Community Groups Seek Share of Funds

Led by Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s twin sister, a long train of speakers from a range of community groups made their pitches Wednesday to a San Diego City Council committee for a share of $10.5 million in federal funds earmarked to help low- and moderate-income people.

The task of deciding who will get what will not be easy because the requests total $56.8 million, more than five times the amount that will be available through the Community Development Block Grant program.

The decision was left until another day, and members of the council’s Public Services and Safety Committee simply listened Wednesday as speakers extolled the virtues of 88 programs and projects competing for the funds.

One of those appearing before the committee was Mavourneen O’Connor, the mayor’s twin sister and one-time political adviser. O’Connor asked the committee for $870,000 to renovate the Sandford Hotel downtown for senior-citizen housing.

Option on Property

O’Connor, president of the San Diego Kind Corp., asked for the funds only if her organization is unable to raise an additional $3 million to purchase the 144-room hotel by Nov. 15, the day its option on the property expires.

The $870,000 would be needed to bring the hotel up to earthquake standards, as well as fix the elevators and put in a sprinkler system. The eventual goal, she said, is to refurbish the single-room-occupancy hotel to house low-income senior citizens.

After the hearing, O’Connor said she has not discussed her group’s proposal with her sister. She added that she didn’t believe that the fact the mayor is her sister would affect her request for the money.

“I think the (city’s) SRO ordinance stipulates that there is an emergency situation as far as housing,” O’Connor added. “This is a communitywide effort and we should all have our shoulders to the wheel.”

Mayoral press secretary Paul Downey said Wednesday that the mayor would refrain from voting on her sister’s request if the Sandford Hotel proposal reached the full council for approval. Mayor O’Connor does not sit on the public safety committee.

In addition to O’Connor’s project, backers of other projects made appearances before the council. The requests ranged from $15,000 to conduct a door-to-door historical survey of the older section of San Ysidro, to $3 million for low-income housing programs sponsored by the city Housing Commission.

The San Diego Unified School District made requests for $8.3 million to expand three mid-city school sites--Euclid Elementary, Edison Elementary and Wilson Middle School. The district also wanted $484,000 to expand the Lowell Elementary School in Barrio Logan.

Other Requests

Other requests: $5.1 million for five redevelopment projects in the Southeast Economic Development Corp.; $1 million to construct a community cultural center in the San Ysidro School District; $2.95 million by the Gaslamp Quarter to help with redevelopment along 4th and 5th avenues; $400,000 for new sidewalks in the Barrio Logan area, and $748,000 to acquire a 14,000-square-foot warehouse for the St. Vincent de Paul Center.

Community Development Block Grant funds are administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and are targeted for low-income areas. In the past, the majority of the money has gone to Council Districts 8, 4 and 3, which cover downtown, San Ysidro, Southeast San Diego and the mid-city area.