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.
Wow!!!
Remember those cool magazines we got as kids, young kids? It was connect the dots. The dots usually created a fun picture that we could color. Somewhere in our DNA we should have history that enables us to connect the dots. Voters! If you think that State and City are in a mess then look at the people who are in power, who were voted into power. Connect the dots and vote with discernment. The voters made these choices, and the people voted into power do not listen to the voters. And that is the opposite or antithesis of democracy.
We can’t give up this fight just because the days are getting shorter, schools are opening and the AZ plates are heading east. If the furor over restrooms closing quiets down it will be a de facto acceptance of this unnecessary and indefensible decision. Paid parking in Balboa Park is going away because our fellow citizens anger didn’t. The ADU policy got re written because angry voices continued to shout. There have been many valid suggestions as to where to find the $546,000 to reopen the restrooms. We must keep adding to the list. Each new idea is another example of how shortsighted and unnecessary having 13 locked bathrooms is. Speak, write, call…we’ve seen what can result.
I totally agree with you Chaz, and thanks for continuing to fight the good fight. The more we insist that the Mayor and Council fund the reopening of the Missiion Bay Restrooms, the better chance we have of making that happen. My post reflects my frustration with the Mayor’s refusal to find a solution, but — like you and many others — I’ll keep doing what I can to reverse these dangerous and indefensible budget cuts.
Lisa M: FYI you just can’t come on here and give a full-throated endorsement of everyone we don’t endorse as a website and in the process smudge the reputation of those we do endorse. Sorry but you have your own emailzone which you use daily to spout partisan politics on; the one candidate we may agree on is Abraham.
Frank, how can I be partisan when I am endorsing a Democrat, Republican and Independent? The fact the Rag will only endorse a Democrat, Martha Abraham is your choice, but it is my definition of partisan. Just wanted to clear up your word speak.
In addition, if you didn’t like my publishing of a website, you could delete it and keep the text. That would be a reasonable edit. But heaven forbid your readers would gather information that would have them consider going outside the Democrat party, and poof, you are deleted?
A controlled forum it seems more important than the free exchange of ideas apparently.
Chris S – you ought to know better, dude. Of course, it’s controlled, to keep out the racists, misogynists, trolls, hateful idiots, threats (just yesterday, we had a threat to Ernie’s life). If you really thought it was such a controlled forum, why do you comment more than anyone else? Some of your comments are great, others just reflect a grumpy old guy, but there are days, you feel a need to comment on every freaking article (and in the meantime, you never contribute anything to keep us going).
You simply trashed Crosby in a partisan manner, citing all kinds of unsubstantiated claims. Many times I appreciate your email blasts — but I can’t come on there and trash Bailey. Don’t burn bridges, keep to the issues and policies — as you’ve seen, we actually agree on a bunch of local issues … (and btw, it’s called the “Democratic Party” — not that GOP slur “Democrat party”).
And if you’re being honest, the Rag criticizes all kinds of Democratic electeds and their polices all the time.
Fair enough, Frank. Your points are mostly respectful and I appreciate that. But I have not trashed Crosby’s person, but you have to agree that she will be supporting keeping the city the same with bloated staffing and budget deficits to support this staffing overload.
Have you asked her if she voted for Todd twice? Would that be a bridge too far or is that forgiven because she’s a democrat? Since you rail people who vote for Trump, I I don’t disagree with you on this, it would be in keeping to call out a candidate if they voted for Todd twice as well. This is where the hypocrisy comes in Frank that blows up your balanced comments.
All I’m saying Frank is if you take away the labels and question someone on the basis of how they voted, that same question should be asked of the candidate on the other side of the aisle.
Sound fair?
You’re not endorsing a Democrat. You are endorsing an amoral human being who looks up to an amoral human being.
When and how do we kickstart the process of removing the Strong Mayor concept in San Diego? Too much power; little to no oversight has been given to one person.
It has to be put on a Ballot for all to vote on. SD used to have a City Manager form of government. The Voters wanted to change it to a Strong Mayor form of government, put it on the Ballot and here we are.
Surprised Todd hasn’t put some paid meters in front of the bathrooms yet. $$$
Has anyone analyzed how the city arrived at $550,000 to keep 13 bathrooms open?
Is this a reasonable cost or are people taking it at face value?
The $500k figure was published in last Sunday’s UT editorial. If you wish to verify this, you can reach out to the Independent Budget Analyst Department and they can provide you the answer.
As ineffective “Get it Done” is, I still think we should flood it with the facts such as “outside the closed bathrooms is a severe hazard health wise and needs cleanup on a regular basis”.
Maybe the city will realize that closing the bathrooms was a mistake. They already had money allotted. Now which Peter will they borrow from to address the issue they caused.
I’m connecting the dots and it is so obvious… The City & our strong Mayor have been causing it’s own trouble TENFOLD-HUNDREDFOLD… And it is EXPONENTIAL.