OB Rag Staff Report
Before San Diego City Councilmembers voted unanimously November 9 to approve the $4.2 billion Midway Rising project, they were presented with two conflicting scenarios for the future of the Sports Arena district.
Speakers backing lead developer Brad Termini (who was in attendance) envisioned a Shangri-La with lots of affordable housing, plenty of green space, great jobs, minimal traffic, and new revenues filling up city coffers.
Project opponents, nearly all of them community leaders, catalogued very real risks, from environmental (flooding that could unleash buried toxins) to financial (the tangled terms of the deal could produce another 101 Ash Street fiasco).
When the council members prepared to vote after 7 hours of discussion, the real question they faced was:
Do you feel lucky? Do you believe that nothing untoward can happen, in nature or in finance, to make this another San Diego land use debacle?
These excerpts from statements in opposition are sobering. On the financial picture, Marc Frederick, a commercial real estate broker and former City real estate disposition manager, delivered a grim prognosis:
“The Sports Arena district is worth $75 million. A fair return on that investment is about 6 percent annually, or $4.5 million a year. This agreement calls for the developer to pay the city $100,000 a year for the first 15 years. That is basically a 0 percent return.”
“The Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District is a roughly $500 million tax credit that the city is giving back to the developer with interest. So this deal has been structured in a way that has the city paying more to the developer in tax subsidies than the developer is paying to the city in rent.”
“The citizens and the city of San Diego were poorly represented in these negotiations. This council is getting very bad investment advice. There are ways to make this project work. You can still build affordable housing, and you can still do a deal favorable to the labor unions. But the citizens shouldn’t be left holding the bag. They shouldn’t have to pay a $500 million tax subsidy to a billionaire real estate developer.”
On the environmental picture, Patty Ducey-Brooks, publisher of the Presidio Sentinel and a long-time Mission Hills community leader, presented evidence that the project poses a real threat of flooding and contamination:
“Experienced geologists have reports containing serious facts about the composition of what’s underground, not just under the Sports Arena but what’s under the surrounding communities. Toxic wastes need to be addressed before properties and lives are jeopardized. This is Ash Street on steroids.”
“What about toxic remediation? What about the water table rising? What about sewer lines and utility lines being impacted by saltwater? FEMA recently put out a report showing that this is on a flood plain. Ignoring that fact doesn’t make it go away.”
“Saltwater is coming up the storm drains, and it’s not a one-time occurrence. Sewer lines are breaking. This is a constant problem driving down Morena Boulevard. The news media has been covering this. One report said, ‘Flooding at the site of the Morena sewage pump station blamed on erroneous analysis of underground water.’
“The Morena district is not an island unto itself. Communities that surround this area are going to be impacted: Old Town, Uptown, Peninsula, Point Loma, Ocean Beach. Those communities have not had a voice in this. But now we’re here. You must take the time to understand how we can do the right thing with this project.”
We close with a lesson in San Diego history from Rag writer Paul Krueger, who reminded councilmembers that they must listen respectfully to all viewpoints:
“Diann Shipione was a Pension Board trustee who raised serious concerns about reducing contributions to the city’s retirement fund. City officials tried to discredit Diann. But a SEC investigation vindicated her and prompted the resignations of the auditor, the treasurer, and Mayor Murphy. We now face a $4 billion pension deficit because Diann wasn’t listened to.”
“Today, you will hear from knowledgeable residents acting in good faith urging you to stop the rush to approve this proposal. Please do not ridicule or dismiss their concerns. Please don’t join Councilmember Lee in mischaracterizing valid critiques as ‘a proposal to do nothing in the Midway District.’ And please do not accept Council President Joe La Cava’s dismissive claim that skeptics are ‘wallowing in the past.’”
“As yesterday’s Union-Tribune editorial wrote, ‘While many San Diegans have valid concerns that this project will go very wrong very fast, city leaders hold a bizarre belief in the quality of their leadership. Skeptics are wallowing not in the past but in the present. We are all praying that City Hall is not about to add to its 30-year history of costly and avoidable bungling.’”
So, yes, we’ve been here before. Each one in a long line of calamitous City Hall deals began this same way. The Mayor demanded immediate approval. Staff presented visions of paradise. The people of San Diego pushed back. The Council dismissed and even scorned their constituents.
Then, when the deals imploded, we found ourselves with an Etch-A-Sketch City Council. They erased all traces of their awful judgment. They admitted no wrong, accepted no responsibility, and suffered no consequences.
Given the size and scope of Midway Rising, if this goes wrong, it will go horribly wrong, and there will be hell to pay. We’ve been warned.
