SAN DIEGO – With public officials lined up against his proposal from Imperial Beach to Washington, D.C., Frank Gallagher has been spending several days a week talking to groups large and small about the virtues of Proposition B.
“I'm gone so much that my wife doesn't think I live here,” Gallagher joked last week.
Gallagher is the ebullient point man for the ballot measure that, if passed on Nov. 4, would change the character of the downtown bayfront.
The initiative seeks to change the San Diego Unified Port District's master plan to allow construction of a 40-foot-tall deck over the port's 10th Avenue Marine Terminal, just south of the San Diego Convention Center.
The 96-acre deck would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build but would be paid for with private funds, proponents say.
They say it could accommodate a number of uses, including a football stadium, an aquarium, a promenade, a cruise ship terminal or a sports arena – though no use is specified on the ballot.
For the ballot measure to pass, it needs a majority of votes in the port's five member cities – San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado.
Beyond securing the “air rights” above the cargo-shipping terminal, the initiative would also allow private development on the grounds of the facility – so long as the design gives maritime commerce top billing.
The benefits to the public, Gallagher said, are new revenue sources from whatever is built for the city of San Diego and the Port District.
A broad coalition has rallied in opposition to the plan.
Opponents include the city councils of the port's five member cities, the Port Commission, labor groups, environmentalists, the county's congressional delegation, longshore workers, waterfront businesses and the secretary of the Navy.
Gallagher and partner Richard Chase have not garnered a single major endorsement. But that plays into Gallagher's populist message that government, and specifically the Port District, is working to keep the public from deciding what should happen on public land.
The terminal is on state tidelands administered by the Port District.
“This is public land that doesn't belong to the (port) tenants who are getting sweetheart deals,” Gallagher said. “I'm saying, 'Share the assets for the benefit of the public and the city of San Diego.' What's wrong with that?”
A lot, opponents say.
They say the terminal is one of the few places on the bay, and even on the West Coast, where deep-water vessels can deliver shipments. The kind of private development that is being talked about does not have to be built at a working port, they argue.
Sharon Cloward of the Port Tenants Association said the initiative is a “land grab” by private developers to make millions by developing public land. She said Gallagher and Chase are trying to curry favor with voters by dangling the possibility of a Chargers stadium coming out of the election.
“None of us want to see the Chargers leave, but a stadium shouldn't be on that piece of property,” Cloward said.
Although the initiative says it would preserve waterfront jobs, Brian Whatley, president of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 29, doesn't believe it.
The plan would place a cloud over the facility, as shipping companies would not know its availability to handle cargo. It is also unclear how shipping business could continue in a construction zone while a deck is being built.
The longshore union is working with the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council to fight the initiative, with volunteers walking door to door each weekend in the port's five cities and working phone banks during the week to persuade about 70,000 union members to turn out against the initiative.
“It will definitely eliminate longshore jobs at 10th Avenue,” Whatley said. “It's deceptive and misleading.”
Recently, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter came out against Proposition B, saying the 10th Avenue terminal is vital to naval operations on the West Coast. He said more than 50 percent of military support on the West Coast for Operation Iraqi Freedom passed through the facility.
And all opponents argue that such major land-use decisions should go through the established planning process – not the ballot box.
Gallagher, who is optimistic in the face of opposition, has not yet sent out mailers or aired television ads touting Proposition B. He said he plans to wage a campaign but wouldn't share details.
Gallagher accuses opponents of fear-mongering and says all of their concerns can be addressed if the initiative passes. The real problem, he says, is the historic tendency in San Diego to oppose big new ideas.
“This town is famous for these kinds of people,” Gallagher said.
Ronald W. Powell: (619) 293-1258; ron.powell@uniontrib.com
2008 VOTE: LOCAL PROPOSITIONS
