BEEGE WELBORN
Years ago, as the rest of California spiraled off into progressive lunacy, San Diego was the bright spot. Still uber California, slightly off-kilter, but – at its heart – an American town. West Coast Republican (think Pete Wilson, once mayor there) leaning and proud of its strong Navy presence. The local NFL football team would sometimes wear Marine Corps camouflage uniforms, and the stands would have sections of Marines and sailors who were getting an extra-special afternoon break from boot camp.
The hills, canyons, and mountains rising around and running eastward away into the desert scrub from the city were home to an eclectic mix of enclaves from retired military and ranchers to remnants of prospectors who’d homesteaded a century before. Whatever else San Diego suburbs were – and are now, as populated as they’ve become – they are diverse, relatively rural, and sprawling, with a ton of mileage between them and the city proper.
It’s always been that way. If you live along the I-5 or I-8 corridors, it’s a tad less tedious because you’re on the straight shot in. But once you start into the hills, it’s a haul. What we say on our urban island in Pensacola is, “You can’t get there from here” and it holds true for living in the far-flung SD ‘burbs. It’s a trek to get to civilization and that’s the fact, Jack.
That’s the price people have been willing to pay for paradise, and San Diego is glorious if you’re into year-round sweet weather. I will attest to that.
Things change, however, and it seems the progressive creep has oozed its way into even that little slice of Heaven. Democrats have overtaken what is known as the San Diego County Regional Transportation Agency (SANDAG). Their “Transportation Plan” – in a county whose transportation is reliant on your personal vehicle – has everyone gasping for breath.
San Diego County’s Regional Transportation Agency’s (SANDAG) latest transportation plan is designed to make driving so expensive that you succumb to public transportation. In addition to the current gas tax and registration fees, SANDAG’s plan adds three new half-cent sales tax increases, over 800 miles of San Diego County freeway lanes converted to toll lanes, and a mileage tax for every mile driven to pay for their $165 billion public mass transit plan.
A mileage tax. That was already so unpopular the first time they passed the idea they dropped it like a hot potato, but no worries. The executive director of SANDAG is an ardent fan … as well as a committed progressive Democrat and experienced gaslighter.
…Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata continues to push to reinstate the mileage tax, claiming San Diegans opposed to the potential four-cent-per-mile “fee” are anti-environment.
CA already pays the highest taxes and gas prices in the country and estimates are this new gas tax would add 80¢ to every gallon. But that hardly matters to the progressive members of the SANDAG board. They are on a mission to force everyone out of their cars and onto public transit. Live in Mt. Laguna, Tecate, or one of the north county cities, and drive your kid to school? Have to make a doctor’s appointment? Could be as much as 4¢ a mile, every mile.
Apparently, Democrats and progressives on city councils who nominate people to sit on the SANDAG have started spiking the nominations of people who traditionally have had those positions. Take Carlsbad, a good-sized north county city on the I-5 corridor. Its mayor has regularly held an agency seat. But the newly elected Carlsbad mayor is completely opposed to what SANDAG has planned, so…guess who didn’t get his nomination? In fact, the city council at first decided they wouldn’t send anyone, even to something so important. When residents blew their stacks, the council members sent their own pick, who only represents a quarter of the city. Carlsbad citizens are pretty ticked off.
Progressive council members in the cities of Vista and Chula Vista did the same thing to their mayors – iced them right out.
You’d think it was shameless enough they were blatantly stuffing the board with like minded-activists, but. There was also some interesting skullduggery involved when the agency’s newest director was elected, a woman named Nora Vargas. In 2018, state law switched up the previous voting regimen, and it so incensed the Republican members of the board this time, they walked out.
County Supervisor Nora Vargas was elected chair of the SANDAG board Friday and almost immediately faced a revolt, as nine board members walked out of the meeting to protest the agency’s voting procedures.
Some time after Vargas was selected, nine board members, mostly Republicans from North County, got up and left the room in protest to the board’s use of a “weighted vote.” That voting procedure gives the city of San Diego greater power in deciding where and how to spend transportation dollars.
She won with the Murkowski method – a miracle! Her victory statement also is indicative of what San Diegans can expect, which is nothing good.
…”Know that my vision includes being a united front within our region, really focused and centered on equity, innovation and economic prosperity,” Vargas said. “I am committed to being a true partner in our region when it comes to sustainability and equitable regional planning.”
As soon as a transportation entity is focused first on equity before anything else, reliable transportation is the first thing to be hosed.
What exactly IS the transportation plan they have in mind? According to a former mayor of Carlsbad, in a hugely informative interview (below), it’s all based on “5 Big Moves” with a whopping $165B+ price tag.
All of the “moves” are designed to move you out of your vehicle permanently by any means necessary.
Matt Hall, former county councilman and Carlsbad mayor, says a shade under 3% of county residents use public transportation. That leaves 97% of the county dependent on their personal vehicles for transportation. That’s the most important figure to consider in the scope of this transition they’re attempting to foist on residents.
He explains how the board wanted a 4/4.5¢ per-mile vehicle tax along with some sort of additional fees for using the hi-speed/HOV lanes and, in spite of fierce opposition, voted for that plan anyway. Then backed off just as quickly…for the moment.
They have no intention of fixing the roads.
“…It’s about $170B plan and it’s highly transit focused. Now keep in mind, only 2 or 3% of the region use transportation. The other 97% use roads. The new plan does not allocate very much money at all to the road factor. And so, from the environmental standpoint, people wanting to try and change the lifestyle of the way we travel more to a transit-oriented way of movement. Versus how we’ve done it for decades in about the roads and what were needed as far as our roadways…”
Just one more wildly unrealistic and punitive progressive scheme to make a once-thriving state a wasteland.
▪ In San Diego County, to be part of the middle class, residents have to earn between a low of $61,000 and a high of $182,000. The median middle class income is $121,500.
…“Housing costs are the biggest contributor to California’s high cost of living, and the costs are so high because liberal politicians have imposed mandates, fees, construction delays, excessive permits and more,” said DeMaio. “The labor costs to build these houses are also excessive due to union deals and strict labor laws.”
Waiting periods are reflected in housing prices at as much as 23.4 percent of the total price. Government regulation overall may explain, on average, 40 percent of California’s housing costs. In addition, a study by the Terner Center found that projects paying union wages to construction workers could cost $50,000 more per apartment…
▪ Total: Families owe nearly $9,000 more per year living in California versus living in the rest of the nation when just counting the cost of gas and utilities.
That’s San Diego on gas for your car.
Don’t get me started on how they’re already taking your gas stove…
