Comments so far on this story:

1. Fred Williams wrote on March 4, 2008 11:51 PM:
"Mr. Waring, how about putting together a wiki for community input? By publishing drafts of legislation on the wiki, and allowing the public to edit/comment prior to the finalization of a proposal, you'd open up the fundamental process of writing the rules and publicly track the history of who writes what. I look forward to working with you on these types of efforts to truly open up our government. First, we have to elect new office holders who will fight for real changes to the way San Diego does its business."

2. Cheeky wrote on March 5, 2008 12:48 AM:
"#1 Get the homeless in shelters and off the streets. #2 Provide affordable housing #3 Work on eliminating traffic congestion #4 Make city and county government more accessible and responsive to citizens #5 Improve water quality, repair streets, and fix sewer pipes These are my 5 priorities. Notice I didn't mention new libraries, paid parking, a new city hall or new Charger's stadium? And by the way, just because folks don't have huge bankrolls doesn't mean they don't deserve a voice in government. All that should be required is an interest and desire to participate with a cooperative spirit. The "elite" of San Diego have run this city into the ground. It's time for the mainstream folks to roll up their sleeves and provide the common sense that is needed to get San Diego back on track."

3. Dick wrote on March 5, 2008 7:12 AM:
"The most important single thing we need is strong and effective political leadership which this City has not had in several decades. These new elected leaders should assume they will not be re-elected and not plan on moving on to other elected positions. To be effective they must have the courage to make tough decisions using a City-wide focus and stop pandering to the loud minority that loves to bash public employees. Budget discipline comes next: Spending priorities need to be re-ordered to focus on delivering high quality core municipal services while spending less on non-core services. Sound impossible? The County did it when it faced a fiscal crisis. Why not the City?"

4. Cory Briggs wrote on March 5, 2008 7:13 AM:
"Glad to hear from you, Jim. Money paid for parking should also go into the MTS system to shore up public transit; public transit offsets the traffic and air-pollution impacts that drivers create. And since most of the ills you describe could be resolved if the public was allowed to speak for more than three minutes at a time, how about leading a government-reform movement to change the way in which the public interfaces with city hall? Let's take aim at the process so that the public can take meaningful aim at the substantive problems."

5. emessess wrote on March 5, 2008 8:23 AM:
"It is obvious that the decrepit, crumbling City Administration Building is outdated and there is much merit in considering the combination of a new facility with the proposed library. One of the great benefits of creating a new facility should be the reopening of both B Street and Second Avenue. Creative design can provide proper facilities for the public above street level Re-establishing through streets will enhance movement of traffic in the central city ares."

6. Larry wrote on March 5, 2008 9:57 AM:
"Enough with affordable housing. Can't afford to live here? Go somewhere cheaper. Less apartments housing less hamburger flippers and welfare queens means less people, less crime, and less traffic."

7. Steve K wrote on March 5, 2008 10:09 AM:
"I thought the way you get things done in San Diego is stage fund raisers for relevant elected officials, hire a former city official, push your project through, ignore any building restrictions you don't like--fed, state or local--send your hired hand in, to push his former subordinants to make exceptions, and get the grateful elected officials to negotiate with outside government agencies on your behalf. If that doesn't work, then you comply with government restrictions and sue the city for compensation."

8. David Little wrote on March 5, 2008 10:13 AM:
"Five things San Diego needs and you have to choose Mr Sun Road, Jim Waring, to explain them to us? And the best he can come up with is paid parking? We should not only have paid parking at the beaches, but sell tickets to get in the water. He said we need to rewrite the land regulations because they are not clear for the developers. Did Sun Road not know the rules? As a member of a Costal Development Permit Committee, I assure you developers know the rules and how to defeat them. No matter how we weaken the Land Code, developers will still work with their purchased elected officials to defeat it."

