HBA elects new board and president

Candidate ruled ineligible threatens legal action

By Ken Williams | Editor

The members of the Hillcrest Business Association have elected nine board members and a new president, Tami Daiber, but not without a dispute by a candidate ruled ineligible to run for a seat.

The annual meeting was held Oct. 13 at Oscar Wilde’s Irish Pub in Hillcrest. Special guest was Toni G. Atkins, Speaker of the California Assembly, who talked about her accomplishments in Sacramento over the past year and her plans to run for the California Senate against incumbent and fellow Democrat, Marty Block.

Ben Nicholls, executive director of the HBA, stands on a chair as he speaks to guests at the annual meeting and introduces Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins. (Photo by Ken Williams)

Nine people were elected to the board:

Tami Daiber – Carleton Management
Michael Brennan – Carlson Douglas
Charles Kauffman – Bread and Cie
Ryan Bedrosian – Rich’s Night Club
Larry Malone – Empire House Urban Palate
Paul Smith – The Merrow
Alphonso Tsang – Comerica Bank
Gioia Marino-Fanelli – Gioia’s Room
Delour Younan – Hillcrest Shell

The holdover board members who did not face election this year are Maggie Roland of Maggie Roland Associates, Bryan Lovering of Adam and Eve, and Pete Katz of Katz Real Estate.

After the new board members were seated that night, they elected new officers.

Tami Daiber, representing Carleton Management, was selected as the new president. She replaces Johnathan Hale of Hale Media, publisher of San Diego Gay & Lesbian News and San Diego PIX magazine. After serving two terms as president, Hale quietly resigned his leadership post a couple of weeks ago, and the HBA did not inform the media. Ben Nicholls, executive director of the HBA, said Hale left for personal reasons but will remain involved in the organization as the volunteer chair of the HBA’s Special Events Committee. The HBA produces a number of popular civic events, including Cityfest and the upcoming Nightmare on Normal Street on Oct. 31.

(l to r) Cecelia Moreno and Nancy Younan (Photo by Ken Williams)

The other three executive officers were re-elected to their positions: Glenn Younger as vice president, Cecelia Moreno as treasurer and Michael Brennan as secretary. To read brief biographies on the new board and current staff, visit bit.ly/1jI6wcK.

“As our board continues to evolve, we have been able to move forward and progress because of the diversity of our membership and community. I am very excited to see our board reflect that very same diversity here tonight,” Nicholls said in a statement made immediately after the election.

Business owners who fully paid their Business Improvement District (BID) assessment as of Sept. 1, 2015 were eligible to vote or to run for a board seat. Nicholls said the requirement disqualified one board candidate, David Lundin, listed as a co-owner of T-Deli and T-Lounge, and a longtime community activist. T-Lounge, until recently, was known as Bamboo Lounge.

Nicholls said the HBA staff checked on Sept. 1 to see if T-Deli and T-Lounge (Alex Marin is listed on documents as the primary owner) had paid their BID assessments. “We found that they owed $1,116,” Nicholls said, estimating that amount is about two years of fees.

The HBA website contains a document labeled “Members in poor standing” that lists businesses which are behind on BID assessments. Read it at bit.ly/1NgeRyr.

“It appears that on Sept. 11, in order to avoid those fees, Alex canceled one business license saying that Bamboo Lounge was ‘out of business.’ He then opened a new license ‘T-Deli/T-Lounge’ with a clean slate,” Nicholls said. “Unfortunately, he did that right at the time of the election and so David was disqualified from running. They came up with all sorts of reasons why they were in fact eligible, but the city treasurer made the call.”

Guests at Hillcrest Business Association’s annual meeting munch on food at Oscar Wilde’s Irish Pub in Hillcrest. (Photo by Ken Williams)

Lundin and Nicholls traded a number of emails on Oct. 13, before the annual meeting and afterward, many shared with San Diego Uptown News and city officials. In emails to Nicholls and city official Elizabeth Studebaker, Lundin disputed that he was disqualified as a candidate and demanded “Preservation of Evidence” in his final email sent that night.

“Please take immediate steps to preserve the original ballots, in all the different formats, tally sheets, handwritten notes and all other documents relating to the balloting process …” Lundin wrote. “These are documents in a civil dispute, and should be retained and safeguarded by a neutral third party — neither the HBIA nor Ms. Studebaker.

“I would also appreciate receiving a final tally of votes received by each candidate appearing on all/any of the various forms of ballot used this evening, including myself,” he continued.

“I will move forward to seek judicial relief from this ‘sham’ process,” he concluded.

As of press time, no legal action has been taken.

—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and Mission Valley News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952. Follow him on Twitter at KenSanDiego, Instagram account at KenSD or Facebook at KenWilliamsSanDiego.