VoSD came out with a trio of fairly interesting articles this week about the continuing SANDAG controversy.
SANDAG’s New Chief Welcomes Heat, Calls Consensus of the Past a Lie
In response to increased criticism of his regional plan proposals Ikhrata has stepped up his rhetoric, stating that every past SANDAG plan has been purposely non-compliant with state environmental law, and thus any previous agreements within SANDAG are null and void because they were based upon these lies.
I'm not quite sure how to evaluate these claims, on one hand it is true that previous SANDAG plans prioritized cars over transit and the 2015 regional plan failed a state environmental review, but there's no evidence previous SANDAG leadership knowingly lied about the environmental consequences of their plans or deliberately attempted to skirt CA state environmental laws. SANDAG always seemed to have had an unspoken policy of focusing on freeway infrastructure and only building just enough transit to maintain compliance, a ratio which they cut a little too fine in 2015 (they only cut emissions by 18% instead of the required 19%), it's likely that in the end their plans would fail to provide all the benefits advertised but there's no real way to prove this.
Politics Report: Sharp Words at SANDAG Meeting
More info on that last rancorous Board meeting, and a confirmation that Ikhrata is all in on this. He will put his plan up to the board again and again and again until they either accept it or fire him. Gotta give the man credit for that commitment.
How Kevin Faulconer Touched Off a Historic Debate About San Diego’s Transportation Future
The most important man in the room has yet to say anything. Mayor Faulconer was instrumental in placing Ikhrata where he is today, and his support will either make or brake Ikhrata's plans. Has our usually cautious mayor decided that for his last year in office it's finally the time to have out the long simmering public debate over the future of transportation in San Diego, or is he shocked at the level of Ikhrata's extremism when all he really wanted was a slightly more transit friendly executive? Hard to say really.