San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Tony Young - by David Rolland
Each year around this time, the president of the San Diego City Council hands out assignments for the council's various committees. To a large extent, it's a reflection of who's in good standing with the council prez—for the second year in a row, Tony Young, a moderate Democrat. As we pointed out last year:
Young’s appointments skew in favor of Democrats, appointing council members on the left to fill all the chairmanships, except for the audit committee, which will be led by President Pro-tem Kevin Faulconer. Todd Gloria picks up two chairmanships: Budget and Finance, as well as the new Ad Hoc committee. Even freshman David Alvarez was assigned to lead the committee on Natural Resources and Culture.
Republican Carl DeMaio was also snubbed when it came to chairmanships, though he was assigned to two committees best suited for a fiscal hawk: Budget & Finance and Audit. Republican Lorie Zapf benefited the least: She received only two appointments—Natural Resources & Culture and Public Safety & Neighborhood Resources—two of the least influential committees. Young also spelled her name wrong.
Zapf fared better this year, and her name's spelled right. She's chair of the Land Use & Housing committee (a bit of a head-scratcher for at least a couple observers) and vice chair of both the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services committee and the newly formed Committee on Economic Development Strategies, which Young describes as focusing on "small business, business finance, business improvement districts, enterprise zones and international trade."
DeMaio's appointments are exactly the same as last year's. The fact he wasn't appointed to the Economic Development Strategies committee—given the "Pathway to Prosperity" initiative he's been promoting as a leg of his mayoral campaign—is notable.
Here's the make-up of all the committees, starting January 2012:
Rules, Open Government and Intergovernmental Relations
Chair: Tony Young
Vice chair: Kevin Faulconer
Members: Todd Gloria, Lorie Zapf, Marti Emerald
Budget and Finance
Chair: Todd Gloria
Vice chair: Carl DeMaio
Members: Kevin Faulconer, Marti Emerald, David Alvarez
Land Use and Housing
Chair: Lorie Zapf
Vice chair: Sherri Lightner
Members: Todd Gloria, David Alvarez
Public Safety and Neighborhood Services
Chair: Marti Emerald
Vice chair: Lorie Zapf
Members: David Alvarez, Todd Gloria
Audit Committee
Chair: Kevin Faulconer
Vice Chair: Carl DeMaio
Natural Resources and Culture
Chair: David Alvarez
Vice chair: Carl DeMaio
Members: Sherri Lightner, Lorie Zapf
Economic Development and Strategies
Chair: Sherri Lightner
Vice chair: Lorie Zapf
Members: Kevin Faulconer, Marti Emerald
Ad Hoc Committee of the Redevelopment Agency
Chair: Todd Gloria
Vice chair: Marti Emerald
Members: David Alvarez, Kevin Faulconer
