SANDAG, also known as the San Diego Association of Governments, is a group of elected officials from the county’s 18 cities tasked with planning metropolitan transit across the county. The Board of Directors had a fiery debate Friday about the way the organization votes.
Representatives from the smaller cities said they want a bigger voice.
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Before 2018, a majority of the 18 representatives on the board and a majority of represented members weighted by population would have to be in favor of a proposal for it to pass — but now a state law has changed all that.
Now, a project can pass as long as four members representing a majority of the county’s population approve it. Terry Gaasterland, the representative to SANDAG from Del Mar, said the board isn’t as focused on the public transportation needs of the smaller communities.
“You can’t get to many parts of this county by public transportation at all. How do we solve using the public transportation more effectively? We need ways to connect from cars to bus much more easily. We need places for people to go and park and catch a reliable express bus to where they need to go,” Gaasterland said.
Gaasterland, along with the SANDAG members from Coronado, San Marcos, Poway, Oceanside, Vista, Escondido, El Cajon, Santee sent a letter to the board’s leadership asking to reconsider the way the board now votes.
The way the board currently votes is actually more equitable, said SANDAG’s newly elected chair Supervisor Nora Vargas.
“What we’re doing is true representation. It’s not just about the cities, it’s about the actual people who live in these cities and what their needs are,” Supervisor Vargas replied.
All of the members who signed the letter left the SANDAG meeting in protest over their concerns. Ultimately, the board doesn’t need to change the way it votes because it is following state law.