The City of San Bernardino, like many cities in the United States, is going through the growth-trend known as “New Urbanization.” As touched upon in class this is a reorganizing and refurbishment of existing downtowns that have gone into disrepair, because past residents have moved to the suburbs and eventually exurbs. This past year San Bernardino partnered with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to put together a report which puts forth suggestions to rebuild and revitalize the downtown area(s) of San Bernardino.
The report begins with the history of San Bernardino, mentioning its founding by the Missionaries in Southern California and the influence of the early Mormon Church. (ULI Study, 8) The study then goes on to point out why the downtown area of San Bernardino has lost prominence since the 1980’s. It lists six major reasons for the decline in the downtown area:
1. The closing of Andrew’s Air Force Base, which facilitated the loss of 10,000 jobs in the area. (ULI Study, 9)
2. The “construction of Interstate 15 from Ontario to the Cajon Pass, which directed Los Angeles traffic away from San Bernardino and towards Ontario.” (ULI Study, 9)
3. The final reason was the closing of “the Kaiser Steel Plant in Fontana, which cost the jobs of several thousand San Bernardino Valley residents” (ULI Study, 9)
4. “The relocation of a major maintenance facility for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from San Bernardino to the Midwest, with a loss of about 2,000 jobs” (ULI Study, 9)
5. “The development of the Hospitality Lane area south of downtown and adjacent to Interstate 10, which drew shoppers and businesses out of downtown San Bernardino” (ULI Study, 9)
6. “Finally, the real estate recession of the 1990s resulted in substantial devaluation
of property.” (ULI, 9)
The study goes on, in an attempt to rectify these problems/challenges, to set forth a list of recommendations for the city to look at, that if implemented, would revitalize the downtown area. The first three are as follows:
1. “Engage the citizens of San Bernardino in the process of envisioning and developing the future
of the downtown.
2. Take steps to clean and maintain the downtown area and enhance the aesthetics of the streets
with plantings and other amenities.
3. Increase police patrolling to reverse the perception of insecurity and danger.” (ULI Study, 11)
The Mayor, in his first state of the city address, March, 2007, addressed the citizens of San Bernardino about the ways his office was addressing these recommendations. (Full Address Text) First, he began by touting the city’s renovation project of its old mall. He talks about the particulars, mentioning that there will be condos, new retail space, pocket parks, even a stream going through this mall area. In this section he also talks about various other development projects including two other, like-planned, communities. He then goes on to talk about transportation and the new high-speed bus system being designed for the city (he claims the first in the nation). Also in this section, he talks about the transition of the San Bernardino Airport into an International Airport. The Mayor describes the work being done and the fact that the airport has officially been deemed a duty-free area with an on-site customs presence. Ending his transportation section, he talks about the new light-rail system in the works that would go from downtown San Bernardino to Downtown Redlands.
The most important section is the one on Law Enforcement. The Mayor, predominantly, speaks about his pet project “Operation Phoenix.” This program, as he points out, is an all encompassing program that is not only enforcement but community outreach as well. It promotes after school programs for children, neighborhood clean-up, and crime prevention. The program is estimated to cost $450,000 annually, without the coast of the 40 police officers the Mayor wants to hire. As of 04/07/2008 the Assistant Chief of Police for the City of San Bernardino has yet to get back to me on the exact cost of each officer (e.g. salary, fringe benefits, etc.) A salaried officer makes between $4,886-6,600/month, which equates to $58, 632-79,200/year (these prices are not said to include fringe benefits like medical, retirement, insurance, etc.) (1). Even if the city were to hire 40 officers at the lowest pay-scale, it would cost an additional $2,345,280/year for the city. It is this program and the subsequent budget deficit for the fiscal year of 2007-08, that seemed too coincidental.
The operating budget for the fiscal year of 07-08 is right under $145 million, but for the sake of discussion we will round up. Of this amount an impressive $63,788,600 was spent on some kind of law enforcement. (Citation) This represents 43.99% of the city’s annual budget. The annual Police Budget has increased since 2002-2008 as shown:
Police Line-Items of the City Budgets For Fiscal Years 02/03 - 07/08
2002-2003: 44,686,595
2003-2004: 45,513,387
2004-2005: 48,039,553
2005-2006: 53,179,223
2006-2007: 59,700,000
2007-2008: 63,445,600
(Link)
Monetary Increase in Police Line-Item of San Bernardino City Budget: FYs 02/03-07/08
• 02/03 – 03/04: $826,792
• 03/04 – 04/05: $2,526,166
• 04/05 – 05/06: $5,139,670
• 05/06 – 06/07: $6,520,777
• 06/07 – 07/08: $3,745,600
In last year’s state of the city address, the Mayor points out that crime has gone down since the implementation of Operation Phoenix; however, now, in 2007-08 the city is looking at a deficit of approximately $7.2 million. This represents approximately 5% of the annual city budget. The City Council is trying to decide whether or not they should use the city’s surplus to pay down/off the deficit after an attempt to cut back on “wasteful spending” did not yield enough money to cover the deficit.
One Councilmember, Councilwoman McCammack, scrutinized Operation Phoenix by claiming that, “expenditures such as a recent Police Activities League trip with local children to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is an example of a unnecessary expenditure,” and that “she had found some expenditures that puzzled her, including a payment to a private contractor to make business cards for the staff of Operation Phoenix, Mayor Pat Morris' crime-fighting program. McCammack said she thought the cards could have been made in the city print shop.” (Citation1) and (Citation2) respectively). These attacks on Operation Phoenix are not necessarily unwarranted. The immense amount of city money that is being spent on Law Enforcement in order to curb crime may not be entirely worth it, because the main purpose of spending that money is to make the crime rate go down (which it has), in order to make those who live in the city and may potentially live in the city feel more safe (which has yet to be seen). If San Bernardino is able to lose its stigma of being dangerous, as the ULI Study suggests it should do, then more and more people, theoretically, will move back to the downtown area. However, only time will tell if the New Urbanization techniques being suggested by the Mayor’s office and implemented by the City Government will be worth the money spent.
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