San Diegans’ frustration with potholes is likely to get worse with the city cutting back on funding for employees to fix them, according to City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert.
“I got a really not great briefing today … on our transportation department,” said von Wilpert at the March 6 Rancho Bernardo Community Council meeting.
Mayor Todd Gloria has put in a hiring freeze and an overtime freeze, von Wilpert said.
“He said it is strategic and I hope that there is strategy in it because I was told by our department of transportation they’ve stopped hiring electricians to fix the light poles,” von Wilpert said.
“They’ve stopped hiring pothole fillers. … They are not going to allow the pothole fillers overtime. … We’re going to see our pothole backlog grow even bigger.”
Von Wilpert said she was “quite frustrated” because not only would the city’s streets get worse, but it will cost the city more later.
“I am going to try and argue with my colleagues to re-fund those positions because if we just let the streets get worse, they are going to be more expensive to fix later on and we will have more litigation from people whose cars are getting hurt on the bad roads and people tripping and falling.”
Depending on how negotiations progress over the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget that has a projected $258 million deficit, von Wilpert said she may call upon groups such as the Rancho Bernardo Community Council and Planning Board to write letters opposing infrastructure cuts.
Von Wilpert said she is also going to fight any proposed public safety cuts.
“We need to have our wildfire helicopters to be staffed, gassed up and ready to go,” she said. “I am not going to budge on the police or fire budget. I want to make sure our EMS system is on point too. These are not nice to haves. These are need to haves when someone calls 911.”
Von Wilpert said she also voted against a 5.5% increase to water bills last week because it was a -through coming from the San Diego County Water Authority. It was approved by the council 6-3 and goes into effect on May 1.
It is the first in a series of five proposed hikes, which if all approved, will cumulatively increase water rates 70% by 2029.
“I don’t believe we put enough pressure on the County Water Authority to do more on their end,” she said. “We are building out water recycling systems … and the County Water Authority has not pivoted and sold off some of their water assets that they don’t need. Why should we just on the cost to our ratepayers?”
In other council business, there was a presentation on the $7 million Gatewood Hills Pump Station Replacement Project.
The pump station, built in the mid-1970s, is within a city easement on a gated residential property at 13024 Abra Drive, approximately 400 feet up a private driveway. It lifts water from the Rancho Bernardo to the Oaks North Pressure Zone.
The pump station serves 24 metered connections, including the Oaks North Community’s irrigation.
According to presenters Julie Adam and Richard Leja, the project’s design is scheduled to be complete by December 2025, construction could start in August 2026 and conclude in January 2028.
They said the plan is to minimize community impact, especially on the nearby Chaparral Elementary School community so work occurs around school breaks and the campus’ drop-off and pick-up times.
The work is needed due to aging and deteriorating infrastructure, which requires costly maintenance. The new station will improve operational efficiency and have modern structural integrity and design, they said.
