november2011

November2011SanDiegoMagazine.com 107

PICADOR BOULEVARD’S DECLINE has
become part of Genevieve Vigil’s life.
Every weekday morning, she drives the
Otay Mesa road to drop off her 4-year-old
son, Dominic, at daycare and then contin-
ues on Picador to go to work. Deep cracks,
uneven asphalt, and a 2-foot-wide pothole
jolt her along the way. About every two
weeks, Vigil said, the patched potholes in
front of the Border View YMCA erode and
leave bumps instead. Vigil is taking her car
to the mechanic. Her wheel alignment is
screwed up.

“It’s depressing,” Vigil said, standing
along the boulevard on a recent a ernoon.
As she talks, cars swish by. Picador is a
busy thoroughfare. Houses give way to a
middle school, then a strip mall, and gas
station before the road leads into State
Route 905. Vigil has complained about the
street to the city. She throws up her hands a
lot when she talks about Picador.
“I just want it to get fi xed,” she said.
Local roads are deteriorating faster than
they can be fi xed. So are San Diego’s side-
walks, storm drains, and city buildings.
Slowly, they’ve all been falling apart. A na-
tional transportation group ranked the re-
gion’s roads the eighth worst in the country.
Mayor Jerry Sanders and other city lead-
ers know it’s a problem. That’s why they
borrowed $100 million in March 2009 to
begin repaving, repairing, and replacing
the worst of the worst—including roads,
sidewalks, storm drains, and city buildings.
But more than two years later, the city
has spent just $45.3 million. By mid-Au-
gust, one-third of the loan still hadn’t been
committed to construction projects. Some
repairs remain more than a year away.
Source: VOSD reporting

March 19, 2009 – Mayor Jerry Sanders announces the city has received a $100

million loan for road and other repairs. The city has a list of 91 projects to fix.

Aug. 13 – Construction begins on a storm drain in La Playa, the first project funded with

loan money. Dave Jarrell, San Diego’s top public works official, says the city will have $70

million to $80 million of construction projects on the street in the next six months.

March 15, 2010 – City officials confirm that just more than $1 million of the loan

has been spent. The city has awarded contracts for $21 million.

April 19 – Sanders marks the start of major street repairs funded by the loan. Streets

Division head Hasan Yousef says road repairs will be finished by summer 2011.

March 7, 2011 – City Council is told about half the loan is spent or under contract. City Engi-

neer James Nagelvoort: "As you can see we're not done yet. We still have lot of work le to do."

March 30 – City officials admit spending has been slow. They also reveal plans

to borrow $500 million more over the next five years. Chief Operating Officer Jay

Goldstone: "The city was ill-equipped to actually put shovels in the ground." City

Councilman Todd Gloria: "It's rare that we have a problem where we have money

we can't spend."

June 7 – City Council approves the fih and most

recent update to the loan's project list to replace

storm drains damaged in 2010 winter storms.

There are now 127 projects on the list.

July 20 – Sanders announces a re-organization of

public works contracting, reversing a re-organization

he made five years prior. Sanders: "As a city,

we simply don’t move fast enough to process

bids and award contracts on these vital public-

works projects."

Aug. 3 – Sanders announces that loan-funded street repairs, origi-

nally promised to be complete in summer 2011, are halfway done.

April 2012 – The city plans to borrow $100 million more for repairs, the first in a

$500 million series of loans.

Aug. 1 – The final street repairs from the first loan are expected to be complete.

Aug. 12 – The city has spent $45.3 million of the loan. Another $24 million is under contract.

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

SAN DIEGO’S SLOW ROAD TO SPENDING $100 MILLION

BOULEVARD OF

BROKEN PROMISES

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and his administration made numerous promises dur-

ing the past four years about road repairs and how they would spend a $100 million

loan aimed at fi xing the city’s worst infrastructure problems. They haven’t kept them.

Promise: Three-quarters of city roads will be in good condition at the end of 2012,

Sanders said in 2007.

Reality: It will take fi ve more years and hundreds of millions of dollars more to get

45 percent of roads and other city facilities in good condition

and maintain them there, city offi cials now say.

Promise: More than $70 million in construction contracts

for repairs would be on the street in six months, a top public

works offi cial said in August 2009.

Reality: Twenty-four months later, the city still hadn’t

reached that mark.

Promise: More than 100 miles of loan-funded repaving

will be fi nished by summer 2011, a streets department of-

fi cial said in March 2010.

Reality: Road repairs were halfway done by summer

2011. All of them now are scheduled to be fi nished by
      summer 2012.

45

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GRAPHIC BY LIAM DILLON,

KEEGAN KYL

E/VOSD, PHOT

OS BY

SAM HODGSON

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