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Common Sense Blackouts

Given the problems we face as a state and region in obtaining a reliable and affordable supply of electricity, natural gas and gasoline, it stuns the rational mind to see what instead is occupying the attention of some folks these days.

There are some in positions of public trust who are busily occupying themselves with missions that have no chance of being fulfilled or are totally irrelevant to advancing the public good. With all the verbal clatter in the media about some of these issues and proposals, it’s evident that electricity is not the only thing subject to blackouts this summer.

Common sense and relevance are in short supply as well.

One example, in particular, illustrates the point.

I had always held a county grand jury in high regard, believing this panel was made up of thoughtful and engaged citizens whose primary charge was to investigate matters of great civil concern and to inquire into public offenses within San Diego County.

Conceptually, grand juries are venerable institutions, dating back to the Norman Conquest in England in 1066. The first grand jury in America was impaneled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 to consider cases of murder, robbery and wife beating — all noble reasons for such a panel.

Depending on how you look at it, grand juries have come a fair distance since then. Today, the San Diego County grand jury is a body of 19 citizens who, according to its literature, “possess ordinary intelligence, sound judgment and good character,” are open-minded, interested in and knowledgeable about community affairs; and have skill and experience in fact finding. Hmmm, that narrows the field of candidates considerably. Draining the selection pool even further is the requirement that jurors commit to serving at least 32 hours, four days per week for the period July 1 through June 30 of the following year. That rules out the participation of many, if not most people, who would be intellectually equipped to serve but cannot commit to the enormous commitment of time.

I took the trouble to look all that up following a recent report from the current grand jury that, quite frankly, makes me question whether its members have those qualifications and serve effectively as a public watchdog.

The current panel has spent this past year studying many issues: delays in reimbursements in the city of San Diego’s Low Flush Toilet Rebate Program, why our beaches are closed, the boundaries of Mission Bay Park, squabbles among board members in the Julian Union High School District, and, most recently, the county’s transportation deficiencies. From toilets to traffic — it boggles the mind!

The grand jury’s interest in transportation was apparently prompted by one member’s recent experiences on local freeways. Got caught in a jam, did ya, mister? You need to get out more!

I agree our county’s transportation problems are considerable. But I wonder why the grand jury felt it was the appropriate agency to tackle the issue, especially given the lack of transportation and real estate experts on the panel who would be able to thoughtfully analyze the complexities of the problems. There is an incredible lack of innovative or useful recommendations contained in its recent report, “Transportation in San Diego County.”

The grand jury studied monthly SANDAG staff reports, attended a briefing and a tour at Lindbergh Field, interviewed a member of the North San Diego County Transit Development Board, listened to a presentation by a Sandag representative and interviewed a few CalTrans and Metropolitan Transportation Development Board representatives. Then, it recommended, in part, that at least two new major freeways be built throughout the county and that the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar be turned into an international airport to replace Lindbergh Field. Oh, by the way, we gotta move the Marine Corps’ airfield from Miramar to Camp Pendleton.

If the grand jurors talked to the Marines about whether they’d be willing to pack up their planes and choppers and move across the county to Oceanside, I didn’t see any evidence of such discussions. If the grand jury talked to anybody remotely experienced in building large-scale development projects such as freeways and rail systems, again, I didn’t see such evidence.

The grand jury also recommended making provisions for the construction of a rail system or other public transit within the right of way of each new freeway and to ask voters to approve a one half percent sales tax to finance the construction of the new freeways. The panel also asked that toll roads and private investment in highway transit be taken into consideration. Again, there was no evidence of any input taken from organizations or individuals that have experience in building such infrastructure.

Good grief — it isn’t as if the notion of moving the airport to Miramar hasn’t been discussed a jillion times over the past several decades. Didn’t the grand jury bother to figure out why that hasn’t happened? Maybe, just maybe, there are valid reasons. And while I certainly agree that our area needs new freeways, what is it that the grand jury brings to the table in terms of expertise and leadership to solve our region’s transportation infrastructure problems? Obviously, not much, given the report’s shallow scholarship.

The new San Diego County grand jury for 2001-2002 is to be sworn in at the end of this month. Hopefully, new members will focus on more pressing issues and those for which they are more suitably organized to study and analyze. How about price gouging in electricity and the extra premium prices San Diegans pay for gasoline for starters?

Jason Hughes is founder of Hughes Marino, an award-winning commercial real estate company with offices across the nation. A pioneer in the field of tenant representation, Jason has exclusively represented tenants and buyers for more than 30 years. Contact Jason at 1-844-662-6635 or jason@hughesmarino.com to learn more.



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