Editors and Publishers on REGC

San Diego Magazine's Tom Blair Fears a New Bureaucracy
I like parts and I don’t like parts. The transportation piece strikes me as a huge new layer of bureaucracy. SANDAG or the County Board of Supervisors could do it if they were given land-use power. So RGEC recommends electing 11 people at, what cost, half a million each? That’s $5.5 million in direct cost. Consolidating MTDB and NCTD; which model? Functions would be coordinated; what’s the difference between functions and operations? It doesn’t seem to me like there’s much North County representation.

I’m more comfortable with the airport authority. An appointed body costs less than an elected body, for one thing. And we have to do something.

It’s like kicking over the table because you’re losing the poker game. I don’t think we need to do that for transportation, but I think we do need to kick over the table for the airport.

Mandate coordination; good luck. We need some bold action, but I’m not sure this will work. On the other hand, I’m afraid it will work too well, especially in the transportation area.

Tim McClain of Metropolitan Worries About North County
Overall the committee did a good job. The lack of North County representation early on may be fatal, but I’m not sure North County representatives would have bought into a regional agency with land use powers anyway.

Ted Owen of Business Journal Likes Airport Authority
I believe that some form of regionalization is necessary. I don’t believe that any process conducted by the government will work in our best interest. The Airport Authority is a good idea but the other ideas are flawed.

North County Times Sees Need for County Gas Tax
North County Times
editorial, July 29, 2001
Our region’s transportation problems can be explained simply: There’s not enough money to build what we need, and North County is not fairly represented on some planning and government agencies. The Regional Government Efficiency Commission has cooked up a plan for . . . a superagency to handle the county’s transportation needs. This plan will not improve anything. In fact, it will probably make things worse. The major problem is lack of money. Creating a new form of government will not raise this money. The only way to do it, realistically, is another tax, preferably upon gasoline, so that the people who use the roads will pay for them. Then there’s the problem of who will decide where to build the roads. We should reject it (the proposal) as unnecessary, too costly and unfair to North County. And meanwhile, the Board of Supervisors must face reality and start laying plans to come up with that $9 billion. A county gas tax seems the best solution.

Bob Kittle of U-T Says RGEC Filled Leadership Vacuum
The RGEC commissioners have done a very commendable job of addressing the region’s chronic leadership vacuum. Their recommendations would go a long way toward strengthening regional decision-making and preserving San Diego’s deteriorating quality of life. The panel’s proposals deserve to be evaluated by the voters next March, not swept under the table by a short-sighted Legislature.