How to Make Changes in the Underfunded Finest City By Paul Coogan California is the land of gold rush mentality. After the yellow stuff was scooped up, agriculture, hospitality/entertainment, and tech put gold in the coffers. Now, the boondoggle is real estate, a limited resource and increasingly in demand. Escalating land value triggered a property tax revolt in 1978 (Prop 13) and now we live in the post-capitalist, libertarian result of a society that wants everything but refuses to pay for anything. The recent trash fee battle in San Diego is a microcosm of this attitude. It started when in 1919, the public voted in favor of the People’s Ordinance to have free waste removal after the city started making money on selling the haul to pig farmers. Thus the metropolis was left scraping the pot to fund the dump year after year. Folks complain about busted bins, but liberals and conservatives alike were willing to join hands and trash city hall for trying to make ends meet. A change in leadership at City Hall will only be shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, as the layers of bad policies and worse state laws have created a Gordian knot that strangles new ideas in their infancy.