O’Connor’s Bid to Serve on Port Committee May Fail

Barring an unexpected change of heart by the San Diego City Council, Maureen O’Connor’s request to serve on a committee that will consider whether the port should contribute about $10 million to the proposed San Diego Trolley Bayside Line will be denied.

William Rick, chairman of the San Diego Unified Port District board, said Thursday he would appoint Commissioners Louis Wolfsheimer and Delton (Rip) Reopelle to an ad hoc committee that will make a recommendation on the trolley extension funding request. The extension would connect the convention center at Navy Field with Lindbergh Field.

The Metropolitan Transit Development Board has asked the port to help pay for the Bayside line, which would run on port-owned land. City Councilman Dick Murphy, chairman of the MTDB board of directors, told the Port District board that state and federal funds would not be available for the Bayside line during this decade.

O’Connor, who even though her term has expired has remained as a port commissioner until the City Council can agree on her successor, made a determined bid Tuesday to be named to a citizens committee to study the MTDB request. Rick said he decided instead to appoint an ad hoc committee to be made up solely of commissioners, because it would “be more efficient to operate.”