A recent letter questioned the City Council’s ability to manage large real estate transactions. I strongly agree further training would benefit all city-d agencies and our City Council. This is a void that my office identified and flagged as part of the Ethics Reform Package we introduced in December. It is now up to the council president to docket this issue for discussion. While we always welcome public input, I would like to clarify that the City Attorney’s Office did not have a role in the reported purchase of two hotels by the San Diego Housing Commission, which has its own staff, its own processes, its own governing body and its own legal counsel. After discovering an apparent conflict of interest, the commission did ask my office to recover the ill-gotten gains paid to a real estate broker, which we did, recovering nearly $1 million for city taxpayers.
— Mara W. Elliott, San Diego city attorney
