San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
DeMaio talks street repair on KUSI
Two
weeks ago on the KUSI Morning Show, San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio challenged CityBeat (“not the highest
quality of journalism,” he quipped) to “actually [follow] up” on what happened
with his April 30 “Road Repair Rally” in Scripps Ranch. So, we did.
Quick background: On his April 19 KUSI appearance (he's on most Tuesdays), DeMaio said he had a city crew and the Alpha Project lined up to fill potholes in Scripps Ranch on April 30. When I asked Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy about this, he said that while DeMaio’s office had asked, back in February, if they'd be interested in filling potholes, Alpha was never given a date. And, Streets Division Deputy Director Hasan Yousef told me that not only would a crew not be there, but DeMaio had failed to follow proper procedure to address issues ranging from liability to having volunteers perform work normally done by city employees. And, I later found out, DeMaio violated City Council policy by accepting donated materials (gravel) without notifying the city's philanthropy office.
When asked about this on his KUSI appearance the following week, DeMaio insisted that what Alpha told me was wrong. And, he blamed labor unions for meddling in the project, telling KUSI anchor Dan Plante that he had a letter from the City Attorney saying that labor had complained. As I pointed out in this blog post, that's completely untrue. No one from labor complained, and what the City Attorney told DeMaio is that the rally wasn't a city-sanctioned event, meaning the city wouldn't be liable for any injuries or other damages and that "all laws and necessary processes, permits and authorizations must be met as would be the case for any private work conducted in the public right-of-way." That's it. There was no mention in the memo of labor unions. None. Not a word.
That leaves Alpha's version of events vs. DeMaio's version. So, my colleague Dave Maass asked for all written communication between DeMaio's staff and the Alpha Project as well as communication among DeMaio's staff regarding the Alpha Project. What we got back were four emails that corroborate Alpha’s version of events: DeMaio staffer John Ly contacted Kyla Winter, Alpha's volunteer director of development, in February to see if they’d want to fill potholes, but there was no date set. “We can do a weekend project if we plan it ahead of time,” Winter responded. Winter noted to Ly that her organization had only filled potholes under a Community Development Block Grant contract with the city (and, though she didn't say it in the emails, Ly would have known that the contract doesn't start until July 1). Such a contract would have addressed the labor and liability issues Yousef and the City Attorney raised. Winter also gave Ly contact information for a Streets Division supervisor.
The next communication is an April 20 email from Winter to Ly in in which Winter says CityBeat had called to ask about the Road Repair Rally. Winter wanted to confirm with Ly that Alpha Project wasn't participating, “But we look forward to participating in other ways with your district," she added.
This is exactly what Alpha Project staff—Winter, McElroy and COO Amy Gonyeau—told me for my original blog post: No date had been set, they were surprised to hear that DeMaio had said on KUSI that they were participating in the event and, though the pothole-filling part of the event was canceled, they were still interested in working with DeMaio's office in the future. Or, as Winter put it, "showing the community what we can do." Alpha Project's "Take Back the Streets" program puts formerly homeless men to work and helps them develop job skills.
Here's a transcript of what DeMaio told Dan Plante during his April 26 KUSI appearance:
Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com
Quick background: On his April 19 KUSI appearance (he's on most Tuesdays), DeMaio said he had a city crew and the Alpha Project lined up to fill potholes in Scripps Ranch on April 30. When I asked Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy about this, he said that while DeMaio’s office had asked, back in February, if they'd be interested in filling potholes, Alpha was never given a date. And, Streets Division Deputy Director Hasan Yousef told me that not only would a crew not be there, but DeMaio had failed to follow proper procedure to address issues ranging from liability to having volunteers perform work normally done by city employees. And, I later found out, DeMaio violated City Council policy by accepting donated materials (gravel) without notifying the city's philanthropy office.
When asked about this on his KUSI appearance the following week, DeMaio insisted that what Alpha told me was wrong. And, he blamed labor unions for meddling in the project, telling KUSI anchor Dan Plante that he had a letter from the City Attorney saying that labor had complained. As I pointed out in this blog post, that's completely untrue. No one from labor complained, and what the City Attorney told DeMaio is that the rally wasn't a city-sanctioned event, meaning the city wouldn't be liable for any injuries or other damages and that "all laws and necessary processes, permits and authorizations must be met as would be the case for any private work conducted in the public right-of-way." That's it. There was no mention in the memo of labor unions. None. Not a word.
That leaves Alpha's version of events vs. DeMaio's version. So, my colleague Dave Maass asked for all written communication between DeMaio's staff and the Alpha Project as well as communication among DeMaio's staff regarding the Alpha Project. What we got back were four emails that corroborate Alpha’s version of events: DeMaio staffer John Ly contacted Kyla Winter, Alpha's volunteer director of development, in February to see if they’d want to fill potholes, but there was no date set. “We can do a weekend project if we plan it ahead of time,” Winter responded. Winter noted to Ly that her organization had only filled potholes under a Community Development Block Grant contract with the city (and, though she didn't say it in the emails, Ly would have known that the contract doesn't start until July 1). Such a contract would have addressed the labor and liability issues Yousef and the City Attorney raised. Winter also gave Ly contact information for a Streets Division supervisor.
The next communication is an April 20 email from Winter to Ly in in which Winter says CityBeat had called to ask about the Road Repair Rally. Winter wanted to confirm with Ly that Alpha Project wasn't participating, “But we look forward to participating in other ways with your district," she added.
This is exactly what Alpha Project staff—Winter, McElroy and COO Amy Gonyeau—told me for my original blog post: No date had been set, they were surprised to hear that DeMaio had said on KUSI that they were participating in the event and, though the pothole-filling part of the event was canceled, they were still interested in working with DeMaio's office in the future. Or, as Winter put it, "showing the community what we can do." Alpha Project's "Take Back the Streets" program puts formerly homeless men to work and helps them develop job skills.
Here's a transcript of what DeMaio told Dan Plante during his April 26 KUSI appearance:
DeMaio: We were going to fill potholes with the Alpha Project, but guess what happened? Right after I appeared on this show, the labor unions cried foul. They said, "Wait a minute. That work should be done by labor union city employees and if you're going to give it to volunteers, you must first enter labor negotiations." Now, Dan, this is why the city is broken. You have volunteers willing to help their community; you have a nonprofit willing to pitch in... and you have the labor unions at City Hall saying "No."
Dan Plante: Was the Alpha Project willing… I know that there was an article, I think, in one of the papers that basically called you on what you said to me last week and that is [Alpha Project] were on board and they were under contract. Apparently you had a discussion with one of the people there, but [Alpha Project CEO Bob] McElroy himself, who runs the place, really wasn’t aware of it. So were they really aware that they were going to help out at all?
DeMaio: This is one of those things where you wish that—in this case it was CityBeat, again, there’s not the highest quality of journalism there—we wish they had actually followed up and gotten to the facts and that was Alpha Project was working with my office for several months and was ready to participate in the event on Saturday. But, again, we now have a letter from the City Attorney’s office mentioning the labor unions have raised the issue and, as a result, we had to back off. I don’t want to create a labor issue but, again, Dan, it goes to the heart of the problem at city government where you have a nonprofit like Alpha Project, does exceptionally good work, you have volunteers willing to pitch in to make things better and the labor union comes along and says, "No, we’re blocking it; we’re not allowing it to happen." That’s what’s wrong with city government and until our elected officials do something about it to fix it, we’re going to continue to have problems that go unaddressed.
Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com
