Alan Bersin has special interest in downtown waterfront

San Diego — When ex-Democratic state senator Steve Peace and county supervisor Ron Roberts rolled out their futuristic vision for a remade downtown waterfront two weeks ago, regional airport board chairman Alan Bersin was sitting in the front row. Called upon to speak, Bersin, the former San Diego Unified School District chief and ex-education secretary to Governor Schwarzenegger, lent some tentative words of support to the nascent proposal, which among other things suggests the possibility of digging a canal for a water taxi to shuttle air passengers downtown and building a "people mover" to Balboa Park. But based on a recently filed financial disclosure, Bersin has another reason besides his role on the airport board to be concerned about the future of the central city, namely millions of dollars of downtown real estate that his wife Lisa Foster, daughter of the late property mogul Stan Foster, has a stake in. "Lisa Foster owns a 22 percent membership interest in the Foster-Downtown Group, LLC," says Bersin's disclosure report, filed with the airport authority January 29. "The Foster-Downtown Group, LLC owns a 70 percent membership interest in OMF, LLC. OMF, LLC owns a 100 percent membership interest in the following entities, which own the real property listed." Ten addresses are given: 655 Sixth Avenue, 677 Seventh, 707 Tenth, 1122 G, 1229 G, 645 12th, 639 13th, 1248 Market, 643-675 G, and 722 Market. The filing values the holdings at "over $1,000,000," the maximum disclosure level required by law; it says gross income received is between $10,000 and $100,000. Last year, OMFOSTER, LLC, a company that records show is run by the Foster family, was listed as giving $22,500 to the pro-privatization campaign of San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who appointed Bersin to the airport board in November.