News Scrapbook 1988

San Diego , CA (San Diego Co .) Daily Transcrirt (Cir. D. 7,415 JUN 6

s n DI go, CA (S n Diego Co.) San Diego Bualnes Journ I (Cir. W. 7,500) JUN 1S

Fallbrook, CA (San Diego Co.) Fallbrook Enterprise (Cir. W. 6,173)

1988

Jl(k,.' c,,. ,au ,,., Annual Cap Surprised Citizens Committee 1 P. c. e

JUN 2 1988

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City's GrowthManagement Plan Attacked By Opposite Factions B;Yo1i° ,W KLESKE Bob Wlllt<-rton, th<• Associated 8an Diego Daily Trnn.-.criptSt11ffWrit,•r Bui Idem and Contraclors' execu The City Planning DeparlmPnt's tivP VH'l ~rcsi(l1•nt, said Friday. draft growth management plan, "PPoplP an• grnng to contmue mov- portions of which should make it on ing to San !JiPgo despite what hap• the Nov mber ballot opposite a pens in the building indu:;try." mon• :.;everc Citizens for Lin11ted Wintffton compared the !'!'suit of Growth mitialive, has dra~ n al limiting of horn<' building on im• tacks from bolh no-growth and proving quality of life factors such pro-growth advocates alike. as freeway congestion with the Although th<• planning depart limiting of new cnr sales. His paro ment plan, developed with advice dy of developm nt ordinances such from the Citizen's Advisory Com as the city's Interim Development miUee on Growth and Develop Ordinance would require that no mPnt, would allow d<•v1·lopmpnt of new cors lw sold until existing cars a greater numbPr of homes th an un• junkPd so that the number of the Cit1z •ns for Limited Growth cars on th highways remains lhe

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SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL

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COMMENT y aeserves a fate better than grovVth controls \\ 1th the Qu hty orrffiniti tive s rnr ly n the ov- a property value base that is too low to fund needed The ability to make a better life is foundational to our mb , b llol, the fat o o~t~ ~o?trol in_ S Diego r~anges in local i_nfastructure. In this case local pub~c ser- country and our Constitution, which clearly states the right th• h ol the voter . Thi m1t1ut1vc, which 1s po vices would continue to be below needed levels despite the to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our efforts to by th t l n foe I muted Growth, would hmit new hou - lowdown m construction, unless the city levies new taices make San Diego a better place requires more than an "us 111 urut t f w 4,()(X) umt year untc:,s certain envi- or the property taic system changes. against them" attitude. Especially when we realize that ronm 111 I t 111d d~ 1rc m t. The ev rity of these consequences depends on the ability ome of "them" are our own children. 0 Co 1r this nitiat1ve will h ve company on th ballot, of developers to hift construction to other municipalities. Does all this mean that San Diego should do nothing at tty < lik wi d vbmg a growth-control Ironically, hifting con truction further out will exacerbate all about its future? Absolutely not. Now is the time set

the problem a ociated with growth. In particular, traffic and air quality will wor n. Den ity changes within San Diego could alle\iate the ·e problems, but higher density is en a a threat to the character of established neighbor- hood· Philo ophkally, growth controls are likewise difficult to JU ttfy. Perhaps a counter exam11Ie will make this clear. I hink of the citie in the ortheast or Midwest where peo- ple are exiting in large number , Clearly this outward the migration ha deva tating eff~1s on these local economies. It \\-ould therefore be in the be ·t interests of such cities to mandate that no one can leave, Obviou ly, a policy of this type would be een as a blatant attact on individual rights and lib.rtie . But growth control is really the same thing. Consider another example. Suppose all o~ us could meet m space (without being a resident of any region) with the understanding that we would be randomly assigned a place to live. Now that we have no location, would we ever agree to growth controls? Clearly not, because we might be as igned to an undesirable area and want to move some- where else. This is the whole point. People who were not born here come to San Diego to make a better life for themselves.

plan, construction industry m<'m• bern still cons1dPr the plan unfair and Pvcn 11legal. "It doesn't make> any dilforence how many units they limit it to," "Peter Navarro is a supp, :;pokesman and contributor to zens for Limited Growth," Ki ny said. "He's doing everythi his powPr to undermine the , product. "He"s going to misrepresent to1·y as best he ca n to make ti ty's plan look bad so he gPts 1 votes in November." Kilkenny said his group int to be present at three rev planned for thP plan - with zen's Advisory ommittee on, 8, the City of San Diego Plan Commission on June 9 and the Council on Jun• 20- to protest extended use of a ca p. "It's far too extreme," he "This 1s permanent JOO" Robert Morris, executive president of th Bu1ld1ng Indu. Association, said the BIA is co nuing iL~ fight agamst hom caps by pointing out the probl1 caused so far by IDO. Morns says the cost of inl: resale hou'

