City Considers Going to Bond Market for Street Repairs and Storm Drains

The City Council is scheduled to will decide Monday whether to go to the bond market to raise money to resurface streets and make repairs to libraries, fire stations and storm drains.

Mayor Jerry Sanders said he wants authorization for about $75 million, while the agenda item before the council sets a ceiling of $80 million.

Nearly $30.6 million would be spent to repave 60 miles of roadways, with the rest going to a variety of projects. Those include fixes to fire stations in City Heights and Hillcrest; libraries in San Ysidro and the Skyline neighborhood; buildings in Balboa Park; the sea wall at Mission Beach; the City Administration Building; and storm drains and street lights throughout the city.

“These are projects that must get done, and we either do them now or allow the problems to get worse,” Sanders said at a news conference last week.

Council members recently granted the mayor authority to streamline contracting procedures for capital projects, hoping to shorten the time it takes to get work started.

The city has a backlog of about $800 million in capital projects.

–CNS