On Oct. 8, 2021, with the support of Mayor Todd Gloria, the City Council voted unanimously to lease 34 acres of Balboa Park, conservatively valued at $100 million or more, for a term of 99 years to the San Diego Unified School District in exchange for two district parcels — an 11.73-acre site in Tierrasanta and a 0.39-acre site already in use by the city for the Logan Memorial Pool.
This was an enormous favor to the school district, considering the prime parkland location. Current members Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Stephen Whitburn, Marni von Wilpert, Raul Campillo, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera all voted to allow the district to continue using the site for San Diego High School and Balboa Stadium on the most favorable terms possible.
I was a deputy city attorney for 25 years who advised the city property department, which oversees more than 500 leases. In all that time, not once was I asked to approve a deal this outrageous. As I wrote in 2019 when it was being negotiated, “No competent real estate lawyer would advise the owner of land to lease it for such a long term. Conditions change over time, and no knowledgeable person would give up control of a parcel of extremely valuable property for 99 years.”
Five years after it was completed, the deal now looks worse than ever. That’s because the San Diego school board doesn’t even consider it a favor that should be repaid to the city in its push to maintain long-term control of Liberty Station. To avoid having to sell the massively valuable redeveloped Point Loma site, city officials must get 14 local agencies to accept compensation agreements. Eight agencies have already agreed, but one is now balking: San Diego Unified. Trustees voted to put off a decision after Seligman Properties, the manager of much of the Liberty Station site, told the district that the city’s $1.4 million offer is far too low.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the city, but I don’t trust the city,” said board member Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, who was a trustee in 2021 when the district got the 99-year Balboa Park lease. “I’d like to pull it all and get some more information.”
The city obviously shouldn’t trust Whitehurst-Payne or Seligman Properties, which hopes to end up buying Liberty Station.
However, the larger question is whether San Diegans should trust anyone at City Hall, starting with Mayor Gloria and City Attorney Heather Ferbert, to competently manage anything.
This is just one more example of the downside of San Diego not having an experienced city manager. Whether it was the decision to begin charging for parking at Balboa Park or the imposition of new trash collection fees on 200,000-plus city homeowners, nothing ever goes smoothly. Obvious problems are ignored until they can’t be. Even simple matters like maintaining city-owned buildings are botched, with consultants brought in at the cost of millions to figure out basic tasks. What’s never explained is why the work the consultants are paid to do is beyond the capacity of the hundreds of trained, experienced and very well-paid city engineers, lawyers and other professionals.
In January, I had to laugh when I saw that Gloria was trying to blame the City Council for the headaches with implementation of Balboa Park parking. Under the “strong mayor” government structure that was approved by voters in 2004 and 2010, he is supposed to be the de facto city manager, paying attention to the details. But the mayor is in over his head. Too many policy and spending decisions have been political rather than logical. Too many department heads are cronies, not experienced experts.
Here’s my question: Where are the city’s movers and shakers? We have successful businesspeople who could run for office and then concentrate on improving the lives of their constituents. Instead, San Diego has elected leaders who spend every waking moment catering to special interests to pay for their next election. Why aren’t smart, capable residents building support for a ballot measure to bring a trained, experienced city manager to City Hall? Or to get rid of term limits for the city attorney, which would stabilize the office and reward institutional knowledge and competence?
We’ve gone from America’s Finest City to America’s Sad Sack City. This should infuriate more residents than it appears to.
Valderhaug, a retired chief deputy San Diego city attorney, lives in La Mesa.