In a sign of things to come, San Diego City Councilman-elect Carl DeMaio has fired off a pair of memos that take aim at the proposal for a new City Hall building.
In one memo, sent to Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Council, DeMaio outlines his opposition to the current proposal, and lays out what he calls “efficiency alternatives” to the plan.
An excerpt:
In short I believe the project as currently structured is fundamentally flawed because it is driven by the wrong goal (the desire to build a new City Hall) and fails to reflect fiscally responsible use of city resources and assets in the midst of the City’s current financial crisis.
In short, DeMaio says he will not support building a new City Hall unless it is paid for by a $200 million infrastructure bond, which in turn would be paid off via savings from a reduction in the city’s payroll. He also wants to save money by integrating the project with others on the books such as the downtown library.
It is currently envisioned that the new City Hall project will be financed by a private developer in exchange for the developer receiving the rights to build on surrounding publicly owned land.
DeMaio previously wrote an op-ed against the proposal.
The other memo, addressed to Centre City Development Corp. Chairman Fred Maas, asks CCDC to prepare a financial analysis of the efficiency alternatives.