Labor Council Votes to Oppose Developer Giveaway on the Waterfront

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By Evan McLaughlin, Political Director

Last month, the membership of the Labor Council unanimously voted to oppose a ballot initiative that could potentially destroy maritime industry at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal.

The campaign to defeat the measure will be one of the Labor Council’s top priorities in this fall’s elections, so we will need a lot of help in spreading our message that good, middle-class jobs are more important than lining the pockets of a couple developers.

The initiative was placed on the Nov. 4 ballot by developers Richard and Nancy Chase. They are hoping that voters will force the Port of San Diego to hand off the terminal to a developer like themselves so it can be used for non-maritime uses.

San Diego Bay’s working waterfront provides the region with 42,000 jobs and adds an economic impact of $7.6 billion annually to the region.

It is home to some of the last good, blue-collar, middle-class jobs left in our region, and the Labor Movement is outraged that private developers are pushing a misleading plan that is destructive to the region’s working waterfront.

The initiative, which will be placed on the ballots of residents in San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach and Coronado, would change the Port’s master plan to allow for the redevelopment of the 10th Avenue Terminal for private use. While the developers claim they intend to save these jobs, that promise appears to be just a convenient talking point for their campaign to squeeze industrial uses from the waterfront.

The developers’ plan to build a stadium or hotels on the 10th Avenue Terminal signals their effort to shrink the entire working waterfront.

If passed by voters, the plan would allow for private building on a deck constructed on top of the terminal, and would reduce the region’s ability ensure both business growth and port security.

This is why several groups have come out against the proposition, including the Port of San Diego, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and several businesses that operate on at the terminal.

San Diego cannot afford to allow this dangerous proposition to pass.