Business Pessimistic

Bruvold of EDC Fears Reform Has Been Discredited
Erik Bruvold, Director of Government Relations, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation:
From a pure “policy outcome” standpoint RGEC recommended wonderful outcomes. It makes tremendous sense to consolidate planning functions, provide land use authority to implement certain key regional infrastructure priorities and ensure accountability of that organization by directly electing the board from the entire electorate according to the principle of “one person one vote.”

The notion of the airport authority is one that EDC strongly supports and could be a great outcome. It seems that it has the best chance at moving forward.

I would note, however, that the process of getting to these recommendations was fraught with problems. The lack of an immediate and clearly defined “crisis” allowed proponents of the status quo to criticize both the work product and the path toward drafting that work product. The commission, in hindsight, should have been more forceful and clear in laying out why the current system was unable to solve the key issues for the region. In doing so, I fear, it would have had to identify examples of “bad outcomes” and this would have run counter to the regional political culture of avoiding criticism and direct confrontation. That may point out the problem - the commission was given a very difficult task and it may have been impossible to succeed.

In the end, I fear, RGEC’s interesting ideas may not only be ignored but the reaction to them may make future reforms all that much harder. The opponents of change are likely to feel pretty good about themselves and believe the “thud” of the report is an indication that people support the status quo.

Barnett of Taxpayers Says Airport Authority is Folly
Scott Barnet, Executive Director, San Diego County Taxpayers Association:
RGEC has proposed a fair amount of regionalization but little consolidation. The former, without the latter, could result in a more dysfunctional and less efficient system than we have now. (If that is possible.) Although there are some positive elements in RGEC’s governance and land-use proposals, especially the with-holding of funds to local governments who spurn Smart Growth, the stand-alone, appointed airport authority, with no direct accountability, and no ability to impact regional transportation infrastructure, is at best, folly.