Hunter Tells Chamber Military Helped Region Sidestep Recession

Concentrating on military and defense contractors has helped the San Diego region sidestep one of the worst effects of the current recession, said Rep. Duncan Hunter Thursday.

Hunter (R-Poway)—who appeared as one of the many speakers at the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce's State of the Region luncheon at the Officers Club at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar—told the 100 members and guests about efforts Congress has made to reduce spending while focusing largely on the military.

“Defense is huge here,” Hunter said. “It saved us from getting hit compared to other parts of the country.”

Hunter was also critical of  the way the state’s finances have been handled.

“This state is messed up,” he said, adding that Sacramento shouldn’t expect a bailout from Washington. “We’re not going to bail out anyone.”

Hunter was accompanied by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who also criticized the state and expressed his concern over Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to close redevelopment agencies in an effort to help erase a $25 billion budget deficit.

“The issue keeps me awake at night; it was not on the radar screen [a few weeks ago],” he said, dismissing Brown’s argument that the state faces a choice between helping school children or helping well-heeled private developers.

“With the state’s black hole getting bigger every year, there is no balance in the way they tax, and no balance in the way that they spend,” he said.

"For those of you who live in the northern part of the city, you might be asking, ‘Why should I care?’” Sanders said. “Well, I’ll tell you why you should care.

“Redevelopment is the only economic generator in this community or any other community in the state of California,” he said. “It creates jobs, it creates opportunities, it creates affordable housing and it creates new business.

“We’re going to go down fighting to protect that,” he said.

To prevent the state from grabbing more than $1 billion from San Diego’s Centre City Development Corp., he said the city’s redevelopment agency is moving ahead with a number of different projects to tie up funds from the state, including $340 million for new library construction projects and $88 million for four new fire stations downtown.  

Sanders said efforts to transform San Diego into a clean tech mecca have met with much success, which has the added impact of benefiting efforts to create a clean tech-focused business corridor along Interstate 15.

He said the region is now home to more than 700 companies in the sector, with more on the way, compared to just 100 a few years ago.

And he commented on the progress being made to expand the downtown convention center to accommodate larger conventions, pointing out that the expansion would benefit businesses all over the region.

“A lot of North County businesses cater to the convention center,” he said. “That’s why they support it.”

Other speakers included Randy Ward, superintendent of the county schools system, Tom Jackiewicz, CEO of the UC San Diego Medical Center and Joel Ayala, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, who spoke about efforts in Sacramento to bring more businesses and more jobs to San Diego.