{"id":1028,"date":"2019-08-07T11:45:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T18:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2019-08-07T12:28:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T19:28:55","slug":"making-sandag-accountable-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028","title":{"rendered":"Making SANDAG Accountable Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) officials are up to their necks in sand. Hasan Ikhrata, director of the regional planning agency, is either unwilling or incapable of fulfilling commitments made to San Diegans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ikhrata has failed to expand freeways in the most car-dependent rural areas\u2014as previously promised\u2014and remains mired in a funding crisis regarding TransNet, the sales tax that funds transportation services. Currently, TransNet is at least $10 billion short of the necessary funds for the promised projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, he has only tried to cover up his lack of leadership by firing three senior staffers who were previously involved in the 2016 SANDAG scandal. SANDAG deliberately misled the public about how much money it was planning to get out of TransNet.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several options on the table, including prioritizing the projects for future revenue measures, or at the very least, ensuring that they are kept in SANDAG\u2019s next transportation plan. However, Ikhrata wants the laziest choice of them all. He wants to pick and choose which projects get funding, particularly prioritizing larger Democrat-dominant cities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

County Supervisors Kristin Gaspar and Jim Desmond have led North County officials in rallying to put pressure on SANDAG to make good on its promises. Republican representatives in Sacramento have joined the push. Assemblywoman Marie Waldron\u2019s spokesman Jim Stanley stated that her office is \u201clooking at ways to ensure SANDAG keeps the promises it made,\u201d specifically \u201cexploring legislation requiring several public hearings or a vote of the people if SANDAG attempts to change the allocation of TransNet funds substantially.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s no question that the Democrat-controlled agency needs greater efficacy and transparency. Republicans remain committed to keeping SANDAG accountable to San Diego taxpayers, from whom it derives all of its funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Malik Earnest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) officials are up to their necks in sand. Hasan Ikhrata, director of the regional planning agency, is either unwilling or incapable of fulfilling commitments made to San Diegans.\u00a0 Ikhrata has failed to expand freeways in the most car-dependent rural areas\u2014as previously promised\u2014and remains mired in a funding crisis regarding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMaking SANDAG Accountable Again - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making SANDAG Accountable Again - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) officials are up to their necks in sand. Hasan Ikhrata, director of the regional planning agency, is either unwilling or incapable of fulfilling commitments made to San Diegans.\u00a0 Ikhrata has failed to expand freeways in the most car-dependent rural areas\u2014as previously promised\u2014and remains mired in a funding crisis regarding...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-07T18:45:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-07T19:28:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Photo-by-Malik-Earnest-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"description\":\"Your Source for News in San Diego\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Photo-by-Malik-Earnest-.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Photo-by-Malik-Earnest-.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028\",\"name\":\"Making SANDAG Accountable Again - San Diego News Desk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-07T18:45:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-07T19:28:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Making SANDAG Accountable Again\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\"},\"headline\":\"Making SANDAG Accountable Again\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-07T18:45:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-07T19:28:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=1028#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Photo-by-Malik-Earnest-.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}