Gio Ingolia is a member of the OB Planning Board as well as a council member of the OB Town Council. He also has been very active in the process to draw up, vet and organize the new OB Community Plan Update.
For his grassroots visibility and work, Ingolia was just appointed to the prestigious Mission Bay Park Committee. The committee oversees public funds coming from and going to Mission Bay. Several hotels, SeaWorld and other facilities rent public land around Mission Bay. Part of that money is supposed to go towards maintaining and refurbishing the park – the largest aquatic park on the west coast of North America.
The appointment was by interim Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council and Ingolia was sworn in with several other new members of the Park Committee.
The committee is often used as a stepping stone by ambitious local politicians to higher office. For instance, Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer did that very same process. He went from Park Committee to the District 2 City Council seat.
There has been criticism over the years of the committee for not enforcing adequate funds for Mission Bay and allowing monies collected from private use of the park to go into the city’s general fund.
Congrats, Gio. I liked the part where Frank made it sound like you’re going to be Mayor someday, haha.
Sorry Gio, didn’t mean to imply that you were a Faulconer-clone.