San Diego Mayor Suggests Scrapping Annual Christmas Celebration

San Diego’s cherished December Nights festival might be axed, as Mayor Todd Gloria proposes budget cuts to address fiscal challenges.

Facing a daunting $146 million shortfall, Gloria suggests skipping the seasonal carols this year.

The proposed cancellation has sparked outrage among residents. Annually, Balboa Park draws hundreds of thousands for this festive event.

For Southern Californians, it’s as much a part of the holiday season as those cool evening walks on the beach. Now, the citizens of “America’s Finest City” may need to brace for a Christmas without their traditional celebration.

However, this financial predicament didn’t emerge unexpectedly.

As local outlets have noted over the past several weeks, San Diego spent like crazy on middle management positions in city government over the last decade.

In 2015, there were 70. Now, there are 400, according to Fox 5 San Diego.

Many of those in mid-level city management earn well over $200,000 a year, more than the members of the City Council who created their jobs.

It’s the same budget problem popping up everywhere that Democrats govern.

They added staff, perhaps so they could hand out patronage jobs. Then the Biden administration gave them loads of “emergency” cash to fight the coronavirus, even though the first Trump administration had already spent trillions keeping local governments and small businesses afloat.

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Then the Democrats in charge made the convenient assumption that the new “emergency” levels of spending would be the new baseline. The good times would last forever.

Unfortunately, they didn’t. The State of California and many cities within it started feeling the pinch even before Biden left office.

With the Trump administration cutting wasteful federal spending, these governments are now feeling the pinch.

Now some voters in San Diego are talking about recalling Gloria. It’s worth reminding them that Gloria was the Great Democrat Hope when he was elected in 2020.

He was a bunch of “firsts”: First person of color to be mayor of the city; first gay mayor; and so on.

He replaced Republican Kevin Faulconer, a moderate Republican who clashed with Trump but who managed the city well.

Faulconer, in turn, had replaced Bob Filner, who had brought Democrats the prize of victory in the city, only to leave office in disgrace over sexual misconduct allegation.

San Diego chose Democrats. Those Democrats then chose wasteful spending — on expensive, pencil-pushing bureaucrats.

Now the Democrats want to cancel Christmas.

Let’s do the math. Have we learned our lesson yet?