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Congressional Reps Oppose Prop B

San Diego’s congressional representatives from both sides of the isle gathered at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal downtown to oppose Prop. B on next week’s ballot. KPBS reporter Alison St John has

(Photo: San Diego Congressional representatives Duncan Hunter, Susan Davis, Bob Filner and Brian Bilbray speaking out against Proposition B at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal in downtown San Diego. Alison St John/KPBS )

San Diego’s congressional representatives from both sides of the isle gathered at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal downtown to oppose Prop. B on next week’s ballot. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Labor interests have dominated the debate over Prop B , the plan to build a deck over the docks and develop on top of it.

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Opponents say it would be impossible to operate a cargo business underneath the deck, and high paid dock worker jobs would be replaced with lower paid jobs, like receptionists or waitresses.

Democratic Congresswoman Susan Davis:

Davis : The men and women who work here have great jobs and they want to keep those jobs and we want to be sure that they are able to do that.

Some voters believe supporting Prop B might mean a new Chargers stadium is built on top of the docks.

But Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray says the Coastal Act makes that unlikely.

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And Duncan Hunter says  the price of football tickets nowadays makes it all the more important to preserve well paid jobs.

Hunter : We do away with those jobs by passing Prop B, and we’re going to have thousands of people on the waterfront who can’t afford to go to a ball game, no matter where it is.

The developers who got Prop B on the ballot say their aim is to preserve the docks. But they could not raise the money from their east coast backers to mount a campaign for the ambitious plan.

Alison St John, KPBS News.