Last week, former San Diego City Councilmember Donna Frye sent one of the staffers for Mayor Todd Gloria a picture of poop. “This Kodak Moment is from Mission Bay Park this morning near one of the closed bathrooms. Please share with the mayor.”Frye was adding hers to the ongoing hum of voices upset at the city’s closure of restrooms in Mission Bay Park, some of which were just recently constructed. It’s not going away. Councilmember Raul Campillo, whose effort to re-open them went somewhat viral, kept up his case. He sent a survey to subscribers to his newsletter and found that 98 percent of them think that the city should follow his plan to re-allocate a budget item set aside for a ballot measure that won’t happen to open the bathrooms.Engaging frustrated residents about the budget seems to be part of the goal.The city could have just locked the bathrooms — they do this all the time — but staff added context with signs that read: “Closed until further notice due to budget reductions.” Helpfully, an angsty bathroom-needer is invited to scan a QR code to find the nearest restroom.You may assume that would lead to an interactive map that shows where you are and where the nearest relief is. It does not. It leads to the Mission Bay Park site on sandiego.gov and if you scroll down, you can see a link to “restroom availability.” That leads to a PDF map of which restrooms are closed and which are not. If a visitor doesn’t know where they are in Mission Bay, maybe they can flip back and forth between Google maps and the PDF and figure it out.(They could have just printed the map instead of the QR code on the sign but then you wouldn’t get to learn how many acres the park is, which is maybe calming as you try to hold it.)The Politics Report reached out to Frye for her thoughts. She’s long been an advocate for Mission Bay. In 2008 she helped pass Measure C, which set in motion the concept of keeping some of the lease revenue from all the hotels and attractions there in the park. And in 2016, Measure J allowed more of that money to be used for things like restrooms.That’s why there are new restrooms being built even while the city can’t keep them open.“The mayor and Council have stepped in it again,” she said. “Sorry, this just lends itself too easily to potty humor.”“This is a problem that can be easily corrected and will cost a lot more than what you save in dollars and in good will and bad publicity and public sentiment and in the health hazards you’re creating,” she said.It’s such a small amount of money in the grand scheme of San Diego’s finances. It is hard to figure out what’s really going on here. The “due to budget reductions” signs and the stubbornness to budge or find a creative solution does contribute to a theory that the city leaders want you to feel the angst and translate it into “we should give the city more money.”But they’re also not asking for more money. They have new money from the new trash fee, and Measure C, the hotel room tax – specifically a tax on visitors who are the exact type of people who need public restrooms in Mission Bay park.But there’s nothing else even on the horizon. “This city needs more revenue” is a fine position for someone to take but then maybe they should take it?Instead, we’re left with no hope. The message is: We don’t have the money. Your ideas for finding the money are childish and short-sighted. Just download the PDF and move along.Where’s Jen?Campillo saw a leadership opportunity in the Mission Bay situation and jumped on it. As he prepares to run for mayor, this is perfect.But this also isn’t his district.Similarly, last week, Council President Joe LaCava took to the socials and excoriated the kids for jumping off Sunset Cliffs. Like all great things, social media has turned a slightly-less-known gem into a trending spot and hordes of young people have headed to the most prominent jumping spot. A couple of them chose more daring versions and required rescue. One hopes to walk again.Rescues at the Cliffs are nothing new. But the volume of jumpers is and so then is the volume of injuries.Like a good dad, LaCava’s statement was part warning, part threat.“I am concerned about what actions the city might take to protect the sensitive cliffs, including fencing the cliffs from the public,” he said. “Don’t be the one that pushes the city towards closures.”He said they should look to joining the junior lifeguards annual jumps off the pier in La Jolla if they want to jump in the ocean. I love that. I picture him with a clipboard going to some 22 year old about to jump and saying, hey, would you consider paying $150 and waiting a year for a chance to jump with proper supervision?But again, this wasn’t his district. This is Councilmember Jen Campbell’s district as is Mission Bay. Normally, the councilmembers try to stay out of their colleagues’ districts.Campbell said she prefers to work in the background.“There’s a certain etiquette at City Council, a way you treat your colleagues. It’s a certain etiquette that the newer members never learned. You contact Councilmember of the district where you want to say something or do something. People have suggested I write up a new etiquette book. We had one, but it’s been lost,” she said.She said the mayor assured her he would not close bathrooms at the beach.“I assumed that meant Mission Bay, those are beaches. But I shouldn’t have assumed anything. I don’t care where they find the money but they must reopen them,” she said.“One fourth to one half of the city’s budget is based on tourism and sales tax, both of which go up when we have tourists so we need to do everything we can to assure us that it never goes down. If you close those bathrooms, you make visitors upset and they may not come back,” said Campbell.—Scott Lewis oversees Voice of San Diego’s operations, website and daily functions as Editor in Chief. He also writes about local politics, where he frequently… More by Scott LewisThis story was first published by Voice of San Diego. Sign up for Voice’s newsletters here.
