Lawsuit Seeks Release of Details on City of San Diego Housing Initiative
By Paul Krueger
A lawsuit filed by advocates for sensible planning seeks the immediate release of important information about Mayor Todd Gloria’s “Neighborhood Homes for All of Us” initiative.
For more than a year, El Cerrito resident Danna Givot has asked the City Planning Department to disclose membership information about the initiative’s “Technical Working Group.”
Input from that “Working Group” will have a significant impact on proposed changes to zoning, density, and design prototypes that would be imposed on San Diego’s neighborhoods under the mayor’s controversial land-use program.
The City repeatedly ignored Givot’s informal requests for that public information, and has now failed to comply with her formal requests for disclosure under the California Public Records Act.
Givot and Neighbors For A Better San Diego are plaintiffs in the legal action, which seeks the immediate identification and release by the City of membership information, correspondence, and past and future meeting information about the “Technical Working Group.”
”The public has a right to know what interests are represented in the formation of housing policies that will have a huge impact on quality of life for all San Diegans,” Givot said. “The City must not withhold information about what groups are shaping these policies and what voices are being ignored. This lawsuit is a necessary step towards transparency and public input.”
Geoffrey Hueter, chair of Neighbors For A Better San Diego, said:
”When the Planning Commission rejected SB 10 in 2023, Commissioners specifically asked that community groups be involved in working groups for any subsequent initiative. That clearly has not happened, and unfortunately the City is repeating past mistakes by meeting in secret with special interest groups.”
Givot and Neighbors are represented by attorney Felix Tinkov, an expert in public records law.
“It is a shame when the City refuses to respond to basic questions from its residents,” Tinkov said. “Fortunately, the California Public Records Act provides a mechanism to enforce the public’s rights to prompt, thoughtful, and accurate information, upon demand.”
The “Petition for Writ of Mandate to Compel Compliance with the California Public Records Act” was filed September 15. The case is assigned to San Diego Superior Court Judge Gregory Pollack.
For more information and/or interviews, contact:
Danna Givot, 760-443-7379
Geoffrey Hueter, 619-895-0942
I’m so happy to see that Dana Givot and Neighbors For Better San Diego are holding the City Accountable to comply with the Public Record law.
I’ve filed several, and the timelines should be honored, I’ll need to check if all responses to my requests were eventually received after delays.
You *KNOW* they’re hiding something, otherwise why not comply ?
Like Gavin Newsom said when caught red-handed providing a “carve out” to the $20 fast food minimum wage law – “It’s part of the sausage making”
Can you believe we live in a city that can’t and won’t follow the law? What would happen to you if you refused to meet legal, lawful requirements and requests?
Thank you Neighbors for this and all you’ve done for our neighborhoods and for staying on the long road to being treated with respect and dignity. A lot of us give up.
Dana and Jeff thank you for not giving up.
As the mayor’s race takes shape one question I will have for candidates running will be “if elected, will you fire Planning Director Heidi Van Bloom?”
I’d like to point out that the “technical working group” that makes very important and very impactful decisions regarding where/when/how housing and other developments are planned and conceived is exempt from the Brown Act, as it was convened as an “ad hoc” committee. Although it does publish agendas, here is an unfortunately typical agenda:
Meeting Topic: Plan Review
1. Welcome & Recap
2. Outline purpose of meeting
3. Current challenges & bright spots
4. Future Vision
5. Summarize takeaways and next steps
6. Working Group Schedule
7. Adjourn
Really tell you a lot, doesn’t it? Oh, and this group has been meeting for many years as opposed to a true “ad hoc” committee that is established for a limited term and for a specific purpose.
Yes! Thank God for Neighbors for a Better San Diego. They have pulled back the curtain on so many shady deals that politicians like our shameless mayor use to help their builder buddies. Danna and Geoff, neighborhoods across the city are indebted to you. I hope you will consider a fundraising campaign to help with the lawsuit costs.