An unprecedented week in our nations history unfolded as we witnessed the incredible destruction of Hurricane Katrina and then a second disaster of epic proportions that followed: the inundation and destruction of the City of New Orleans as failed levees quickly drowned this once vibrant City.
 

Sadly, there were many who became trapped or had no way out. Others simply ignored evacuation orders thinking they could ride things out. And others became victims from a slower than expected federal response to a problem that quickly grew beyond anything anyone ever imagined.
 

In addition, in other areas of where Katrina hit - outside of New Orleans, the devastation is beyond anything ever seen in the United States. Many of these other Cities have been largely ignored in the press - but the problems in these places are unprecedented as well. From Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula, Mississippi to Mobile, Alabama.
 

This is truly a National Tragedy - a disaster of unprecedented scope. It will be a long and difficult road ahead and we all need to respond to the call of donating and helping where we can.
 

Yesterday I was on hand at Kearny High School and greeted about 80 evacuees - Americans - folks like you and I who were able to escape New Orleans and were airlifted to San Diego from Baton Rouge. They were young and old, of varying ethnicities - two dogs, a bird and folks who want to get a break from the insanity they have endured.
 

Are We Prepared At Home?

As we approach the two-year anniversary of the Cedar Fire, it's important that we have an escape plan, a list of what to load in the car if we have the time and a place to call and meet in case families get separated. Inside my eNewsletter of August 2004, I discussed steps we can all take to make our homes safer and to be better prepared. Click on the link to review this information.

 

Could something similar happen in San Diego to what we have been witnessing in New Orleans? I have sent a memo to the City Manager and our City's Director of Homeland Security asking for a report on those low-lying areas of our City that could be impacted from Tsunamis and other water inundation events. I want to make sure residents who live in these areas are prepared in advance. This will be reported to the City Council's Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee within the next month or so along with a status report on how well prepared is our City - and what else do we need to do to make sure we are prepared for the inevitable. And most important from all of this is to listen to and follow authorities when evacuation orders are given - they are not issued lightly and when they are issued, they often save lives when followed.

Who can we Donate to or Help

As I have mentioned in past eNewsletters, Sally and I donate to Rescue Task Force and once again, we have donated to help victims of Katrina. Rescue Task Force is a small non-profit organization where virtually every penny goes directly to aid - very little toward administration - mainly because they are run by volunteers. Click here to see an example of a recent Rescue Task Force email from the field, describing conditions and their efforts in Louisiana.

You can donate to other outstanding charities including the Red Cross and Salvation Army, among many others.

Here are additional links for donating:

Red Cross:  http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

Salvation Army:  http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
 

Gas Price Rip-offs

It is absolutely amazing to me to see oil companies raise the price of gas in San Diego because of what happened from Hurricane Katrina. Last time I checked, the single pipeline that brings gas to San Diego comes from refineries north of San Diego - not east. And as usual, there were some gas stations that overnight raised their prices by 50 cents a gallon or more while the same gas from the night before remained in their underground tanks. For the most part, if you take time to look around, you can find lower prices.

If you want to see the best prices for gas in the County, visit the UCAN website by clicking this link: http://www.fueltracker.com/newmenu/home.html?id=prices&title=Prices
 

San Diego's Fiscal Crisis and the slogan: America's Finest City

The UT Newspaper ran a month-long promotion and then an article today (click the link to see the article) to possibly consider a new slogan for San Diego - perhaps because "America's Finest City" is either part of an inferiority complex or has outlived it's usefulness given the City's fiscal crisis. I was very pleased to read the majority of those who responded were positive - more of the "glass half-full" kind of people. I have always lamented there are far too many "Chicken Littles" running around claiming the sky is falling in San Diego. It is not. To me, this will always be America's Finest City. Always has been, still is and will be in the future. I am not about to let current politics change the way we care for and nurture our City. And goodness knows, compared to the plight of our fellow American's in the gulf region of our great country, our problems are nothing by comparison.

And if you've kept up with my past eNewsletters, I think you know where I'm coming from - the overwhelming majority of our City's problems are political - NOT financial. We have a plan to deal with the pension and that plan is underway now - and the City Council adopted a plan where all new employees fall under a different set of benefits. The existing benefits for both retirees and current employees cannot be taken away by anyone but a court of law - and I seriously doubt any court will reduce benefits once granted. Lastly, the pension issue is a long-term fund, not some short-term myopic problem. Ask any expert on pensions - benefits from pensions are paid from investment earnings of the pension fund - a much smaller percentage of payouts come from contributions into the fund. Our pension fund will rebound and along with it, the unfunded liability will go down. And I'm not making excuses for the under funding. Goodness knows I have listened to the tapes and heard me raising holy heck when it was first revealed in early 2002 the City was under funding its pension system. We were told our actions toward the end of 2002 would correct that problem, but as we all now know, the problem was much worse than we were lead to believe.

In case you missed it, click here to read my last eNewsletter where I discussed more facts about the City's fiscal situation.

Getting the Audits Completed

I am thankful the Pension Board finally voted to release critical documents to investigators and our Audit Committee. Their vote to release documents to other investigators followed a federal court order to release documents specifically to the US Attorney. The Pension Board did not give the full attorney-client privilege waiver that I and members of the City Council had asked for - but I understand their ongoing litigation both as plaintiffs and defendants with the City Attorney was their principal reason for not fully waiving. The most important thing to remember is this: now that the City's Audit Committee finally has access to the Pension Board's documents, they can complete their work - and pending anything earth shattering that would slow them down, we might finally see the long-awaited 2003 audits completed - a crucial step to restoring fiscal stability for the City of San Diego.

Labor Day 2005

With today being Labor Day, the end of the summer is here, and the fall season is upon us. For anyone wanting a shocker that summer is over just has to visit Costco - I couldn't believe it the other day to see they had Christmas decorations already for sale! Amazing. At least in my visit to Wal-mart, they were more restrained with only Halloween decorations - a full two months before October 31!

I hope you and your family had an enjoyable summer and took time out to enjoy the paradise of the place we call home, San Diego. As for me, among the many treats from this summer, I enjoyed a wonderful Sierra backpacking trek with my sons and their Boy Scout Troop - we backpacked the high Sierras, in the northern Yosemite Park area.

The boys and I enjoyed a wonderful week on the trail - the beauty of places that few people visit was just stunning.







 

Happenings In the District

From time to time I include a few community events taking place throughout the District. Here's one you may be interested in:

I wish I could include every single community event but unfortunately I have to limit it to a few each issue. We welcome submissions. For upcoming events you would like to see in the next eNewsletter, please email information to lwebb@sandiego.gov.

Neighborhood E-Watch Keeps You Informed

The City of San Diego's Neighborhood eWatch provides information about crime incidents in the City of San Diego to the public for free via the Internet and is updated every 24 hours. I introduced this popular service last year and encourage you to use it. The web site address is: http://ewatch.sandiego.gov.

Thanks for reading the eNewsletter.

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to send me your thoughts on issues by sending email to jmadaffer@sandiego.gov and please forward this email to your friends who might enjoy reading it. They can always visit JimMadaffer.com/email to sign up themselves.

I welcome hearing from you at any time and rely on your opinion.

Regards,

Jim

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