice hits one of the nails on its head:

A major bone of contention is the Mayor’s insistence on retaining unclassified managers at City Hall while simultaneously seeking to cut park and library services and impose parking fees at Balboa Park while eliminating dozens of positions.

Meanwhile, The Times of San Diego (recently merged with Peninsula Beacon et tal.) questioned coastal residents whether they thought there was a better way for the city to address its budgetary woes. Several were quoted:

Sha Rose of Ocean Beach said: “Bathrooms, libraries, etc., it’s going cost more if they aren’t open. This isn’t the answer.”

Point Loma nursery owner Walter Andersen was quoted: “If they close the restrooms, it will be a huge mess. Mission Bay is a huge asset to the City and should be funded properly. This should include fire rings. I see the lifeguard stations need some attention, also. This should have been planned for, too. Who’s running the show?”

Michael Pallamary of Bay Ho Alcott said: “The mayor and City Council have created a new agency called DODGE. They advise our elected officials on how to dodge questions about where our tax dollars are going. Down the drain we go. A City in ruin.”

On  Parks & Rec cuts, Henish Pulickal of Pacific Beach said she favors sparing parks and rec centers from the budget ax contending that “parks and recreation centers are considered essential utilities to communities for health and safety. “We encourage the city to restore the assistant recreation center director positions in Parks and Rec as they are vital to keeping the full park hours intact, while delivering vital programming to our youth and families that is needed. We urge the City to explore other non-essential options to cut across departments that do not have such a devastating and direct impact to communities as a public safety and health issue.”

Natalie A. of Clairemont said: “Don’t spend $250 million on unwanted bike Lanes.”

And earlier in the month, City Heights residents had something to say about the proposed cuts to San Diego’s libraries and recreation centers. They staged a rally and one of the main messages was that proposed cuts to libraries, rec centers were inequitable. (Remember when Gloria pledged to make city services more equitable?)

As reported by KPBS, Jimmy Figueroa, the Chicano Federation’s director of advocacy and community organizing, said: “We cannot afford to lose funding in spaces where hope and opportunity still exist for families who cannot afford private camps or after school programs for their children.” Mayor Todd Gloria’s initial budget proposal would reduce rec center hours from 60 to 40 hours per week and close all libraries on Sundays and Mondays.

City Heights resident Ana Gonzalez said families like hers would have less access to things like the teen center, dance classes and homework help. “They’re not going to have any other options,” she said. “They’re not going to have the opportunity to go to another place.”

Although an OB resident was quoted (see above) in one of the articles, there is still no sign of outrage among Ocean Beach residents in mass or from organizations that usually stand up for the community. The OB Community Foundation, suffering from a name change and recent scandal, just elected 7 new members to its board while 3 other veterans are resigning. This means there is no leadership from a group that is normally on the front lines of defending against city cut backs. The OB Planning Board doesn’t like to get involved in other than planning issues and the OB Mainstreet Association looks out for its member businesses — and not necessarily for the community at large.

But OBceans need to take a lesson from other communities in standing up to Gloria’s slash and burn methods.

The Rag believes that the city council and mayor need to defund the more than 200 middle managers who all make 6-figures. As Paul Krueger wrote in the Rag last week, “cut positions, not programs.” Plus, do away with the stashed funds for the miles of bike lanes that crisscross the city and that hardly anyone uses.