Peters, Filner Urge Initiatives to Boost Port Business
Peters Reiterates Call for Nat'l System of Ports as Part of 'Invest in America' Strategy
San Diego, CA – Unified Port of San Diego Commissioner Scott Peters and United States Congressman and Mayoral candidate Bob Filner held a press conference this morning to discuss initiatives designed to expand traffic at port and grow our local economy.
“Congress could invest in a plan that puts us on the path to a national system of ports, securing a more prosperous future for San Diego and our country,” stated Peters. “Right now, Congress could be looking for ways to link our ports and increase the efficiency of our infrastructure, streamline our supply chain, and make it more attractive for companies to invest in manufacturing and processing in our country. Increasing these investments will be my priority when I get to Congress.”
Peters first announced his initiative to link the nation’s ports to improve commerce as part of an Invest in America strategy he unveiled last month.
“As a member of the Board of Port Commissioners, I learned that one of the biggest challenges ports across America face is the lack of connections to highway and rail systems,” continued Peters. “America has stopped making those investments and it is hurting our ability to export American goods to international markets. We could put people to work right now and stimulate our economy by investing more to rebuild our roads, our bridges, our broadband, our power grid, and other public facilities. China is spending 9% of their Gross Domestic Product on infrastructure investment. Europe is investing 5%. And here in the richest country in the world, we are only investing 2.5%, and Congress is trying to cut that. That’s no way to increase our competitiveness in a global economy.”
Peters, who also served on the San Diego City Council, also discussed his support for smarter innovations designed to use our ports and border crossings more effectively and efficiently. “The Port of San Diego is a critical economic engine for our region; it supports more than 40,000 jobs and generates more than $3 billion in economic impact to our region,” said Peters.
“While we’ve been able to retain jobs here at the Port, we could be doing more. We need a more efficient method of transporting goods to market and raw materials to processing and manufacturing sites,” he said. “That’s something Congress could be working on right now to get our economy moving in the right direction.”
For more information, go to www.scottpeters.com.
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