Dishonesty and Disinformation in Anti-Measure A Piece Intended to Cloud Reality on Sprawl

By Cody Petterson

I was stunned by the dishonesty of an anti-Measure A opinion piece in Monday's edition of Voice of San Diego, titled "Proposals Like Measure A Hit Minorities Harder." There is a line between opinion and intentional disinformation, and the authors crossed it by a mile.

The claim that protecting our General Plan against land speculation, rent-seeking, and endless sprawl is "institutionalized racism" is not just untrue, it is diametrically opposed to the truth. Take a gander at the sprawling suburbs and exurbs of north and east county. Sprawl is not a solution to segregation — sprawl is a fundamental driver of our region's obscene segregation. Sprawl development is the physical manifestation of white flight and disinvestment in the diverse communities of our old urban core.

I and others have repeatedly confronted the opponents of Measure A, including one of the authors and the attorney they cite, with the simple question: How could the sprawl projects inhibited by Measure A plausibly produce equitable housing? In concrete terms, how can a General Plan Amendment (GPA) in the rural and semi-rural backcountry produce market rate housing that is affordable to moderate, low, very low, or extremely low buyers or renters? And, furthermore, be near transit and jobs, where we need it to be in order to confront our climate emergency and reduce transportation costs to working families? They've failed to provide an answer, because it is impossible.

I am the "environmental activist" mentioned in the article, and I did not say Measure A would stop sprawl (I wish it could — it can only inhibit it), nor did I say it would lead to more affordable housing, though there are scenarios in which it might (it certainly can, however, help to ensure that affordable housing is sited near transit and jobs).

What I said — and which they have never refuted — is that:

1. Affordable sprawl development is a myth. Of the 17 General Plan Amendments proposed or adopted by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors since our 2011 General Plan Update, not a single one has had a single unit of deed-restricted affordable housing.
2. Furthermore, given the cost of land, labor, materials, permitting, fees, financing, regulatory compliance, development, design, and engineering, market rate projects cannot produce units affordable to moderate income San Diego families earning 80 to 120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI).
3. Therefore, the only way to produce an affordable unit is to publicly subsidize it or to mandate developers to cross-subsidize it.
4. But only a fool or a scoundrel would subsidize affordable housing in the backcountry, far from jobs, transit, services, and amenities, not to mention where it destroys and fragments habitat, threatens our county's unrivaled biodiversity, exposes residents to wildfire, increases traffic, increases vehicle miles traveled, increases commute times, prevents greenhouse gas reduction, forces usurious transportation costs and productivity losses on working families, incentivizes rent-seeking and land speculation, hands sprawl developers upzoning windfalls, and forces the general public to bear the costs and risks.

It is shameful that Democrats like the authors would abandon our party's commitment to environmental protection, climate action, and the public good. It is far more shameful that they would abandon our commitment to the truth.

I rarely ask, but share this with your friends and family and join San Diego's environmental and conservation community, our allies in civil society, and the Labor movement in supporting YES on Measure A, also known as the Save Our San Diego Countryside (SOS) initiative.

Passage of Measure A is essential to confronting our climate emergency, protecting our environment, and fostering a sustainable, equitable, livable future for our children. The future of our smart growth General Plan, our regional climate action plans, and our dynamic, diverse county depends on it.

Vote against endless sprawl on March 3rd. Vote for climate action. Vote for a sustainable, equitable vision for San Diego. Vote YES on Measure A.

---