There is no doubt that the city of San Diego needs some serious reform. The city of San Diego is saddled with billions in debt, has not truly balanced its budget for a decade, has failed to provide our residents with the quality of services they expect, and has demonstrated unrivaled levels of corruption.

It is time for real change, and on Tuesday, San Diego voters will have an opportunity to help get San Diego back on track by passing Prop C.

2. Improve quality of city services: Prop C requires the use of performance standards and annual performance audits to hold the city and its vendors accountable for performance improvement.

3. Free up money for public safety. Cities across the nation have used managed competition to cut overhead costs and channel those resources into public safety investments. Under Prop C, the city of San Diego can do the same.

4. Free up money for infrastructure: Prop C will apply managed competition to streamline the overhead costs at the water and sewer departments to make sure that a greater percentage of our fees will go into much needed water and sewer infrastructure projects.

5. End “pay-to-play” city contracting: Prop C takes the analysis and recommendation of managed competition contracts out of the hands of the politicians and places it with a seven-member “Independent Review Board” with no conflicts of interest. Taxpayers need to know that contracts are awarded based on cost, quality and merit – not political contributions. Prop C contains these much-needed protections to fight corruption in city contracts.

6. Reduce the city’s pension debt. Based on experiences in other cities, Prop C will reduce the size of the city workforce – reducing the city’s $1.7 billion pension liability and $1 billion unfunded healthcare liability.

7. Empower city employees. City workers know where the fat and inefficiency exists in city government, but have never been empowered by management to find and correct it. By approving Prop C, voters can empower city employees to achieve cost savings and service improvements.

8. Reduce the influence of the union bosses. The city’s powerful union bosses are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into defeating Prop C because they benefit from the current system at City Hall. These folks have had way too much influence at City Hall. Voters can provide a check to these special interests by passing Prop C.

9. The Mayor needs our help. A year ago, San Diegans elected Mayor Jerry Sanders to fix the problems at City Hall. Now he is asking the people to help him by passing Prop C so he has the tools to get the job done.

10. Send a message: Let me be blunt: the City Council created this financial crisis and they have been more behaved recently because our mayor has had momentum for reform. By approving Prop C, voters can send a message to the City Council that they must continue to cooperate with the reforms at City Hall. If Prop C fails, count on the City Council to go back to its free-wheeling spending habits.

In the end it boils down to this: If you think like the way things are at City Hall, you don’t want Prop C. If you think City Hall needs reform, vote YES on Prop C.

Carl DeMaio

Leave a comment

We expect all commenters to be constructive and civil. We reserve the right to delete comments without explanation. You are welcome to flag comments to us. You are welcome to submit an opinion piece for our editors to review.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.