San Diego mayor Todd Gloria is out looking for a “qualified consultant or team of consultants” to run a “comprehensive cultural planning process that will culminate in a ‘Creative City’ Cultural Plan for San Diego.”

Todd Gloria’s $350K public culture vulture

Seeking to culture up his political future, San Diego mayor Todd Gloria is out looking for a “qualified consultant or team of consultants” to run a “comprehensive cultural planning process that will culminate in a ‘Creative City’ Cultural Plan for San Diego.”

The Democratic mayor announced his intention to create the plan three months ago at an April 1 news conference held at the Bread & Salt art gallery in Barrio Logan. “The City is embarking on our first cultural planning process, called The Creative City, which will focus on equity and result in a 7-to 10-year policy framework to guide our investments in arts and culture and align them with our communities’ priorities,” he tweeted.

But such efforts don’t always go according to plan or budget, especially lately at San Diego city hall, where the call for consultants to carry out Gloria’s initiative has just gone been redrafted, with a deadline for proposals now due July 28.

Rene Peralta: international architect, but maybe also local cultural czar?

Though no overall budget is provided, the effort could ultimately prove costly for taxpayers, beginning with the $250,000 to be paid the consultant during phase one through next June 30. Another $100,000 is set for the second phase. “Only Phase 1 and up to half of Phase 2 funding is available at time of contract award and no other phases are authorized,” per the solicitation. “The City shall so notify the Contractor in writing when the next Phase has been funded.”

The current solicitation for the work, issued June 28, calls for “a public engagement process” to “include new and innovative technology to provide for direct outreach and increase the awareness of City’s arts and culture programs and services, and generally building public will for arts, culture, and creativity in San Diego.” A memo on “cultural equity, creative economy, and cultural tourism,” is also part of the package.

The bid list includes architect Rene Peralta’s Generica Arquitectura with an address in San Ysidro, and the Los Angeles office of consulting and accounting giant Deliotte, which has provided free transition services to the mayor, according to his disclosure filing. “I am a native of Tijuana, Mexico and have taught and practiced architecture in the border region, from Tijuana to Los Angeles,” says Peralta in an online profile. “My academic training in architecture began in San Diego and later in London at the Architectural Association. I resettled in Tijuana/San Diego and in the year 2000 I decided to open my own practice, an ‘alternative’ practice operating in one of the most hectic and volatile regions of North America.”

Deloitte’s San Diego lobbyist Shawn VanDiver, a Gloria backer, was appointed to the board of San Diego’s convention center by the city council in 2021. Another culture consulting hopeful on the list is Victoria Plettner-Saunders. “From 1998 – 2005 she was on staff at the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture first as a Community Arts Coordinator and later as the agency’s first Financial Analyst,” says her website.

In addition, an outfit by the name of Cultural Planning Group, also at the Plettner-Saunders address on Navajo Road, is listed as a bidder. Her husband David Plettner-Saunders is a partner there, according to the company’s website, which quotes him as saying, “I am an active Democratic volunteer and have become more active in recent years.”

Adds the site: “We believe every community has the right to chart its own cultural and artistic future, reflecting the character of the place. We develop cultural plans in diverse communities ranging from rural towns, such as Healdsburg, CA to major metropolitan regions, such as Houston, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Our practice is grounded in deep community engagement — a hallmark of our work— and keen knowledge of the local arts environment.” Reached by phone over the weekend, Victorial Plettner-Saunders said her spouse’s company was seeking the contract, and that she was listed on the bid list because she had downloaded the bid documents for informational purposes.

Another big bond bid

A recently renamed ballot fund run by Democratic state senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins of San Diego, formerly California Works, now known as Protect Constitutional Abortion Rights, supported by health care organizations, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, and Senator Toni Atkins Ballot Measure Committee, got $5000 from the California Hospitals Committee on Issues, sponsored by an offshoot of the California Hospital Association on June 24.

Richard Barrera wants to save our perpetually crumbling schools.

The day before, the Motion Picture Association California PAC chipped in $5000 to another Atkins committee, Toni Atkins for Lt. Governor 2026...Big labor apparently failed to gather enough signatures in a heavily funded effort to put a massive infrastructure measure before voters this year. Now comes San Diego Unified School board member Richard Barrera and union cohorts with a new fundraising committee called Parent & Teachers for Neighborhood Schools, registered with the county Registrar of Voters on June 16. According to the filing, the case is a “San Diego Unified School District Bond Measure, Measure Pending.” In addition to longtime labor leader Barrera, Valentine Macedo, Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer of Laborers’ Union Local 89, is listed as an officer.

— Matt Potter (@sdmattpotter)

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