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

Suspended Sierra Club's appointed leaders back SDSU

Ex-professor attacks Soccer City's "ballot box" planning

Ruben Arizmendi and Peter Andersen
Ruben Arizmendi and Peter Andersen

The ballot battle over the fate of the city-owned Mission Valley acreage formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium has been notched up again, this time by the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club, which has endorsed a measure that would turn the property over to San Diego State University for academic and commercial development.

In its February 27 endorsement, the group also took a swipe at SoccerCity, a competing ballot proposal backed by a La Jolla–based group of private investors. "SoccerCity is environmentally damaging, ballot box land planning,” says a statement by Richard Miller, the chapter's Development Associate.

"Sierra Club opposes development proposals like SoccerCity that use the initiative process to bypass environmental review and convert public land to private profit,” per the news release, which adds that the positions were "unanimously supported by the Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter Steering and Conservation Committees."

The move could rekindle a festering argument over the motives of the respective champions of the competing measures, with some well-heeled backers of the SDSU plan already forced to deny that they would benefit financially from developing the school's real estate.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We have a rival group of developers who are proposing their own plan,” SoccerCity's Nick Stone told the Union-Tribune regarding SDSU backers. “We know it’s a private development plan because one of the members of the construction team has said that all of the development will be done by private developers.”

In addition to questions of moneyed interests, institutional loyalties may also come into play, further clouding the political optics for the school. Peter Andersen, a professor emeritus at SDSU's School of Communications, is vice chairman of the local Sierra Club's steering committee, and lawyer Ruben Arizmendi, the committee's chair, is an SDSU alumnus.

Four years ago this month, Sierra Club headquarters in San Francisco suspended the San Diego chapter after chronic bouts of alleged "factionalized strife and contention."

"Some people on the ousted executive committee said the suspension was retaliation for their public disagreements with national headquarters," the Union-Tribune reported at the time.

"They highlighted two examples: their opposition to the national board’s call for greater development and use of biofuels, and their criticism of that board’s decision to endorse the Green Works line of products from Clorox."

Reached by phone this week, current steering committee vice-chair Andersen confirmed that the San Diego chapter is still under suspension and that he, as well as Arizmendi and the others on the seven-member governing committee, were appointed by the Sierra Club's national governing body.

That's set to change this coming June, Andersen says, when the four-year-old sanctions finally lift and members here will be able to vote in a governing board election. Current membership in the county is 16,000, he added.

As for the possible appearance of a conflict of interest stemming from his and Arizmendi's ties to San Diego State, Andersen says, "Being an educator, I believe in public education, but that was not the driving force" in the club's endorsement of the SDSU project versus SoccerCity.

Instead, he says, the signature-gathering initiative process in which SoccerCity is seeking to obtain the former Qualcomm Stadium site has been traditionally looked on in disfavor by the club. On the other hand, Andersen maintains, SDSU's measure, which is also an initiative, is written to be "completely compliant" with state environmental review laws.

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Elevated ice crystals lead to solar halos, Cottonwoods still showing their tawny foliage

New moon brings high tides this weekend
Ruben Arizmendi and Peter Andersen
Ruben Arizmendi and Peter Andersen

The ballot battle over the fate of the city-owned Mission Valley acreage formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium has been notched up again, this time by the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club, which has endorsed a measure that would turn the property over to San Diego State University for academic and commercial development.

In its February 27 endorsement, the group also took a swipe at SoccerCity, a competing ballot proposal backed by a La Jolla–based group of private investors. "SoccerCity is environmentally damaging, ballot box land planning,” says a statement by Richard Miller, the chapter's Development Associate.

"Sierra Club opposes development proposals like SoccerCity that use the initiative process to bypass environmental review and convert public land to private profit,” per the news release, which adds that the positions were "unanimously supported by the Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter Steering and Conservation Committees."

The move could rekindle a festering argument over the motives of the respective champions of the competing measures, with some well-heeled backers of the SDSU plan already forced to deny that they would benefit financially from developing the school's real estate.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We have a rival group of developers who are proposing their own plan,” SoccerCity's Nick Stone told the Union-Tribune regarding SDSU backers. “We know it’s a private development plan because one of the members of the construction team has said that all of the development will be done by private developers.”

In addition to questions of moneyed interests, institutional loyalties may also come into play, further clouding the political optics for the school. Peter Andersen, a professor emeritus at SDSU's School of Communications, is vice chairman of the local Sierra Club's steering committee, and lawyer Ruben Arizmendi, the committee's chair, is an SDSU alumnus.

Four years ago this month, Sierra Club headquarters in San Francisco suspended the San Diego chapter after chronic bouts of alleged "factionalized strife and contention."

"Some people on the ousted executive committee said the suspension was retaliation for their public disagreements with national headquarters," the Union-Tribune reported at the time.

"They highlighted two examples: their opposition to the national board’s call for greater development and use of biofuels, and their criticism of that board’s decision to endorse the Green Works line of products from Clorox."

Reached by phone this week, current steering committee vice-chair Andersen confirmed that the San Diego chapter is still under suspension and that he, as well as Arizmendi and the others on the seven-member governing committee, were appointed by the Sierra Club's national governing body.

That's set to change this coming June, Andersen says, when the four-year-old sanctions finally lift and members here will be able to vote in a governing board election. Current membership in the county is 16,000, he added.

As for the possible appearance of a conflict of interest stemming from his and Arizmendi's ties to San Diego State, Andersen says, "Being an educator, I believe in public education, but that was not the driving force" in the club's endorsement of the SDSU project versus SoccerCity.

Instead, he says, the signature-gathering initiative process in which SoccerCity is seeking to obtain the former Qualcomm Stadium site has been traditionally looked on in disfavor by the club. On the other hand, Andersen maintains, SDSU's measure, which is also an initiative, is written to be "completely compliant" with state environmental review laws.

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

Colorado governor Polis’ days in La Jolla canyons

Why Kamala might not run for Calif. governor
Next Article

Chunky yellowtail from Alijos Rocks

Imperial Beach Pier thresher shark
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