San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer took some time out of his trip to Washington D.C. Wednesday for an IMPORTANT MESSAGE about infrastructure spending.
“Experts,” a press release sent out by Faulconer’s office said, “note infrastructure requires even greater investment to fix aging system, avert looming failure.”
Experts do note this. And by siding with those experts, Faulconer is arguing against himself.
Faulconer doesn’t have a plan to keep the city’s streets, storm drains, buildings and sidewalks from continuing to deteriorate. And though the press release specifically referred to improving water and sewage infrastructure nationwide, the point remains the same. The longer you wait to fix infrastructure problems, the more expensive it is.
Like other city leaders, Faulconer is waiting. He doesn’t support a megabond that aims to provide new money for repairs. Nor does he have alternatives that would raise the same amount of cash without a tax increase or other source of money.
Here’s a running tally of people who think the mayor needs to spend more on infrastructure.
• The mayor’s advisers. Faulconer’s mayoral transition team evaluated his infrastructure plans. They said he needs to find some more infrastructure cash.
• The city’s independent budget analyst. Andrea Tevlin told me that addressing the infrastructure problem is the city’s top priority.
• The mayor. By his logic, the longer he waits, the more expensive repairs will be and the greater risk there will be major failures, like sinkholes the size of a basketball court.
