By Doug Porter

Union-Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins has produced an essay warning about the Citizens’ Plan for the Responsible Management of Major Tourism and Entertainment Resources, a proposed June 2016 ballot measure currently in the signature-gathering stage. It’s complicated, he says, begging for a re-write by Ernest Hemmingway.

Initiatives, we’re taught as an axiom, are supposed to be clear broth. This one is a bouillabaisse stocked with personal hobbyhorses.

The funny thing is, I don’t remember being taught that axiom. It certainly wasn’t in play when the city’s establishment lined up to back Carl DeMaio’s “solution” to San Diego’s pension problems.

So begins a sub rosa campaign to preserve the status quo in San Diego. I’m not saying Jenkins is part of any conspiracy. He’s merely parroting the best defense the downtown tourism cabal has been able to muster. They have a vested interest in maintaining what amounts to a local oligarchy.

The Citizen Initiative is complicated. (Read it here.) So is the byzantine labyrinth constituting the relationship between the hospitality industry and city government.

In short, the rules of the road for the collection and allocation of taxes regarding tourism are being re-written. Rather than fight the downtown oligarchs one item at a time, a package deal (with trade-offs) is being offered. (Here’s my take on parts of the package.)

Public Dollars, Private Profit

Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s latest missive to the National Football League regarding the future of the local football franchise, includes the suggestion that the Chargers should commit to opposing the Citizens Initiative.

The problem hizzoner’s addressing here is that nobody else is willing to public and oppose the proposal. Part of the complexity Jenkins grumbles about is that the obvious paths to opposition are blocked. If political/business interest “A” opposes the Citizens Initiative, then political/business interest “B” loses out.    

The Dan McSwain story in the Union-Tribune about this communique with the NFL, spells out that, while the letter suggested this opposition might be a good idea, the mayor isn’t actually opposing the Citizens Initiative.

Last week’s letter from the mayor’s team firms up a few details, such as the number of parking spaces. Yet, by asserting his neutrality on the Briggs initiative, it allows him to again have it both ways.

This makes perfect political sense. Until the league closes the door to the lucrative L.A. market, the Chargers have little business incentive to seriously pursue a stadium deal in San Diego.

Faulconer knows this full well. Endorsing the Briggs initiative could speed stadium construction, but that would amount to taking sides on the convention center, and foreclose future development at the Qualcomm site. On the other hand, active opposition would favor developers over university students and parks.

Other Downtown Real Estate Interests

Attorney Cory Briggs and his cohorts proposal represent the convergence of a competing economic interest with a more reasoned–in terms of the environment and the public good–approach.

The competing economic interest, in this case, is represented by John Moores, who’s already donated $45,000 towards getting the measure on the ballot.  

From the Union-Tribune:

A prominent development team with downtown real estate interests donated $200,000 on Tuesday to help qualify an initiative that would raise San Diego’s hotel tax to fund a variety of civic initiatives.

Ballpark Village LLC, a collaboration of JMI Realty, which was responsible for developing Petco Park, and Lennar Housing, had previously hinted it might back the initiative, which seeks to raise the tax on hotel stays to 15.5 percent and create a vehicle for funding tourism marketing, an expanded convention center off the waterfront and parkland in Mission Valley.

Let there be no doubt that all these entities stand to profit should the Citizens’ Initiative pass. Somebody always profits. It’s inherent in the system. (…that should be reformed or even done away with, but that’s not what’s on the ballot.)

Because the economic/political interests backing this concept are advocating a change, they’ve sweetened the pot with possibilities (but not certainties) like an expanded park in Mission Valley and increased revenues for the city.

The way I see it, what they (Moores, Briggs, etc) seek to do, in this process is to challenge the influence of the current crop of oligarchs over land use.

The only other path to opposing this measure involves demonizing Briggs personally. This certainly has been coming into play vis a vis the joined-at-the-hip effort by hoteliers and the City Attorney’s office as a strategy in trying to ward off lawsuits challenging the legality of various schemes, including the current fee-not-a-tax being collected to fund the Tourism Marketing District.

And it hasn’t worked. Lawyers calling other lawyers evil just doesn’t play that well with the public. We already knew. (Or think we do, anyway)  

Despite my aversion to signing petitions foisted on me at supermarkets, I broke down and signed a petition to get the Citizens Initiative on the ballot at Sprouts earlier this week. I’m not sure I’ll actually vote ‘yes’ come June, but the chance to watch this unfold in a campaign setting is just too good to pass by.   

In chaos, there is opportunity.

On This Day: 1949 – Gene Autry’s song “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” hit the record charts.  1954 – The U.S. Senate voted 65-22 to condemn Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisc.) for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”  McCarthy was a rabid anti-Communist who falsely accused thousands of Americans, mostly people who supported labor, civil rights and other progressive causes, of being traitors. 2001 – Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to “The Starting Line” and get an email every time a new article in this series is posted!

I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org      Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

Latest posts by Doug Porter (see all)

• Last Call. Last Column. - December 14, 2018
• Which Presidential Candidate Will You Support in 2020? - December 13, 2018
• Mounting the Assault on Big Gay and Other Drivel From SDSU’s Minimum Wage Scrooge - December 12, 2018