In March, San Diego voters will decide on Measure C, which would raise hotel occupancy taxes to fund expansion of the waterfront convention center and also provide money for local homelessness programs and street repairs. The City Attorney’s Office says it requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. How will you vote? Tell us at yoursay@sduniontribune.com.

A deep love for San Diego: That’s the common denominator for the broad and diverse group of local leaders who came together to craft a solution to our city’s most pressing needs — setting aside their many differences to draft the Yes for a Better San Diego citizens’ initiative, which will go before voters as Measure C on the March ballot.

Measure C will address what are inarguably the most important issues facing our city: the homelessness crisis, our crumbling streets and ensuring more economic opportunity for all our residents — not just those with advanced degrees.

How does it tackle these issues? It’s simple. Measure C will raise San Diego’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which is paid by tourists on their hotel bills, and the dollars collected will be sequestered in three accounts.


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First, it will be used to help homeless San Diegans off the streets and into more stable circumstances. Last fall, the City Council unanimously adopted the Community Action Plan, which charts a path to significantly reducing the number of people living on our streets by getting them the help they need to finally end their homelessness — whether through mental health or addiction treatment, job programs or simply support to get back on their feet.

The plan, which was developed by national experts based on the on-the-ground experience of our local service providers and homeless residents themselves, recommends a set of proven programs that will have a noticeable, measurable impact within five years. Measure C provides much of the funding identified for those measures — nearly $2 billion total — in a dedicated funding stream, which we’ve never had before. This will allow us to get out of Band-Aid mode and really start seeing results.


Second, Measure C will fuel one of San Diego’s most powerful economic engines, the San Diego Convention Center, by funding the expansion and modernization of this publicly owned asset that has always brought a significant return on investment — and could be even more lucrative for taxpayers.

TOT revenue provides a huge portion of the city’s funding that pays for public services like parks, libraries and street maintenance. The Convention Center keeps thousands of hotels around the city full year-round, generating those TOT revenues that keep our city working for you.

But that’s far from its only economic benefit. The Convention Center also supports thousands of jobs, not only over 1,000 middle-class carpentry, stagehand and culinary jobs in the center itself, but also steady blue-collar work for the thousands of people who touch tourists’ experience — cooks, drivers, baggage handlers, bartenders, janitors, servers, housekeepers, desk clerks and many more.

By expanding the Convention Center to bring more and larger conventions to town — and keep conventions like Comic-Con and the Auto Show — we’re supporting 7,000 more of those steady jobs in a key sector of our region’s economy. That’s why even the hotel industry supports this tax on their customers — because they know it benefits our tourism economy.


Finally, Measure C will collect enough funds to repave an additional 150 miles of streets every year. This will help us catch up and stay caught up with a core service San Diegans should be able to expect of their city government.

It took many trusted civic leaders and community advocates coming together to craft something with as broad and significant benefits as Measure C offers. They also worked to make sure that the funds collected would have the strict accountability and oversight built in so that politicians can’t divert the funds for anything else.

Make no mistake, the measure is very specific about exactly how the funds must be spent, and the city’s independent auditor, plus a citizens oversight committee, will be strictly monitoring spending decisions — all of which will take place in open public hearings. (You can read the full initiative and see its strict accountability provisions at Yes4SD.com.)

It certainly wasn’t easy to craft a measure that could earn the support of everyone from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association to the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, hotel executives to hotel housekeepers, Congressman Scott Peters to Councilman Scott Sherman, Mayor Kevin Faulconer to Father Joe Carroll, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego County Democratic Party.


And now, this opportunity to support Measure C is finally in the voters’ hands. Your hands. We urge our fellow San Diegans to learn more and vote Yes — for a better San Diego.

Kim serves as political director for the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council and is secretary of the Board of Directors for the San Diego Convention Center Corp. Vargas is president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages. Bradford is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. She also serves as vice chair of the Convention Center Corp. board.

