Ballpark Deal Blasted Again

Mayor Susan Golding and other city officials withheld key information from voters and also used improper influence to get a taxpayers’ group to endorse their drive for a downtown ballpark, the San Diego County Grand Jury charged Friday.

The grand jury issued the blistering report, its third criticizing portions of the ballpark project, as part of its oversight role for local government. There were no criminal indictments.

The grand jury alleged that Golding withheld from the public revenue projections suggesting that hotel-motel taxes will not be sufficient to repay the ballpark bonds and that city funds may be required, which could lead to a cutback in city services.

The grand jury also said that City Council members, including Golding, made an unusual number of phone calls from their offices to board members of the San Diego County Taxpayers Assn. in the weeks before the politically influential group endorsed Proposition C despite misgivings from some of its staff members.

Passed by voters in November by 59.5% to 40.5%, the measure calls for a 42,000-seat baseball-only stadium to keep the Padres from leaving San Diego. The city would pay 70% of the $411-million price tag.

Some of the calls from Golding were to the taxpayers association official who is also vice president of a firm that, soon after the election, was given a city contract for an ultra low-flow flush toilet rebate program. The firm was awarded the contract by the City Council even though it was not the low bidder, the grand jury said.

Golding lashed back with a detailed, three-page rebuttal that called the grand jury report “a disappointment to all those who have fought so passionately for the redevelopment of downtown and for the future of the city. It is also an affront to every informed San Diego voter. . . .”

While the project appears to be moving ahead, there are still obstacles, including opposition from private landowners to having their property taken through condemnation, lingering questions about tax revenues and a recently completed environmental impact report that warned of traffic jams, parking problems and noise.