Politics Report: Elo-Rivera Pulls Plug on Flood Prevention Ballot Measure

Hello, this is environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer. Scott went on vacation so I’m stealing his Politics Report to bring you this news.  

The city of San Diego no longer plans to ask voters to tax themselves in November in the name of stormwater and flood prevention. 

On Friday, San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera withdrew the ballot measure he championed that would have raised millions of dollars for the city’s crumbling and clogged stormwater system. It would have done that by taxing properties based on the amount of paved land that didn’t absorb water – something like 7 cents per square foot. 

That could have raised something like $129.6 million per year just for stormwater needs – of which the city says there are $1.6 billion.  
 
What killed it? Elo-Rivera, in his statement to the press, blamed ACA 1, a statewide proposition that was supposed to make it easier for local tax increases to pass – until it didn’t.  

Some context: ACA 1, a proposed amendment to the state constitution by State Sen. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat from western Sacramento wine country, would have allowed local governments to raise property, sales or parcel taxes with less voter support than they currently need – 55 percent instead of two-thirds or 66 percent, which is how it works now.  

That means San Diego City Council would have a much better chance getting their stormwater parcel tax passed in November. ACA 1 got a lot of hate from the businesses and corporations, which ran their own proposition to blockade Aguiar-Curry’s doorway for easier tax increases.   

But then, in mid-June, Aguiar-Curry showed up to work with a new and tremendously narrowed version of her prop, called ACA 10. It would be easier for governments to instead only borrow money, take out debt or issue bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure – needing that same 55 percent vote. As CalMatters wrote, the change was a byproduct of a deal between Aguiar-Curry and the California Association of Realtors, which opposed the legislation until the change. In contrast, a California Stormwater Quality Association lobbyist cited concerns at the Senate Local Government committee that the amendment changed the definition of public infrastructure by excluding stormwater from the mix.   

By that point in the legislative season, ACA 10 had one week to pass and the State Senate and Assembly hustled it through committee hearings and three readings in each chamber to pass by June 27.  

Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, supported ACA 10, telling our Scott Lewis that it was an improved version that would align how community infrastructure and affordable housing is funded – even though it went against the wishes of the leaders of his city. 

Indeed, ACA 10 dashed Elo-Rivera’s hopes pushing his stormwater parcel tax through in November. 

“Our coalition saw real hope in the proposal to change the threshold to 55 percent and were confident voters would strongly support the ballot measure,” Elo-Rivera wrote in a statement. “The rules we thought we would be playing by were changed and our coalition decided the most responsible thing to do is pause.”  

Many of the thousands displaced by catastrophic storm flooding in southeast San Diego on Jan. 22 are still waiting to get back into their homes. They knew the clogged stormwater channel behind Beta Street in Shelltown would overtop its banks someday – but no one anticipated how quickly waters could rise and destroy everything they owned. 

Now their only hope is the 1-cent sales tax increase which the city also put on the November ballot, which only needs a simple majority to pass (50 percent plus one vote). It could generate maybe four time more cash than the stormwater tax, but it would take real political will to funnel much of that toward stormwater in a city with a self-described need for $9.25 billion to rebuild critical infrastructure. (The stormwater parcel tax would have been dedicated money for stormwater alone). 

Stormwater fix advocates like San Diego Coastkeeper said it agreed with Elo-Rivera’s move in a joint press release with the councilmember.  

“The last-minute legislative changes amounted to a massive hurdle in our path to victory in 2024. WIthholding our measure from this year’s ballot is the responsible thing to do,” wrote Phillip Musegaas, San Diego Coastkeeper’s executive director.  

Aaron Swanton, of the nonprofit Together San Diego that’s been assisting flood victims since the January storms, wrote he’s “deeply disappointed” by the decision to withhold the ballot measure from the election.  
 
“Fixing our stormwater systems is critical to ensuring that events like the devastating January 22nd flood do not happen again,” he wrote.  

Notes

Elliott torches mega-shelter: First it was the city’s independent budget analyst who issued a scathing analysis of Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposal for a large homeless shelter in Middletown. Now, the city attorney has taken a swipe. “As currently written, the proposed lease does not adequately protect the city’s legal or financial interests, and the city would benefit from further negotiation, legal analysis, and due diligence,” wrote Jean Jordan, assistant city attorney. The Council will consider the lease and plan Monday.

When it rains, it pours: Tamera Kohler, CEO of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, toured the facility and said the mayor’s vision for the facility needs to be narrowed.

If you have any feedback or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.