Bruce Reznik, San Diego Coastkeeper’s former executive director, has a new job: director of Sustainable San Diego, a year-old collaboration of groups focused on transit and planning. He started Monday.
Reznik, who led Coastkeeper from 1999 until his November 2010 resignation, said his early efforts will focus on lobbying on the county’s general plan update, a blueprint for the county’s growth, and regional transportation planning done by the San Diego Association of Governments.
The Los Angeles native said he doesn’t know whether he’ll use litigation — or the threat of it — as he did effectively at Coastkeeper. Initially, he said, he’ll try to build coalitions like the group of business, environmental and taxpayer advocates he helped form to support San Diego’s efforts to recycle sewage as a drinking water source.
He left his last job with clear measures of success. While he was there, Coastkeeper grew from having two full-time employees to 17; it successfully sued the city to improve leaky sewer pipes — sewage spills dropped 90 percent between 2001 and 2010, according to Coastkeeper figures.
The specific metrics for success in his new job are still being decided. He has a general idea though.
“If you’re seeing I-5 and 805 and 94 widened and transit projects pushed off, that would mean we’re not being successful,” he said. “If you’re seeing a focus on transit, walk-ability and bike-ability, that would mean we are being successful.”
Reznik will technically be an employee of the San Diego Housing Federation, a local affordable housing advocacy group that helped start the collaborative, which is not an independent nonprofit. Other founding members include the Environmental Health Coalition and Move San Diego.
Please contact Rob Davis directly at rob.davis@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0529 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/robwdavis.