City’s Black Leaders React With Anger to Removal of Murray

Local black leaders reacted angrily Wednesday to the San Diego City Council’s ouster of City Manager Sylvester Murray, a move that many of them predicted will seriously strain relations between the black community and City Hall.

“The whole black community is furious,” said the Rev. George Walker Smith. He said he received nearly 70 “angry calls” over Murray’s forced resignation, which comes only 13 months after he became the first black city manager in San Diego’s history.

“There’s going to be a lot of hard feelings in the community toward the council over this,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Roger Hedgecock, who played a role in the hiring of Murray last year, described Murray’s removal as a “major, major mistake” that, when added to other imminent problems facing the council--notably, how to fill an upcoming council vacancy--could have city government “in shambles within 60 days.”

“Not only have they lost a very top-notch person, but they’ve handled the whole thing very poorly,” Hedgecock said of the council. “Now they’ve got a real mess on their hands.”

Both Hedgecock and black community leaders interpreted Murray’s ouster as evidence that the council is not comfortable with a strong, assertive city manager, despite the fact that San Diego operates under a city manager form of government. Under the City Charter, the council is charged with setting policy, and the city manager executes that policy and oversees the day-to-day administration of city government.

“It looks like the council wants a wimp, not a real city manager,” Smith said. “Sy Murray did nothing except exercise the power that the City Charter gives the manager. The charter says there is one manager. But the (nine-member) council apparently wants to have 10 managers. “I don’t care if you’re Sy Murray or anybody, if you’re doing the job you’re supposed to do as manager, that kind of attitude on the council is going to cause problems.”

“Even though the city manager is supposed to run the government, mayors and council members always like to take all the credit,” added Hartwell Ragsdale, owner of the Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary in Southeast San Diego and a longtime black community leader. “I don’t think there was anything wrong with the manager. I think there’s something wrong with the mayor and the council.”

While no one interviewed by The Times Wednesday suggested that race played a direct role in Murray’s ouster, several agreed that the circumstances of the case--a black city manager being removed by a predominantly white council, with only black Councilman William Jones supporting Murray--inevitably will cause the incident to be interpreted as having racial overtones.

“It calls up the old feeling that maybe a black man can’t do what others can do,” said San Diego County Supervisor Leon Williams, who is black. “That’s how some people in the community are going to see this.”

“The black community was so proud to have (Murray) there--it was such a step forward for the whole city,” Ragsdale said. “I sometimes think the white community was not really ready to accept that. But I can’t say this was a racial thing.”

Noting that Murray was hired after an extensive--and expensive--nationwide talent search by the council last year, Hedgecock said that both the brevity of Murray’s service at City Hall and the nature of his departure would pose problems for the council in seeking a replacement.

“If they go through the same process we went through last year, they’re just going to come up with the same names,” Hedgecock said. “And if the difference is that they’re looking for someone who’s willing to accept a lesser role and willing to accept political intrusion in the day-to-day administration of the city, that’s something that the citizens ought to be alarmed about.

“Besides, no one with any real talent is going to want the job under those circumstances. Sy Murray has a national reputation as one of the very best in the business. If I were the city manager of Berkeley or Dallas and I was approached by San Diego after all this, I think I’d take a pass.”

With the council also facing a decision on how to replace Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, who recently pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from misuse of his city-issued credit card and is scheduled to resign by mid-November, Murray’s departure is likely to increase the turmoil at City Hall, Hedgecock said.

“It’s one more big problem and another mark against the city,” Smith said. “Sy Murray coming here was one of the brightest spots in years. Now the council’s turned that into a negative thing. But the council created that problem. Now it’s going to have to deal with it.”