SANDAG needs to abandon its imperious, oblivious ways

The recent board meeting of the San Diego Association of Governments, the region’s lead transportation planning agency, came after an unprecedented year in which nearly a decade of doubts about SANDAG’s honesty and competence came into sharp focus.

First came the March announcement that the U.S. Justice Department had begun an investigation of the agency in the wake of scandals involving dishonest financial reports, intentional overbilling of toll road users, egregiously improper use of public money to boost employees’ compensation and years of disregard for reporting requirements on the use of federal funds. The probe was possibly foreshadowed by the departure of SANDAG CEO Hasan Ikhrata last December after he had lost the confidence of both the board’s pro-transit and pro-roads factions following years of unflattering revelations.

Then came county voters’ Nov. 5 decision to reject Measure G, which would have raised the sales tax by a half-cent countywide to help SANDAG pay for its multibillion-dollar plans to expand public transportation options, add carpool lanes and oversee regional road repairs. Even though it was billed as absolutely crucial to both everyday quality of life and the long-term regional response to the climate emergency, it lost in a close vote — despite proponents vastly outspending opponents with a happy-talk advocacy campaign. Many voters simply didn’t trust the agency’s promises.

But instead of this one-two whammy triggering soul-searching, it appears to have been quickly dismissed by some board members. Consider the reaction to the comments of Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz at SANDAG’s Dec. 6 meeting about San Diego airport proposals. “Trying to pare down the number of billion-dollar projects SANDAG has should be the primary goal at this point,” he said, “and so I would encourage this board to focus heavily on rubber-wheeled solutions for [a proposed] transit connection to the airport because it’s going to be a long time before resources will be available to build a billion-dollar project that serves so few people.”

This rational and obvious argument should have shaped the subsequent board discussion. Instead, La Mesa Councilmember Jack Shu essentially exhorted San Diego to be like other “modern cities” which have expensive “people mover” systems.

The “keeping up with the Joneses” argument is unserious at best. It implicitly downplays the importance of cost-benefit analyses of staggeringly expensive potential SANDAG decisions by suggesting the decisions would convey status. And in the broadest possible sense, this argument is rooted in assumptions from a bygone era. The world is in the middle of a transportation revolution because of autonomous vehicles. Once overhyped by the media, this technology is now underhyped for its transformative promise, according to comprehensive reviews by respected authors such as The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson. An editorial writer’s recent use of the Waymo commercial ride-sharing service in Phoenix was as flawless, satisfying and efficient as Thompson described. The 8 million rides that Waymo — a Google spinoff — has provided in the last year in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin with a tiny number of complaints are sure to increase exponentially as more cities are added. This has giant implications for other transportation needs. As The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board observed last month, this development, as well as deep uncertainty over future state and federal funding, means “SANDAG is going to have to be nimble in dealing with the challenges it faces in coming years.”

This was not remotely the Ikhrata way. Under his imperious leadership, SANDAG never even seemed to consider the possibility that it needed to cultivate public support and very transparently make the case for the wisdom of multibillion-dollar projects. This approach didn’t work out well for Ikhrata, SANDAG or county residents.

We hope that Ikhrata’s successor — veteran transportation executive Mario Orso — and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria understand this. Orso is obvious, but why Gloria? Because the single least appreciated part of the SANDAG soap opera is that Gloria could force change on the agency if he had the time, energy and inclination. That’s because of a 2017 state law that required SANDAG to base member cities’ voting clout on their population. This was billed as a reform that would help the agency find its way. Instead, it’s mostly provided clarity on who deserves blame when SANDAG goes astray. Such blame games too often focus on faceless bureaucrats. They should start with San Diego City Hall.