FIRE STATION BALLOT MEASURE GOES TO COUNCIL

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By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2016 (San Diego) – The San Diego City Council will be voting on whether to approve two bond measures to fund construction of new fire stations in the city of San Diego.

The measure was approved by the Rules Committee Monday.  If approved by the Council and by voters in November, the initiatives would allocate $205 million to build nearly 20 fire stations in areas where response times are longer than the recommended standard of 7 minutes, 30 seconds.

Destruction of Rancho Bernardo during the 2007 firestorms was blamed in part on a lack of fire stations in the community, according to a federal hearing chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein at the time. Many other communities are similarly lacking adequate coverage, nearly a decade later. A study found in 2010 that San Diego needs at least 19 more fire stations, of which 10 were deemed critical.

Since then, just one of those has been built, in Mission Valley. Construction is underway for a second one in Little Italy and funding has been approved for three more, in Black Mountain Ranch, the South Bay and University City. The other 14 stations might not be built for years, if ever, unless the bond measures are approved.

Councilmember Marti Emerald says at the current rate that the city is building new fire stations –just one every five years, it would take nearly 100 years to build enough to meet current needs.  If the bond measures proposed by Emerald are approved, those stations would all be built within 10 years. The average cost per station, including land acquisition, is $10 million.

But winning voter approval will be a challenge, since the measures would raise property taxes and thus require approval by two-thirds of the voters. The tax increase would average about $25 a year per household, which Emerald calls “a real value for greater public safety” in San Diego.


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