A Clear Vision for San Diego

"We must get San Diegans back to work. The best way to do that is to position city government as a partner with San Diego businesses, particularly our small businesses which form the backbone of our economy." - Carl DeMaio

Resist all tax and fee increases.
Carl's package of reforms provides a clear direction toward balancing our city's budget without increasing any taxes or fees on San Diego families and businesses. The people of San Diego were crystal clear in their rejection of tax increases by overwhelmingly defeated Proposition D last year. Carl will continue to protect San Diego's taxpayers.

Streamline city processes.
Carl's Action Plan for Small Business sets the goal of conducting 95% of all permit and license transactions online, streamlining special even permitting and management, and implementing an e-procurement portal for small businesses to receive solicitations for and bid on city contracts. Streamlining city processes will save taxpayers money and improve the city's partnership with San Diego's business to grow our economy and create jobs.

Establish fair and open competition policies.
Carl is fighting hard to end the city's discriminatory policies that shut out workers who have chosen not to be represented by a labor union.

First, the city must end the practice that is known as Project Labor Agreement (PLA) contracting. PLA contracting effectively shuts out non-union businesses and workers from city contracts. PLAs give labor unions a leg up in the contracting process, and exclude non-union workers from consideration unless they pay union dues, even if they are not a member of a union.

Second, the city must end its discriminatory policies that compel developers and builders to use union workers. These practices deny non-union workers their right to work. They also increase project costs, which risks impeding development in our city. All San Diegans should be able to apply for all jobs, whether they belong to a union or not.

Strengthen and Expand San Diego's Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).
Carl supports streamlining the process for reimbursing the nonprofit Business Improvement Districts, which finance improvements around our city to stimulate economic activity and business expansion. The current process for reimbursing the BIDs is overly burdensome, and the small nonprofits that administer the individual BIDs are hindered by cash-flow challenges.

Our city's partnership with San Diego's business community has led to positive change in communities around our city by promoting economic activity. Improvements to the city's role in this partnership will ensure that we are maximizing the opportunities for businesses to create jobs in San Diego.

Redefine the role of the Office of Small Business and consolidate small business grants.
The city's Office of Small Business, which administers the city's financial relationship with the BIDs, should be redefined in order to improve the city-BID relationship and make the BIDs as effective as they can be in stimulating job creation. Carl proposes that the Office of Small Business use "performance-based contracts" to enhance the flexibility and effectiveness of the city's partnership with the BIDs.

Additionally, Carl proposes reforming the Small Business Enhancement Program (SBEP) in order to achieve outcome-driven grant allocations. SBEP grants are presently spread too thin, jeopardizing their ability to have a meaningful impact in our city, and options for consolidating the grants should be explored.