Audits at Long Last

At long last, the City of San Diego has received the coveted opinion letter from KPMG for its 2003 consolidated annual financial report or CAFR as it's known.  With the completion of the 2003 audit, the City’s annual financial statements for 2004, 2005 and 2006 will soon follow with relative ease by comparison.  Our City has spent millions of dollars investigating and rebuilding from “Ground Zero” new financial statements and created processes that are a model for other municipalities.

Looking back over the last several years since that ominous day in 2004 when the City Council was first informed about errors in the City's financial statements, we have been through a long journey of frustration and incredible patience. 

As Mayor Jerry Sanders so succinctly put it last Friday, this was probably the most scrutinized audit in municipal history.  Much praise goes to City staff who were involved in the preparation of the recent CAFR.  Interestingly, this was the first time the CAFR was produced entirely within the City of San Diego.  In the past the CAFR was prepared by outside contractors leading to what became an incredible disconnect between internal processes and what was reported by the outside auditors.  Praise goes to Greg Levin of the Comptroller’s Office along with his amazing staff.  Staff from the Treasurer's Office, Debt Management, the City Attorney’s Office and other departments added to the effort. Jay Goldstone, the City’s Chief Financial Officer, and of course our Audit Committee chaired by Councilmember Kevin Faulconer deserve kudos for putting to a close this horrible chapter in our City’s history. 

People often ask me why the City's audit is so important and why did we spend over $27 million to get it finished?  Simply put, without the audit the City had no financial statement to take to the bank.  No different than trying to fill out a mortgage or loan application without any financial information, the City's audited financial statements are essential in order to participate in the financial markets at favorable interest rates.  At the end of the day, a clean bill of health for our City means lower interest rates on the money we borrow for important infrastructure related projects - especially our water and sewer system upgrades.  As a recent example, the City Council recently voted to refinance the bonds that were used to build Petco Park.  With the lower interest rates from this refinancing, the City is now able to save over $3.5 million a year in interest expense.  If our audited financial statements had been completed, we could have saved even more.

There are still many tasks ahead as we restore our City’s fiscal house, however, with the audit completed we are well on our way to providing a solid foundation on which to build.

If you'd like to read the City's 2003 Audit, you can download it by clicking on this link (3.5mb file).  If you'd like to read KPMG's Opinion Letter for the Audit, click on this link.

Bringing Home the Money

In my last newsletter, I mentioned that Mayor Jerry Sanders and I were traveling to Sacramento to testify before the California Transportation Commission (CTC) on behalf of the region.  Our goal was to bring back desperately needed congestion relief dollars for Interstates 805, 15 and 5.  We made our case in Sacramento but it was apparent that it wasn't just our outstanding applications that would carry the day.  The next eight days were extremely busy for me in my role as Chair of the Transportation Committee for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).  The Mayor and I were joined by Gary Gallegos, Executive Director of SANDAG, who helped make our case that from a policy standpoint, the CTC staff recommendation of allocating only $2.8 billion in projects when $4.5 billion was available fell short of what the voters of California expected when they passed Proposition 1B.

We said the expectation of the people of California was for the CTC to award traffic congestion relief now and not tomorrow. The longer we wait, the more projects will cost. We should take advantage of low interest rates now and build at today’s cost of materials and not what they may cost a year from now.  The Commission agreed and at their follow up meeting in Irvine voted to give the San Diego region $451.5 million for critical highway and road improvement projects. This is an increase of $144.5 million from what the CTC staff previously recommended.  This is a clear indication that our lobbying efforts paid off for the people of the San Diego region.

I want to add that I was heartened to see the very high scores the CTC staff gave San Diego transportation projects.  My compliments to SANDAG and Caltrans staff whose detailed and professional work helped shape our outstanding congestion relief proposals.

Over the next several weeks we'll be working on the goods movement portion of funding from Proposition 1B.  Over $2.5 billion is available and once again we will do everything we can to make sure the San Diego region receives its fair share.  With our proximity to the border and the important economic trade and commerce it provides, additional funding for goods movement from Prop 1B is a natural.

