I’ve previously argued that private trash haulers were not the easy answer for many San Diegans. Some residents saw quotes far above the city’s new trash fee. The private market was not riding in on a white truck to save everyone.
Now comes the sequel.
Kevin Faulconer is trying to sell San Diegans his own local version of the national conservative Project 2025. Call it Project 2029.
Defund first, explain the cuts later. Faulconer is now the Lincoln Club president who links his club directly to the fee-repeal effort.
The name matters: 2029 is when the bill comes due.
His repeal campaign would only eliminate two years of trash fees — the second half of 2027, all of 2028 and the first half of 2029.
It sounds like relief, but only for less than half of our residents.
But unless Faulconer identifies replacement revenue or specific cuts, it creates a delayed day of reckoning.
That is where the Project 2025 comparison becomes more than a punchline.
Project 2025 was a conservative blueprint built around taking power, restructuring government and weakening public institutions that conservatives do not like.
2025’s mandate called for an “army of aligned, vetted, trained and prepared conservatives” to “deconstruct the Administrative State.”
Here in San Diego, Project 2029 follows the same script, just with palm trees and green bins: attack the revenue, starve the service, then act shocked when libraries, roads, stormwater, parks, sanitation, police and fire-rescue are forced back onto the chopping block.
This is not taxpayer protection. It is sabotage with fancy swift-boat branding.
Faulconer knows it. He was mayor. He signed budgets. He knows the General Fund is not a piñata.
Every dollar used to hide the cost of trash service is a dollar that cannot be used for police staffing, fire protection, library hours, road repair, stormwater, brush management, sidewalks, parks or basic neighborhood services.
What makes Faulconer’s campaign so deceitful is it’s not a serious plan to make trash service cheaper.
It is a stunt, designed to make people angry about a bill without naming the consequences.
And yes, people are angry.
I get it. I voted against Measure B. As a homeowner, I did not wake up excited to pay separately for something I believed was already covered. I also worried the city would roll this out in the most expensive and complicated way possible.
Residents have every right to demand answers. The city should be grilled on every dollar. San Diegans deserve transparency, accountability and a serious affordability conversation.
But this “repeal without financial replacement” is not accountability. It is a budget wrecking ball disguised as a taxpayer revolt.
Faulconer has marketed himself as a different kind of Republican, but KPBS reported that he voted for Donald Trump in 2020.
Faulconer’s message is simple: “Your bill is too high. Sign here. We’ll explain the damage later.”
That is not leadership. That is a hostage note written on campaign stationery.
Trash collection was never free. It was paid through the General Fund — the same pot of money that pays for police, fire-rescue, libraries, parks, roads, stormwater, sidewalks and neighborhood services. The new fee made the cost visible.
Faulconer is betting voters will not ask where the cost goes next.
So let’s ask.
If Faulconer wants to lead a repeal campaign, fine. But he should publish the cut list. Not talking points. Not slogans. A real list.
Which libraries close earlier? Which road repairs get delayed? Which storm drains stay broken? Which fire-rescue investments wait? Which police services get stretched thinner?
The city must do a better job. But Faulconer should not be able to sell a Project 2025-style fantasy as fiscal responsibility.
A petition is not a plan. A slogan is not a budget. A two-year political stunt is not taxpayer protection.
Before anyone signs on to Project 2029, ask one question: Where is the cut list?
They would rather not answer, but keep it simple: repeal now, hide the damage for later.
Mat Kostrinsky is a Del Cerro resident, small business owner and community advocate rooted in San Diego’s 7th Council District. He serves on the boards of the Patrick Henry High School Foundation and the San Diego City Employees Retirement Medical Trust.
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