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The San Diego City council has approved the sale of properties they own but are not using following in the footsteps of the Canadian’s’s. Surplus real estate on city and state rolls do nothing but raise the maintenance costs and reduce property taxes for a city. If their goal is patronage, then this works out to the legislators benefit, but if the goal is good government then selling the properties makes the most sense.

It looks like the San Diego government is showing some good sense and unloading properties that are not serving the people.

The council balked at letting Mayor Jerry Sanders sell two properties – a La Jolla duplex and a Morena lot – but agreed to let him sell 17 other surplus sites that include a mix of homes, office buildings, vacant lots and rights of way.
Calling the land “the people’s property,” Councilman Tony Young cautioned Sanders and his staff to move cautiously before selling parcels that could one day benefit San Diego. He lauded the mayor for looking to unload “dirt lots” rather than gems like Balboa Park or the Torrey Pines Golf Course.
San Diego now says it owns 3,400 properties covering 120,000 acres. It rents 680 properties, and many of those leases have long since expired. Sanders has made land sales a central part of his long-term budgeting. He expects such sales to generate $15 million in the fiscal 2008 budget year, which begins July 1, and more than $100 million over five years.
Barwick said selling land with brokers instead of auctions, the city’s past practice, would almost certainly allow the city to reach more potential buyers and drive up revenue, although Frye questioned that.  via SignOnSanDiego.com

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