Ocean Beach Activist to Run Against Roberts

Saying that 2nd District residents are “worse off” than they were four years ago because of the San Diego City Council’s “incompetence,” Ocean Beach community activist Rich Grosch on Wednesday announced his candidacy for the seat now held by Councilman Ron Roberts.

At a bayfront news conference, Grosch, chairman of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, faulted Roberts and the City Council for failing to solve problems ranging from growth management and pollution to crime and the much-debated question of San Diego’s airport needs.

Roberts and the council, Grosch charged, are “nothing but smoke, mirrors and press events.”

“They have not dealt with the important problems facing our neighborhoods and families,” said Grosch, a one-time aide to former Councilman Mike Gotch. “Crime, pollution, homelessness, the deterioration in our quality of life threaten young and old, rich and poor.”

Aircraft noise from Lindbergh Field has long made the debate over its expansion or relocation a major issue in the 2nd District, which includes several communities beneath the airport’s takeoff path.

Roberts, who pledged to search for long-range solutions to the airport problem in his 1987 council campaign, has spearheaded recent efforts aimed at exploring the feasibility of a binational airport straddling the border between Tijuana and Otay Mesa.

Grosch, however, complained that Roberts’ proposal will not solve the existing noise problem and falls short of his 1987 campaign pledges, noting that the so-called “TwinPorts” plan envisions the continued operation of Lindbergh Field.

“People in the 2nd District do not want a second airport,” said Grosch, 46. “We want Lindbergh closed.”

With Roberts being widely mentioned as a 1992 mayoral candidate, Grosch, using a tactic common among challengers, hopes to make the incumbent’s political aspirations an issue in the September primary by pledging to serve a full four-year term and challenging Roberts to do the same.