Speaking of Bringing Home the Money

I was in Washington, D.C. last week on behalf of SANDAG and the League of California Cities.  I met with a variety of legislative leaders from San Diego and other parts of the United States.  We discussed the San Diego region's federal transportation priorities from the international border to North County including ongoing improvements to our trolley and transit systems as well as our needs for Highway 905 and Interstates 5, 8, 15, 805 and more. 

In my capacity as First Vice President for the League of California Cities, I participated in meetings at the White House and meetings with Senator Dianne Feinstein and her staff, Senator Barbara Boxer and with numerous other members of Congress advancing our concerns for California.  We discussed issues such as affordable housing, transportation funding, community development block grants, energy and environment block grants, gang violence legislation as well as homeland security and public safety. 

Additionally, with SANDAG staff and other elected officals from our region, I participated in a meeting at the Mexican Embassy with the Ambassador and his diplomatic staff where we discussed a third border crossing for San Diego and the importance of goods movement between our two countries.  I also raised the issue of working together to create a Trans-Border airport with Rodriguez Airport in Tijuana.  Both items were well received and progress was made.  I'll be traveling to Mexico City next month as we continue our efforts for a new airport terminal and to advance plans for the construction of a third border crossing east of Otay Mesa along with a new freeway from Highway 905 called Highway 11.

Mini Dorms

Since we first raised the issue of nuisance rental properties or mini dorms, we've made some real gains on this issue over the past few months.  Now there is certainly a greater public awareness of the problems associated with mini dorms.  Let me give you a brief recap.

As you may know I chair the Land Use & Housing (LU&H) Committee which is a standing committee of the San Diego City Council.  At our March 7, 2007 meeting we heard recommendations for stricter enforcement of current regulations that cover mini dorms and nuisance rental properties as well as some other new ideas. This was a follow-up meeting to the November 29, 2006 LU&H Committee meeting in which the Committee asked for more detailed methods of enforcing current policies as well as other means to address problems associated with mini dorms and nuisance rental properties located in single-family home neighborhoods. Recommendations focused on areas including enhancing parking restrictions to prevent multiple bedroom additions in existing structures, enforcing the Community Assisted Party Plan (CAPP) program, implementing the Police Department Administrative Citation pilot program and encouraging greater community and stakeholder discussions. 

Earlier that day Mayor Sanders and I held a news conference to announce the unveiling of the Administrative Citation pilot program in which San Diego Police Officers can issue $1,000 citations each to mini dorm tenants, property owners and anyone else involved in noise violations. The pilot program will be in effect in the SDSU College Area from April 30 until October 31, 2007.  The results of the pilot program will be reported to the City Council in early November. 

Additionally, San Diego State University President Stephen Weber announced that the University plans to hire one additional staff member to serve as a Code Enforcement Representative in order to handle this issue.  This move by the University is very much appreciated and is a positive step forward.

There is no question that the biggest problem associated with mini dorms is the lack of affordable student housing immediately adjacent to San Diego State University. I will be working with the University in an effort to speed up construction of more student housing.  Naturally, I am still very anxious to see The Paseo project resumed as well. 

Click here to view the City staff report for the March 7, 2007 Land Use & Housing Committee meeting. 

Click here to view the news conference we held at San Diego State University with Mayor Sanders about the new $1000 fines.

The San Diego Union-Tribune published an outstanding editorial on the topic – click here to view the editorial.  There was also an outstanding article in the UT about mini dorms – it did a very good job summarizing the problems and the callous attitude of some who are profiting from mini dorms at the expense of longtime residents who simply want to maintain their quiet neighborhoods.  Click here to read the mini dorm article.

Lastly, a number of thoughtful letters to the editor on the topic have been published.  Click here to read a sampling of letters that were published in the Union-Tribune.

Beautifying El Cajon Boulevard

After many years of waiting, sections of El Cajon Boulevard are the next in line to have beautiful new landscaped medians installed.  The community has been waiting for this and so have I.  You are invited to attend our groundbreaking event on Thursday, March 22 at 9:00 a.m.  Many community leaders and friends of District 7 will be on hand for the ceremony that takes place at the intersection of El Cajon Boulevard and 63rd Street. 

