Who needs a design review board when you have a bulldozer?

By: JIM TRAGESER - Associated Press | Wednesday, March 7, 2007 7:09 PM PST ∞

Sam Abed's idea of "balance" on the issue of historical preservation seems to lean toward the side of the bulldozer.

How else to explain the Escondido city councilman's goofy quote after voting against longtime Escondido history and preservation expert Lucy Berk for a seat on the city's Design Review Board?

After casting one of the three votes that kept Berk off the board last week, Abed told this newspaper that "I believe we should look for somebody who has a balance, who can balance historic preservation with healthy economic development in downtown as well." He also said he wanted someone on the board who would support more residential development downtown.

Umm ... major disconnect with reality here. Earth to Sam: Lucy was on the Design Review Board for many years until resigning two years ago for health reasons, since resolved. She was part of the majority that approved the new condos springing up everywhere downtown. If you're going to ding someone, at least ding them for something they actually did.

As Lucy told me in a recent phone interview, "What Sam doesn't understand is that I'm an arts and architecture preservationist. I'm as interested in the architecture being created now as I am of the architecture of 130 years ago."

Besides, Abed's reasoning in his quote just doesn't make sense. There is no conflict between preservation and economic development: The two most successful downtown areas in the county are the Carlsbad Village and San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, and both owe their success to the ambience and charm created by preserving their historical nature and turning it into a strength. It's a trend Escondido might want to continue to embrace as it has a historical downtown area that's largely intact.

Fairness and affection cause me to point out that Lucy is a friend, as well as a former employee of the Times-Advocate, one of this paper's predecessors.

But she's also one of the sharpest knives in Escondido's drawer, and it's the entire city's loss that we won't have her expertise on the board because of the increasingly petty politics of a current City Council majority that is beginning to make Escondido look like Oceanside east.

Abed seems more interested in ensuring automatic unanimity in Design Review Board decisions than in any kind of meaningful, thought-out review process. By his own admission, he voted against Berk because he doesn't think she'll vote the way he wants, the way that presumably the other board members will. (Although given human nature, I doubt the rest of the Design Review Board will be inclined to serve as the rubber stamp Abed, Gallo and Waldron might be anticipating.)

If there's anything the last year in Escondido should have taught us, it's that democracy is loud, messy and often contentious. Abed of all people should know that.

And denying the residents of Escondido -- and that includes me, for the record -- the services of someone with the knowledge base and passion of a Lucy Berk is to do a great disservice to the taxpayers and voters who put Abed and fellow council members Ed Gallo and Marie Waldron in office.

-- Contact columnist Jim Trageser at (760) 631-6628 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.

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