By Paul Krueger
Those of us who opposed the City Council’s rush to approve the Midway Rising development agreement were disappointed that Council Member Raul Campillo didn’t do more to stop that runaway train.
Campillo has been a reliable and extremely well-spoken advocate for good governance and financial responsibility. His opposition to the inflated trash collection fee and paid parking in Balboa Park were more than just “no” votes.
He explained in common-sense terms that both proposals were bad public policy built on flawed economic data, and he predicted the taxpayer backlash that forced the Mayor and council majority to reverse course.
Campillo harbored very serious reservations about the Midway Rising deal, but it was obvious long before Monday’s meeting that he had no support from his colleagues to rework the proposal, or even just delay its approval to allow a more complete — and perhaps independent — review of the credible concerns voiced by opponents.
In the end, Campillo cited the new supply of affordable housing, the thousands of jobs, stronger protections for taxpayers, and the revitalization of the Midway District as reasons for approving the deal.
But Campillo’s “yes” vote was tempered by his pointed, on-the-record critique of the development deal, and a promise to hold the developers to the contract terms.
And he made two very strong statements on important issues that his colleagues always avoid.
He spoke first about the need to acknowledge the value of concerns raised by opponents and show respect for their contributions to the deliberative process:
“I want to apologize to many of the members of the public who have been really disrespected,” Campillo said.
“Residents who took time to read documents and raise difficult questions have been mocked and belittled and berated by people entrusted to represent them. (But) those residents are not enemies of progress. They are constituents exercising a right that belongs to us all.
“They deserve our respect, and elected leaders do not prove themselves to be strong by belittling the people who disagree with them. In fact, the persistence of so many of the critics of this project helped force important questions into the open.
“I appreciate their work, and while it’s obvious where the votes are on this project, it does not erase their concerns and the contributions of the public.”
Campillo then discussed what he said was a “larger problem” about the approval process for Midway Rising:
“It’s the way that the city actually negotiates major land deals. It’s a structurally flawed process.
“A developer who cannot get a concession from the mayor’s team and the negotiating team can go to one council member, and another, and another, and if that doesn’t work, they can have other channels of influence and the inevitable pressure on city staff.
“And meanwhile, elected officials announce publicly their priorities, and the non negotiables, and how desperately they want deals to happen, telling the other side what matters to them most. And then they wonder why we’re receiving so little.
“Communicating that this project is essentially a do-or-die project is not wise, because when you tell the person across a negotiating table that you’re never going to walk away, you’ve already surrendered your most powerful negotiating tool.
“The development team has every reason (to believe) that the mayor and council (are) determined to make this project happen, no matter what. (And) once the other side believes you will never walk away (from negotiations), they no longer have the incentive to make good concessions.
“Future councils should learn from this process, negotiate together, maintain discipline, and never give away the city’s ability to say ‘no’.”
Campillo’s acknowledgment of the immense value of dissent in political decision making and his public critique of the city’s deeply-flawed negotiating style won’t be enough for some Midway Rising critics.
But he should get significant credit for speaking truths that none of his colleagues would ever publicly state, or, sadly, even understand.
