Ballesteros Upset : Council Scraps a Low-Income Housing Plan

Much to the delight of more than two dozen worried homeowners, a San Diego City Council committee on Wednesday scuttled plans to put a small cluster of low-income rental units on a parcel of city-owned land in Clairemont.

But the decision came only after Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros delivered an angry lecture about avoiding an us-versus-them attitude in public housing.

“I was raised in a very poor community. I was them ,” Ballesteros said in a rising voice. “I had an opportunity and now I am an attorney . . . Them is us!”

Ballesteros, who represents a district with a large number of low-income units, also said the city and its housing commission must make sure that subsidized housing is dispersed throughout the city, and not just designed to “clump all the poor people in one spot and say, ‘OK, all of your children go to these terrible schools and our children will go to the good schools.’ ”

The issue that triggered Ballesteros’ ire was what the city would do with a half-acre parcel it owns at the end of Mt. Laurence Drive, just southwest of the Balboa Avenue and Morena Boulevard intersection.

The council voted in May to sell it to the housing commission, and preliminary plans called for building five low-income rental units with 13 parking spaces on the land, which is valued at $210,000. The sale came back to the council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee on Wednesday for additional approval.

Homeowners Complain

The council members, however, unanimously voted to scrap the plans after homeowners in the area complained vigorously that the multifamily units would be out of place in the neighborhood, which is zoned for single-family homes.

“Opening up the street and placing rental units outside of my window would change my way of life,” said Sy Kainen, who lives on Mt. Laurence Drive, next to the vacant lot.

“My view of Mission Bay and the ocean and the hustle of I-5 and Amtrak will be gone,” he said.

Kainen, who served as unofficial spokesman for the homeowners, told council members that the city property was under consideration several years ago for a low-income housing project, but the site was ultimately rejected because the land cost was too high. He also said neighborhood homeowners expected their property values to decline 25% if the low-income units were built.

That fear was repeated by Donna Obata, who said she was worried about what would happen to the value of her home in the 3600 block of Mourtie Avenue if the low-income units were built.

The homeowner testimony prompted the lecture from Ballesteros, who has been telling council members over the last several months that it is time to spread the low-income subsidized units around San Diego.

“Let’s all be careful, though, that we don’t get that virus . . . called NIMBY,” she said, referring to an acronym for the phrase, “not in my back yard.”

Such thinking, she said, has forced “20% of all low-cost housing put into one rural community in San Ysidro. Twenty percent!”

Ballesteros added that it was important for the city to “avoid this ghetto mentality of accumulating all the housing units in one place. That’s what causes problems.”

Voted With Colleagues

Despite the sentiment, Ballesteros joined her colleagues in voting to send the proposed land sale back to the city manager for other consideration, thus scuttling hopes for the Clairemont housing project.

After the meeting, Ballesteros said she voted that way as much for the tenants of the would-be low-income units as for the homeowners.

“Can you imagine if you’re poor and you go into a single-family residential family area and only you live in a multifamily development and everybody in the neighborhood knows ‘That’s where the trash lives?’ ” she asked.

Kainen admitted that he might have a touch of the NIMBY.

“I am the man who is next door,” he said. “It is right in my backyard.”