The Anti-Government Ideology That Caused San Diegans to Vote Against Protecting Their Own Property from Catastrophic Fires

And from today's paper--Well-heeled get private firefighter crews --in the Orange County Register of all places.

You know, it's easy to blame a conservative base/backcounty mentality for the failure of Prop. A. Perhaps if you lived here, and went through the last two major fires, your distrust level of the county government might be high also. The rebuild rate of the burned homes is abysmal, something less than 20%. The County planning department and code enforcement are much more present lately than any help. Another glaring example is the rip off of local homeowners for clearing their property and the slow response of both the city of San Diego and county governments in believing the residents.
Monday morning quarterbacking is always popular sport among political pundits. The analysis of Prop. A's failure is sad, because the underlying reasons are ignored. The closest thing we have to local government is local school boards and fire departments (mostly volunteer, sometimes paid). To trust the county (which abandonded fire control thirty years ago in the backcounty) to protect our interests is laughable. That is the sad part. The people on the coast treat us like Disneyland when it snows and when it's apple season. Otherwise we're ignored. Perhaps the best fire control has come from the casinos -- those dollars have upgraded local reservation fire equipment.

You know, it's easy to blame a conservative base/backcounty mentality for the failure of Prop. A. Perhaps if you lived here, and went through the last two major fires, your distrust level of the county government might be high also. The rebuild rate of the burned homes is abysmal, something less than 20%. The County planning department and code enforcement are much more present lately than any help. Another glaring example is the rip off of local homeowners for clearing their property and the slow response of both the city of San Diego and county governments in believing the residents.
Monday morning quarterbacking is always popular sport among political pundits. The analysis of Prop. A's failure is sad, because the underlying reasons are ignored. The closest thing we have to local government is local school boards and fire departments (mostly volunteer, sometimes paid). To trust the county (which abandonded fire control thirty years ago in the backcounty) to protect our interests is laughable. That is the sad part. The people on the coast treat us like Disneyland when it snows and when it's apple season. Otherwise we're ignored. Perhaps the best fire control has come from the casinos -- those dollars have upgraded local reservation fire equipment.

I think you need to study up on San Diego politics and government. I would be labeled by most as a liberal, but I opposed the tax for many reasons. The biggest was lack of trust of city and county governments. Can you honestly say that these governments have done a good job of handling our money? Just take the pension mess and DROP. Who in the private sector gets these sweetheart deals? It's mostly limited to the top people but in San Diego, many do, at the expense of taxpayers. I was almost victimized by Fire Prevention Services which was allowed to masquerade as representing the fire department and which lied to me repeatedly--and was still defended by local government. I have NO trust of county government to use new money wisely. If fire protection were so critical, why didn't they at least divert their slush fund to it? Surely, during the period of easy money (most of this decade), they could have found something to cut to provide better fire service. No, easier to ask for more money.

Prop A was defeated because it was bad public policy.

1. San Diego County already has the money it needs to begin creating a regional fire department, but they refuse to spend it appropriately. The County receives about $250 million dollars a year from the half-cent sales tax levied by Prop 172 back in 1993. This money is required to be spent on public safety services (sheriff, police, fire, county district attorneys, corrections, and ocean lifeguards).

However, San Diego County gives the entire $250 million to the County Sheriff, district attorney, and probation. None to fire. The Board of Supervisors has made it perfectly clear they have no intention of changing this allocation. What is particularly interesting is that 50% of the total tax revenue collected under 172 is contributed by San Diego CITY residents, yet the city itself only gets about 5% back.

The County has over a $5 billion budget. It has only allocated $8.5-15 million/yr. to support fire protection services. This is ridiculous, especially in light of the fact that San Diego County is one of the most fire-prone regions in the state and consistently has the highest loss of life and property due to wildfire (see chart below). When the County decides to consider fire as a priority, then they can come to the voters to ask for additional funds.

2. Prop A was great politics, but lousy policy. It was designed to sound good to the voters, provide political cover for the Board of Supervisors (we are doing something), but it provided no details on how the money generated was going to be used. There were no defined outcomes. There were no defined deliverables. It did not create a regional fire department. All Prop A said was that a new agency would have been formed to figure out ways to spend a new source of tax revenue. Fire equipment, training, communications, and “brush” clearing were listed as possibilities…but NOTHING about creating a needed regional fire department.

Prop A did not provide San Diego County residents with a comprehensive, collaborative plan to protect lives, property, and natural resources from wildfire. All it did was give money to a political board of advisers who were supposed to try to “improve” fire safety in the same failed, piecemeal way that has occurred in the past.
Prop A would not have changed the fact that San Diego County will continue to depend on outside resources paid for by non-San Diego residents to fight its fires. Although no official will say this publicly, but there will come a time when other fire agencies will refuse to send firefighting resources to the County during statewide firestorm events because their first obligation is to their own citizens – the people who paid for the services. It is common knowledge throughout California that San Diego is a “welfare county” when it comes to fire protection because the County Board of Supervisors has continually failed to show the leadership needed to create and adequately fund a regional fire department.

3. Finally, based on past experience, the public did not trust the County Board of Supervisors or any political board to determine how to spend the money Prop. A would have collected. Thus far the County has demonstrated a willingness to go for flash and flare (such as leasing “Superscooper” water-dropping planes) rather than doing the essential work of developing a regional fire department that will provide additional “boots on the ground” and a coordinated approach to fire management.

San Diego County could only obtain support for the proposition from less than 60% of the fire chiefs in the county. Numerous cities, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Encinitas, and Carlsbad, voted to reject Prop. A. Professional firefighters in San Diego County were also on record as being opposed.

During a time of tightening budgets, I can not see how collecting additional money from taxpayers without a coherent plan on how to spend that money is reasonable. On the other hand, consolidating existing fire protection services into a regional fire department that is partially paid for by existing revenues and savings (fewer chiefs, fewer bureaucracies, and better coordination) is a much more workable approach.

It would be better to go back and develop a comprehensive plan, explain it to the voters, and strive to do the job right the first time rather than attempting to just collect money and ask the voters to trust that it will be spent well. We’ve been burned on that one before.

It looks like the Northern California Lib's looking for ANYTHING to beat up their political opposites (conservatives) on, real or imagined, just got a dose of reality on this subject from folks who LIVE THERE and know what they are talking about.

Post a comment

Commenters: You must preview your comment before posting. And please only hit "Post" once; it may take a while, but your comment is being processed. Thanks.