There is more rain coming. And sure, that could be taken in a literal sense, given the forecast, but I’m more referring to the coming battles between our Republican mayor and the solidly Democratic, veto-proof city council. Over the last few months, I’ve looked at a number of issues and examined possible scenarios in which the council and mayor may agree or disagree. These issues included everything from the city budget and affordable housing, to homelessness and public transit. In this column, I will discuss infrastructure.
I hope these editorials served not just as a sardonic preview of what’s to come, but that readers will keep these issues in mind—or perhaps get involved—in 2019. (hint, hint, there’s a Land Use and Housing Committee meeting on Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. that will address housing affordability and reform. It is open to the public.)
Roads and infrastructure
While the council and mayor passed the largest infrastructure budget to date last year, I’m here to let you in on a little secret: when local politicians talk about repairing “infrastructure,” they’re rarely talking about roads and bridges.
Yes, I kid you not. Most of the city budget for infrastructure spending, which hit a record of $533 million last year, goes toward water and sewers/stormwater projects (over 80 percent). The rest of the infrastructure budget goes toward road repairs and other projects. That might sound shockingly low (and it is), but think of it this way: the city is way more concerned about citizen’s having safe drinking water and not wading around in poo than whether your car needs a new suspension because you hit a crater-sized pothole.
Road and sidewalk repair has always been a fix-as-needed type of project. The real problem, as was reported by KPBS last year, was the City Auditor’s Office assessment that there’s a $459 million funding shortfall for stormwater infrastructure. The repairs needed on these series of tunnels and pipes are, as the article states, “greater than any other type of infrastructure in the city, including streets, streetlights, sidewalks, bridges, parks or fire stations.” If unchecked, the city not only faces flooding, property damage and lawsuits, but jeopardizes compliance with clean water regulations. Even with over $100 million going toward these repairs, it’s just a drop in the bucket of what is needed.
Prediction: Every single councilmember currently on the nine-member board has vowed to “fix our roads” or “repair our infrastructure” at some point in their political careers, but the fact is that there just isn’t enough money to do all that is needed. And yet, if we’re to go by percentages of what is needed vs. what is actually allocated, road repair still gets the largest piece of the city pie.
Think of it this way: Stormwater projects need over $560 million, while road modifications come in at $113 million. In the last budget, stormwater only received about 19 percent of what was needed, while roads received over 52 percent. So while, stormdrains and water projects seem like a disaster waiting to happen but do get a larger piece of the overall budget pie, road repairs get more of what is needed now because politicians know they’ll get hell otherwise.
And what about the much-maligned gas tax? The San Diego region is set to get $40 million/year from the tax, but as laid out in an excellent breakdown in the U-T, only a small portion of that would go toward the $54 million shortfall the last time the mayor and the council wrestled over a budget.
And with the mayor’s hotel tax initiative to fund a convention center expansion (with a small portion of that also going toward road repairs) not due to appear on a ballot until 2020, it’s unlikely any new funds are coming. With more progressives in the council, it’s possible more attention will be paid to the underserved communities south of the 94, whose roads and sidewalks are in truly dire shape.
This issue was going to press just as Mayor Faulconer was set to give his annual state of the city address, where he is expected to lay out his vision for a new “San Diego Grand Central” transit hub that connects to the airport (see Spin Cycle on the next page). That’s certainly sexier than sewers and stormdrains, but here’s hoping that the weather outside the Balboa Theatre inspires at least a mention of these projects from the mayor.