The San Diego City Council is poised to formally recognize a new Uptown Planning Group, despite the group’s failure to comply with established election rules. On Tuesday, September 17, at 10:00 AM, the council will be asked to address this issue, diverting attention from more pressing matters.
The council’s agenda includes a proposal to retroactively validate the violation of its own terms, which previously disbanded the Uptown Planners as an official community planning group. According to those terms, any newly appointed group was required to conduct and finalize elections within 90 days of appointment. Failure to do so should have disqualified the group as unfit to serve.
This is yet another instance of the city’s leadership using retroactive decisions to rectify previous errors. Similar instances include the council’s handling of the expired lease for Tailgate Park and their interpretation of Measure C, which only required a simple majority vote. These actions are symptomatic of the city’s “strong-arm mayor” governance style, where past mistakes are often masked by post-hoc solutions.
The resolution to be discussed reads: “Resolution recognizing the Uptown Community Planning Group notwithstanding the failure to comply with the requirement in Section II.D of Council Policy 600-24 for a a newly established community planning group must conduct its voting member election within 90 calendar days following the final approval of the initial council resolution recognizing the group.”
Planning Director Heidi Vonblum acknowledged that the City Planning Department lacks authority to prevent an independent body from conducting an election. This admission raises questions about why the department permitted the new group, Vibrant Uptown, to disregard the election deadline and now advocates for retroactive approval of the group’s actions.
In doing so, the Planning Department not only seeks to dismiss its original decision but also to exempt the new group from city oversight in addressing legitimate election challenges. These challenges, brought forth by the disbanded Uptown Planners and other community members, include:
Vibrant Uptown officiating the election while simultaneously endorsing preferred candidates.
Allowing unqualified candidates to run for election.
Failure to adhere to in-person voting requirements as mandated by Council Policy 600-24.
Failure to release audited election results from Election Buddy, instead providing an Excel spreadsheet.
Violating the City of San Diego’s Strategic Plan, which emphasizes transparency, accessibility, and inclusivity within community planning groups.
The city’s strategic goal of fostering inclusive and transparent community planning groups appears compromised by these actions. This undermines the very principles of good governance that the city claims to uphold.
Absent a change of heart from the city council, Tuesday’s decision may further tarnish the city’s reputation, leading it down a path where municipal governance resembles a mismanaged local committee, rather than a professional, transparent system.