same "lt' almo ·t th1• ~amp logic and I'm sure tlw automobile dealers wouldn't like it," he said. Some memhl•rs of the C1t1z~n•s Advisory Committee, including the University of San Diego's Peter Navarro, have gone on record ac- cusing thP plannin!( department of mismterpreting important e le menls of its recommendation City Councilman Ron Roberts, chair of th1 Citizen's Advisory Committc>c>, ·aid the conflict comes from the pl.inning department's r 'commend,1tion for an annual 8,366 unit cap rather than the five-year, 41,829 cap proposed by the committee. The five-year cap, based on the San Diego Association of Govern ment's projected housing needs through 1994, ,~ considered by the construction industry to be more f1ex1ble because it would not !unit the number of homes built within any single yt'Hr "Everybody on the committee was surprised that the planning deparl.ml'nt went with the annual cap," Roberts s,1id Fnd,iy "Thi• plann; n department had its own reason for doing th, l " Roberts said there also is concern that the planning department~~ plan doPs not go far enough in bas- mg development all wances on the immediate• e;reation of needed puhl ic S!'rvices ·md mfrastructure. The planning department's plan couid bl· extended beyond five ' years if six standards rPlating to air quality, water supply, traffic management, sewage treatment, water reclamation and solid waste disposal are not me~ within the rCont111u,·d on Pa e 2B1

Efforts to make this a better place require more than an "us against them" attitude. Especially when some of "them" are our own children. forward reasonable plans and issue specific policies that will address our current and future needs. No single policy can addres all of San Diego's needs. Intelligent growth management that works with developers can bring about many of our desired goals without the negative effects of a residential cap. Gro · tl.l control will not solve our problems: It will not make more schools, it will not reduce traffic, it will not reduce beach crowding, it will not improve air and water quality. In short it will not improve the "quality of life." Now is the time to find policies that will. Sandy is an assistant professor of economics.at the Uni- versity of San Diego. .,,,,,,---

Jonathon David Blacker Following completion of the four-year Naval Reserve Officer Training Corp., a program at the University of San Diego, Jonathan David Blacker was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy on May 21. The son of Richard and Susan Blacker graduated from Fallbrook High School. While in NROTC Blacker was a platoon sergeant for the Drill Team , a Commanding Officer for a qu rters and Servic Company, and served a the Bat- talion Academics Officer for 280 midshipmen. Blacker has received awards for outstanding achievement from General Dynamics and for Recognition of the Highest Attributes of ~mericanism from National So- Journers. Blacker graduated from the Uni.yersity of San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a 3 65 . grade point average in Business Administration. Blacker made the Dean's List four consecutive semesters dur- ing his junior and senior years. Blacker has been an active member of the Sigma Pi Frater- nity since his freshmen year. He served as the Community Ser- vice Chairman for two of those y~ars and coordinated activities with the Association for Retard- ed Citizens of San Diego and Senior Citizen's Outreach. Selected to be a Naval Flight Officer. Blacker has been ordered to report to Miramar Naval Ai~ Sta_tion for ~emporary duty until his aviatwn indoc- trination training begins next Octo~er at Pensecola, Florida. It will consist of six weeks of navigation , aerodynamics wea~her, power plants, and p_hys1cal tr~ining. Upon comple- t10n of Av1at10n Indoctrination Blacker will enter Intermediat~ Naval Fli~~t Officer training at either Whiting Field, Florida or Corpus Christi, Texas for actual on-hand flight training. z

wn _more _th n one h_ou c. cap1t 11 gam , but their rental incomes al o will i t group to benefit would b tho e ?t only will they lly. l'h n

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Daily Transcrirt (Cir. D. 7,415 JUN 6 1988

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tax ,. I ho c who do not own hou swill clearly be made worse ott. Since this roup could be haracteri7ed as having lower mi.:om s, and contamtng a large proportion of blacks and Hi,pamcs, the benefit of growth controls would be extremely regres iv and border on dbcriminatory. l'he '"O iomic consequences of growth control do not. op with h1 •h r housing price and rents. Consider the fol lowmg complications: 1-ir t, due to housmg prices and migration, we may ob crV1.: people "doubling up" in e)(_isting housmg. ·mis will 111 ·an more congestion in areas that are not designed for high-density living. e ond, the housing liriut will naturally lead to unem- ployment In the con tru~tion industry. rhe effects of these layoffs ~ill doubtle pill over to other industnes. I hud, th ani 1cially high return on housing may lead local inve,tm nt funds to hift from productive capital inv tments to existing rental hou ing. fhi would hurt future employment opportunities. fourth, local firms and univer 111es may find it difficult to attra t high-quality employee due to the increased cost of living. Vifth. a building cap may di courage firms from locating m San Diego, which could adver cly affect the local econ• omy. ixth, if rent g1:t sufficiently high, the city may consider rent control • which can be hown to decrea e the quality and quantity of available rental unit as well as increase r nts in unregulated area and increase homelessness. Fm lly, con ider the is ue of financing the needed expan,ions in public facilities. Much of the neces ary funds will come from development f e · and property taxes. The former will drop by definition. fewer new units means less revenue from fees at exi ting rates. Although property tax revenue. could increase because of the inflated hou ing prices, it i po ible that they will decrea e. This follows becau e the rate of turnover of hou ing likely will decline due to the tax penalty of buying hou s at inflated price . Becau e of Propasition 13 the city depends on housing turnover to appraise the market value of a house and tax it proportionally. If the turnover rate falls, the city may have

