A Proven Record of Reform

 

Scott has over 20 years experience fighting for what matters to us. Take a look at just a few of his accomplishments:

 

Created first Ethics Commission.  In 2000, Scott was one of a number of candidates for city office alarmed by the conflicts of interest plaguing city government.  Together, they pledged to create a city ethics commission.  Scott was instrumental in drafting this legislation, which has brought about one of the toughest and most effective ethics commissions in the state, and the first in our county.

 

Helped Clean Up Our Beaches and Reduced sewer spills by 80%.  In 2000, San Diego city had 365 sewer spills - that's equivalent to one spill every single day!  The New York Times travel section featured San Diego beaches not as attractions, but as polluted areas to be avoided.  As co-chair of the city's Clean Water Task Force, a collaborative of academics, business, regulators, government and environmentalists, Scott led an effort to rehabilitate our long-neglected sewer system.  He helped triple the rate of replacement of our pipes, cleaned the system for the first time in over 15 years, televised the insides of the pipes so that we could prioritize maintenance and avoid spills, and trained the runners and bicyclists in our canyons to look for leaks.  With the help of federal grants, the City of San Diego added low flow sewage diverters along the coast, to capture sewage spills before they reach the ocean.  As a result, by 2007, we had reduced sewer spills and beach closure days by 80%, and our beaches now consistently earn "A" grades for water quality in the annual survey from Heal the Bay.

 

Helped Reform San Diego by Creating a new Mayor/Council Government.  Beginning in 1931, our government was run by an unelected, unaccountable City Manager.  In the 1970s, Mayor Pete Wilson tried to convert to a CEO model of government, where the power of administration over the city work force would be vested in the Mayor, and the city council would act as a legislature.  That failed then and in the 1980s.  In the 1990s, as a community volunteer, Scott worked with other community leaders to propose reforms to city government, to make it more effective and responsive.  In 2004, Scott helped lead the effort to put the change before the voters.  They adopted City Council's proposals, and beginning in 2006, the city put an end to the secrecy and unaccountability of the city manager form of government.  This June, the City Council will put additional reforms before the voters, to further strengthen our new strong mayor/strong council government and directly benefit the people of San Diego.

 

Hired First Independent Budget Analyst.  Under the City Manager form of government, a court ruled that it was illegal to seek financial advice from outside the City Manager.  That limitation clearly failed us, and as part of our reform we created the office of the independent budget analyst, to provide for the first time to the council and the public independent professional financial advice separate from management.  We hired our first IBA, Andrea Tevlin, a former deputy city manager and budget director from Phoenix, regarded as one of the best run cities in America.  She and her small, yet highly effective staff have ensured that all of the actions taken by the city council are fully informed.

 

Brought Jobs and New City Revenue by Helping to Build Petco Park.  In 2000, the construction of the downtown ballpark had stopped because of conflicts of interest involving then-Councilmember Valerie Stallings.  Scott had campaigned for the ballpark as a community member in 1998, convinced that this would be a catalyst for rehabilitating the blighted East Village area of downtown.  As a councilmember, he led the effort to restart the project, removing the conflicts of interest.  The bonds were issued, the ballpark opened, and the amount and quality of development has far exceeded projections.  As a result, downtown makes the city money instead of costing resources.  San Diegans love it and it's beautiful.

 

Sued Polluting Shipyard.  In private practice, Scott represented environmental groups in a Clean Water Act lawsuit against a shipyard that refused to prevent contaminated runoff from running into San Diego Bay.  This hard-won victory set new nationwide standards for water quality around these dangerous facilities.  Natural Resources Defense Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc., 236 F.3d 985 (9th Cir.  2000)

 

Protected Taxpayers by Eliminating Charger Ticket Guarantee.  In the 1990s, the City Council agreed to guarantee the sale of a minimum number of tickets to Charger games, so when the team was losing football games, the City was losing money.  Scott was part of the City Council that eliminated that provision in 2003, when legal assistance was still available through our City Attorney's office.

 

Passed the La Jolla Community Plan.  When Scott was elected in 2000, the La Jolla community plan, which was supposed to be updated every five years, had not been updated since 1983, and development was out of control.  He worked with all factions of our community to update the plan.   No side was completely happy with the compromise, yet Scott earned the support of his colleagues on the City Council and his colleagues on the California Coastal Commission to approve a plan in 2003 that allows reasonable development, but with new and more effective protections for coastal bluffs and sensitive hillsides. 

 

Protected San Diegans by Replacing the North Torrey Pines Road Bridge.  This bridge over the Peñasquitos Lagoon had been a bone of contention since 1990, but it had to be replaced.  It scored 19 out of 100 on a structural assessment scale (which rated the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis a 52), and its 72 pilings choked the natural tidal flushing so important to the lagoon. Opponents worried about increased traffic on a wider bridge and had prevented replacement.  Scott committed to breaking the log jam.  He reached out to his colleagues on the City Council and the Coastal Commission to approve a beautiful new bridge with only four footings, which allowed natural tidal movement but no more traffic than before.  The gorgeous bridge won the 2005 American Public Works Association Project of the year award, and is today used and loved by even those who were its biggest skeptics. 

