By Paul Krueger
July has slipped away, and with it, the best chance we had to force City Hall to reopen the 13 Mission Bay restrooms closed in pursuit of so-called “fiscal responsibility.”
We now have little more than a month until the traditional end of summer to find a solution to this civic embarrassment. And I’m not optimistic.
The city council is on vacation until mid-August, so we can’t organize a protest outside city hall and try to shame council members during non-agenda public comment for their lack of unified response to this actual threat to public health.
Mayor Todd Gloria is only seen in public at pre-scripted ceremonies where he cuts ribbons and fills potholes. So there’s no opportunity to confront him about his false narrative that City Hall can’t spare the $550,000 needed to reopen the restroom doors.
And the council member who should be speaking loudest about the need to protect public health has been regrettably – though predictably — silent on the issue.
Jen Campbell, whose District 2 includes Mission Bay, is a family physician. She knows public health is at risk when people can’t find a restroom. And I’ll assume she knows that the state-wide negative publicity about the closures can only deter tourists from visiting our city, resulting in economic losses that far exceed the measly savings gained from the closures.
Council members by tradition avoid taking the lead on issues in other council districts. To his credit, District 7 Council Member Raul Campillo has ignored that political dictum by publicly and forcefully lobbying for a reopening. But his colleagues haven’t added their voices, and the Mayor appears to have successfully deflected Campillo’s volley.
When I spoke to the council twice in early July about the critical need to reopen the restrooms, I mentioned several alternative strategies. They included a funding appeal to Mission Bay tenants, and allowing volunteers to clean and stock the restrooms.
Those suggestions — made during non-agenda public comment — were, as always, met with not even a hint of interest by council members, who, with few exceptions (Steve Whitburn and Marni von Wilbert),were glued to their phones or laptops.
There’s still time for owners of Mission Bay hotels and concessions to organize. Yes, they already pay significant fees to the city for the privilege of operating on public parkland. But they can engender much good will by offering to fund at least a portion of the cost of reopening. (And keeping the restrooms open even just to November 1 would be a win.)
But those stakeholders, to the best of my knowledge, have remained silent.
Mobilizing volunteers requires leadership from people who use and benefit most from the park: running clubs, race organizers, parents’ groups, boat owners, campers, cycling clubs, etc. From what I’ve seen, they’ve got the skill, leadership, and goodwill. But they apparently lack the organizing force needed to submit a proposal for managing the reopened restrooms.
And even if they could organize quickly, there’d still be liability and insurance issues, and perhaps insurmountable opposition from employee labor unions.
If a solution isn’t found quickly, probably in the next 30 days, I predict the restrooms will remain closed until at least next Spring, when the Mayor and Council cobble together the 2027-28 budget.
But our collective outrage over this inexcusable failure of political will and common sense can help fuel much-needed change in our city’s political landscape.
Two of the four city council seats on the November ballot are occupied by incumbents: Henry Foster in District 4 (Encanto, Paradise Hills, Skyline) and Kent Lee in District 6 (Mira Mesa, Clairemont Mesa, Sorrento Valley). Neither Foster nor Lee has done anything — at least publicly — to spur a reconsideration of the mayor and council’s budget priorities.
Their challengers — Martha Abraham in District 4 and Mark Powell in District 6 — are competent and effective advocates. If you live in D4 or D6, keep that in mind when you vote.
Those of us with long memories of bad governance will have another chance to express our frustration. All city voters will choose a successor to Mayor Gloria in 2028. Make sure the candidates are forced to explain what they did — or didn’t — do to reverse these ridiculous budget cuts. Then vote accordingly.
Well said, Paul
And, local schools start back to school next week. So not only tourists, who don’t really have a reason to come back to SD, with no bathrooms, no parking, and colorful asphalt drawings on City streets, thanks to ignorant thinking by the mayor and clowncil non thinkers. But locals will not be spending money either, if they can’t find or won’t walk 1/2 mile to a nasty bathroom.
I wonder if the mayor wants to be known as the creator of Hepatitis or some other disease people can pick up off of toilet seats. Actually that would probably give him several photo ops, so he’d probably like it.
San Diego is a dysfunctional city.
It can’t figure out how to fund keeping public bathrooms open around Mission Bay but it’s more than happy to fund twice a week trash pick up for Mission Beach Air B and B’s during the Summer.