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enough in prescribing a remedy (if inde,·d there is one) to the problem, which Siegan is hardly thP first to diagnose, of Supreme Court rulings "e1tht·,·contrary to, or without guidance from, const1tut10nal meaning and purpose." Hence, unlike.many New Right Judicial "re- formers," Siegan does not rail against Judicial review, advocate constitut10nal amendments overturning par- ticular Supreme Court decisions, or favor curbs on fed- eral court or Supreme Courtjurisd1ct10n. His prescription is a definitely non-radical (and perhaps ineffectual) appeal for "strict construction" by the unelected Supreme Court to minimize the undemocratic consequences ofJudicial review. For all the controversy, then, Siegan's book is not very controversial. It offers a succinct analysis of the history, text, and interpretation of eight areas of con- stitutional law (leaving out completely the areas of criminal law, the commerce clause, and pornography, among others). What makes Siegan's analysis different from other original intent exege,;es is his intended au- dience and his hybrid libertarian approach. Siegan has not produced a theoretical magnum opus akm to Richard Epstein's "Takings". The lack of an overarching proposed solut10n to judicial review is refreshing. Siegan's stated purpose in writing "The Supreme Court's Constitution" was to mform the public concerning the nature. scope, and role of Judicial review. He accomplishes that purpose very effectively, with enough insight and sophistication to make the book in- teresting to lawyers and academicians as well. The most powerful check on the Supreme Court, as Siegan correctly points oul, is the requirement that the public accept the legitimacy of its decisions. Unfortunately, this check has little practical force because the subtleties of constitutional law are seldom discussed, much less understood, outside of academia. The outpouring of books on constitutional law during the Bicentennial of the Constitution, and Siegan's book in particular, may have the salutary effect of crealmg greater public awareness of the Supreme Court and the process ofjudicial review. .'Wark S. Pulliam i,q a partner with L,1tham & Watkins and a supporter o( Bernie Siegan 's nomina t,on to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals.

A Review by Mark S. Pulliam

eralism, the legal tender cases, economic and property rights, racial discrimination, the establishment clause. gender and equal protection, abortion and sexual privacy, and the F1rsL Amendment and libel. Siegan emphasizes the enormous extent to which the Supreme Court's decisions, often in connict with the language or intent of the Constitutl\>n, have shaped the course of merican culture and history. What distmguishes Siegan's book from the many others published in 1987, and what makes the author (whose nomination by President Reagan for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Feb· ruary 1987 is still pendlllg) controversial is his un- conventional pomt of view. S1egan's devotion to both the concept of original Ill· tent and the principle of individual rights (in a classical hberal sense) confounds the conventional conser vative/liberal dichotomy, in which partisans typically argue over the primacy of democratically elected legis- latures ("judicial defet·ence"l. Siegan's defense of constitutional protection for property rights and economic activity leads to charges by cntics on the right that Siegan favors an activist role for federal Judges. His view that the Supreme Court's doctrinal course has departed from the lan - uogr of the Constitution and the rn enl1ons of its framers in areas such as race discrimination and media libel is regarded as heretical by detractors on the lefl, even though Siegan takes pains to demonstrate that he disagrees with only the reasoning, and not the result, of Brown l'. Board ofEducatwn. S1egan's non-doctrinaire viewpoint defies labellmg, which explams why his nomination is endorsed by Harvard's liberal Alan Dershowitz and Chicago's con •rv 1t1ve Philip Kurland (who opposed the Bork nomination), but oppo d by Harvard's even-more lib ral Laurence Tnbe and the Center for Judicial Studies' even-more-conservative James McClellan. Th• answer to this paradox is that the framework of values undergirding the Constitution no longer hes at the center of our intellectual and political discourse The framers were religious, whereas our culture has become secular, almost hostile to religion. The framers were concerned about excessive governmental power. whereas the New Deal has made sweepmg federal regulation and big government a fact of life. The framers were capitalists, inspired by John Locke, whereas our intellectual (and popular) com- mitment to free markets and property rights has dim med considerably smce 1787. Smee the earliest days of the R public, the Supreme Court's decisions in these ar as reflected (or perhaps hastened) the shift m