9. Dimples wrote on March 5, 2008 11:11 AM:
"A very refreshing perspective. Mr. Waring should consider running for Mayor or Council. I'd like to hear more from him. San Diego leaders, private and public sector, are all about maintaining the status quo, keeping their high paying jobs and getting reelected. We need leaders who can be objective, who want San Diego to be a better place to live for everyone, not just the wealthy. It is possible, but we need to face the problems head on, and think out of the box."

10. Look forward wrote on March 5, 2008 11:26 AM:
"Completely agree on the negativity part, Jim. We need to letting the people who can't be happy with anything, ever, dictate everything we do as a city. San Diego's leadership needs to stand behind its decisions and accomplishments and stop trying to "lead" based on how things will look in the paper or the heat they'll take from activists who manage to see something sinister in everything and anything that might, possibly, make someone some money while it's bringing the promised benefits to the region (i.e. the ballpark and NTC redevelopment). We're going through a very bad patch financially. Bitching about it won't make it go away -- creative thinking and the fortitude to stand behind the solutions will get us over this hump. Let's look forward, people!"

11. Steve K wrote on March 5, 2008 11:55 AM:
"These are just five more ways for developers to divvy up my home town."

12. Jim Waring wrote on March 5, 2008 12:26 PM:
"Mr. Little; My observation during my time at the city was that the developers did know the rules, and if they didn't the people they hired did. On the other hand for the average citizen it was almost impossible to understand the overly complex standards, resulting in uncertainty and anxiety in communities and nieghborhoods, and a negative attitude toward the process, which I contend helps no one. People seek certainty where possible. Unnecessary complexity often defeats desirerable outtcomes. If we had a community based process that resulted in zoning by right, verses by might, I submit the entire city would benefit in many ways, direct and indirect. Cory; It's being worked on."

13. The Truth wrote on March 5, 2008 2:39 PM:
"10,000 words to present 5 things San Diego needs? I couldn't even make it halfway through this manifesto. Wake up the editor!"

14. The Truth wrote on March 5, 2008 3:59 PM:
"Good point by David Little above. Jim Waring is the one primarily responsible for the entire Sunroad development embarrassment. In fact, his actions were deemed "completely inappropriate" by the mayors' office. Also, lest we not forget, Mr. Waring served on the corrupt city pension board as well! So, be warned, take EVERYTHING this guy says with a MOUNTAIN of salt! Who knows what his motivation really is?"

15. The Truth wrote on March 5, 2008 3:59 PM:
"Good point by David Little above. Jim Waring is the one primarily responsible for the entire Sunroad development embarrassment. In fact, his actions were deemed "completely inappropriate" by the mayors' office. Also, lest we not forget, Mr. Waring served on the corrupt city pension board as well! So, be warned, take EVERYTHING this guy says with a MOUNTAIN of salt! Who knows what his motivation really is?"

16. steve from otay wrote on March 5, 2008 5:08 PM:
"jim, You mention that the little guy doesnt have a voice downtown and that all interests in a community should have a say in land use decisions. But unfortunately as you are keenly aware in Otay that is not occurring. The community has been vocal and adament against the houses that a few powerful developers want to construct in the middle of the industrial area, but the city is unwilling to listen to the "community". very much a contradiction to your editorial and how you reacted while with the city. secondly i believe that certain fees might be feasible to raise if the residences of the city were confident they would be used for the stated purpose. But too often the city has raided these funds and used them for general fundpurposes."

17. Realty vs Reality wrote on March 5, 2008 5:34 PM:
"Ah, a chance to speak directly to James Waring, former head of Jerry Sanders' Land Use department, who resigned due to improperly advocating for Sunroad Enterprises. It is irresistable not to start with Mr. Waring's wonderful Freudian slip (unless VOSD claims responsibility), when he states that " What is 'needed' depends greatly upon an individual’s current realties." Realties, indeed. Mr. Waring knows much about the needs of the well-connected based on their realties. But seriously, to dissect two of Mr Waring's five rambling ideas about what San Diego needs: Point (1) - While he headed Land Use, he never advocated for the "perspectives and needs of otherwise unheard segments of the population," and his behavior then clearly said that the "too much 'noise' claiming to represent community-wide values and goals" was made by the little people who were and continue to be abused by Land Use staff/Council allies."

