Voter Revolt at the Coast?

King Tide at OB, Dec. 22, 2018. Photo By Albert C Elliott

On Wednesday, during Farmers Market, a banner hung from the Ocean Beach Pier. It stated: “Vote Them All Out! Save OB”

While not as drastic as that, the banner does reflect a simmering among coastal voters, one of anger, a sense of betrayal, cynicism, pessimism and even of revenge.

Is there a revolt among coastal voters? If there is, the pundits and media columnists have missed it. Although, the Union-Tribune hinted at it when the editorial board endorsed Republican Linda Lukacs for the District 2 council seat.

Campbell Is in Trouble

Among older progressive voters, at least, in Ocean Beach and other coastal Democrats, Jen Campbell is in trouble. The incumbent, who won the primary with not even 30% of the vote, hasn’t been campaigning much and rarely shows her face of late in OB or Point Loma. And any meetings she has attended, didn’t end well for her. There is just too much anger and resentment out there of her failed administration.

Yet, Democratic voters at the coast in D2 are in a quandary. They can’t stand Campbell — but could not vote for a Republican — especially these days when the GOP appears to be controlled by election deniers. Some have told me they’ll leave it blank – leave the District 2 selection blank.

There’s even a sense of revenge. Some Democrats have such disdain for Campbell and what she represents — the “new” Democratic establishment in bed with developers — someone who placed the 30-foot height limit on the ballot and arranged a deal with a billion-dollar home share corporation to set policy for short-term vacation rentals — that they want to punish her and them.

Some life-long and local Democrats are also openly campaigning or supporting Lukacs, a total unknown. Campbell has left such a bad taste for them that they’re willing to buck their party and cross the aisle for this race. They feel it’s not necessarily a bad idea to have one Republican on the City Council. These are Democrats.

Now, those voters represent the true “revolt.” How many are there out there? Who knows. And we won’t know until November 9th probably.

But I took a poll among other Ragsters and friends — a totally unscientific one — and asked them to estimate the numbers of signs of candidates Campbell and Lukacs they’d seen in their walks, bikings or drives around their neighborhoods. All of them live in OB or Point Loma.

Nine people responded. The final tally – 11 signs for Campbell and 27 signs for Lukacs. Again, this is not scientific and bears no relationship with a real poll of local voters — but it is a reflection of what’s out there, an estimation of the ratio of campaign signs being viewed.

One respondent said he must be “oblivious” because he hadn’t seen any signs. Another commented that he had never seen such a small number of campaign signs.

At any rate, this nearly frivolous poll found at least twice as many Lukacs signs as Campbell’s. And this is a strongly blue area. OB is deep blue and much of Point Loma is a medium blue. But it does show there’s more visible support for the Republican in Democratic land.

Betrayal on Measure C

One of the substantive ways voters at the coast and in District 2 feel betrayed by Campbell — and the Democratic establishment — is their rush to place Measure C on November’s ballot, the measure that would eliminate the 30-foot height limit throughout the Midway District – an area over 1300 acres. The Democratic-controlled San Diego City Council did that, spurred on by the termed-out sole Republican Chris Cate — and Campbell.

There is a real sense that Campbell and the rest have joined Democratic Todd Gloria, the mayor, in his quest to make the redevelopment of the Sports Arena area and the entire Midway his — and their — legacy. For them, it looks like they’re acting to build more affordable housing, getting a new sports arena and finally coming to grips with the state of the Midway. (The state of the Midway is the result of decades of neglect and over-development by the city government itself; there is no certainty that affordable housing will be built.)

There has, however, been a whole-scale endorsement of Measure C by the city’s establishment: the local pols natch, the major media, labor unions whose members think they’ll have more jobs, and of course, the developer industry and their acolytes (Chamber of Commerce, etc.)

But now, a new understanding has been born: developers control the Democrats too. At least those on the council. How else to explain the kowtowing to Gloria, Midway Rising and the whole developers’ plan for a steady profit-stream off of public land and the newly soon-to-be “liberated” private land?

There is a number of small grassroots groups that have sprung up just recently in response to Measure C. One group filed a lawsuit; another formed on NextDoor and a few more have mobilized their small resources in this classic David vs Goliath battle against the well-heeled proponents of the measure.

The group Keep the Coast 30 sprang up in early September, wanting to remind their fellow San Diegans that it is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 30-foot height limit this November; they strongly oppose Measure C, set up a GoFundMe page, a website and have been handing out fliers at OB Farmers Market and holding up banners this past week and a half.

This group includes members of the OB Rag staff, the Point Loma-OB Democratic Club, former activists from the Coastal Alliance and folks who have been championing the 30-foot height limit for much of their adult lives.

All of this – the wellspring of opposition to all of it — the Democratic Party push for Measure C, the elimination of key building constraints, and their endorsement of the hated Campbell – signifies a voter revolt among Democrats, progressives and independents. At the coast.

Is it true? November 9th is a week and half away.