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”