Is the San Diego Mayor’s Office Boycotting Ocean Beach?

Is there a boycott going on by the San Diego Mayor’s Office in attending Ocean Beach community meetings?

For at least the last six months, the leaders of both the Ocean Beach Town Council and the Ocean Beach Planning Board have openly complained during their public meetings about the absence of anyone from the Mayor’s Office.

I’ve sat through most of these meetings over these 6 months and have heard both John Ambert, chair of the OB Planning Board, and Gretchen Newsom, president of the OB Town Council, cite their continuing disappointment that Mayor Faulconer has failed to send a representative to their community meetings. At times, in fact, it has become a running joke at the village events which dozens of residents and business owners attend.

Meanwhile, over this same time period, a mayor’s rep has attended numerous meetings of the Midway District planners and of the Peninsula Community Planning Board.

This imbalance in attendance by the city’s most important executive office between the more conservative communities of Point Loma and the infamously liberal Ocean Beach has been so noticeable that we decided to do a brief review of some of our reports of those meetings.

Anthony George, who has been the rep from Faulconer’s office for over a year now, did attend the August 24, 2016 OBTC meeting (we described him as “new”. At the October 5, 2016, OB Planning Board meeting George was visibly absent (so was Conrad Wear and other city reps) but the Board singled out the mayor’s rep and we reported:

Lack of City Representatives

The disappointing aspect of last night’s Board meeting was the visible absence of any representatives from the City of San Diego. Neither Anthony George of the mayor’s office nor Conrad Wear of Councilwoman Zapf‘s office were present to answer questions about the project at Ebers and Greene – or other questions for that matter.

Acting-chair Klein said he found it “distressing” that George in particular was absent because at the Board’s September meeting, George had promised the Board that he would look into the matter of the controversial project and come back with some kind of report.

And again it happened at the November 3, 2016 meeting of the OB planners, we reported:

… the lack of response from either the Mayor’s office or the office of Councilwoman Zapf about the [Ebers-Greene] project; the normal representation to Board meetings by both offices has collapsed over the last several months. Neither Conrad Wear of Zapf’s office nor Anthony George of Faulconer’s officer have been present at the monthly planning board meetings for at least the last two months.

Their absence Wednesday night was particularly galling to the Board – and to members of the community in the audience – and was commented upon several times by Ambert and others.

At the end of my report on this meeting nearly a year ago, I commented:

It’s curious this obvious lack of presence of the usual reps from Zapf’s and the Mayor’s office. To be fair, Ambert had noted at one point, probably Zapf’s staff were all involved in the short-term vacation rental public meetings and issues. But what about the Mayor’s staff?

OB is and has been a very liberal, blue-voting neighborhood. And both Kevin Faulconer and Lori Zapf know that most OBcean voters voted for their opponents in recent elections. So, perhaps there’s not much motivation to come down to OB and keep the villagers calm.

Anthony George was at the January 19, 2017 meeting of the Midway planning committee – where he did get quite an earful of complaints mainly about the homeless and lack of response from the Mayor’s Office. George was also at their March 15, 2017 meeting.

But there was no rep from Faulconer’s office at the March 22, 2017 meeting of the OB Town Council. We reported:

The Mayor’s office rep, Anthony George, was not present – again, and Newsom told the crowd that the message has been conveyed to Faulconer’s office that the OBTC is not happy with the lack of attendance. George has responded by saying that he’s stretched thin.

And in contrast he did attend the April 20, 2017 meeting of the Peninsula planners. Our reporter recalls George at most of the Midway meetings and at least one or two of the Peninsula board meetings over these last 6 months. But it’s been even longer since he has attended either of the OBTC or the OBPB meetings – perhaps even up to a year.

This difference finally caused me to call George at his office. He responded by email.  Here’s our train:

Anthony, the leaders of 2 groups in Ocean Beach have been complaining for months that the Mayor’s office is not sending anyone to the OB Planning Board meetings or the OB Town Council meetings.

Can you tell me why or why not?

Frank Gormlie

He responded:

At the first meeting I attended, I tried to manage expectations by explaining that I would not be able to attend most meetings due to a heavy schedule and calendar conflicts that arise from an office like the mayor’s.

Council representatives handle 1 to 2 communities while a mayoral representative handles an entire district, which calls for a balance of events, meetings and family.

Though I may not be in attendance, I have a great working relationship with council staff which affords me briefings and highlights as to how we can work together to better communities such as Ocean Beach. I have had an open phone and email policy from day one, which I offer to anyone I work with, and have always given the courtesy of a follow up when reached out to.

Anthony George
Senior Representative

I got back with him with this:

Okay. Understood. But I have to ask … why is that your office has not sent anyone to either the OB Planning Board or the OB Town Council for probably 6 months, whereas you have attended community meetings both in the Midway District and Point Loma?

Both chairs of these groups have complained there is no representation from the Mayor’s Office and this has been going on for quite some time, enough time that it appears the Mayor’s office is actually boycotting Ocean Beach.

Frank Gormlie

His final email on Oct 18th:

No boycott Frank. I was at the OBies last night and spoke with Gretchen and a lot of the membership. As I mentioned before, folks are always welcome to reach out through calls and emails if they have questions or concerns.

Anthony George
Senior Representative

I sent him another email but he didn’t respond. It was confirmed to me that Anthony was at the Oct. 17 OBies awards, but it was attended by officers of the different organizations, and certainly not by “a lot of the membership” of any of them. And certainly there wasn’t an opportunity for villagers to question the rep from the mayor’s office.

This follows a trend – and we’re not blaming George – he is afterall but an employee of the City and of the Mayor’s office.

But there’s a trend now for nearly a year of the Mayor of San Diego in effect boycotting this flaming liberal town by the beach and not sending representatives to listen and learn and answer questions at OB community meetings.

C’mon Kevin, this is your beach too. You’re supposed to represent all San Diegans, no matter their political strip. (Don’t forget, “conservative” Point Loma voted Blue in the November 2016 election.)