Changesandiego:Community Portal
From Changesandiego
The Mills Act is a tax incentive program designed to encourage preservation of historic houses and structures.
Developers have put a bulls eye on the Mills Act in San Diego -- they want to gain traction in the older neighborhoods for their high rise condo/retail developments.
The San Diego politicians joined at the hip to developers through rich campaign funding are on the move. Priority one: cripple The Mills Act.
A well coordinated three front assault on the Mills Act unfolded. The Mayor's office, The Grand Jury and the UT.
The Mayor got on Roger Hedgecocks show. A flood of misinformation and distorted "facts" followed. It was a Lewis and Martin routine.
Hedgecock made wildly innacurate statements. From the number of Mills Act contracts approved every year to the rediculous suggestion Mills Act dictates whether you can plant petunias in your yard or not. Jerry, "the straight man" reined Roger in, but spewed his own glut of misinformation in his calm reassuring manner.
It seems highly suspicious and peculiar the Grand Jury report on the Mills Act--almost all fiction--had the same talking points heard on the Roger Hedgecock Show.
Parrotiing all of that was the UT.
The facts are that The Mills Act is an excellent tool for perserving historic structures. The San Diego Mills Act has been emulated by communities all over the State. It is the model.
The Mills Act has no connection whatsoever to San Diego School funding. The argument was that school children had to pay the price so that rich people could fix up their expensive homes.
The fact is The Mills Act is an equal opportunity incentive. There are MIlls Contracts in modest neighborhoods as well as wealthy neighborhoods.
The other bogus claim was that The Mills Act is a tax revenue loss for the city. University of San Diego economics professor Andrew Narwold did a study that disproved that. He demonstrated Mills Act as a tax reveue gain.
A history and summary of the Mills Acts importance in San Diego can be viewed in this short video.
