Society

The Future of Public Transportation in San Diego

sandiegoissues Projects, San Diego, Society January 8, 2016August 14, 2021

The Metropolitan Transport System (MTS) in San Diego has recently faced pressure due to budget cuts and other measures by the local government, but the benefits of public transit are specific and varied. In order for the city to thrive with improved air quality, a decrease in traffic congestion and smarter use of all natural resources, effective and efficient use of public transportation is a prerequisite. Unfortunately, the future of public transportation in San Diego is not necessarily assured, as continued budget cuts depress the overall service levels and have caused alterations in routes and in fares. Fortunately, due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), there is more flexibility in the use of federal transportation funds for ongoing operational use instead of the capital projects they were earmarked for in the past.

Benefits of Public Transportation

Public transportation is considered a critical answer to the equation of our nation’s environmental challenges, as well as energy and economic problems as well as improving our overall quality of life. There is a common belief that more public transportation will lead to less people on the roads under the influence of alcohol as well, according to San Diego Accident Attorneys. More individuals are willing to utilize public transportation as long as it is easy and convenient and cost-effective to do so. A significant portion of society can benefit from enhanced public transportation, including businesses, families, individuals and even communities because it can provide freedom and personal mobility for people from all walks of life–allowing individuals without personal transportation to go to the doctor’s office, a friend’s house, to work or to school. It can also save a great deal of money by beating the high costs of gas as well as the cost of an additional vehicle, insurance, gas and all the other maintenance needs of a second vehicle in a home.

SANDAG Involvement

SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, serves as the forum for decision-making in the San Diego region, and is a public agency that serves a very strategic function when it comes to large scale plans such as resource allocation including public transportation, engineering and other plans important to the San Diego Area. SANDAG is made up of a grouping of council members, county supervisors, mayors and more from the region’s 19 local government areas. While individuals are encouraged to play a part in SANDAG, their involvement is generally on the informational side as individuals do not have a voting part in the Public Participation Plan. However, individuals are able to stay informed and involved through volunteering and working on specific ad hoc committees.

Ongoing Funding is Critical for Success

The ability for the San Diego area transportation groups to maintain solid public transportation options is hampered by local governmental roles, but aided by SANDAG and federal government options. Additional funding alternatives were identified by SANDAG during a 2010 Transit Impediments Study. A 2050 Regional Transportation Plan was approved in December 2010, and this specific plan included critical improvements that will sustain San Diego’s public transportation system for the next few decades–including the important and much-anticipated new District Three streetcars project.

Bus Rapid Transit Projects

Functional transit service between neighborhoods was promised with the completion of the I-15 through Kensington/Normal Heights in 2012; in 2015 SANDAG was also conducting surveys of trolley, train and bus route riders between Feb. – Nov. in order to inform future development of that particular resource. Several different studies are under way in an effort to determine where best to spend the very limited resources and dollars that are available to the public transportation team and office.

Several transit operators’ work together to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the San Diego area, but the future of rapid transit in San Diego is far from perfect or assured, discussed car accident attorney Stockton CA. It is important that all interested parties continue to investigate potential options for funds to strengthen, not just to maintain, our public transportation system. The significant benefits of public transportation including the reduction of gas consumption and the personal savings, as well as the lessened environmental impact and smaller carbon footprint, can make long-term differences in the world around us.

US Federal Government Steps In to Improve San Diego Police Interactions with Citizens

sandiegoissues Projects, San Diego, Society December 16, 2015August 14, 2021

It’s difficult to turn on the news today without hearing reports of racial profiling somewhere in the United States, and recently the San Diego Police Department has been plagued with allegations from community activists about profiling in traffic stops. Recent statistics showed that Latino and black drivers were pulled over more often than white drivers, and even more surprisingly–their vehicles were searched more often as well. Slightly over 30% of the 144,164 traffic stops in 2014 were of Latino drivers, with African American drivers representing slightly over 10%–however, the census data tells a different story about proportions of the population in each of those demographic groups. While the Latino drivers were only off from the census percentage by a few points, the African American population was significantly different, with 5.5% of adults shown to be black via the census findings, however they represented 11.2% of all traffic stops–nearly double the percentage by population that should have been stopped.

External Review Recommended

While Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman notes that historically it can be difficult to build a true case for or against racial profiling based on census data, others are not convinced and have called for an external review and possibly even an academic study of the behavior of the officers. Discretionary search numbers were even more troubling, with 40% of the searches being of Latino vehicles and 23.4% African American. Faculty members at San Diego State University are in continued conversation about what a study may look like and how it would be executed faithfully, while investigations into officer misconduct and the transparency that should be involved in police departments is ongoing. Ultimately, when police misconduct is alleged, not only odes it harm the relationship between the community and the law enforcement, but it can directly affect the taxpayers pocketbook, in that lawsuits against the police can be left to the taxpayers to foot the bill in certain instances.

Is Census Data Reflecting Reality?

Chief Shelley Zimmerman pledges to working with the community to build trust and has gone as far as creating a public service announcement to let drivers know to speak up if they feel as though they’ve been unfairly treated. However, the concern remains that the large number of undocumented immigrants, members of the military and visitors are not included in the census numbers–making it incredibly difficult to compare census numbers to the number and percentages of individual ethnicities that are pulled over for routine traffic stops and then subjected to a vehicular search. She notes that getting an accurate picture of the population of drivers can be challenging and welcomes input from external researchers into the issue.

Ongoing Government Support for San Diego’s Police

The government completed an exhaustive review of San Diego’s police department and stated that in general, the department remains “progressive, sound and very effective” overall. However, the reform that was started under the previous police chief is being continued by increased and more rigorous officer background checks as well as in-depth citizen complaint reviews and additional layers of supervision in the ranks of officers. However, there are failures noted in the previous levels of supervision that may have allowed officers to go without the necessary oversight that could have curbed some of the citizen complaints.

Significant Changes in Store

One example of a change being discussed is the amount of supervision of officers might change, this has been discussed in nearby Oceanside as well, believes Oceanside Auto Accident Attorney. While previous acting sergeants may only see each officer once a week that is one of the policies that is under consideration for more regular contact by Zimmerman and her staff. More than ten years of budget cuts, hiring constraints, and low morale between officers has led to negative consequences in interactions with the public. Additional levels of accountability are planned and are in the process of being implemented as budget constraints are raised and as funding is approved. Zimmerman and her staff are fully committed to looking for additional measures to build trust within the community as well as create a feeling of transparency around the issues with the San Diego Police Department.

Many of the government’s recommendations have already been taken by the leaders of the San Diego Police Department while others are only waiting on the appropriate approvals and funding in order to get them on par with government recommendations. Additional studies were inconclusive about whether racial profiling truly exists within the department, but the public stance is an ongoing community outreach and reform efforts within the organization.