When Centre City Development Corp. President Nancy Graham received an e-mail in early April alleging that she had a potential conflict of interest with a downtown skyscraper proposal, she passed it on to several CCDC board members — along with a denial of the allegations.
The e-mail came to Graham via William Jones, one of the project’s developers, who’d received it via someone at San Diego Metropolitan Magazine, Graham wrote.
After CCDC board member Kim Kilkenny responded to Graham’s message, Graham replied:
“Just frustrating because someone is trying to create something where there is nothing and most particularly having to do with sour grapes from the sound of it. And factually incorrect.”
Court documents have since refuted a number of the assertions Graham made when we first questioned her regarding her relationship with the developer and her involvement in the project.
We since reported that in 2007, Graham testified that she received $125,000 that year from The Related Group, an affiliate of the project’s developer. She did not disclose the income in her annual conflict-of-interest reporting forms, and her calendars show that she was involved in meetings and negotiations related to the project.
She resigned in July and CCDC is now conducting an internal investigation into the projects undertaken during her tenure at the city redevelopment authority.