San Diego City Council and community leaders raised concerns Monday about Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposal to close a city police station and slash funding for arts, libraries and recreation centers.
Some council objected in particular to the mayor’s plan to cut library and recreation center hours equally across the city and lobbied him to propose softer cuts in low-income areas that rely more on those services.
Council and labor leaders also complained that Gloria’s draft budget, which would close a roughly $300 million deficit, proposes laying off many lower-paid city workers but very few top-level managers.
“We tend to be top-heavy in our organizational structure,” said Councilmember Henry Foster, chair of the Council’s Budget Committee.
Gloria’s proposal to close the Police Department’s Northwestern Division station in Carmel Valley was harshly criticized, as were some proposed gang detective layoffs and cuts to police overtime that some people worried could worsen response times.
“Cutting patrol operations and 9-1-1 response times and shutting down a police station is dramatic,” said Jared Wilson, president of the labor union that represents city police officers.
Police Chief Scott Wahl said the station will be merged with the department’s northern and northeastern divisions to save $1.7 million, but he assured the council that affected neighborhoods wouldn’t get any less attention.
“We’re just shifting the front-line personnel to come out of that Northeastern substation,” Wahl said. “The same amount of personnel will be working in the area, we’re just cutting the command and overhead essentially to save money.”
The Northwestern Division is one of nine divisions in the department. It serves Sorrento Valley, Torrey Preserve, Del Mar Heights, Carmel Valley, Torrey Highlands and Black Mountain Ranch.
“If the station is closed and services are instead routed through the Rancho Peñasquitos station, response times could double or worse,” said resident Laurie Altschul. “As a parent, this is simply unacceptable. Any delays in response to accidents, rising burglaries or God forbid an incident at one of our schools could be catastrophic.”
Resident Shai Kalansky agreed.
“It is a grievous mistake to shut down the SDPD Northwestern Division,” Kalansky said. “We have seen an uptick in petty crime over the past couple of years like car break-ins, tons of parking violations in our neighborhoods that pose safety risks — blocking fire hydrants and corner views — and some home break-ins.”
A proposal to cut annual arts funding from $15.3 million to $13.8 million was also criticized.
Councilmember Vivian Moreno said it’s frustrating San Diego is getting further away from its previous commitment to increase arts funding to about $30 million a year under a pledge called “penny for the arts.”
Leaders of the local arts community lobbied the council Monday.
“Arts and culture funding is an investment, not a handout,” said Christine Martinez, leader of Arts and Culture San Diego, which represents more than 160 local arts groups. “Don’t turn your backs on our partnership.”
There were also strong objections to proposed cuts to libraries, which would close all 37 city branches every Sunday and Monday, and to proposed cuts to recreation centers, where weekly hours would be slashed from either 60 or 65 down to 40.
“I oppose budget cuts to our libraries, recreation centers and community art centers,” said resident Lindsay Miller. “They provide vital services to San Diego community .”
Foster, the council’s budget chair, said it was particularly troubling that the mayor wants the library and recreation center cuts to be made equally across the city.
“Any notion of across-the-board cuts ignores the reality that some of our communities have never been given a full seat at the table to begin with,” said Foster, referring to decades of underinvestment in communities south of state Route 94. “We must not lose our moral com.”
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera agreed.
“We cannot balance the city’s budget on the backs of our most vulnerable children and seniors,” said Elo-Rivera, vowing to reject any budget that proposes across-the-board cuts.
Moreno ed Foster and Elo-Rivera in opposing the across-the-board cuts. The trio represents the city’s least wealthy neighborhoods.
Moreno said the council needs to continue its focus on boosting social equity.
“This City Council has been a staunch er of making sure our underserved neighborhoods get the funding they need to provide residents with the same quality of life as wealthier communities,” she said.
Councilmember Raul Campillo, who represents the city’s eastern suburban neighborhoods, asked the mayor’s staff to provide the council information about parks and library usage they could need to make potential cuts that vary by neighborhood.
“Looking at use numbers, head counts and things like that would be important to understand where targeted cutting makes the most sense,” Campillo said.
Gloria’s proposal to lay off many relatively low-paid recreation center assistant directors was also criticized.
Corrine Wilson, a spokesperson for the Municipal Employees Association labor union, said Gloria’s proposed budget would protect most top-level managers even after he lays off many of the people they supervise.
“Why do we need so many managers when there is so much less to manage?” Wilson asked.
While Gloria has acknowledged his proposed budget is likely to be unpopular because of all the cuts needed to close a $300 million deficit, the reaction has been remarkably negative.
City Clerk Diana Fuentes said the city received 1,162 emails opposing the proposed budget and only six in favor.
The proposed cuts are part of a three-pronged approach to addressing the city’s structural deficit that the mayor announced late last year after city voters narrowly rejected a proposed one-cent sales tax increase.
The two other prongs are delaying reserve contributions and boosting city revenues with new fees and higher parking meter rates.
The City Council is scheduled to review the budget during a week of public hearings May 5-9. The council is scheduled to vote on a finalized budget June 10.