 

Created the Bird Rock Traffic Plan.  When Scott was elected to office in 2000, parts of La Jolla Boulevard had become a dilapidated commercial district, with failing businesses and restaurants, ramshackle buildings, and dangerous speeding traffic.  Scott empowered the community to create its own traffic plan, with a nationally-known walkability expert he hired to consult with them.  Following City Council approval of the plan, Scott used developer fees and a $2 million federal smart growth plan to construct it.  Today, crews are finishing construction of the community's own traffic calming strategy, which will make traffic safer and will support a shopping and dining district in keeping with the quality of the neighborhood.

 

Brought Traffic Relief by Helping to Build Highway 56.  Thousands of homes in and east of Scott's district were constructed on the assumption that this critical east-west freeway would be constructed, but in 2000, 15 years after its planned completion, it was still unfinished.  Scott committed that this highway would be completed.  Working with our regional transportation partners, our local developers and our communities, Scott helped to finish the highway in 2004 and made it possible for thousands of families and employees to move east and west in this congested area.

 

Built the Peñasquitos Skate Park.  For six years, the community had fought over whether to site a skate facility in Hilltop Park, a beautiful community park in the middle of a residential area, where the lights and noise from teens could be disruptive.  Scott located surplus property owned by Caltrans near a shopping mall and convinced Caltrans to give it to the city so it could serve our community teens.  The community itself designed the skatepark, the City Council approved it, and today, Rancho Peñasquitos has preserved the pastoral nature of Hilltop Park and created a separate and exciting place for its teens to skate.

 

Rehabilitated Fire Station 13.  La Jolla is a successful community, but its fire station, intended in the 1970s to be temporary, was a ramshackle.  The fire fighters called Scott to ask for new window screens, but he felt that the condition of the entire station was substandard.  Scott asked an architect friend to estimate what it would cost to redo the station, to add separate sleeping quarters for women and a proper office for the fire captain.  He then enlisted the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary to raise the money.  The community stepped forward with over $400,000 in donations, and today Station 13 is a restored source of pride.

 

Reconfigured the Throat!  Traffic in and out of La Jolla had been jammed up for decades, with traffic clogged in the second busiest intersection in San Diego, known as the "throat."  The City Council approved the plan to increase green light time in and out of the village while replacing the 90-year-old pipes that seemed to break and cause floods every six months.  Now the intersection conveys traffic efficiently and has been beautifully landscaped, an appropriate gateway to La Jolla.  This project won the 2004 Project of the Year award from the American Public Works Association.

 

Restarted Utility Line Undergrounding.  In the 1990s, the City abandoned its plan to force SDG&E and other utilities to underground the unsightly overhead power lines that drape our older neighborhoods.  In 2003, the City Council resurrected the plan, working with the local utilities and the state Public Utilities Commission, so that over time, the "graffiti of the sky" will be buried once and for all.

 

Turned Sorrento Valley Road into a Park.  In 2000, a segment of Sorrento Valley Road had been closed because it was unsafe and had to be reconfigured.  Reopening this road was an urgent priority for the high tech businesses in the area.  However, when a group of environmentalists showed Scott what a treasure the road was without cars, adjacent to sensitive and rare lagoon habitat, he agreed that the road should remain closed to automobile traffic, and got the City Council to agree with him.  Today, the expansion of Highway 5 to more than 20 lanes and the opening of the new Carmel Mountain Road exit provides more than enough room for cars, while bicyclists, joggers and rare birds continue to enjoy that special space where cars can't go.

 

Completed 34 New Parks or Major Park Improvements.  Despite San Diego's tight budget, Scott has been able to help see the completion of a number of park improvements to serve our neighborhoods, including new tot lots, dog parks, field turfing, rest rooms, and 12 entirely new parks.

 

Helped Create Five off-leash Dog Parks.  In Scott's district, like the rest of San Diego, many residents enjoy an early morning or late afternoon run with their dogs.  (Their dogs like it, too!)  But in 2000, there were no off-leash dog parks.  Scott set out to change that.  In Carmel Valley and at Doyle Park in University City, we made dog parks in existing park space that wasn't being used by people.  At the Nobel Park and Library, we designed a dog area into our new park.  In Torrey Hills, we required the developer of the Vons shopping center to include a public dog park in his project.  And this summer, when we complete our dog park on Salmon River Road in Rancho Peñasquitos, Scott's district will boast five dog parks, and plenty of happy hounds.

 

Jump-started Canyon Crest Academy.  As enrollment at Torrey Pines High School climbed past 3000 students, we heard complaints from parents about overcrowding.  At the same time, Scott heard from the school administration that the City was not being helpful with the construction of Carmel Valley's planned second high school.  Scott convened the city building department and engineers to make it clear that this was a priority for him and the community.  They responded.  We got the plumbing, electrical and sewer built so that the school could open on time, and today it's a stunning success.

