California - Arizona and Tourism

Light blogging for the next few days, because we are heading to Arizona.  To launch this road trip here Swell performing a song that only recently became a favorite, "California, Arizona."

I am told that open carry is fairly common in Arizona, as well as some other cultural differences from my home town of San Diego.  That should provide fodder for a future post as well.

We are heading for the tourist resort town of Sedona.  Here in San Diego, the tourism dollars are apparently not flowing in as fast as our city fathers the hoteliers would like.

The city council has bought into this line of reasoning and approved the release of the Tourism Marketing District dollars even though a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the tax is pending.  The council vote was 8-1 in favor of releasing the money.  David Alvarez continued supporting Bob Filner's position that the money should not be released.  I also oppose the tax, but not for the reasons that Filner did, I just think the tax itself is illegal.

I would hope that the hospitality industry leaders would come to their senses over the current structure of the tax and propose a different process that doesn't leave them open to legal challenge, and indeed disengages them from city council politics.  If they don't, then the likes of Filner and Alvarez will continue to demand concessions demanded by labor unions in order for funds to be released to promote tourism.

I would like to see Kevin Faulconer propose an alternate way ahead, as well.

What You Should Be Reading

• Legal Insurrection because it is entertaining, and I was extensively quoted on the mayoral race, dang it.
• California rejects the President's plea to let people keep their insurance, because the fix is only temporary.  H/T LegalInsurrection.  

Filner's Start in Office

. . . is not that great.  I was happy he is stopping medical marijuana outlet harassment by the city, but is that really a burning issue?  Beyond that Filner's start in office has not made me optimistic.

1. He cancelled new managed competition actions, claiming that more study is needed and that service levels have suffered.  The Miramar landfill competition and street sweeping services were won by city workers, but at lower cost to the city; why is Filner complaining?  There is no evidence of correlation between over paying for a service and better levels of service. Kudos to Kevin Faulconer for seeking to push ahead anyway.
2. He "plans to reorganize land use and redevelopment functions under a new Department of Healthy, Safe and Livability Neighborhoods."  Stand by for any new construction to become more difficult.  Just what a struggling economy needs. 
3. He has called for scaling back a state water project that will bring badly needed water to Southern California.  My water bill is very high already, despite cutting back, why doesn't the mayor care about that?
4. I haven't seen any proposals on how to keep spending under control or what his plan is for dealing with a projected deficit.

I am skeptical of his promise in his state of the city address to freeze pensionable pay for city workers.  It would be great if he did, but I am willing to bet that doesn't happen.  Any takers?

On a side note, his comments that the Chargers weren't leaving were welcome, but why is that the headline in the U-T?  Didn't the mayor talk about more important items.  

Self Congratulations? Among California Republicans?

This is an "inside politics" post that most regular readers may want to ignore, cross posted from sdrostra.

Yesterday, on sdrostra.com, Jim Sills congratulated Tony Krvaric on his election to the Vice Chairmanship of the California Republican party. I do not dispute that San Diego will have more influence in the state party as a result, but I take exception to the self-congratulatory description of the 2010 election results in San Diego. Many of the touted successes were officially non-partisan. More importantly, the GOP made absolutely no progress in taking seats in the State Senate or Assembly, including in San Diego districts. This should be seen as a bitter disappointment when compared to GOP results nationwide. As a Republican, if only for three years, I believe we should set our sights higher, much higher. 2010's election returns in California should be seen as a abject failure, which should result in soul searching and prompting a sense of crisis for our party. I hope Mr. Krvaric will bring such a sense of urgency to his new office.