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

The Invisible Mayor

Ever since the “strong mayor” form of governance was adopted Mayor Sanders has been hard to find at city council meetings. It’s been even harder for the average citizen to get his attention.

On October 27th, Councilmember Donna Frye and Councilmember-elect Carl DeMaio held a public meeting at city hall to discuss their initiative to “improve the openness, effectiveness, and independence of the city council through reforms.”

One of the reforms: make the mayor a bit more accessible to the public by getting him out of that sprawling 11th floor office and into one of the four elevators and up one floor to at least one city-council meeting a month. For Frye and DeMaio, the mayor doesn’t have to stay for the length of the meeting. Instead, they’d just like him to be there for one hour to answer questions from the public and the city council.

Reform 1.5 of the draft provision was requesting a “monthly public comment and question session with the Mayor.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Under the Strong Mayor-Strong Council form of governance the mayor no longer chairs, nor regularly attends city council meetings. Therefore, some have argued that the public has limited access or opportunity to bring their issues directly before the mayor — as they did under the Manager-Council form of government.”

Frye’s and DeMaio’s recommendation: “Amend the permanent rules of the council to include a monthly sixty minute “Question and Comment” session with the mayor —ideally during the monthly evening meeting. Thirty minutes would be allocated to the public with thirty minutes allocated to the city council.”

Many in attendance at Frye’s and DeMaio’s meeting agreed.

“I like the monthly public comment and question-and-answer with the mayor. He’s become an invisible person to the average citizen, and we don’t have any opportunity, unless we’re on the in-list, to come and talk to him,” said resident Judith Swink.

The next speaker, Joy Sunyata, concurred. “I like our mayor and I miss seeing more of him and I miss him when he’s not there. When he does come, I think, wow, why isn’t he here more?”

Later, Frye went on to add that it isn’t too much to ask the mayor to show up 12 hours a year to have more interaction with his constituents.

Frye and DeMaio hope to finalize their list of reforms by November 10th in order to get it docketed for the first meeting of the new council on December 10th.

DeMaio urged current council president Scott Peters to give his support putting the item on the agenda. “It’s quite possible that the current council president could decide not to docket it as an agenda item for December 8th, which would mean that the new city council would start off under the old set of rules. I implore the council president to provide legislative courtesy to those incoming members. Allow them to decide how they would like to conduct business, a legislative courtesy. In a city that’s been divided, the public trust having been ripped, I think it’s the least those outgoing members can do is allow our city a fresh start.”

For more information on Frye’s and DeMaio’s efforts to get the mayor out of his office and into council chambers, go to cleanupcityhall.com.

The latest copy of the Reader

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

San Diego Reader 2024 Holiday Guide – like none other

Candle-making, tree lighting, pajama jam
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Jazz jam at a private party

A couple of accidental crashes at California English

Ever since the “strong mayor” form of governance was adopted Mayor Sanders has been hard to find at city council meetings. It’s been even harder for the average citizen to get his attention.

On October 27th, Councilmember Donna Frye and Councilmember-elect Carl DeMaio held a public meeting at city hall to discuss their initiative to “improve the openness, effectiveness, and independence of the city council through reforms.”

One of the reforms: make the mayor a bit more accessible to the public by getting him out of that sprawling 11th floor office and into one of the four elevators and up one floor to at least one city-council meeting a month. For Frye and DeMaio, the mayor doesn’t have to stay for the length of the meeting. Instead, they’d just like him to be there for one hour to answer questions from the public and the city council.

Reform 1.5 of the draft provision was requesting a “monthly public comment and question session with the Mayor.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Under the Strong Mayor-Strong Council form of governance the mayor no longer chairs, nor regularly attends city council meetings. Therefore, some have argued that the public has limited access or opportunity to bring their issues directly before the mayor — as they did under the Manager-Council form of government.”

Frye’s and DeMaio’s recommendation: “Amend the permanent rules of the council to include a monthly sixty minute “Question and Comment” session with the mayor —ideally during the monthly evening meeting. Thirty minutes would be allocated to the public with thirty minutes allocated to the city council.”

Many in attendance at Frye’s and DeMaio’s meeting agreed.

“I like the monthly public comment and question-and-answer with the mayor. He’s become an invisible person to the average citizen, and we don’t have any opportunity, unless we’re on the in-list, to come and talk to him,” said resident Judith Swink.

The next speaker, Joy Sunyata, concurred. “I like our mayor and I miss seeing more of him and I miss him when he’s not there. When he does come, I think, wow, why isn’t he here more?”

Later, Frye went on to add that it isn’t too much to ask the mayor to show up 12 hours a year to have more interaction with his constituents.

Frye and DeMaio hope to finalize their list of reforms by November 10th in order to get it docketed for the first meeting of the new council on December 10th.

DeMaio urged current council president Scott Peters to give his support putting the item on the agenda. “It’s quite possible that the current council president could decide not to docket it as an agenda item for December 8th, which would mean that the new city council would start off under the old set of rules. I implore the council president to provide legislative courtesy to those incoming members. Allow them to decide how they would like to conduct business, a legislative courtesy. In a city that’s been divided, the public trust having been ripped, I think it’s the least those outgoing members can do is allow our city a fresh start.”

For more information on Frye’s and DeMaio’s efforts to get the mayor out of his office and into council chambers, go to cleanupcityhall.com.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

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

O’side Tree Lighting & Gift Market, Holiday Lights at the Museum, The Elovaters and Little Stranger

Events December 5-December 6, 2024
Next Article

Aaron Bleiweiss: has guitar, has traveled

Seattle native takes Twists and Turns to assemble local all-stars
Comments
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.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader