SDNR Article: PLA control: Chula Vista looking to limit union influence
February 06, 2010 at 11:55 AM
San Diego News RoomSan Diego Cities - Chula Vista
BY Landon Bright
Thursday, 04 February 2010 18:13
Two years ago, Chula Vista stood by as Gaylord Entertainment walked away from constructing a resort on 32 acres of the city’s dilapidated bayfront. Gaylord’s decision to leave the project ultimately came down to numerous roadblocks, but not being able to find common ground with local unions was the most contentious issue. Two years later, Chula Vista is pushing for an ordinance that would ban union-led project labor agreements (PLAs), in hopes of attracting large-scale developers to the region. The move comes at the right time, as San Diego Port commissioners have agreed to swap land with Pacific Holdings, in what could be the first step towards developing the bayfront.
SDNR talked with Ed Herrera, President & CEO of the Chula Vista Civic Association, about the city’s past union problems and why the Fair and Open Competition Ordinance is important to Chula Vistans.
Landon Bright: Why is now the right time to ban PLAs?
Ed Herrera: There are a lot of core services facing the threat of being cut if we do not do due diligence in supporting and protecting tax payer dollars, and using them efficiently and wisely. Fair and open competition not only allows us to be able to save dollars, it also allows us to open up opportunities for local Chula Vistans to be able to compete for bidding on public projects. Eighty percent of the work force is non-unions, so you have a whopping 80 percent of the folks on average that do not qualify if a PLA is agreed upon.
We want to be preventative and we want to safeguard future councils and our city government from the influence of special interests. The only interests that the city council should be concerned with and our local officials should be concerned with are the taxpayers.
LB: Do you think that’s why you had to bring this issue to the voters, because the city council feared consequences from the unions?
EH: I think we needed to bring it to the voters because of the economic situation and the budget crisis at city hall. The other issue is that we need jobs. It needs to be brought forward that PLAs discriminate against approximately 80 percent of the workforce, and that’s not good for Chula Vista.
LB: Are there any future projects in Chula Vista that the city was concerned might be influenced by unions?
EH: First and foremost, it’s a preventative measure. Secondly, we want to ensure that if a major developer looks toward Chula Vista and sees the opportunity that we have here in our city to create and develop a beautiful bayfront, that we’re open to the idea that we’re not restrictive.
PLAs have been shown to make reaching an agreement very difficult. We have seen studies where there’s a 20 percent increase in the price of a project when the PLA is included. That makes it difficult because one of the things that is preventing development in the bay front, is the almost insurmountable infrastructure costs.
Developers, just like any other business, have to look at the bottom line. Gaylord left because of some of these [union] demands. They came back later, but they should never have had to come back twice. If they do come back twice, it should have been for a different reason.
LB: What has the reaction been to this ordinance—is it positive or mixed?
EH: The only reaction that I’ve received is positive. What’s made it even more positive is that folks are starting to feel the effects of the recession: they’re seeing that they’ve lost jobs; if they don’t know someone that’s lost their home or job, they themselves have lost their home or job, and they see the need to open up the process for folks locally—that a majority of people should be able to bid locally so that we can reap the regional and economic benefits.
We don’t want to take any benefits away from anyone or anything, but we know when we’re getting a good deal for our taxpayer dollars and we want to keep our libraries and we want to keep our recreation centers open. We know that we can save a lot of money by getting rid of PLAs. A $1,000 here or $10,000 there, it’s not chump change to us, so we want to protect and defend our taxpayer dollars just as we would our children.
LB: Come June, do you think the ordinance is going to pass?
EH: Absolutely.
Link to original article as published by the San Diego News Room:
http://sandiegonewsroom.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40292:chula-vista-looking-to-limit-union-influence&catid=70:chula-vista&Itemid=72
