San Diegans already disillusioned with City Hall have new reasons for angst. In a bizarre story that raised eyebrows around the world, the Union-Tribune revealed Sunday that newly elected City Attorney Heather Ferbert has allowed a top aide to receive pay and accrue vacation benefits while on a four-month global cruise.
Ferbert’s reputation may be permanently damaged by her obliviousness to the message this sends during the city’s latest budget crisis — and by her refusal to take basic follow-up questions about the immense favor she granted to attorney Jean Jordan on top of her nearly $300,000 in annual compensation. “There’s nothing else to add,” Ferbert’s spokesperson said in an email to a reporter, only adding to the amateur hour vibe of the matter. Of course there is. Let the public record requests begin. Let’s see how much work Jordan is actually doing while at sea.
The timing of a story detailing such ineptitude by a city leader could not have been worse for Mayor Todd Gloria. He’s trying to sell a trash collection fee for 233,000 single-family homes that is far costlier than what voters were led to believe in 2022 when they narrowly overturned a 1919 city law barring such fees. On Monday, the City Council voted 6-3 for a revised plan that would have a default fee of $47.59 per month. While that is cheaper than an earlier proposal, it still dwarfs the $23 to $29 estimate used to win Measure’s B approval. And it still apparently anticipates the hiring of 130 additional city employees — instead of using much less costly contractors — at a time when city compensation costs are already at crippling levels. As such, the proposal is not just deceptive, it’s downright irresponsible.
This is why the U-T Editorial Board offers its full to a campaign to use a state law that blocks the fee if more than half of affected households object to its imposition. Attention, bullied San Diegans: Be on the lookout for the “protest cards” being mailed to your homes in coming days. Then carefully follow the rules and send City Hall a message.
If this protest is successful, that will it make it even more difficult for Gloria and the council to close a $258 million budget deficit. But that number would be far smaller if San Diegans were heeded in 2012 when 66 percent voted to end defined-benefit pensions for most new hires. Instead, after Proposition B was thrown out by the courts, voters’ for pension cost reductions became a forbidden topic.
All this reflects the need for a citizen-led intervention at City Hall, only starting with trash fees. The city is desperate for the emergence of a powerful private-public coalition that elects leaders who are less beholden to employee unions — and more honest.
