By Lisa Mortensen
While I encourage research on housing policies in order to find solutions for the chronic need for affordable housing, going to Austria to find out about government subsidized housing programs that work in that country appears a bit untimely.
At a time when the County of San Diego, the City of San Diego, and our State all have deficits, this junket seems to be a pipe dream. In addition, the urgency of this announcement made now is perplexing since next week is the County Supervisor election which would bring all 5 members into the discussion on this further.
However, what is really saying the quiet part out loud that calls this trip into question is the fact there is a $15,600 payment to Jennifer LeSar’s academy which is sponsoring this junket. Ms. LeSar who is founder of a for-profit global development company, is also the spouse of former Senator Toni Atkins. This is a glaring conflict of interest and politicizes this trip. We know the myriads of housing policies that benefited developers and have been destructive to our communities, have been passed at the state level and were sponsored by Ms. Atkins while she was head of the State Senate. By merely disclosing this in the attached article does not eliminate the questionable relationship and raises concerns by your constituents.
I realize you are taking this money from your district funds but shouldn’t this money be better spent than a trip to Austria? Since Ms. LeSar is the lead organizer and host paid on this junket and lives in San Diego; wouldn’t it be more prudent to use her expertise as the lead advisor in a local forum to save travel and lodging costs? During these times of lean budgets, to spend this money on a trip you will be taking seems excessive and would be better spent on your district’s needs for more bang for the buck.
So, in conclusion, let’s call off the trip and do this important work in a more prudent manner with many policy professionals from all disciplines, including the community members who in the end will be the taxpaying stakeholders.
Thank you for this observation.
Vienna has a renowned public housing system that was developed over 100 years ago. It’s hard for me to imagine this type of public housing succeeding in our country. There has to be a national will to provide free or affordable housing to everyone.
Our tax dollars keep going to a candidate for Governors wife. That in itself is suspect. To spend our tax dollars on a frivolous event that won’t add any value to helping secure more homes for our Seniors, Veterans, and families.