{"id":393320,"date":"2026-07-10T12:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393320\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:19:08","slug":"petulant-city-closes-mission-bay-bathrooms-to-punish-tax-weary-residents-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393320\/","title":{"rendered":"Petulant city closes Mission Bay bathrooms to punish tax-weary residents \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a long and disreputable history of government agencies responding to tight budgets that they don\u2019t like by seeking to punish the public. Perhaps the most famous example<\/a> comes from the Nixon administration. In 1969, when Congress cut the National Park Service budget, Interior Secretary Walter Hickel responded by closing the popular Washington Monument for several hours a day and on weekends. The tactic worked and some park funding was restored.<\/p>\n

Will this hardball work in San Diego? Or will residents tell city leaders to take a hike? After Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council\u2019s decision to close 13 of the 28<\/a> public bathrooms at Mission Bay, we\u2019re about to find out.<\/p>\n

This decision isn\u2019t just obscenely elitist \u2014 the allegedly broke city found $7.35 million<\/a> five weeks ago to fund arts organizations whose number of patrons is dwarfed by the many locals who visit and revere Mission Bay. It\u2019s also dangerous on public health grounds, as three UC San Diego health officials warned in a June 3 commentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But what makes it obvious that this is petulant punishment aimed at San Diegans who are increasingly hostile to city leaders\u2019 constant push for higher fees and taxes is that the savings are so tiny \u2014 about $546,000. The city, which has more than 12,000 employees<\/a>, presently has dozens of openings<\/a> for high-paying<\/a> jobs with great benefits. To come up with $546,000, it would only take eliminating five or fewer vacant positions and expecting those in affected departments to handle the same tasks with a slightly smaller staff \u2014 you know, the approach used 24-7-365 in the private sector when budgets are tight.<\/p>\n

The City Council members seeking reelection in November \u2014 Henry Foster III in District 4 and Kent Lee in District 6 \u2014 should be asked at council meetings and at every public event why they aren\u2019t fighting this stupid stunt. So should District 5 Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who is running for Congress.<\/p>\n

San Diegans blocked a sales-tax hike in 2024 and the \u201csecond homes\u201d tax last month. They also helped force the city to roll back trash collection charges and agree to cancel the new parking fees at Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time for residents to rise up again and demand elected leaders end their petty assault on their own constituents. Enough is enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a long and disreputable history of government agencies responding to tight budgets that they don\u2019t like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1965,975,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-393320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-editorials","tag-opinion","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}