Trolleys are running on time, buses mostly are, and cars are traveling down a South Bay toll road.
But all is not well at San Diego’s two major transportation agencies — the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and the San Diego Association of Governments.
Separate, growing scandals involving claims of retaliation, cover-ups and more have caused strife as both MTS and SANDAG look ahead to long-range plans that are becoming more uncertain.
Not long ago, both agencies had been looking at tax increases to bolster financing for future projects, many of which are intertwined. That potential conflict was put aside a few years back, and now a coalition of labor unions and environmentalists is pursuing an initiative to put a half-cent sales tax on the ballot next year as a first installment of SANDAG’s long-range plans.
A similar effort last year failed to gain enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Assuming this renewed effort gets the sales-tax question before voters, it may face competition from different tax increase proposals. San Diego city officials are contemplating a 1-cent sales tax for general operations and the San Diego Housing Federation is pushing for a real estate transfer fee on transactions of more than $2.5 million to fund housing for lower-income people.
The SANDAG board already scuttled a key financial linchpin in its long-range plans — a tax charged to drivers for every mile they drive. The mileage tax proved so controversial that a bipartisan majority on the board voted to remove it from the plan.
It’s hard to say what, if any, effect the turmoil at MTS and SANDAG would have on voter for the sales tax increase for transit and roads.
But operational concerns and questions about whether future transportation plans are still viable could have political consequences.
MTS operates the trolley and bus system in central, south and east San Diego County. SANDAG is the region’s long-term transportation planning agency. Each is governed by a board of elected officials appointed by their city governments and the county of San Diego.
In addition to the potential tax competition, MTS and SANDAG once seemed out of sync with each other’s transportation plans. But an agreement was reached to, essentially, incorporate the MTS expansion goals into SANDAG’s $160 billion, four-decade plan that was the vision of SANDAG CEO Hasan Ikhrata.
That transit-focused plan has been a source of dispute among some SANDAG board and Ikhrata, whose resignation, effective Dec. 29, underscores the uncertainty over his sweeping proposal.
Board also battled among themselves over the long-range plan and other issues. They even fought about the process of hiring a replacement for Ikhrata, which bolstered the contention by critics that the SANDAG board borders on, or has fallen into, dysfunction. One member suggested decentralizing the istration’s power by hiring co-CEOs, according to inewsource.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria expressed concern this could color the decision of prospective CEOs.
“Your behavior will absolutely determine whether or not people choose to apply for this position,” he said in October, according to Jennifer Van Grove of The San Diego Union-Tribune. “We need a functioning SANDAG and you are all contributors — or you’re actually detracting from this process.”
Much of the issue on the board stems from the bedrock dispute between who want increased focus on transit and those who want more money for roads.
The board has set May as a target for hiring a new top .
The failure of the South Bay Expressway toll system — one of SANDAG’s biggest projects — isn’t going to make that any easier.
Agency officials last week acknowledged that ETAN Tolling Technology had been paid more than $8 million for software that did not work properly — and had not over several years. SANDAG is now expected to pay up to $28 million for new software for the toll road, according to a report by Jeff McDonald of the Union-Tribune.
Tens of thousands of drivers were improperly charged while using the highway.
The toll system figures into a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed last month. Former SANDAG finance director Lauren Warrem said top agency s fired her after she raised questions about whether the system could be fixed.
Over at MTS, the latest scandal isn’t about transit operations, but stems from the sexual assault allegations against former San Diego County Supervisor and Metropolitan Transit System board Chair Nathan Fletcher.
A transit agency official accused other s of lying in their initial public response to the allegations against Fletcher, who resigned from both the county Board of Supervisors and the MTS board in the spring.
MTS’ chief information officer Emily Outlaw said transit agency officials wrongly said they had learned about the allegations against Fletcher when former employee Grecia Figueroa filed her lawsuit in late March. Outlaw contends MTS learned about the allegations in mid-February.
Outlaw filed a claim, which is required in advance of a lawsuit against a public agency. Outlaw’s attorney said the claim was withdrawn because MTS wanted to resolve the dispute informally, according to McDonald.
Officials sought not only to “misinform the public about its prior knowledge,” but tried to pressure Outlaw and her staff “to illegally search Ms. Figueroa’s private communications,” according to the claim.
Outlaw began receiving negative after years of positive performance reviews, the claim said.
These kinds of scandals don’t last forever. The two transportation agencies eventually should right themselves. Ideally, MTS and SANDAG — not to mention transit riders and drivers — will move on.
But there’s the potential for more damning information to come before things get better.
