San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was elected in 2020 on a platform of transforming the city's transportation system to be less car-centric. But since taking office, Gloria has skipped most of the public meetings where transportation decisions are made.
KPBS reviewed nearly four years of attendance records for the board meetings of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the county's transportation planning agency, and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), which operates most of the county's bus and trolley lines.
The review showed Gloria has missed half of the 80 SANDAG board meetings he was entitled to attend as mayor. Of the 43 MTS board meetings held since his inauguration, Gloria attended only one, missing the other 98%. His one appearance at MTS was to break a stalemate over the board chairmanship.
The absences stand in stark contrast to Gloria's past campaign promises. At a candidate forum in August 2019, Gloria called out then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer for his frequent absences at SANDAG. He also touted his support for a state law signed in 2017 that transformed the agency's governance structure to give the city of San Diego more influence.
"(The law) gives the mayor of San Diego the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat at both SANDAG and MTS in building a new transportation vision for our future," Gloria said. "Our current mayor does not elect to use that authority. This mayor will."
When asked to explain his SANDAG attendance record, Gloria said even when he is absent, the city of San Diego is still represented via his alternate board member.
But attendance records show Gloria's alternate, currently City Councilmember Raul Campillo, was also absent from at least 10 SANDAG board meetings — most recently on Sept. 13. At the meeting on Sept. 27, when board members were discussing long-term plans for San Diego's freeways and public transit system, Campillo was present but did not speak a word from the dais.
Gloria added that he meets regularly with SANDAG CEO Mario Orso to advocate for the city's interests in regional planning decisions.
"It isn't to say I'm not actively engaged in this — I am," Gloria said at a KPBS mayoral debate on Oct. 3. "I have staff that look at this all the time. I'm briefed on it constantly."
Gloria had a near perfect attendance record at SANDAG in the first two years of his term, serving as the board's vice chair and working to kill a proposal to charge motorists 2 cents for every mile they drive in the county. The funding would have been used to build new high-speed rail lines across the county and improve the existing transit network with faster speeds and more frequent service.
Then in late 2022, as the SANDAG board elected new leadership, Gloria's attendance started to drop off. Gloria said his behind-the-scenes advocacy is still bringing more transportation dollars to San Diego through projects like the Pershing Bikeway and the Normal Street Promenade.
"I thought it was an appropriate time to allow new leadership to ascend at the board and to allow one of our councilmembers to have a more active role there," Gloria explained at the KPBS debate. "Our current approach is working. If I find that it doesn't work, we'll make an adjustment."
Mayoral spokesperson Rachel Laing later said in an email that Gloria had also taken on additional leadership roles, "including chairmanship of the California Big City Mayors Coalition; leadership roles at the US Conference of Mayors; and a position on the Air Pollution Control District, where he has been a strong advocate for measures to address the air quality issues in the South Bay and Tijuana River Valley pollution."
Still, Gloria's inconsistent attendance at SANDAG has frustrated some allies who share his vision of a less car-centric transportation system.
"Mayor Gloria has said that climate change, building housing, and reducing traffic are priorities," said Chris Roberts, a transportation advocate with the environmental group SanDiego350. "To have an impact, the mayor must be directly involved. His voice and his leadership are needed at the SANDAG and MTS board meetings, where many of the key decisions are made."
Gloria is not the only SANDAG board member with a spotty attendance record. City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera has attended only two SANDAG board meetings this year, despite serving as the board's first vice chair.
Overall, Elo-Rivera has missed just over a third of SANDAG board meetings since becoming council president. He has missed only three MTS meetings since joining that agency’s board in 2021.
Elo-Rivera told KPBS in a statement that he has always been represented by an alternate when absent from the SANDAG board, and that he has attended all five of this year's SANDAG executive committee meetings. He said he decided to share his SANDAG duties with his alternate, Councilmember Vivian Moreno, "who expressed to me an interest in playing a more active role at the agency."
"One of my responsibilities as council president is to support the leadership of my colleagues, especially when they demonstrate knowledge and passion for an issue and their communities are impacted by the issue," Elo-Rivera said. "Through partnering with Councilmember Moreno, I have been able to maintain my representation for the city on the SANDAG executive committee while expanding representation of underserved communities at the SANDAG board."
