By Lisa Mortensen
To Mayor Gloria and all Councilmembers:
San Diego City Planning Commissioner, Kelly Moden, must resign her appointed position as head of the Planning Commission. Your selection of Ms. Moden’s one-person development company to renovate 101 Ash Street is filled with terms that are an ethical quagmire.
Awarding her development company $24 million dollars of credit on Development Impact Fees on the Ash Street project is just one more glaring display of impropriety.
In addition, Ms. Moden is the lead developer on the controversial 2935 A Street project in Golden Hill which is another siren call of conflict of interest.
It is obvious that Ms. Moden should remove herself from her post. But what is truly outrageous about this is that we, the taxpaying citizens, must call this glaring hypocrisy to your attention.
WOW! This is unbelievable that Todd Gloria can’t see the total conflict of interest is absolutely amazing, or is he so accustomed to not paying any attention to rules/laws/regulations, he seems to get away with not following and appointed her? He is destroying San Diego at every opportunity, BUT Gavin Newsome did the same thing to San Fran when he was mayor there. Now he’s trying to do the same thing to CA and the voters keep going for his okie doke. Between the City of SD and the State of CA, we’re circling the drain in many ways.
Seniors Have the Most to Lose in Next Years San Diego City Council Election
The upcoming election for seats on the San Diego City Council will have enormous consequences. If history is precedent, voters will make the same mistake again, in choosing the perceived front runners as if betting on a horse at the Chantilly racetrack.
Baby Boomers have a moral obligation to preserve the heritage of the Greatest Generation. The City of San Diego can no longer turn its back on seniors. The two major political parties that get candidates in office have failed the elderly. Relying on nonprofits during a time of national strife and budgetary cutbacks will not work. Financial assistance for low-income seniors is scarce. So, the ballot box is the only option.
Many older people in our city cannot pay their water bills, property tax, gas and electric, not to mention basic necessities as food and transportation. Assessing a fee for trash pickup was the coup de gras. Installing this fee on property tax bills was immoral. But will voters remember coming next election? I doubt it. Now many in government want to put their claws on Proposition 13, the Jarvis Gann initiative of 1978 which limits property tax increases to 2% a year. Given their way, the elderly would go homeless. Then we have water bills which seem to increase every 2 months. Many are behind in payments and potentially will never catch up. What will the city do in recovering water fees? Elected officials have no plan to address all these costs to seniors. Is there a senior department in the City of San Diego bureaucracy?
What is the city doing to make seniors healthier and increase health and life spans? Nothing. Instead of offering free park and recreation activities, transportation, and lowering the cost-of-living expenses, the city raises taxes and fees for low-income elderly taxpayers. But year after year, ad nauseum, most voters only consider those candidates who are well funded and perceived as a winning candidate. These candidates only care about the party line which feeds them and not the voters. The million-dollar consultants who run these immoral campaigns, could care less if seniors cannot pay their water bills. But again, the voters are blind to their own best interests. For example, seniors could care less about riding a bike to Vons to buy a baguette. Yet they vote for those espousing more unneeded bike lanes. The golden years ought to be golden not tarred in rust.