The project itself is to reconstruct and landscape the El Cajon Boulevard medians from 54th Street all the way to the La Mesa border near 73rd St.  The ugly asphalt-filled, cigarette-butt-magnet medians will be removed and replaced with new landscaped medians.  There is a section near College Avenue and 54th Street in which there are no medians and this project will not change that area. We expect that it will take 180 work days to complete the project.  The El Cajon Boulevard medians project is being paid for by the Crossroads Redevelopment Area and the landscape maintenance is being paid for by property owners along El Cajon Boulevard as part of a Maintenance Assessment District we formed several years ago.  This project would have started sooner had the City been able to bond but like many other capital improvement projects, it was delayed.  The Crossroads Redevelopment Area has accumulated enough funds so this project will be paid for without the need for bonding.

Landscaped medians are part of my overall beautification goal for the communities in District 7.  I ran for office on a platform of improving our quality of life and this is another example of keeping that commitment.

I hope to see you there this Thursday at the groundbreaking event.

Traffic Safety at Lewis Middle School

I’m pro-active and when I see a problem, I fix it. Let me tell you about a recent event that resulted in traffic engineering improvements as well as a meeting we’re having on Wednesday evening, March 28, 2007. 

It was a scary morning last month when two Lewis Middle School students were hit by a car while on their way to school. Fortunately neither were seriously hurt.  Later that morning, I called a meeting of top City staff in my office to address the ongoing problems at the intersection of Waring Road and Greenbrier Avenue. By the end of the meeting we had solutions to turn the intersection into a safer one for pedestrians and vehicles alike. Ironically, I had held a meeting in my office only weeks earlier with City traffic engineers, representatives from the police department, San Diego City Schools and School Board Member Katherine Nakamura where we discussed additional solutions to improving this intersection.

On the same day the students were hit, City staff installed new “countdown” pedestrian walk lights they had planned to install as a result of our meeting from weeks prior. The new walk signal indicates when pedestrians may cross the street and flashes a numerical countdown of how many seconds are left to finish crossing the street before the light changes. 

Countdown walk signs provide an additional visual cue that improve safety for pedestrians and drivers alike.  Safety at this intersection is of special concern since Lewis Middle School is just one block away.

I also asked City traffic engineers to “lock down” the intersection with all red lights whenever the crosswalk is in operation. When a pedestrian pushes the button, it begins a period of time exclusively for pedestrians to cross the street. At the same time, vehicles on Waring Road and on Greenbrier Avenue will have a red light so that all traffic stops if a pedestrian has activated the signal. This is an additional safety precaution and eliminates any conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles turning left onto Waring Road from Greenbrier Avenue. The existing signs that read “Turning Traffic Must Yield to Pedestrians” were removed as they were no longer needed.

By the following morning City staff had installed “No Turn on Red – 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. - Monday Thru Friday” signs on every corner of the intersection.  This further eliminates any conflict between pedestrians and vehicles turning right during the red phase of the light on all four approaches to the intersection. Also, officers from the San Diego Police Department have been on site to enforce the new restrictions.

In the past couple of years I’ve spearheaded a number of traffic safety improvements on Waring Road in Allied Gardens and this is the latest one.

Tip of the Hat

I want to acknowledge Celeste Weinsheim, a longtime resident and community leader in Tierrasanta. In fact, when many residents think of Tierrasanta they think of Celeste who has been the guiding force behind many, many community recreational projects and events.  As part of my efforts to turf the dirt fields at schools throughout my City Council District, I worked with City Schools staff, City staff, community leaders and others to have the ball fields at Vista Grande Elementary School turfed. On the day we cut the ribbon for the project, I announced my desire to name the Vista Grande Fields after Celeste.  The Tierrasanta Recreational Council unanimously supported my request and this week we received the good news that the Board of Education also voted unanimously to approve naming the Vista Grande fields as “Celeste Weinsheim Field.” Congratulations, Celeste.

Update on Sgt. Dale Shockley

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 in 2002 and encourage you to use it.  The web site address is: http://ewatch.sandiego.gov.

Thanks for reading the eNewsletter

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I welcome hearing from you at any time and rely on your opinion. It is an honor to serve you on the San Diego City Council.

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