What is a City?
Photos by Jennifer Jenkin

Commentary by E.A. Barrera 'Communities may incorporate as cities for many reasons - to control population growth and development, to gain local control of tax money, to provide services, to promote special interests, to solve specific problems, to provide a more responsive unit of government or to prevent annexation to adjoining cities.' - "Guide to California Government," Chapter 16written and published by the League of Women Voters of California14th Edition, 1992 The buzz in Ramona over cityhood is growing increasingly louder. Will this small community become a city in the years ahead? Would Ramona have more control over the destiny of its future growth and development if the decisions could be made locally, instead of 30 miles away in the county halls of power? Or would cityhood make it easier for the rural character of the town to be engulfed by large-scale commercial development, because that is the easiest way to pay for city services, such as schools, fire, police and water? Cities and counties are divisions of the state. They are how a state breaks down the political and regional decision making process, rather than having all decisions centralized in the Capital. According to a 1992 booklet published by the California League of Women Voters titled "Guide to California Government," cities and counties in the state are granted power by the state legislature and the California Constitution. "City governments may legislate to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their people, provided that these regulations are not in conflict with state or federal law. They may generate revenue by levying taxes, by license and service fees, and by borrowing. They may employ needed personnel. They may condemn property for public use. While their powers are derived from the state constitution and from laws enacted by the legislature, cities themselves are created only by the request and consent of the residents in a given area," the league pamphlet states. Counties lack the broad powers of self-government that cities have. Cities have easier revenue-generating authority than counties. The power of the California Legislature over counties is more complete than it is over cities. Ramona is an unincorporated community of San Diego County and is thus governed by the county's five-member board of supervisors - none of whom resides in or near Ramona. A city is responsible for raising revenue and controlling public services within its jurisdiction. That can prove an expensive proposition, and cities have typically responded by forming entities such as redevelopment agencies and local housing authorities to raise fees from new development - including the forced acquisition of property through eminent domain and the resale of that property for profit. The city of San Diego recently seized the property of a small business that operated a downtown coffeehouse in order to resell the property to a large hotel chain. The rationalization for the property seizure was that a larger share of property tax and sales-tax revenue would come to the city's treasury from the new hotel. The most recent cities to form within San Diego County were Santee, Poway, Encinitas and Solana Beach. All were formed more than 20 years ago. In the case of Santee, once the community was its own incorporated agency, development went on a roll. Vast open space became concrete parking lots for commercial venues such as Costco, Wal-Mart and other retail chains. But with this development came other projects - a new high school and two elementary schools also were built. The city recently approved a new upper-income housing plan with a new park that will generate millions for the city in the next decade. Under a law enacted in 1992, a community that wishes to incorporate must repay the county for any infrastructure that the county invested in the community. But a bill pending in the legislature would provide money for newly formed cities to reimburse the county. AB 1602, which was written by Santa Cruz Democrat John Laird and recently passed in the Assembly, essentially would redistribute money from the state's' Vehicle License Fee program. If passed by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the legislation could be a windfall for a town like Ramona. Estimates are that a newly formed city of Ramona could begin its first year of incorporation with a $400,000 surplus, thanks to revenue from the Vehicle License Fee program.