Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Then along came the $100,000 -- City Attorney and councilmember question two mystery checks from Sunroad

Mayor vetoed council's decision to grant developer a setback. Mayor has since changed his position and now City Attorney is asking about two mystery checks from Sunroad to Mayor's Office

Updated from an earlier version

Is Mayor Bob Filner making secret inroads with developer Sunroad Centrum?

If so, San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is on the case.

In a June 10 memo, yes another memo, Deputy City Attorney Shannon Thomas raised concerns about two checks, totaling $100,000, from Sunroad to Mayor Filner.

The issue dates back to an April 30 council hearing. At that meeting councilmembers discussed a request by Sunroad Centrum to allow the company to ignore required building setbacks during construction of its Centrum Park mixed-use development. The blueprints for Centrum Park showed a 6-foot setback from a nearby park whereas the City's code required the building to stay 15-feet away.

The council ended up granting the variance without discussing compensation for the land. Two weeks later, Mayor Filner vetoed the deal.

The Mayor's stance on the project suddenly changed. During the June 11 city council hearing, Filner's chief of staff asked councilmembers to override the veto. They followed that advice.

However, at the same time, councilmembers and the City Attorney began to learn about a recent donation from Sunroad, those being the two mystery checks discussed in the City Attorney's memo.

"It recently came to this Office’s attention that Sunroad submitted to the Mayor’s Office two checks totaling $100,000," reads the June 10 memo.

"The following advice regarding the use of the funds is based on the limited facts available to this Office. If the $100,000 was consideration for the interests in real property—the easements, both the San Diego Charter and the San Diego Municipal Code set forth various requirements regarding the sale of City property, which have not been met at this point. If the $100,000 was a donation, the funds may be deposited into the General Fund."

Staffers for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith aren't the only people to question the payment.

"Councilmember Sherman still has questions about the donation," says a spokesperson for District 7 councilmember Scott Sherman. "When were the donations received and under what circumstances were they given?"

But Mayor Filner says he is just a phone call away for the City Attorney or anyone else with a question.

"He keeps issuing these public memos," Filner said of Goldsmith. "Just call me up. They made some donations, a couple of checks, to important initiatives. One of which is the Ocean Beach Veteran's Plaza. It was in need of $74,000 for design work and [Sunroad] said they can help with that. The other donation went to help the bike, CicloSDias, initiative. I could have just told [Goldsmith] that. He didn't have to go and write a memo.

"He says I don't tell him anything but he's the one issuing memos on hearsay. I don't get it. He could just call and ask me."

The back and forth is just the latest attack in the spat between the Mayor's Office and City Attorney's Office. In recent weeks, Goldsmith has gone so far as to pen op-eds explaining his frustration with the new Mayor. In his most recent piece, entitled "Then Along Came Mayor Filner," Goldsmith wrote:

Then, along came new Mayor Bob Filner and things changed. Less than a month after he assumed office, during my first meeting with Bob, he (very loudly) proclaimed that he is not bound to keep our office apprised of matters or follow our legal guidance. “Who do you think you are? God? I decide things around here”!

He has been true to his word. We often learn of matters through rumors or the media, hardly giving us a chance to “watch,” give “clear legal advice” or “push back” as the line of what’s legal is approached. So, we regularly deal with issues after the fact, making corrections and protections for the city more difficult."

I am waiting to hear back from the Mayor's Office on when the check was issued and whether or not it has been disclosed.

Click here to read the entire memo:

http://docs.sandiego.gov/memooflaw/MS-2013-11.pdf

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

Updated from an earlier version

Is Mayor Bob Filner making secret inroads with developer Sunroad Centrum?

If so, San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is on the case.

In a June 10 memo, yes another memo, Deputy City Attorney Shannon Thomas raised concerns about two checks, totaling $100,000, from Sunroad to Mayor Filner.

The issue dates back to an April 30 council hearing. At that meeting councilmembers discussed a request by Sunroad Centrum to allow the company to ignore required building setbacks during construction of its Centrum Park mixed-use development. The blueprints for Centrum Park showed a 6-foot setback from a nearby park whereas the City's code required the building to stay 15-feet away.

The council ended up granting the variance without discussing compensation for the land. Two weeks later, Mayor Filner vetoed the deal.

The Mayor's stance on the project suddenly changed. During the June 11 city council hearing, Filner's chief of staff asked councilmembers to override the veto. They followed that advice.

However, at the same time, councilmembers and the City Attorney began to learn about a recent donation from Sunroad, those being the two mystery checks discussed in the City Attorney's memo.

"It recently came to this Office’s attention that Sunroad submitted to the Mayor’s Office two checks totaling $100,000," reads the June 10 memo.

"The following advice regarding the use of the funds is based on the limited facts available to this Office. If the $100,000 was consideration for the interests in real property—the easements, both the San Diego Charter and the San Diego Municipal Code set forth various requirements regarding the sale of City property, which have not been met at this point. If the $100,000 was a donation, the funds may be deposited into the General Fund."

Staffers for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith aren't the only people to question the payment.

"Councilmember Sherman still has questions about the donation," says a spokesperson for District 7 councilmember Scott Sherman. "When were the donations received and under what circumstances were they given?"

But Mayor Filner says he is just a phone call away for the City Attorney or anyone else with a question.

"He keeps issuing these public memos," Filner said of Goldsmith. "Just call me up. They made some donations, a couple of checks, to important initiatives. One of which is the Ocean Beach Veteran's Plaza. It was in need of $74,000 for design work and [Sunroad] said they can help with that. The other donation went to help the bike, CicloSDias, initiative. I could have just told [Goldsmith] that. He didn't have to go and write a memo.

"He says I don't tell him anything but he's the one issuing memos on hearsay. I don't get it. He could just call and ask me."

The back and forth is just the latest attack in the spat between the Mayor's Office and City Attorney's Office. In recent weeks, Goldsmith has gone so far as to pen op-eds explaining his frustration with the new Mayor. In his most recent piece, entitled "Then Along Came Mayor Filner," Goldsmith wrote:

Then, along came new Mayor Bob Filner and things changed. Less than a month after he assumed office, during my first meeting with Bob, he (very loudly) proclaimed that he is not bound to keep our office apprised of matters or follow our legal guidance. “Who do you think you are? God? I decide things around here”!

He has been true to his word. We often learn of matters through rumors or the media, hardly giving us a chance to “watch,” give “clear legal advice” or “push back” as the line of what’s legal is approached. So, we regularly deal with issues after the fact, making corrections and protections for the city more difficult."

I am waiting to hear back from the Mayor's Office on when the check was issued and whether or not it has been disclosed.

Click here to read the entire memo:

http://docs.sandiego.gov/memooflaw/MS-2013-11.pdf

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.