18. Realty vs Reality wrote on March 5, 2008 6:05 PM:
"(continued) Point (3) - Paid parking: Please stop pretending that the Shoup study, which has become the bible of the Land Use/BID Council and minions in the BID community, was ever meant to be overly simplified and reduced to "I ... will drive around for blocks to find an open free space .... And that is the point. We ... clog our streets with many thousands of additional miles and pump tons of avoidable exhaust into the air as we look for ...[free parking]." Since WW II, governments have ensured that citizens will have places to park for free, especially when they are visiting/buying products from business owners. The push for paid parking in San Diego is meant only to enrich parking lot owners and the business associations that would get the 45% cut of the revenue generated. Mr. Waring can have his driver drop him off."

19. Dave Little wrote on March 5, 2008 7:13 PM:
"It should not be the average citizen's job to understand the municipal code. If Mr Warning's friends in Development Services did their job protecting the average citizen, there would be no problem - take the Sun Road fiasco for example. The municipal code is not overly complex and what complexity there is a result of closing loop holes created by the developers. In Mission Beach they measure 30 feet from the top of a 3 foot planter - that's 33 feet. Any project can bring in up to 10 feet of fill dirt -that's 40 foot where there is a 30 foot limit. Finally Development Services now gets their money from the developers. That's over-the-counter-pay Get real Jim."

20. Fed Up wrote on March 5, 2008 9:17 PM:
"Thank you, David Little, for speaking truth to power, and for being funny besides (pay to get in the water?) Jim Waring has the original "bronze face" -- a term that Italian friends explained to me means chutzpah with a Classical tinge -- to be lecturing on paid parking etc. Waring's motive is to be the eternal unflappable slickster, pushing odious notions on us with a straight face on behalf of his buds from Rancho Santa Fe and other privileged precincts. Waring got fired, remember? What part of "discredited" is so hard to understand?"

21. downtown lawyer wrote on March 6, 2008 7:21 AM:
"Perhaps Mr. Waring has changed his stripes, but I doubt it. Early in the Sunroad mess I sat down with him and tried to talk sense. I told him what was happening and how the developer was fooling him, the mayor and the city. He was stubborn, arrogant, unwilling to listen to reason, and all about helping Sunroad, seemingly at any cost - even his job and the mayor's ethics. He's the man who set up the direct meetings between Sunroad and the mayor. Unless the change of stripes is verified as permanent, and not a mere fading tatoo, I recommend being very careful with Mr. Sunroad."

22. Marc K wrote on March 8, 2008 9:46 AM:
"I admit I was biased to start with. Just from the coverage of the Sunroad debacle I'd have guessed that Jim Waring is on the side of people who want to build more stuff with less regard for the impact on the environment (built and natural). The fact that "simplify our land use regulations and codes" is his second priority for the city seems to confirm my prejudice. I think that we need more stringent, more thoughtful, more diverse, and much, much more proactively enforced land use regulations. In short more not less. The city needs to take time off from political infighting and have the planning department show us a vision for how the city should grow. The regulations should just be the blueprint for getting to where we want to go."

23. Dude wrote on March 10, 2008 3:02 PM:
"Wow this group of political pundits belongs on public access tv. The barrage of ignorant and classless responses by the peanut gallery in here, to a very well thought out and well written opinion piece, is all the evidence I need to see how a Mike Aguirre can get elected. I agree with your list Jim. I hope with 4 lame ducks in office we can get some push on repealing the peoples ordinance, but it will prob fail on a ballot anyway. I would also put CA / Mex relations on this list. San Diegans are unaware of just how important the dollars from Mexico are to our City and until we recognize that we will lose those dollars to border crossing delays etc."