Gotch, Second Council Member Report Threats

Two San Diego City Council members received threats to their well-being last week, police said, and Councilman Mike Gotch confirmed Monday that telephone callers have “threatened my life and property.”

Gotch, who infuriated some residents of his beach-community district by supporting commercial development at the Mission Beach Plunge, said Monday that he received three menacing calls on his telephone answering machine two days after a highly emotional public hearing on the Plunge issue.

“One of those who spoke at the hearing has been observed hanging around my home by Police Department individuals, who have my home under surveillance,” Gotch said.

Cmdr. Keith Enerson, a police spokesman, said that a “couple” of council members had been threatened but he declined to identify them or elaborate on the contents of the threats.

The incidents are under investigation, Enerson said.

The impending development of the historic Plunge building has produced a potent political backlash against Gotch, who has spearheaded plans to replace portions of the dilapidated structure with 70,000 square feet of restaurants and shops.

Those opposed to the Plunge development have sponsored an initiative that would dedicate the Plunge as a park and block the development. They obtained 80,000 signatures in support of the measure, and the city clerk has ruled that it qualifies for the November ballot.

But the vote probably will come too late. Plunge developers have already obtained their building and demolition permits, giving them the opportunity to begin construction before the vote.

A last-ditch attempt by Mayor Maureen O’Connor March 9 to block the construction was foiled when Gotch and a majority of council members rejected her plea to put the project on hold and hold a special mail-in vote on it.

After that meeting, Gotch accused the mayor of “grandstanding” and said she showed poor political sense by inciting his critics.

Gotch said Monday that he received the threats two days after the Plunge meeting. The messages on his answering machine contained an “incredible amount of profanity, sexual threats, allegations and they were anything but political in nature,” he said.

The threats were linked to his vote on the Plunge issue, Gotch said. He said one of them stated that “the next bulldozer you see will come through your house” and run over him.

“I never, never, for the life of me thought there would be people who would threaten my life and property and be serious about it,” Gotch said.

“I’ve been very careful. I’m not living my life any differently, other than I’m extremely careful, looking twice when a car passes me on the road.”

The councilman also said he called the mayor’s office last week, asking O’Connor to stop advocating her position on the Plunge.

“She may be indirectly and unwittingly participating in giving credibility through the mayor’s office to a group of crazies,” Gotch said.

Paul Downey, O’Connor’s press secretary, said Monday that the mayor hasn’t spoken to Gotch since the Plunge hearing and has made no further public statements about her position in the matter.

“She certainly doesn’t want to see anybody get hurt,” Downey said. “Her comments were not meant to stir up anybody in that vein. She was just saying what she believed.”