Marco Polo, the Lobbyist, Comes Over

Lobbyist Marco Polo Cortes, another big last-minute giver to Councilman Todd Gloria’s cause, has kept a busy schedule at San Diego’s city hall, according to a recently filed lobbyist disclosure statement. Besides hosting a Gloria fundraiser that garnered $3500 between February 1 and March 31, according to his filing, his Cortes Communications was paid $1500 to “monitor a [city] towing contract” for client American Towing, Inc. That involved contacting Rudy Lopez and Melina Meza, staffers with eighth district Democratic councilman David Alvarez, as well as the police department’s Patrick Norris and Catherine Blake, along with Linda Peter of the city attorney’s office.

Cortes also reported he lobbied Cesar Solis, David Ramirez, Chuck Kaye, and Sandy Albrekson, all of the police department, along with mayoral staffer Victoria Joes. The topic was approval of a conditional use permit and live entertainment permit for the Beer Company, an establishment near Sixth and Broadway, which describes itself on its website as “a locally owned restaurant and brewery.” He was paid $1000 for that. San Ysdiro’s Border Transportation Council hired Cortes to request “law enforcement control of legal transportation providers,” according to his filing. For $1500 from the council, he lobbied Miguel Rosario and Carlos Lacarra of the police department, as well as eighth district councilman Alvarez, along with his staffers Lopez and Meza.

Cortes returned to city hall and lobbied Alvarez and his staff as well as traffic engineering’s George Gazallo “for reasonable regulation” of San Ysidro pedicabs, including a “study of pick-up/drop-off zones & reduced speed limit to 25 MPH.” Eco PediCabs paid $1500 for that assignment. Finally, Cortes received $1000 from the Greyhound bus company to lobby the police department’s David Nisleit and Manny Guaderrama “regarding traffic control during events at Petco Park.”