Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | You recently had Toni Atkins on the Café San Diego talking about the park. Yesterday comes the article on valet parking using city land to profit and deny citizens of lesser incomes parking. There is a strange dichotomy in these two items. Council (which includes Atkins) was really concerned with the Car Tent Sale contract at the Q. The contract was a good thing and the people were getting a benefit. However, council wanted to protect the car business interests and their conclusion what the city should not allow city land to be used for private interests for profit. Well, Atkins again speaks with two tongues. It is OK at her Balboa, but not at the Q.
I believe we are seeing special interests hard at work to better themselves and the people lose in the overall scope. The people who use the tent sale are looking to save money; the low income people who want to use Balboa but do not or can not afford pay to park lose under the council’s lack of a specific policy. There are probably many more examples and soon when term limits kick in, maybe we will be a legislative branch beholding to the people, not the special interests.