REGION: San Diego is state's No. 1 "nanny city," according to magazine

By CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:34 PM PDT ∞

San Diego is the worst "nanny city" in California, according to a survey in a leading libertarian journal.

The August/September issue of Reason magazine, which promotes "free minds and free markets," rated San Diego as the sixth-worst of 35 large U.S. cities ---- worse than Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and even San Francisco, considered by many limited-government advocates to be the most overweening city of all.

The survey focused on personal freedoms such as gun rights, and enforcement of laws relating to traffic, alcohol, marijuana and prostitution, rather than taxation or broader business regulations. Forbes magazine and others have already published numerous studies on the varying costs of doing business, Radley Balko, the magazine's senior editor, said in an interview Wednesday.

But the Reason survey did take in a wide range of city and county ordinances and state laws on everything from foie gras bans to "gay-friendliness," according to a note accompanying the article.

"San Diego combines the progressive paternalism of more liberal California cities with a social conservatism stricter than the rest of the state on drugs, sex and even gambling," Balko wrote.

Gambling was one of several categories that applied also to counties and regions, and not solely to city governments. The magazine rated San Diego as the seventh-best city in terms of freedom to gamble because of the presence of Ocean's Eleven Casino in Oceanside, Pechanga Resort & Casino near Temecula, Pala Casino Spa and Resort and more than a dozen other casinos within 180 miles.

Traffic-surveillance cameras and laws on seat belts and cell phones made San Diego the nation's fourth most restrictive city in terms of "movement," according to the magazine.

And there there is the recent spate of restrictions on smoking at beaches, which San Diego and all coastal cities in North County cities have enacted, said Dan Minkoff, a spokesman for the Libertarian Party of California. Reason rated San Diego's smoking restrictions as the 12th most intrusive of the 35 cities.

Reason rated Chicago as the nation's worst "nanny city" of all.

And the other end of the magazine's spectrum? You guessed it: "Sin City," Las Vegas.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (760) 740-5444 or cbagley@nctimes.com.