By Geoff Page
The campaign to recall District 2 council member Jennifer Campbell is in full swing. Signature gathering to call for the special election to remove Campbell kicks off Saturday, February 27, at Ski Beach in Mission Bay. This is at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Vacation Road, the island on Mission Bay that Ingraham crosses.
The event kicks off at 10:00 a.m. and runs to 2:00. There will be some short speeches but the reason for the gathering is to get started. Organizers are asking folks to bring, masks, gloves, sanitizer, and sunscreen.
“Agenda: 1. Gather 2. Rally with speakers 3. Go get some signatures!”
The sign up can be found here ( https://www.mobilize.us/recalljencampbell/event/376076/ )
The dedicated group of volunteers held a Zoom meeting Thursday evening, February 25. The commitment to remove Campbell was readily apparent. Several people spoke and the main theme was that Campbell has refused to listen to the people who live in District 2. Of course, the two main issues were the about face Campbell made on the coastal height limit and on the short term vacation rentals.
A collection of people all across District 2 spoke up. One action that really riled people was how Campbell made a gesture of meeting with some community representatives to discuss her proposal for the STVR issue when the Memorandum of Understanding had been signed days earlier.
Campbell’s lack of responsiveness was a common complaint. It was clear to some that this was largely due to Campbell not knowing much about any of the important issues people tried to talk to her about. Others have suggested that her chief of staff, Venus Molina, is the real council member.
One speaker had looked at Campbell’s calendar and all they saw were meetings with lobbyists.
The problem came to a head last Tuesday when Campbell’s STVR ordinance came before council. Detailed suggestions for improvements of the ordinance from the OB Planning Board and others were ignored. In fact, the whole ordinance was crafted without community input.
Campbell’s about face on the height limit angered everyone in District 2 except the Midway Pacific Highway Planning Group. This group refused to support OB’s list of detailed recommendations because they love Campbell for sponsoring Measure E to remove the height limit in their area. Campbell made a campaign promise to protect the height limit.
During the Zoom meeting, two volunteers made promises to match donations up to a point, which was amazingly generous. Donations can be made at the link above. As they said in the meeting, any donations are appreciated no matter how small. They also reiterated several times that any and all signatures are important because they will add up.
Opponents of the recall say it is a waste of money and that people should wait until Campbell is up for re-election in 2022 to get her out. Proponents of the recall do not agree. As several people said during the meeting, a recall like this sends a loud message to all politicians that behavior like this, lying to constituents, will have serious consequences. This message is not only for Campbell. And, considering how much damage she has done so far, one can only wonder how much more damage she could do before 2022.
Come out Saturday if you can, donate if you can, gather signatures if you can. Help these devoted volunteers who are greatly concerned about District 2 get rid of this politician who seems to be working for everyone but those of us who live in District 2.
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From VOSD Morning Report of March 2, which summarizes a KPBS interview with Jen Campbell:
“Bowen outlined her comments in a Twitter thread, but in short, she argued that it is right and proper for the Council to choose its president in private (that would be illegal), and that it “has nothing to do with the public,” because it’s an administrative position only (many activists and advocates would disagree that the Council president has no policy role).”
Well, it seems she is incorrect because there was public testimony for seven hours on this travesty. Why was that allowed if the public was not supposed to be involved? Why didn’t someone speak up at the time and put an end to the comments based on a specific document showing that the public was not to be involved in the selection of the council president? Because no such document exists. Just because Campbell says it does not make it true for anyone but her.