Last night, I saw a very interesting article on a site called LaPresna.org. In it, they discuss a former San Diego Councilman (Byron Wear) going in front of the city four different times to push hard on approving a development project that would involve a new sports arena district. This in itself is not that odd. Except, in this case, it was a bit different since he wasn’t telling anyone that he was a paid consultant for the project. He was hiding his connection with the project.
The project at issue originally envisioned a new “16,000-seat arena, 25,000 square feet of commercial space, 20 acres of plazas and parks, a 200-room hotel, and 4,250 residential units”. The group selected to do the project, Midway Rising, promised that nearly 2,000 of the housing units were going to be given to those classified as low-income affordable housing residents. This promise of helping low-income people served as “the basis for the team’s selection” by the city. Unfortunately, several months after being given the project, Midway Rising decided that 250+ of these units and the hotel itself were going to cost them too much. So, they scrapped those projects.
Then last month, Byron Wear was sitting in front of the city council for the fourth time, pushing for the city to support certain financing for this $1 billion project.
“As you know I served on the City Council sitting where Councilmember Campbell now sits, back in the day” Wear said as he began testifying before the City Council. Wear went on to list several examples for previous redevelopment projects that used tax increment financing similar to what the Midway Rising project is seeking. “All of this is an important tool in your toolbox to be considered and I hope you will support it” Wear concluded” — LaPresna.org, 03/18/24
He likely went in front of the city last week because the project needs support from anyone after it continues to be given criticism for a number of different issues. People were not happy that Midway Rising had dropped the amount of affordable housing units and the hotel due to the project company wanting the city to give them additional money. People were also a bit angry at the sudden need to subsidize a portion of the project. When it comes to the part of the contract that requires the public to be given something, the project is now “in jeopardy without (a) public subsidy”.
LaPresna.org does a good job going over the complete lack of proper vetting done by the city when selecting this project team in 2022. You should read it. When they tried to talk to Mr. Wear, but he simply stated that he was “not a paid lobbyist for the project”. He then proceeded to do what innocent people tend to stay away from and hang up before answering any other questions.
Let’s quickly go over Wear talking to the city:
- Wear first talked to the city council early last year and told them that he had attended a community meeting held by the construction team. Wear talked about how the project was “on track” and that the developers were “having important conversations with the community”. He never mentions being paid by the project team that he is promoting.
- At his second appearance, Wear reminded the city that 20 years ago, he had seen the need for this project’s “dramatic transformation” of this land. He also goes back and forth with using the word “we” when discussing the construction company and himself. Must have forgotten to mention that little detail. He never discusses the payments given to him by Midway Rising.
- The third time, Wear spoke to the city and claimed that the construction team was being “transparent” because they were continuing “to get out in the community”. I wish someone would have followed up and asked what this meant. Anyway, Wear said all this while still being paid by the project group yet hiding that fact.
When you are promoting something in front of the city council, who makes the decisions on these projects, does that not seem illegal? Sadly, he is legally allowed to do this due to an absurd loophole in the local disclosure requirements.
But even if he were not a paid mouthpiece for the project, why would anyone even listen to this man? He lied about his resume until the Union-Tribune pointed out that, although Wear claimed to have finished many classes in two years at San Diego State, in reality, “he never finished a single course”. Wear also has a track record of backing the wrong horse in big races. Years ago, the city recommended hiring a certain company for a big real estate project in the city. Wear stepped in and pushed very hard to give it to a man who would go on to fulfill nothing in the contract and waste many years for the city.
Things didn’t get better when he left office and into retirement. In 2002, the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote that when Wear left his office, he was doing so “under (an) ethics cloud”? Due to him being fined just $2,000 for accepting “illegal campaign contributions” and essentially failing to pay them back within 90 days. One city commissioner told the newspaper that “there was a general sense in the community that you could not trust him”.
This likely was down to Wear being investigated for “improperly pressur(ing) city lifeguards to help with his 1998 council re-election campaign”. After being cleared of wrong-doing, tapes were then released showing that he did indeed use an emergency phone line to discuss campaign events with on-duty guards.
In 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office began investigating city officials for pension fraud. After charging several pension officials in 2005, the federal government then turned its head to city leaders. Why? Because in 2002, the City Council voted to hide a report that alleged the city’s wastewater system was illegally charging users for things they never happened. It took the state and federal government to threaten holding back $300 million dollars from the city before they changed their wastewater system. Who were the city leaders that kept this report private and hidden?
“Former Mayor Dick Murphy and former and current council members Byron Wear, Toni Atkins, Brian Maienschein, Jim Madaffer and Ralph Inzunza voted to keep the report private” — Voice of San Diego, 2006
The San Diego Business Journal wrote a long story in 2023 that detailed just how badly the city of San Diego was managed by city leaders for the last two decades. In it, the Journal writes that “city officials were caught skinny-dipping in a sea of fraud, dishonesty, cover-ups, denial, negligence, and unaccountability”. One of them? Byron Wear.
So, why would anyone care if he believes this project is good for his wallet, I mean, the local area?
