Re “Council panel rejects fee mandate” (Feb. 19): So our City Council has rejected a proposal that would reduce its ability to impose higher-than-projected fees on city residents. Seems especially “tone-deaf” to me, given our city leadership’s abysmal track record:
— Pension plan mismanagement that created a deficit which now totals more than $3 billion and keeps growing.
— Purchasing the now-infamous Ash Street building with zero due diligence while utilizing financing techniques designed to avoid citizen approval, compounded by making subsequent internal alterations that exposed encapsulated asbestos, rendering the building unusable.
— Supporting a proposition to begin charging private residences for trash services utilizing a faulty analysis that woefully underestimated the resulting fees.
— Resolving chronic city budget deficits in part by implementing parking fees in Balboa Park that quickly resulted in lower park attendance and revenue decreases of 20% to 50% at park venues.
This track record clearly indicates that our current city leadership needs more citizen oversight, not less.
— Bill Roper, La Jolla