november2011

November 1, 2011

Gingerbread City Gala 2011

Epilepsy Foundation of

San Diego

November 1-23, 2011

Mama’s Pie in the Sky

Mama’s Kitchen

November 5, 2011

USD Founder’s Gala

University of San Diego

November 12, 2011

Grossmont Hospital

Foundation

26th Anniversary Gala

Sharp Grossmont Hospital

November 12, 2011

3rd Annual PEERS Gala

Just in Time for Foster Youth

November 19, 2011

“Give thanks. Walk.”

St. Jude Children’s Research

Hospital

November 19, 2011

MS Dinner Auction

National Multiple Sclerosis

Society

November 24, 2011

United Run for the Hungry

Jewish Family Services

San Diego Magazine’s

Charitable Events

registry newsletter

Sponsored by

loan money on the roof, his do-it-yourself

gutter can only do so much. Roman has had

to staple and glue wallpaper back to the wall

in the captain’s offi ce because of water dam-

age. The baseboards are peeling. During some

storms, Roman has to empty the trashcan and

put it back to collect more.

It’s taken a long time for the roof at the City

Heights station to get so bad. It’s just one of

the leaks, breaks, and cracks that have contrib-

uted to the city’s decay.

The problems became so pervasive that for

years no one took the time to count them; or

fi gure out how much they’d cost to fi x.

Last March, city offi cials revealed a big part

of the dreaded fi gure. It would cost a whop-

ping $840 million to repair the neglected

streets, storm drains, and city buildings. That’s

more than it costs to fund a year of city police,

fi re, library, and parks and recreation services.

Worse news came a few months later. An

audit said that big sum wasn’t close to the full

answer. At least a quarter of the city’s depart-

ments didn’t even know the condition of their

facilities, let alone the cost to maintain them,

the audit said. The report only added to the

city’s fi x-it list. Parks alone could need more

than $2 billion in repairs, it estimated.

Auditors concluded that no one knew just

how badly city facilities were crumbling.

San Diegans experience this problem every

day. And they don’t want to. In a city survey

last year, residents said no service needed

more improvement than streets.

How did San Diego’s infrastructure get so

bad?

Past city leaders say it became too easy to

ignore as elected offi cials looked to cut taxes

and expand services.

“The invisible cut that usually happens

when things get really bad is maintenance,”

former City Manager Jack McGrory said. “No-

body sees it.”

The neglect of the city’s roads, buildings,

and storm drains shows that the short-term

thinking behind San Diego’s infamous pen-

sion deals weren’t isolated incidents, but sym-

bolic of a larger citywide ill. City road repairs

nearly stopped in 2004, the same time its

political and fi nancial crises started to peak.

That year, the city didn’t do any major road

resurfacing and made only a handful of minor

repairs, down from 125 miles of resurfacing

and minor repairs two years prior.

By 2007, the city’s roads were suffering.

Almost two-thirds were rated unacceptable.

The problem has festered during Sanders’

tenure. In his fi rst few years, Sanders spent

six and a half times more annually on street

repairs than his predecessor Dick Murphy

did at the end of his term. But the fi xes didn’t

keep pace with decay. Roads got worse.

Sanders also had to fi nd a way to fund the

backlog of road repairs from a strained bud-

get. He concluded the city could not set aside

enough money each year to maintain its road

network and make up for past neglect. Instead,

the mayor decided to borrow the money.

Sanders’ choice to take out a $100 million

loan gave the city an immediate cash infl ux.

But borrowing isn’t free. The city has to pay

its debts back with interest. For this $100 mil-

lion, the city will wind up paying twice that

amount over time.

Sanders expects to finish repaving more

than 100 miles of roads funded by the loan—

some of the city’s worst—before he leaves

offi ce next year.

But he still will fall far short of the goals he

set.

Sanders wanted 75 percent of San Diego’s

roads in good condition, typically pothole-

free, before he turned the city over to his suc-

cessor. That won’t happen.

Now, city offi cials have set a much lower

bar. They want to keep just 45 percent of San

Diego’s roads in good condition. Offi cials say

it will take $500 million in loans to improve

roads and keep them in good shape, while

maintaining storm drains and buildings at a

similar level.

After that, it’s anyone’s guess. Once the

loans dry up, the city will again have to fi nd

cash to repave the roads and maintain every-

thing else.

“You’re never done with this,” Heinrichs

said. “You always have to manage it. It goes

into perpetuity.”

MONEY YOU CAN’T SPEND

Twenty-one times in the past two years, fi re-

fi ghters have had to rescue people trapped in

elevators in six Balboa Park museums, the-

aters, and historical buildings.

City offi cials have known about

the problem. When they put together a plan

to spend the $100 million loan two and a half

years ago, they picked only the highest prior-

ity projects—like those six elevators.

›› A CITY IN DISREPAIR

146 SanDiegoMagazine.comNovember2011