By Donald
H. Harrison
For many years, I wrote about the political scene in San Diego County for the San
Diego Union and later for the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage. From
time to time on this website, we will try to record the comings and goings,
accomplishments and setbacks experienced by politically active Jews, whose
names, on first reference, will appear in boldface type. Your tips,
comments and contributions will be welcome indeed via email sdheritage@cox.net.
If you would like us to publish a letter to the editor on subjects that have
appeared on the website, be sure to include your name and city of residence.
SCHOOL DAYS—At the San Diego
Unified School District, one member of our community, Ron Ottinger, has
completed his tenure on the board, leaving the largest school district in our
area, for the first time in many years, without a Jewish member. At one point,
Ottinger and Sue Braun had served together on the five-member board.
Before their retirements, both had been considered allies of School
Superintendent Alan Bersin, who now faces what some consider, for him, a
hostile board. Miyo Reff ran unsuccessfully for the school board
seat representing the northern portion of the school district, but was defeated
by Mitz Lee. So, what role should the Jewish community be playing in our public
schools? What special problems do Jews experience in our public
schools? The Men's Club of Tifereth Israel
Synagogue, in
conjunction with the San Diego Jewish Times, has scheduled a forum on
this subject at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9, at the synagogue, 6660 Cowles
Mountain Blvd. Bersin, Braun, Ottinger and Reff all have accepted invitations to
give their views.
GROOMING A CANDIDATE—Also expected to participate
in the Tifereth Israel Synagogue forum is Marty Block, who was
reelected by the voters to the San Diego Community College Board. Block's
board colleagues thereafter reelected him as their president—a tribute to his
quiet leadership. Block, who previously had served as a trustee of the San
Diego County Board of Education, is being urged by some Democrats to consider
running in 2006 for the 78th Assembly District seat now occupied by Republican
Shirley Horton, a former mayor of Chula Vista. Block is flattered by the
attention, but nowhere near making a commitment—except to Cindy Edwards, whom
he will marry this coming Sunday. Like her husband to be, Edwards was a
California delegate pledged to Senator John F. Kerry at the 2004 Democratic
National Convention.
WHERE THE JEWS ARE —Just as there are no Jewish members of the San
Diego Unified School District, neither are there any Jewish members of either
the San Diego City Council or the San Diego County Board of
Supervisors. Susan Golding was the last member of our community to
serve on either of these bodies—first as a county supervisor and later, of
course, as the mayor whose term ended in 2000. There's a chance that former
Assemblyman Howard Wayne will run for Donna Frye's seat, but only if
courts decide that Frye, and not incumbent Mayor Dick
Murphy, should be the mayor of San Diego. I,
for one, don't even want to try predicting what judges might say about the
voters who wrote in Frye's name but didn't fill in the corresponding bubble on
the ballot. Wayne served successfully for three terms in the state Legislature,
but had to retire because of term limits. Now there are no Jews in the San Diego
delegation to either the California Assembly or to the California
Senate. So where are there San Diego County Jews serving in public
office?
Three members of our community serve as independently elected members of the San
Diego County government. They are Sheriff Bill
Kolender, District
Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and County Assessor/Recorder/Clerk Greg Smith.
Another two members of our community are members of the United States
Congress: Democrats Bob Filner
and Susan Davis.
LATINO/JEWISH DIALOGUE—The Jewish community, of course, is not the
only community which takes pride in its members winning public office. Filipinos
were pleased when Mitz Lee became the first Filipina to win a San
Diego Unified School District seat. Latinos are interested in
winning a congressional seat, with the district where they have the most voting
strength being Filner's. There's a possibility that the veteran congressman will
face opposition in 2006 from Assemblyman Juan Vargas, who will have completed
his last term. Filner has many friends in the Latino community—and
Vargas has friends in the Jewish community, including political consultant Larry
Remer—so such a Democratic primary contest would never be reduced
simply to one of Latinos versus Jews. However for such a powerful post,
it's possible the contest could be spirited—maybe even too spirited—and that
is something leaders in both communities would like to avoid. For two
years, the American Jewish Committee has been sponsoring a series of
Latino/Jewish dialogues to make certain that the two communities understand and
appreciate each other's aspirations and needs. Dialoguers recognize that
however such a congressional battle might turn out, it's important for the two
communities to work together.
HEARING ON 'LOUIS ROSE POINT'—As anyone who has read my
book knows, the first Jew to settle in San Diego
was Louis Rose, who two years after his arrival in 1850 was elected to
the three-member San Diego City Board of Trustees. That qualified
Rose in 1853 to serve with other trustees on the first San Diego County Board
of Supervisors—a group of men whose photos are on permanent display at the
County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Coast Highway. Rose, whose
name is remembered in such areas of the city as "Rose Canyon" and
"Roseville," also set a precedent for our Jewish community of
ongoing involvement in the civic affairs of our city and county. In September of
this year, Mayor Dick Murphy and City Councilmember Michael Zucchet dedicated a
piece of land in the former Naval Training Center complex as the future
site of "Louis Rose Point" to honor this pioneer's contributions to
San Diego. Liberty Station, as the NTC now is called, overlaps the area of the
city originally laid out as "Roseville" by Louis Rose. When Murphy and
Zucchet spoke at the foot of Womble Street, the ceremony coincided with similar
events across the nation honoring 350 years of Jewish life in North
America.
The next step is for the San Diego City Park and Recreation
Board to formally adopt the name "Louis Rose Point" at its meeting
at 2 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 20, in the 12th floor hearing room of San Diego
City Hall, 202 C Street, downtown San Diego. Norman Greene, former
co-publisher with me of the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, has a seat
on that 11-member board, which is chaired by Jim Austin. Greene said public
testimony about Louis Rose Point would be most welcome. He said it is important
that Louis Rose Point be accorded its formal name now because
"government has no collective memory and it may take years before a
monument to Louis Rose can be designed, financed, and in place."
PASEO DE MISSION HILLS—Land developer Robert Lawrence and
his wife, Laurie Black, will go before the San Diego City Planning
Commission at 9 a.m., Monday, Jan. 27, to argue in behalf of their shopping
center redevelopment project to be known as Paseo de Mission Hills, bordered by
Falcon, Goldfinch and Washington streets. According to Black, the project has
won support from the Save Our Heritage Organizatin (SOHO), the Mission Hills
Business Improvement District and Uptown Planners, but an ad hoc group
calling itself Mission Hills Heritage Association has been generating
opposition. The Planning Commission hearing in the 12th floor Council
Chambers at City Hall is expected to be a lively one.
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