The City Council voted 8-1 Monday to eliminate $5 million for a special election this November on SoccerCity and the San Diego Convention Center expansion.

But Mayor Kevin Faulconer immediately vowed to veto the council’s action.The mayor has until June 13 to modify the budget as he sees fit, and the council would need six votes to override.

“A City Council majority is supporting the unprecedented step of blocking a public election by stripping funding from the budget,” Faulconer said in a statement. “This short-sighted move results in denying the public a vote and getting nothing accomplished for our city. I intend to use my veto authority to restore the special election funding, while still retaining the added funding for our police, so the City Council can take an up-or-down vote on these urgent ballot measures.”

The council is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to put the convention center expansion on the ballot this November, and then vote June 19 on adding SoccerCity to the same ballot.


Nick Stone, SoccerCity project manager, answers questions after the City Council vote. (Roger Showley/U-T)

Nick Stone, project manager for SoccerCity, said despite the vote he was “incredibly hopeful” of getting a special election set.

“I think that decision (to remove the money) will come back to haunt them because people actually love this project,” Stone said.

The vote came as part of an overall approval of the city’s $3 billion fiscal 2018 budget to fund city operations — from police to parks, street sweeping to capital improvements.


But most testimony from 204 people asking to speak during the five-hour debate concerned the $4 billion plan to redevelop the Qualcomm Stadium site with a professional soccer-oriented focus and the $780 million proposed expansion of the 28-year-old convention center.

Youngsters demonstrate their support for SoccerCity -- though they’re obviously too young to vote. (Roger Showley/U-T)

Soccer players, labor union representatives, community activists and hotel industry leaders, restricted to one-minute pleas, weighed in. Some argued the special election would violate last year’s Measure L charter change that aimed to limit ballot measures to November general elections when more people typically participate.

Others said the will of the people, as expressed in the SoccerCity initiative, should be heard and the timing of MLS awarding of four new franchises would preclude San Diego’s participation if an election isn’t held until late next year.


When it came time for council action, Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who chairs the council budget committee, introduced a budget resolution stripping out the $5 million election cost, saying the two measures should wait until the November 2018 general election.

“I want to see a well-crafted measure on the November 2018 ballot,” Bry said, referring to the convention center measure that would increase the hotel room tax that would also fund street improvement and homeless programs. She also prefers a delay on SoccerCity to give time for competing plans to be considered.

Organized labor representatives and other opponents as well as proponents to a special election fill the council chambers. (Roger Showley/U-T)

Countered Councilman Scott Sherman, the lone vote against the budget: “By taking $5 million off the table, you are directly denying people the right to vote, no doubt about it, and our job as council members, once the public speaks, it to implement the will of the people and not our own voice.”


Sherman, whose district includes Qualcomm, said the site has been studied for 35 years and SDSU representatives told him in a meeting earlier this year that they wanted a “special deal” that would give them much of the stadium land.

Despite Sherman’s vote, it’s unclear how future votes will go. Of the eight who backed the budget, some indicated they might vote differently.

For example, Councilwoman Lorie Zapf, who won a last minute $70,000 appropriation for addition trash pickups in Mission Beach to combat annual fly infestations, said she strongly backs the convention center measure.

Councilman Chris Cate said he has “no idea” where he stands on the convention center because the details of the ballot measure have yet to be finalized. After the meeting, he said he supports the mayor’s veto. Councilman Mark Kersey recommended pro and con forces “polish up” their arguments at the next two meetings.


Council President Myrtle Cole, who did not take a position on the election timing during the meeting, has previously supported the mayor on many issues. But after the meeting she tweeted: “It’s simple. The council was asked to fund a special election in the budget. I voted no to funding it. I will not change my vote.”

Some last-minute budget changes included extra funding for the arts, although not back to last year’s levels as Councilman David Alvarez initially proposed. Police are getting more support to replenish their depleted ranks and council members indicated support for more climate-action measures.

With $5 million deleted for the election, several members argued successfully for pet projects that seemed to use up most of that amount. It’s unclear what items Faulconer might veto to make room for the election cost.

SoccerCity is being handled as successful voter initiative drive that drew more than 112,000 signatures. The sponsor, La Jolla-based FS Investors which has formed a separate company to carry out the project, holds the rights to form a Major League Soccer team in San Diego if the league approves the local bid.


The group’s plan calls for a 23,500-seat stadium, 4,800 housing units, 3.1 million square feet of commercial space, 450 hotel rooms and a 34-acre San Diego River Park at the 166-acre Qualcomm site. The stadium could be expanded by 10,000 seats if San Diego State University agrees to pay $100 million toward the $200 million cost — something the university has so far rejected. The council is scheduled to take up the measure June 19 and either approve it or send to the voters. It would take a simple majority to pass.

The convention center measure also would include funding for street repairs and homeless programs. The mayor has proposed raising the hotel tax up to 15.5 percent from its present 12.5 percent level and wants an early vote to avoid continued construction costs for the center expansion due to inflation. It would take two-thirds approval by city voters to pass.


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roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley