Over 200 people attended Councilmember Toni Atkins’ first State of the District address held at the Balboa Park Club March 2, which gave an overview of what Atkins’ office and community members of District 3 have been able to accomplish in the last four years, and addressed the ongoing pension fund investigation and efforts to overhaul the city’s finances. In addition, Atkins urged the community to stay involved in government activities as the city transitions to the strong-mayor form of government in 2006.

“The city’s transition to a strong-mayor form of government would be center stage under normal circumstances,” she said. “However, the city isn’t really operating under normal circumstances…. I want to stress how important it is for you, the citizens, not to turn your back or be diverted by news-grabbing headlines that detract from our focus on the transition to the strong-mayor form of government. We need citizen vigilance to ensure that the transition and the critical details that will affect our day-to-day lives aren’t bypassed, overlooked or ignored.”

For example, constituent services would now be directed to the mayor, Atkins explained, which was one of the main reasons she didn’t support the ballot measure. As of January 2006, communities will contact the mayor’s office if they have project management concerns about things like potholes, street repairs and code enforcement issues. “No longer will the city council member have the authority – and this is key – to call the manager or department head and get immediate results,” she said. “The accountability of city managers to the council members is not as direct as it has been under the city charter, nor is it guaranteed.”

Atkins added that though the strong-mayor form of government gives direct access and accountability to the mayor’s office, a proposed work plan reviewed by the city council last week did not address the issue of constituent services.

“I remain very concerned about constituent services and how citizens will be responded to when they call the city for help,” she said, adding that the council plans to have a citizens’ committee comprised of 11 individuals to make recommendations to the mayor and council on how they set up new departments and community interactions with the mayor, council and city manager. All hearings will be held before the full city council, she said. Two such meetings will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, April 4, and Monday, April 11, in council chambers to talk about issues such as the council’s independent budget analyst, legislative analysts and “hopefully” how constituent services will be handled, she said. “And if I sound like I’m trying to forewarn, I just want you to be part of the process, so as we shape the form of government that we will live with Jan. 1, 2006, that you get your needs met; that we work to make sure that it will be a workable form of government for you, as you intended when this measure was passed.”

The city’s financial disclosure practices and the underfunding of the pension system have mutual bearing on each other, Atkins said, and the city must have “the most stringent procedures and protections in place” in order to reestablish credit for the bond market and financial good faith.

In January 2004, the city issued voluntary corrections to bond disclosure documents prior to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation. At the same time, the council hired a law firm to investigate the city’s disclosures, which generated a 300-page report describing how financial practices dating back to the 1980s put the city in its current fiscal position.

Upon receiving the report in September, the city council enacted new disclosure protocol, including tougher new federal regulations recently adopted for corporations. Though these laws don’t apply to local governments, “we have become the first municipality to adopt these standards, and I guarantee you cities all across the country are watching us as we do this, because they will be enacting similar measures in their own jurisdictions,” Atkins said.

The city’s hired auditing firm, KPMG, is engaged with the city in a closer review, which began in October. The 2003 audit has not yet been released.

Forty-one percent of the pension underfunding is attributable to employee benefit increases, most of which were given in 1998 and 2000, Atkins said. An additional 4 percent deficit is attributable to the council’s 2002 vote on benefits.

A new retirement board will be in place by April 1.

“It took awhile to get into this situation; it will take a little time to get out, but we will get there,” Atkins said.

Proposition D, the Right of Access and Information Act, passed with an 85-percent voter margin. Along with Mayor Murphy and Councilmember Scott Peters, Atkins serves on the council committee to select the next city manager, and serves as vice chair of the newly formed Government Efficiency and Openness Committee, chaired by Councilmember Donna Frye. Atkins also chaired the committee that selected the new city auditor, who will take office March 19.

Atkins and her staff set “a very ambitious agenda” after her 2000 election that included bringing more jobs to District 3, upgrading public facilities such as libraries, fire and police stations, supporting small businesses, protecting urban canyons and preserving Balboa Park.

Public safety, environmental and affordable housing issues, as well as ongoing revitalization projects and infrastructure improvements are either complete or underway, she said.

Atkins served as chair of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee from 2000 to 2002, addressing police and fire issues. “…I admit we have a ways to go,” she said, “but we’ve started.”

Following the Cedar fire in 2003, the city implemented new fire regulations and a new program called CERT – Community Emergency Response Team. Similar to the police department’s neighborhood watch program, CERT trains communities to work collectively as a neighborhood to help respond in case of fire emergency. University Heights and Talmadge have received the CERT training. The overall public safety budget for police and fire increased this past fiscal year by $62 million.

Community and business leaders who have made substantial contributions to District 3’s redevelopment and revitalization were honored during Atkins’ speech, as were environmentalists, police and fire personnel and media agencies.

Atkins honored Fire Battalion 2, B Division Chief Tony Pollard, who was the command post leader instrumental in battling the Laurel Street Bridge fire last year.

She also made special mention of those developers who went above and beyond the city’s inclusionary housing policy, which requires all new developments to designate a certain percentage of units as affordable housing or pay in-lieu fees, which are then used to develop affordable housing projects elsewhere.

“On housing, San Diego has the unfortunate distinction of being named among the nation’s top five most expensive housing markets,” Atkins said. “The average home price is now over $498,000 and the median income in San Diego is $63,400. However, many of the residents of the third district don’t make that kind of salary, so it’s even harder for some of us to afford a home.”

The city council declared the nation’s first housing state of emergency in 2001, which helped get the city’s redevelopment agency and the Center City Development Corporation to issue a $55 million housing bond measure.

“For many years, District 3 has had a disproportionate share of what would be considered the low income or affordable housing,” Atkins said. “…But we need every community to provide affordable housing. That’s what creates balance. That’s what creates the vitality, the dynamic nature of community.”

Approximately $3 million has been collected thus far from in-lieu fees, and 4,300 affordable housing units are either completed or in progress, she said.

One of Atkins’ top priorities, the Metro Career Center and Metro Villas, was completed in less than three years. A partnership between the city and the San Diego Workforce Partnership, the development provides affordable housing, job training, office space and educational facilities for low-income families.

District improvements include completion of the $25 million Mid City Pipeline and streetlight upgrades, preliminary designs for residential under-grounding of gas and electric lines, and projects in the works for new curbs, sidewalks and parking structures in North Park and in Hillcrest. Additionally, a traffic-calming project is underway for Fourth, Fifth and Sixth avenues, as is implementation of a $1 million 75/25 project, where the city pays 75 percent and a homeowner pays 25 percent to improve streets and sidewalks.

The District 3 staff conducted a study that found it would take $65 million annually for at least five years to bring streets citywide up to “even an acceptable level,” Atkins said.

New parks, the District 3 flagship library and two other library projects are also underway, as is an anti-graffiti program and efforts to address gang-related issues.

Future goals include implementing a city of villages project along El Cajon Boulevard, upgrading the police department’s communications system, and repairing and expanding City Heights and Hillcrest fire departments.

“Many of you will remember that a little more than a decade ago… it seemed that the only images we saw of council District 3 in the media were stories about crime-riddled neighborhoods, communities that were past their prime,” Atkins said. “That is no longer true. … It’s our time to shine.”