Challenger Martha Abraham in Attendance; Henry Foster a No-Show
By Angelo Haynes
On September 20, community members gathered at a forum to hold a discussion about community development in San Diego City council district 4. (See flyer at end of article.) It was hosted by the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church UCC (United Church of Christ) in collaboration with the Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego, and held at the historic church location on Kelton Road just off the 94 east in the Emerald Hills neighborhood of southeast San Diego. Clovis Honore and Darwin Fishman of the Racial Justice Coalition facilitated the meeting and the ensuing group discussion.
The forum’s overall objective appeared to focus on bringing together current councilman Henry Foster III and challenger Martha Abraham to discuss their goals for District 4 and the controversial footnote 7, an illegal zoning ordinance change made under the tenure of then councilwoman Monica Montgomery-Steppe.
Many in the Southeastern San Diego community have decried the footnote after its widespread discovery, lamenting the implications of high-density housing and its impact on the Emerald hills community. Chief concerns appear to be potential impacts to fire evacuation safety of the area as increases in traffic on 60th Street, a two-lane road connecting to Federal Blvd, may be easily congested during an emergency. Not to mention, the daily traffic load increase from commuters making their way to the 94 freeway each day.
Clovis Honore, a member of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for African Assistance, opened the proceedings with background about the church, while Rev. Dr. Arthur L. Cribbs described their church community and welcomed the guests. Dr. Rita Montiero also came forward to give a brief history of the church with it being established in 1886 in Logan Heights and moving locations over the years until landing in Emerald Hills on Kelton Road in 1963.
Darwin Fishman, professor of Africana studies at San Diego State and a member of the Racial Justice Coalition, came forward, discussed his background, and asked Martha questions about her vision for the district. Fishman is also a key leader in the “I can’t breathe Campaign,” which instituted changes in San Diego Police Department’s restraint and chokehold policies.
Before the meeting started, Henry Foster’s office contacted meeting facilitators to inform them that he had a scheduling conflict and was unable to attend the forum, and no member of his office was on hand for the meeting.
Discussion began on Footnote 7 with community members going over a timeline of events well documented in OB Rag writer Robert Campbell’s article from July 13 2026. To briefly summarize here: real estate developer D.R. Horton bought the radio tower property back in 1997 with plans to develop the area. It wasn’t until 2019 during the tenure of Councilwoman Monica Montgomery-Steppe, that footnote 7 was inserted into the zoning ordinances without public or planning group oversight approval.
Many emails and other public documents show the questionable connection between Montgomery-Steppe’s office, the Development Services Department (DSD) and Dennis Dawson, a local real estate attorney in the Encanto neighborhood. Footnote 7 was successfully repealed last year on Jan. 28th 2025 with Henry Foster voting in favor to repeal.
When asked about her perspective on the issue, Martha Abraham weighed in.
“My perspective on this project, is as a resident who is impacted by this project.”
Martha began to discuss her process of discovering footnote 7 as a resident. Ms. Abraham made many public records requests for more information on the development and poured hours of public information research into the subject. She chronicled how her fight for answers transformed into a candidacy for political office and her pride in raising her son in this community.
Many community members present ranged in experience from the county zoning commission to concerned citizens attending to learn more. Neighbors expressed their concerns, frustrations, and experiences with previous fights with the city over preserving their historic Black community.
There are currently 42 zoning planning groups across the city of San Diego required to oversee and report on zoning ordinance changes. Footnote 7 is an amendment to the zoning ordinances that only affects two of those planning groups: Southeast San Diego and Encanto community planning groups. These groups were formed by the city in decades ago to formalize a method of oversight and control by requiring community input in land use and development decisions.
Also in attendance was well-known activist Kenny Key and his lawyer Paul Suppa. When asked to weigh-in, Suppa demurred and expressed that he was there to listen and learn from community members in attendance to better understand the case against the city.
During public comment, frustration appeared to boil over with many community members taking more time to express their concerns than others. The facilitators did well in balancing concern for people’s anger and ensuring everyone could speak.
To close the forum, Clovis exhorted the community members to come together, calling for community organizers to stand and meet together and discuss ways to build coalition and recommit to further organizing. Plans were briefly discussed to create a follow-up check-in meeting in 6 months to check on the progress of the community organizing.
Here is the poster / flyer about the meeting:
This is clearly the most significant info from this report: “Before the meeting started, Henry Foster’s office contacted meeting facilitators to inform them that he had a scheduling conflict and was unable to attend the forum, and no member of his office was on hand for the meeting.”
