In a dramatic turn of shifting political winds, the San Diego City Council voted to eliminate $5 million earmarked for a special election on SoccerCity and a convention center expansion.
That was, shall we say, not how I expected it go. The city council is made up – unofficially but practically – of four Republicans and five Democrats. Council president Myrtle Cole, a Democrat, was elected to that position by the Republican council members. So in any party-line vote she would break the tie. I predicted with some amount of confidence that in that scenario, she would return the favor and not kill/delay the mayor’s big-ticket agenda items. That’s how it usually worked under previous council president Sherri Lightner, who won her position by the same method.
It didn’t even come down to that. Through some horsetrading of expenditure items, the council voted nearly as one voice in approving the amended budget 8-1 with only Scott Sherman voting no.
Voice of San Diego editor Scott Lewis presciently foretold of this possible outcome, and yet I still cynically assumed back-room machinations and heavy pressure from a popular mayor would push the vote over the line. Now suddenly we’re talking strong-mayor powers, veto overrides and another vote on the SoccerCity measure itself. Fun! We’ve been doing this stadium stuff for years, it’s great!
With my predictive powers at their nadir I still suggest SDSU supporters not spike the football too hard just now. SoccerCity is definitely wounded but it’s not dead. Still a long ways to go, lot of ins and outs. And ultimately, remember we all want nice things. Think of the long game and be civil, motherfuckers.
*Update: Union-Tribune editorial/opinion editor Matthew Hall just tweeted, based on a tweet from council president Myrtle Cole, that the 2017 special election is dead.
Since Cole’s vote is needed to pass the special election itself, Hall is counting her statement as a no on both. Is it all over but the shouting? We’ll see.
KABEER THIRTY 