The County is Not the City's ATM

Media
4 days ago
2 min read

Two of my colleagues just dropped a proposal to spend $2.75 million in County taxpayer dollars on giveaways and a new arts bureaucracy.

That includes a $1.5 million General Fund giveaway to "implement a direct grant program for artists and cultural practitioners," with the money going to "individual artists" and "cultural workers." The proposal directs that the $1.5 million be "designed for low-barrier and timely distribution."

It also creates new bureaucracy. There's a $250,000 line item to embed artists inside County departments to develop "artist-led solutions" to social challenges facing County government.

New staff. New grant programs. New designations. And a sizable chunk of it headed straight into the City of San Diego.

Let me remind you what the City of San Diego looks like right now.

Streets that flood because storm drains went uncleaned for years. A budget deficit so deep they're closing libraries and rec centers. Homeless encampments the City refuses to enforce against. A downtown most families won't visit after dark.

When the floods hit Southcrest and Mountain View, who showed up? The County. We opened the shelters. We cut the checks. We bailed the City out because the City couldn't do its job.

Now my colleagues want us to do it again. This time with $2.75 million pulled out of the same General Fund that pays for our deputies, our fire prep, our mental health beds, and our roads in North County.

Here is what that money could do in District 5:

More deputies on patrol. Fire breaks cut before the next wildfire roars through. Psychiatric beds for the fentanyl crisis killing our kids. Defibrillators on every youth sports field. Pothole crews that actually show up.

Instead, the Board majority wants to stand up a brand-new arts agency to take over a program the City of San Diego has run since the 1980s. They want to hire $250,000 worth of new staff to run it. They want $500,000 sent to one neighborhood in the City. They want $250,000 for "binational creative economy" projects nobody can define.

I am not against arts and culture. I am against the County serving as a bailout fund for a City that will not govern itself.

North County families pay their taxes. They deserve to see those dollars come back as public safety, fire protection, and basic services. Not as subsidies for City Hall mismanagement.

If you agree, I want to hear from you. Hit reply. Forward this to a neighbor. Show up to the Board meeting and make your voice heard.

We work for you. Not for City Hall.