San Diego – America’s Finest City? Not anymore.
One of its congressmen admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes, the FBI has investigated City Hall, the mayor resigned, a $1.37 billion pension shortfall damaged the city’s credit rating and fueled talk of bankruptcy, and two councilmen were convicted of taking bribes from a strip- club owner.
Faced with all that ill repute, the city has quietly dethroned itself and dropped the self-proclaimed title “America’s Finest City” from its official website.
“We couldn’t stake that claim anymore,” said Gina Lew, the city’s director of public and media affairs. “We were taking too many hits.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently asked readers to coin a new slogan, saying “America’s Finest” had turned “creaky.” Among the nearly 500 responses: “Scandalicious,” “An Eruption of Corruption,” “All Major Unmarked Bills Accepted Here,” and “Bunglers by the Bay.”
Headline writers have weighed in with “Enron-by-the- Sea” (The New York Times) and “Paradise Insolvent” (Governing Magazine).
Lew said the title was erased from the website in August – leaving a blank blue space next to a photo of the downtown skyline – in response to the federal investigation of the city’s troubled finances.
The investigation led to the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy in April, followed days later by the councilmen’s conviction for taking bribes in exchange for efforts to allow touching at nude bars.
And a week ago, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigned from Congress after pleading guilty to pocketing bribes that helped pay for a Rolls-Royce, a yacht named the “Duke-Stir” and antique furniture.
A KPBS/Competitive Edge poll last year found 57 percent of residents believed the city was still the country’s finest. But that was mostly because of the postcard-perfect beaches and nearly endless string of sunny, 72-degree days.
