Voting No on Prop G is Next Step In Moving Bayfront Project Forward
A broad coalition of leaders from Chula Vista’s civic, business, environmental and labor communities spoke out today against Proposition G at a morning press conference at Bayside Park, saying that the contractor-backed proposition creates potential threats to the redevelopment and restoration of the city’s under-utilized Bayfront.
After the Port and City approved the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan at a hearing last Tuesday, supporters of the Bayfront project are urging Chula Vista voters to vote no on Proposition G in the June 8 primary election. Defeating Proposition G is the next step to move forward with the Bayfront, as the poorly written initiative poses potential consequences that could be devastating to redeveloping the Bayfront.
“After decades of work and public input, Chula Vista finally has a plan for the Bayfront that creates good jobs, respects the environment and attracts new investment to the region,” said Stephen Padilla, Chula Vista’s Port Commissioner and former Mayor. “We can’t let Proposition G pass or our city’s dream of a destination Bayfront face more delays, more costs, more nothing.”
The coalition against Proposition G includes various community stakeholder groups who have often held differing perspectives on development and worker issues. However, the strong consensus reached in moving the Bayfront forward has produced a commitment to defeating Proposition G that is just as strong.
“Proposition G is bad for business,” Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce CEO Lisa Cohen said. “The top priority of the business community in Chula Vista is job creation and it has become clear that Proposition G appears to interfere with that mission. The potential consequences of Proposition G are so devastating for Chula Vista that a supermajority of the Chamber’s board voted to oppose it.”
Proposition G, which was put on the June 8 ballot by anti-union government contractor groups, bans the City of Chula Vista from funding or partnering on construction projects in which there are requirements for labor agreements or payments on employees’ behalf into a trust fund. The latter provision is found in virtually every union contract in the construction industry and is also mandated on projects subject to the State Prevailing Wage Law, such as work funded by the State, Port or School Districts. Both labor agreements and funds subject to Prevailing Wage are nearly always used in any major infrastructure project like the planned 550-acre Bayfront project.
Proposition G has posed such a far-reaching threat to public works construction in the City of Chula Vista that the consensus among the community’s leaders is that Proposition G is the wrong way for Chula Vista. Chula Vista’s representatives in the U.S. Congress and State Legislature have endorsed the No on G campaign, as have the Chula Vista City Council.
