Seniors Have the Most to Lose in Next Years San Diego City Council Election

The upcoming election for seats on the San Diego City Council will have enormous consequences. If history is precedent, voters will make the same mistake again, in choosing the perceived front runners as if betting on a horse at the Chantilly race track.

Baby Boomers have a moral obligation to preserve the heritage of the Greatest Generation. The City of San Diego can no longer turn it’s back on seniors. The two major political parties that get candidates in office have failed the elderly. Relying on nonprofits during a time of national strife and budgetary cutbacks will not work. Financial assistance for low-income seniors is scarce. So, the ballot box is the only option.

Many older people in our city cannot pay their water bills, property tax, gas and electric, not to mention basic necessities as food and transportation. Assessing a fee for trash pick up was the coup de gras. Installing this fee on property tax bills was immoral. But will voters remember come next election? I doubt it. Now many in government want to put their claws on Proposition 13, the Jarvis Gann initiative of 1978 which limits property tax increases to 2% a year. Given their way, the elderly would go homeless. Then we have water bills which seem to increase every 2 months. Many are behind in payments and potentially will never catch up. What will the city do in recovering water fees? Elected officials have no plan to address all these costs to seniors. Is there a senior department in the City of San Diego bureaucracy?

What is the city doing to make seniors healthier and increase health and life spans? Nothing. Instead of offering free park and recreation activities, transportation, and lowering the cost-of-living expenses, the city raises taxes and fees for low-income elderly taxpayers. But year after year, ad nauseum, most voters only consider those candidates who are well funded and perceived as a winning candidate. These candidates only care about the party line which feeds them and not the voters. The million-dollar consultants who run these immoral campaigns, could care less if seniors cannot pay their water bills. But again, the voters are blind to their own best interests. For example, seniors could care less about riding a bike to Vons to buy a baguette. Yet they vote for those espousing more unneeded bike lanes. The golden years ought to be golden not tarred in rust.

Daniel Smiechowski of Bay Ho is a candidate for San Diego City Council District 2 and a senior championing common sense public policy. He is an independent.