Threat of Suit Stalls Seating of Arts Board Appointees

The City of San Diego did not seat six new members of the Public Arts Advisory Board on Thursday after an artist, angry that he was not allowed to speak at a public hearing, threatened to file a lawsuit.

“I don’t play games when my rights are violated,” said Art Cole, a local painter and sculptor who was prepared to seek an injunction against the city. “They violated my civil rights by not letting me speak on the issue.”

Cole criticized acting Mayor Ed Struiksma for not recognizing him during council consideration of the appointments Monday. The City Council then named six people to the 11-member board that advises the council on arts matters, effectively ousting four current members.

Cole, who said he was prohibited from speaking by Struiksma last month on another Public Arts Advisory Board matter, called the councilman “a small-town politician” who “doesn’t believe in operating by the law.”

A Struiksma spokeswoman said it was an oversight that 18 people who had filed the proper forms were not given a chance to be heard. Six opposed the nominations; 12 favored them.

The City Charter specifically provides that members of the public be allowed an opportunity to speak on items before the City Council.

“There were so many people in the chambers and numerous requests to speak--it was totally inadvertent,” said Patty Krebs, Struiksma’s appointments secretary. “We will be happy to take public testimony” Tuesday, Krebs added. She confirmed that the matter will be open to public discussion Tuesday, even though the City Council is not required to vote on the issue again.

Cole was prepared to file an injunction when he reached an agreement late Wednesday with Deputy Dist. Atty. Ted Bromfield.

To avoid a court case, which could have prevented the seating of the new members for at least 30 days, Bromfield recommended that the council have a chance to reevaluate the matter Tuesday. “I told Mr. Cole that there would be no swearing in on Thursday, and he took my word for it,” Bromfield said.

At Monday’s meeting, both mayoral candidates, Maureen O’Connor and Bill Cleator, spoke out against voting on any new board appointments before the June 3 election.

The six new PAAB members will fill two vacancies and replace four incumbents, who had been serving beyond their terms but had not been reappointed. Among them are PAAB chairman Ed Pieters. None of the incumbents were notified that they were being ousted. Instead, they learned of it last week when they saw the slate of six nominees on the council’s printed agenda for Monday.

Besides Pieters, those being replaced include businessmen George Driver and George Saadeh and artist Victor Ochoa. The new members are artist Barbara Weldon; Lynne Peterson, director of university events at UC San Diego; Stuart McLean, events director at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Arts; Cornelius Page, a professor at Mesa College; Consuela Miller, who has restaurant interests, and Sandra Pay, former president of the San Diego Opera.

Because of the turmoil over the nominations, PAAB voted Thursday not to present its budget next week to a City Council committee.