###  

DECEPTIVE  ANTI-­‐ONE  PASEO  REFERENDUM  DRIVE  FUELS  RECORD    NUMBER  OF  SIGNATURE-­‐WITHDRAWAL  REQUESTS  

City  Clerk  received  unprecedented  29,550  forms  seeking  to  rescind  support  for  petition San  Diegans  for  Jobs  and  Sustainable  Communities,  with  major  funding  by  Kilroy  Realty,  today  announced  that  the  City  Clerk  has  received  an  unprecedented  29,550  signature-­‐withdrawal  forms  for  the  referendum  petition  being  circulated  by  One  Paseo  opponents.    One  Paseo  was  approved  with  a  7-­‐2  bipartisan  vote  of  the  San  Diego  City  Council  in  February,  following  six  years  of  community  engagement  by  developer  Kilroy  Realty  and  public  input  that  resulted  in  numerous  refinements  to  the  One  Paseo  plan.  The  project  includes  homes,  shops  and  offices  in  a  walkable  main  street  environment  on  23  acres  in  Carmel  Valley.    The  highly  deceptive  referendum  signature-­‐gathering  effort  to  overturn  the  City  Council  approval  was  bankrolled  by  Orange  County-­‐based  Donahue  Schriber,  the  owner  of  an  adjacent  retail  center.  It  follows  Donahue  Schriber’s  spending  millions  of  dollars  on  lobbying  to  block  One  Paseo’s  approval  by  the  City  Council.    Should  the  referendum  be  certified  with  the  necessary  34,000  valid  signatures,  the  City  Council  would  be  required  to  reconsider  the  issue  and  either  to  overturn  its  approval  or  place  the  issue  on  an  upcoming  ballot.    Among  the  documented  false  statements  made  by  Donahue  Schriber’s  referendum  signature-­‐gatherers  were  that  One  Paseo  will  be  built  with  taxpayer  dollars;  that  it’s  being  built  on  a  wetland  or  that  it  threatens  endangered  species;  that  it’s  going  to  destroy  an  existing  park;  that  it  will  prevent  the  city  from  being  able  to  afford  a  Chargers  stadium;  and  that  the  referendum  petition  is  actually  a  petition  to  support  affordable  housing.    “The  irony  in  these  misrepresentations  is  that  One  Paseo  will  be  the  most  environmentally  sustainable  project  ever  built  in  San  Diego,”  said  Rachel  Laing,  spokesperson  for  One  Paseo.  “This  project  will  transform  a  vacant  graded  lot  into  acres  of  public  open  space,  provide  affordable  housing,  create  thousands  of  jobs  and  generate  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  economic  activity  –  all  via  private  investment.”    The  number  of  signature  withdrawals  San  Diegans  submitted  to  the  City  Clerk  is  10  times  the  number  of  withdrawals  turned  in  for  the  recent  minimum  wage  referendum,  which  had  previously  held  the  signature-­‐withdrawal  record  in  the  city  with  2,900  rescissions.      "Clearly,  San  Diegans  in  large  numbers  felt  compelled  to  withdraw  their  signatures  from  the  referendum  petition  once  they  learned  more  about  One  Paseo,"  said  Laing.  "We’re  thankful  so  many  San  Diegans  chose  to  listen  to  and  consider  the  facts  about  this  important  and  iconic  smart-­‐growth  project  –  and  took  the  time  to  rescind  their  signatures  if  they  felt  they’d  been  misled."    "The  fact  is,  the  more  people  know  about  One  Paseo,  the  more  inclined  they  are  to  support  it."