OK, I admit it. I\u2019m suffering from protest fatigue. How is it possible that there are so many things to protest, including on the local level?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a lifelong Democrat and I voted for these idiots, folks. Frankly, I expected better. I\u2019ve covered my political leanings in this column before, so I will just mention that I am married to a lifelong Republican, although we have both voted across party lines on many occasions.<\/p>\n
Olof still hopes the Republican Party will return to what he refers to as its former glory. And I can never help querying, \u201cDid it actually have any?\u201d There\u2019s a lot of spirited debate in our household.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Olof and I have never been more politically aligned than in recent years. One of the (many) reasons is that we\u2019re both totally fed up with the parties we have supported all our lives.<\/p>\n
Locally, the Democratic leadership, in my view, seems to be making one bad decision after another. Nationally, they\u2019ve completely evaporated.<\/p>\n
The Republicans? When even my Republican husband wants to vote every last one of the Republican incumbents out of office, they should be concerned.<\/p>\n
Are we turning into irascible curmudgeons? Probably. But we don\u2019t seem to be alone.<\/p>\n
I will be the first to say that our local leadership isn\u2019t responsible for all the ills that seem to be befalling this city. But I did have expectations that they would be working hard to make sure the citizenry didn\u2019t have to fight them.<\/p>\n
Why are we having to protest a 22-story, utterly useless building proposed for Turquoise Street<\/a> in Pacific Beach that has, in my view, not a single redeeming feature, is blatantly in violation of 1972\u2019s Proposition D 30-foot coastal height limit and will bankrupt the small, heavily utilized neighborhood businesses on that street. Including 139 \u201cmarket rate\u201d apartments\/hotel rooms does not provide \u201caffordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n Ditto the Chalcifica project<\/a> in Pacific Beach, which reportedly includes up to 136 accessory dwelling units of 450 square feet each that will be marketed at $3,000 a month each. Not affordable. Livable only by munchkins. Woefully lacking in parking. And there is nothing \u201caccessory\u201d about this. It\u2019s an apartment building. Once again, why is the citizenry having to fight<\/a> this idiocy?<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s talk parking. I\u2019ve written about this before, but I wish every single person on the City Council and their families were required to use only public transit for an entire month. That means going to work, getting the kids to school and sports practices, making medical appointments on time, etc., etc.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a huge fan of public transit (we never had a car when we lived in Sweden), but this city isn\u2019t set up for it.<\/p>\n Not requiring parking on new builds is ridiculous. Taking out parking to put in bike lanes that are extremely underutilized was senseless. Proposing expensive paid parking in Balboa Park<\/a> would remove a long-cherished free outing for local families.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the new \u201cdaylighting\u201d law<\/a> that went into effect Jan. 1 prohibits parking within 20 feet of an intersection with the aim of boosting visibility for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. This state mandate applies even if the curb is not marked or in the absence of \u201cNo parking\u201d signs. The tickets are a whopping $117.<\/p>\n The law de facto removed hundreds of parking places in hard-to-park areas. Only 400 of the city\u2019s affected 16,000 intersections have had the curbs painted red. Which is how the city managed to issue 6,133 tickets and reportedly generate over $660,000 in revenue just between March 1 (when the new law became enforced) and the end of May.<\/p>\n The city, of course, is gleeful at this fortuitous windfall, which is a testament to how truly unclear the law is and how difficult it is on many blocks to estimate the 20 feet. Meanwhile, some 6,133 people returned to their cars from an eight-hour work shift or a nice lunch to find themselves $117 poorer.<\/p>\n I recently watched the meter guy ticket all four vehicles parked closest to the intersection at the other end of my block, an area where parking is at a premium both for residents and nearby\u00a0 businesses. The city made $468 in about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n This spring, the city decided to assess 226,000 single-family homeowners with trash fees<\/a> in a plan so convoluted it would make your head explode. Despite a serious grassroots effort to fight this, the protest mechanism was doomed to failure from the start, on multiple levels.<\/p>\n