 

Passed the Transnet Extension.  Few issues are more vexing to San Diegans than traffic, yet the ½ cent sales tax that has funded so many of our road and transit improvements was set to expire in 2008.  Scott knew that if we lost that income, San Diegans would notice reduced service.  He also knew that we had to present a plan that San Diegans would embrace if we were to get them to vote to extend the tax.  Scott was deeply involved in creating the package of improvements put before the voters in 2004, and raised more money for the campaign than any other elected official.  The passage of Transnet II, with only 3000 votes to spare, will make $14 billion available to the region to provide congestion relief through investments in roads and mass transit.

 

Created the Super Loop.  San Diego has spent over a billion dollars developing the trolley system, which is focused on downtown.  But our major job center is now to the north, including North University City, where there is absolutely no transit.  Scott realized that half the traffic in that area is people moving from one part of the city to another - if we could just circulate those people in transit, we could get many cars off of the road.  Working with the transportation staff and the community, we created the "Super Loop," a circulator that will move people throughout North UC at frequent intervals, with upgraded stations and traffic priority.  The city funded both capital and operations in Transnet II - the Super Loop will be up and running this year. 

 

Opened the Nobel Park and Library.  In 2007, the city opened a gorgeous new library on a plateau above a 30-acre park.  The facility was funded entirely by developer fees we collect to ensure that infrastructure is built as a community grows.  Today, the library is a treasured resource for this community of 60,000, and the park gives hundreds of baseball, soccer and lacrosse players in this urban area a wide open space to play.

 

Acquired and Protected Open Space.  San Diegans treasure their hillsides and mountaintops as much as the coastline.  Scott worked hard to protect those natural treasures from overdevelopment.  In 2001, the city acquired the Montana Mirador, zoned for hundreds of single family homes, and added that 538 acre property to the Black Mountain Open Space. The City also purchased the final open space parcels of Del Mar Mesa, making them available for trails and recreation and keeping them from development.

 

Banned Smoking in our Parks and on our Beaches.  San Diego is defined by our parks and beaches, and they were consistently littered with cigarette butts.  Scott worked with a broad range of community members, including the Lung Association, Surfrider and the Prevention Coalition, to convince the City Council that it was time to ban the butts.  Today, our parks and beaches are cleaned up.

 

Banned Drinking Alcohol at the Beach.  San Diego was one of the few coastal cities that still allowed alcohol on its beaches, and partiers knew it.  Beaches were overrun by drunks and hooligans, and were no longer appropriate places for families.  Finally, after a riot broke out in Mission Beach, it was time to act.  We imposed a one-year ban on alcohol consumption at our beaches, and now, just weeks after it became effective, residents and visitors and even ban opponents recognize that the experience of going to the beach has been greatly improved.  Scott looks forward to seeing the ban extended permanently.

 

Led Beach and Lagoon Cleanups at Torrey Pines State Beach.  Every year, Scott sponsors a cleanup in conjunction with the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.  This gives hundreds of volunteers an opportunity to clean up their own beaches.  Our cleanups have recovered countless pounds of trash and recyclables.

 

Completed the Carmel Valley Road Enhancement Project.  While it is in one of the most beautiful settings, adjacent to the Peñasquitos Lagoon, Carmel Valley Road was a safety nightmare for bicyclists and poured polluted runoff into the lagoon.  Working with the community and SDG&E on this $6 million project, the city improved the road with new, safer bicycle lanes, pedestrian amenities and protections for the lagoon from stormwater pollution.

 

Started the Grunion Studies.  On summer nights, our beaches glisten with millions of grunion fish, that come ashore to spawn.  When some swimmers raised a concern that our beach grooming may be hurting this natural process, Scott called on the University of California to evaluate it for us.  They enlisted hundreds of "grunion greeters" to count the fish late at night, and ultimately determined that our grunion populations were strong and healthy.  The studies now continue each spring on our beaches, which are the university's living laboratories.

 

Opened Fire Station 46 in Santaluz; relocated and opened fire station 47 in Pacific Highlands Ranch and opened the northwest police substation in Carmel Valley.  San Diego has often been criticized for allowing growth without the infrastructure to support it.  That hasn't happened with growth in District 1, where we have used developer fees to open our city's seventh police substation and two brand new fire stations to serve our thriving communities.

 

Safeguarded Local Tax Revenues on the Commission for Tax Policy in the New Economy.  Scott was appointed by the Governor to be a representative to this commission charged with reviewing our 20th century tax system in the 21st century economy.  One recommendation, which evolved into 2004 statewide ballot measure Proposition 1A, protected local tax revenues from any further raids by the state legislature, so we can dedicate that money to local police, fire and neighborhoods.

 

Built Trails and Trail Connections throughout the City.  San Diego's climate makes this a natural place for bicycling, hiking and horseback riding, and improving trails has been a priority for Scott.  Every new development in Scott's district has to contain trails and trail connections.  This year, Scott formed a task force of business and community leaders to compete for a $50 million bicycle grant from the federal government in 2010. 

 

Kept the Water Authority's Hydroelectric Plant out of Ridgewood Park.  The County Water Authority planned a massive $700 million water project, and planned to put it adjacent to a neighborhood park in the first district.  Scott helped to mobilize the residents and let the Authority know that wasn't acceptable, and convinced them to spend the extra money to put it in a commercial area instead.