Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007 | As an appellant in the appeal of Mayor Sanders’ staff finding that a 16 year-old environmental document on the Navy Broadway Complex was sufficient to satisfy state environmental laws (CEQA), I was disappointed that a majority of council members chose to reject the appeal. I believe that some council members simply don’t understand CEQA while others are philosophically opposed to protecting the environment including my own council representative, Kevin Faulconer.
The vote of Councilman Young is difficult to fathom since he was missing in action for most of the debate and never uttered a word during council discussion.
But for me the most interesting and damaging issue for the city was the testimony of the city geologist that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that building on the Navy Broadway site was safe. He recommended that additional seismic studies should be done and depending on the results the Manchester project may require substantial modification.
That recommendation fell on the deaf ears of the council majority.
This vote was another example of the role money plays in San Diego politics at the expense of the public.