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  ast month I
attended a town hall meeting hosted by State Senator Steve Peace.
The dialogue, for the most part, was focused on RITA, the proposed
Regional Infrastructure and Transportation Agency, which would,
for the first time, bring directly accountable regional planning
to San Diego County. Let's just say local officials are not big
on the idea.
 The
meeting was held in the community rooms at Oceanside City Hall.
Other than the chairs being placed in a circle, this gathering
looked like a SANDAG meeting, with its usual cast of characters.
Only this time, someone who can see beyond city borders was calling
the shots. Steve Peace is a witty, articulate man with an incredible
command of state politics. However, this did not impress local
elected officials, who were there to protect their own turf --
which is why we were there in the first place.
Senator Peace
spoke miles of truth when he flat out said the current system
is designed to fail -- which is what residents have been telling
their elected officials for years. SANDAG is an agent of growth,
and no matter how much those who currently benefit from the lack
of comprehensive regional planning would spin otherwise, regional
planning has yet to be attempted in San Diego county, other than
to plan the overdevelopment of the region.
One might
ask, why RITA, and why now? Senator Peace laid out the reasoning
behind RITA in frightening detail, with sobering statistics that
only the foolish or power-hungry would ignore. Thanks to NAFTA,
Tijuana is the fastest growing industrial city in the world.
It needs world-class ports to move products manufactured there.
Considering that San Diego does not have one, our county is nothing
more than a corridor in which to move freight between Mexico
and Los Angeles.
Currently,
there are five entities regulating transportation. They are:
San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), North County Transit
District, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board, San
Diego Unified Port District, and the San Diego Air Pollution
Control Board. The only problem is that none of these agencies
communicate with each other. Oh sure, they attend meetings --
meetings that consist of representatives talking at each another
about what they want, with listening going no further than their
own myopic agendas.
The fact that
there is no trolley service to the airport is just one example
of how thinking in a vacuum is a disservice to the millions of
people living south of Camp Pendleton. As things stand now, it
is not in the Port District's best interest to connect mass transit
to Lindburgh Field because of a potential loss of parking and
taxi revenue. Hence, no trolley to terminal one.
Another example
is the North County Transit District wanting to piecemeal double-tracking
through coastal cities without doing a comprehensive environmental
impact report. Under RITA, those overseeing the anticipated increase
in rail and freeway traffic will be accountable to voters, which
the NCTD board is not.
The main lesson
I took away from the town hall meeting, and I use that term loosely
out of respect for Senator Peace, was that our elected officials
abhor change. We are talking about the shaking-in-our-boots sort
of fear that is more about being human than any political orientation.
The old paradigm is failing us yet still we cling to it like
a life preserver, refusing any alternatives that go beyond merely
treading water. 
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