The San Diego City Council named Laurie Black to the Port Commission today, three months after she narrowly lost a bid for the harbor board.
Black is a local consultant who has served on the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board and was president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership. She also served as chief of staff to former Congressman Lynn Schenk.
On March 6, Black was edged out by incumbent Commissioner Stephen Cushman after a marathon meeting that featured a bizarre tie vote by the council. Black was nominated again in May when Victor Vilaplana resigned from the Port Commission. Along with Cushman and Commissioner Sylvia Rios, she will represent the city of San Diego on the five-city panel.
The seven council members present at this afternoon’s meeting voted unanimously for her appointment after no other nominees were submitted. Councilman Brian Maienschein was absent.
In about an hour, I’m scheduled to speak with her for a question-and-answer session that is slated to run in Saturday’s issue. Send along some questions for San Diego’s newest port commissioner if you have them. If not, just remember to check back this weekend for the article.