When will City Hall finally address elected leaders’ spending problem?

Re “San Diego approves parking fees for Balboa Park, but delays start date for several months” (Sept. 15): When will it register on the brains of the mayor and City Council that the city of San Diego has a spending problem, not a revenue problem?

Begin with a bloated workforce, with too many middle managers and labor unions. Add generous pensions and benefits that made sense 50 years ago, before 401(k) accounts, but are no longer affordable. Add backwards spending priorities, which rank the homeless population above the taxpaying population and tent cities above infrastructure.

How to pay for all this? The city just increased hotel room taxes. Add newly approved bait-and-switch trash fees. Add newly approved parking fees in and around Balboa Park, including the San Diego Zoo. What could possibly go wrong? There will be fewer tourist visits. Residents will find ways to “game” the trash fee pricing, and to reduce discretionary spending.

And still, the city faces over $1 billion of deficits over the next five years.

— Rich Fridell, Rancho Bernardo