I wrote last week that Steve Francis came up with a kind of new twist on an idea a few of us have been batting around when he said that the new revenue collected by the hoteliers through their Tourism Marketing District should be used to pay for the Convention Center. This would relieve the San Diego city budget of millions in expenses each year.
But this wasn't Francis' idea first, City Councilwoman Donna Frye put out a memo with this very recommendation not too long ago.
Francis has nothing but praise for Frye. And now he's championing her ideas. Very interesting.
Last week, the U-T painted this story about the housing market correction all over its front page. The piece was full of reasons why people should buy homes now, but one of them really caught my eye.
Here's the passage (emphasis added):
Economist Mark Schniepp of the California Economic Forecast said conditions are right for purchasing a home, if you're making a long-term investment. Falling prices, surging foreclosures, reasonable mortgage rates and a high inventory of for-sale homes mean there are bargains to be found.
"I think there is a window of opportunity that will exist between now and summer," Schniepp said. "Interest rates are only going to fall. The credit crunch is going to get better. There is going to be plenty of inventory. We are not going to have a recession."
Wow. Most economists choose to hedge their predictions a little more than that. Schniepp, however, is quite certain that no recession is coming.
I thought I'd give him a call to see how he came to the conclusion.
He said he never told the U-T that there wouldn't be a recession. He said he told them the "probability of having one was lower than the probability we won't have one."
He went on:
"Just because the stock market is melting away doesn’t mean anything," Schniepp said. "It looks bad from downtown Manhattan but we all have jobs we're getting pay raises we're still spending."
If you haven't read it, by the way, Rich Toscano has a great piece today analyzing whether we do, in fact, have all those jobs. Survival in San Diego and a couple of economists picked up on a rather surprising jump in San Diego's unemployment rate in December -- an anomaly because of the traditional holiday hiring that usually takes place.
Schniepp, by the way, also was certain that the Chargers would lose to the Patriots this weekend by 21 points.
When I told him I'd take that spread in a bet, he hedged and said it might very well end up closer than that.
Given that Doug Manchester is a big-time supporter of Francis, I doubt Francis would propose anything in the hotel industry without talking to Papa Doug first. So now you have a Frye deal that Francis and Manchester support...that indeed is very interesting! FYI - Mark Schniepp makes his living touring the state on the dime of the title companies telling builders and realtors that times are good, and not to worry. Take what this guy says with many grains of salt.
I can see it now....Francis as Mayor, Frye as Council Chair, Aguirre continues as City Attorney and city hall gets cleaned up! Ahh....life is sweet :-)
Steve Francis has not had an original idea in his life. He has taken little bits and pieces of ideas floating in space and spun them to sound bites for "change". Between him and Carl De Maio they want to reverse the flow of traffic on all City freeways (who cares what happens when you leave the city) outsource every job within city government (YES police and fire too if they could) and pay minimum wage to any worker doing work for the City. This is not forward thinking, it's backwards and not a solution to the problems this city has. The City of San Diego is facing a bigger challenge in years to come if these two loons are elected. Before you vote, look into Francis and De Maio's background. They are not what they appear.
So, Sparky, what department/division do you work for? Collections? Park and Rec? Golf? Street sweeping? Storm drain cleaning? Library? Those are the first on the chopping block.
Just a technical note: Unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal factors, so holiday hiring is already factored into the unemployment rate math. So the jump in unemployment is surprising, but not because of seasonal hiring patterns (unless those seasonal hires failed to live up to historical levels).
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Scott Lewis on Politics
The Scott Lewis on Politics blog, abbreviated cleverly as SLOP, is a collection of observations, insights and the occasional scoop on public affairs in San Diego. Please feel free to e-mail Scott at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.
Listen to voiceofsandiego.org's radio program on AM 600 KOGO: Latest Episode (November 8): Scott Lewis and Michael Zucchet talk about the city's budget
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