? getting straight to the point I see!
Councilmember Henry Foster III was not a no show. This reporter knew that, the opponent knew that, moderator knew that..the list goes on!! Calling this a NO SHOW is a lie from hell and an immediate retraction and apology show be provided to this community!!!!
Hello Ms. Harris, I have a question were you in attendance at yesterday’s meeting? The facilitators stated they received a message from his office that there was a scheduling conflict and he could not attend. It’s in the article ma’am.
Mr. Foster did not just call they were informed in plenty of time before being publicly announced.
Hi Angela, would you mind posting this public announcement that he wasn’t going to make it? It was not mentioned during the meeting yesterday either.
Henry Foster put a statement out to the public well in advance of this event saying that he could not make it due to a scheduling conflict. Not only is this headline disingenuous, but the entire neighborhood knew that Henry couldn’t make this. The event organizers knew Henry couldn’t make this but they scheduled it anyway. So, Henry put out a statement well in advance of this event because he knew the organizers were trying to embarrass him. Now this article comes out. Wow just wow. These are right-wing yahoo tricks and we all see you.
Hi Terrie,
Like I had mentioned to Angela, what public release can you point to where he stated he couldn’t make it? Please feel free to post it here. I would say it’s a mischaracterization of this paper to say we are a right wing publication.
Very, very unfortunate that you are injecting partisan political attacks into this discussion. If there’s any bias in Martha’s favor… and I don’t think this reporting is biased… I think Henry’s critics are not motivated by political party or their place on the political spectrum, but by their frustration and anger with the status quo at city hall, and their commitment to electing new representatives who they hope will be more responsive than the incumbents.
You don’t represent my community! We could care less what your opinions are. Many of us who are long term residents, have a vested interest in OUR community are fighting for OUR interests!!
Read these concerned residents comments
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0MPiGZYdEW8kioKhi8mWGqrLBq5tdGxP4cppGcH2SKJKmMG7qFz8hpcvF3nA1L83Vl&id=61554775760969&mibextid=Nif5oz
This article could have served the community better by stating this as a fund raiser for Martha, Not a forum of, Henry Foster III, as a no show. You know ,as a person in the media, what the optics would look like, it disingenuous of you to plead innocence. Your article further divides the community and places Martha as a savior. Shame on you!
The poster for this event, at the bottom of the article, says nothing about being a fund raiser for anyone!
If you can spin this as a no show for Henry, you can spin it as a fundraiser for Martha, you are a media outlet and spinning news is a part of the game….
It’s pretty typical if a Council Rep doesn’t want to deal with the public/residents/neighbors they have a “scheduling conflict”. They usually have the same illness when it comes time for them to vote too.
They’ve effectively stopped directing builder/developers to attend City-wide Community Planning Committee meetings to present their project to the public too and for the same reasons. They’re frequently a no show, when it matters to the people and they want to keep things they know will P.O. the public behind closed doors when they decide what to do.
The real issue is the flyer about the meeting that was put out in advance. There is no way anybody would think that both candidates were not going to attend this. The entire way this meeting was put out was not Honest. From the very beginning this meeting started as a Lie. The Flyer is a Lie put out in advance. The entire purpose for this meeting is months late and doesn’t try to bring anything to any discussion without inviting the main player DR Horton to their meeting.
If this is the new way to start advertising any group can put together a flyer in advance, November 3rd, 2026 Kool and the gang along with Earth, Wind & Fire will be preforming at Market Creek 10am knowing in advance that Kool and the gang said no in advance. Everybody involved knew this is now the Honest way of doing things.
Had a scheduling conflict. Ok, sure.
What was the conflict? Was it more important to the community than what this meeting was about, or the problem that was to be addressed. This is what public servants need to address, not their own personal motivations.
You have a comminuity of people making time in their schedules to attend this meeting, time they could have used for something important too, and that time is now lost. Time lost is irrecuperable, you dont get it back. Now add up all that for all those people and compare it to one person’s gain for another purpose , it is not equitable.
It’s not ok to just say you have a scheduling conflict.
It amazes me how quickly Foster’s surrogates squeak bias. If people are really concerned about their neighborhoods then they should be happy the issues are getting attention. Foster’s lack of presents does not diminish the importance of the subject of Footnote 7. The reason our country is in such a mess is because people are too focused on the people and not the issues. Any candidate willing to discuss the issues is worth listening to.
Your country is in a mess! Lol! It’s because of racism! That’s it! No long diatribe, just that one single fact!