San Diego Coastkeeper

City of San Diego Scores a ‘B’ on 2006 Clean Water Report Card

SAN DIEGO, CA - On October 18, the 34th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act, San Diego Coastkeeper released the 2006 Clean Water Report Card, which examines the voting record of each City Council member over the past year on issues impacting the health of local waters and coastal habitat. The City received an overall ‘B’ grade on the 5th Annual Report Card, with three Council members scoring ‘A’ grades.

The Report Card, prepared by Strategic Community Consulting and commissioned by Coastkeeper, reviewed 23 votes taken by the City Council from October 2005 through September 2006. The votes considered included land-use decisions that impact urban runoff pollution (e.g. Downtown Development Plan, Regents Road Bridge, Hillel Community Center), enhancement projects (e.g. wetlands restoration, Chollas Creek and Famosa Slough enhancement), sewage and water treatment projects, habitat protection (e.g. La Jolla Children’s Pool) and funding allocation for coastal protection.

“We believe this Report is the most comprehensive evaluation of the City’s performance yet,” noted Strategic Community Consulting Project Manager Todd Frank. “The Report Card covers a broad range of issues that impact the health of our coast and ocean.”

Donna Frye scored the highest grade of any Council member, with a 100% pro-coastal voting record, earning her an ‘A+’. She is the only Councilmember to score in the ‘A’ range on each of the five Report Cards. Councilmember Frye was followed by Toni Atkins and Brian Mainschein, who each scored an ‘A-‘. Kevin Faulconer and Ben Hueso, the two newest Councilmembers, each received a ‘C+’, the lowest marks on the evaluation.

“It is encouraging to see so many Council members scoring high marks and the City doing a solid job on coastal protection despite our financial situation,” stated Coastkeeper Executive Director Bruce Reznik. “Of course our goal is to see everyone receive an ‘A’ grade in future years, and we will continue to reach out to all Council offices to make that a reality.”

The Report Card was initiated in 2002 as an independent assessment of the City Council on votes on issues impacting the health of our coast, bays and inland waterways in the City of San Diego. It seeks to educate San Diegans about the votes taken by Council members, and increase accountability of our elected officials.

On the 5th anniversary, the 2006 Clean Water Report Card also includes a statistical analysis of whether the evaluation has had an impact on Councilmembers’ votes over that time.

Added Frank, “While 5 years is a relatively small sample, the results from our analysis demonstrate that that receipt of a bad grade on the Clean Water Report Card significantly increases the chance that a City Council member will vote pro-environment during the subsequent year.”

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San Diego Coastkeeper protects the region’s bays, beaches, watersheds and ocean for the people and wildlife that depend on them. We balance community outreach, education, and advocacy to promote stewardship of clean water and a healthy coastal ecosystem.

Strategic Community Consulting (SCC) provides graduate student consulting services from the University of California's Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) to nonprofit clients in the San Diego area. Additionally, SCC has sought to develop knowledge sharing, community partnerships with area nonprofits, IR/PS staff and faculty, and individuals interested in promoting the capacity of civil society in San Diego.