Most San Diego City Council members were very pleased with themselves last week. They reversed big budget cuts to library and recreation center hours that the mayor proposed.
They restored the beach fire rings and the Office of Race and Equity. The mayor had wanted to cut both.
How did they do all this? Where did they find the money? The council made some big bets on future money. They said the city could get more than $9 million from some new sources. And if they win those bets, it will change life in San Diego a bit.
Let's start with parking: The City Council wants nonresidents to pay to park their vehicles in Balboa Park. Of course then people will just park for free at the San Diego Zoo. So they want the zoo to charge for parking too, and they want some of the money that comes in. That’s going to be a big negotiation.
Then there are the billboards.
You may have noticed that, unlike some parts of the country, we don’t have many billboards here.
Decades ago, San Diegans had long battles about billboards. The city restricted them very severely and even got taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Thurgood Marshall and other justices declared its rules were too strict.
Then in the 1980s the city finally got an ordinance to stick. No more new billboards. The billboards you see now were mostly in place before then. Businesses can have their own signs but our roads have far fewer distractions than other cities.
Fast forward to now. The council is seeking every dollar it can find. So it decided to make a deal with the three main companies that control the existing billboards. If they get rid of one of their billboards, and pay the city millions of dollars, they can turn the other ones into digital billboards.
Digital billboards can change more often and make far more money. The council estimated it can get $3 million next year from these deals.
But if my inbox is any indication, people are going to fight those billboards. That means the council's bet on future money won't pay off. Charles Modica, the Independent Budget Analyst, warned the council it was getting into dicey territory.
"These may or may not be realistic amounts but we have not vetted them," he said. "And I would note that the city's budget is already relying on optimistic assumptions. And so if the council chooses to move forward assuming these revenues, that will be exposing the city to additional risk."
This week, the mayor made more changes to the budget that he says will cut about a quarter of the council’s new spending. But he’s keeping the library and recreation center hours. Now the council will decide whether to override his changes.
