San Diego office tower raises an uproar
An office building that lies in the middle of a flight path is rekindling political scandal.
By Randy Dotinga | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the July 18, 2007 edition
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San Diego - One might think it would be impossible for a developer to erect a building so tall that it blocks a flight path to an airport.
Not in the topsy-turvy political world of San Diego, where the construction of a new office tower is spawning allegations of corruption and municipal incompetence. It's the latest brouhaha in the saga of a near-bankrupt city reeling from years of scandals and mismanagement.
The crux of the matter – and the catalyst for a $40 million lawsuit and the crumbling of the mayor's reputation – is an ordinary 12-story office building that somehow managed to be approved, built, and nearly finished even though it is 20 feet taller than the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it should be. It is, after all, smack in the middle of a flight path that private pilots use during bad weather.
How did it get built in the first place? Good question. The developer, the city, and the FAA are all busy pointing fingers, while the city attorney is using the case to cast his biggest enemy – the mayor – as a crook.
Razing the roof?
The latest twist came last week when the developer reluctantly agreed to tear down the top two floors of the office tower. But that's far from the end of the matter, since at least two investigations are ongoing and the developer is in no rush to break out the wrecking ball.
"There's so much in this that we don't know. It's hard to come to firm conclusions about what actually went on," says Brian Adams, a political scientist at San Diego State University.
But he says one thing is clear: Mayor Jerry Sanders, a former police chief who was elected in 2005 on a platform of reform and good government, has lost his halo.
"He didn't come out of this looking efficient and businesslike," Mr. Adams says. "For the first time since becoming mayor, he really stumbled on an ethical issue."
Mayor Sanders has found himself in hot water over his relationship with Sunroad Enterprises, developer of the building. Sunroad gave a reported $3,600 to the mayor's campaign, and critics charge that Sanders sat on his hands as construction of the office tower continued despite warnings by the city attorney. He only recently began aggressively taking on the developer.
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