¶ … San Diego Can Emulate Los Angeles and Become a World Player The political leadership holding the reins of power in San Diego -- which touts itself arrogantly as "America's Finest City" -- has not put a very impressive foot forward when it comes to the stewardship of the city's fiscal, infrastructural, moral, and public assets over the last ten to fifteen years. There is a new scandal breaking out every few months, it seems, including the messy corruption trial in session at the present time, in which three city councilmen are accused of taking bribes (cash under the table) from the owner of seedy strip clubs.

Meanwhile, beyond the political scandal which recently forced the mayor to resign and has brought in federal investigators to review the mishandling of millions of dollars in public funds it appears that, as author Steven P. Erie writes in Globalizing L.A., San Diego has fumbled the ball when it comes to the city's infrastructure and financial future.

"Los Angeles became the regional hegemon and one of the world's great cities, regional economies, and trade centers because it was willing to make the huge public infrastructure investments needed for growth," Erie writes (xi). San Diego, meanwhile, carries on a 25-year-long debate as to whether or not (and where) a new airport should be built; and its port, its rail, its airport and water resources and facilities "remain inadequate" (xii), Erie asserts.

Instead of San Diego building its own cutting edge gateway to the Pacific Rim (fully utilizing it's great natural harbor and building a huge new airport to replace cracker-box Lindbergh Field), San Diego relies on L.A.'s airports and ports, and San Diego depends almost exclusively on the L.A. area for its water, Erie continues. What to do about this situation? Options that need to be laid out to "fix" San Diego and get it ready for the future are available....

First things first: San Diego needs to go to school on precisely how Los Angeles overcame its daunting challenges to become "one of the world's great trade-transportation complexes" (5). The ports of L.A. And Long Beach, and LAX, are "the world's third busiest port and airport facilities," Erie writes, and they got that way because L.A. "rejected the eastern model of regional public authorities." Instead, the cities of Long Beach and L.A. created "powerful municipal proprietary departments" which were "semi-autonomous agencies" given power and protection from bureaucratic interference; these agencies' only job was to "develop and manage" public water, power, harbor, and airport facilities.
What should San Diego do right now? Of enormous importance to L.A. becoming a global player was the development of a massive international terminal for trade and tourism at LAX. Hence, as a consultant to the new mayor of San Diego, I will urge the immediate adoption of legislation by the City Council to establish a new "Future Now" agency within the city charter. This agency will be proprietary in mission, high-visibility in stature, and composed of: respected private trade and transportation industry experts; highly credible city and county elected officials; UCSD engineers, planners, economists, political science specialists, and grant-writing and fundraising professionals; public interest lobbyists to solicit federal dollars; also, the best, most respected minds in urban / global economics from Europe and Asia will be brought in to consult.

The Future Now agency will be directed to return fast-track strategies within three months; upon adoption by the council, the Future Now proposal will set in motion the planning, funding and development of world class infrastructure to lift San Diego out of yesterday's gloom and point it towards tomorrow's bright future. The agency will be patterned after…