La Jolla’s Secession Drive Exposes San Diego’s Out-of-Control Bureaucracy

La Jolla’s push to break away from San Diego has laid bare a city government that has grown wildly out of control under complete Democratic rule. Former City Manager Jack McGrory, now chief negotiator for the Association for the City of La Jolla, is leading the charge to secede, citing what he calls a “disastrous system of government” that no longer serves residents.

McGrory, who ran San Diego from 1991 to 1997 and later served as COO of the Padres, was initially skeptical of secession. That changed as he watched the city’s trajectory. “The more I have watched the city of San Diego and what is really a disastrous system of government down there—nobody’s really in charge, nobody’s accountable. Dealing with the city is a nightmare,” he said. “It’s mindboggling what goes on down there.”

La Jolla generates substantial tax revenue yet receives inadequate services, including streets that McGrory describes as “nearly impassable” in San Diego. 

Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria has held office since December 10, 2020—more than five and a half years—and won re-election in 2024. Democrats hold every elected seat at City Hall: the mayor plus all nine City Council members. The Council has been an all-Democratic 9–0 body since 2022, when the last Republican was termed out, delivering uninterrupted one-party control throughout Gloria’s tenure.

The numbers behind the secession drive are staggering. 

High-paid middle managers—program managers and program coordinators—surged 461%, from just 70 positions in fiscal year 2015 to 393 in recent years. Overall city workforce growth lagged far behind at roughly 20 percent. These unclassified roles, which frequently carry total compensation of $200,000 to $250,000, have become a dominant layer of government. 

Many positions focus on progressive priorities such as “homelessness strategies and solutions,” “race and equity training and program development,” and “immigrant affairs” initiatives including language access and civic engagement. 

That bureaucratic expansion coincides with deep fiscal distress. 

San Diego faces a $118 million structural deficit, following earlier shortfalls of $250–300 million. The unfunded pension liability stands near $3.5 billion, with an annual pension payment of $563 million. A $7.8 billion infrastructure funding gap looms. 

Citywide homelessness spending has routinely exceeded $230 million a year and peaked at $315.9 million, with city programs alone accounting for $87.9 million to $105 million—yet the decline is starkly visible in the Gaslamp Quarter, hailed as “The Historic Heart of San Diego.”

Once a thriving center of nightlife and tourism, now contends with open drug use, public intoxication, human waste, litter, and shuttered businesses. Pepper-spray deployments more than doubled in 2025 to 361 uses, while assaults on officers also more than doubled. The popular Fifth Avenue pedestrian promenade was canceled after voters rejected a sales-tax increase and the cash-strapped city cut funding.

Gloria’s administration has prioritized expanding high-paid administrative positions in homelessness, race and equity, and immigrant affairs while core services and infrastructure have deteriorated. The result is a city that feels less safe, less functional, and less livable. La Jolla’s secession effort, led by a former insider who knows City Hall intimately, is the clearest signal yet that San Diego’s out-of-control bureaucracy under prolonged Democratic control has reached a breaking point.