It\u2019s been 61 years since Pacific Beach Town Council began conferring the well-deserved and hard-earned title of “honorary mayor” to recipients.
\nDuring that time, longtime PB resident and previous honorary mayor Eve Anderson noted, “There are some really amazing people who were mayors, and a lot of them are still around doing great work.”
\nBeach & Bay Press caught up with five of them \u2013 Anderson, Cathie Jolley, Jennifer Tandy, Lou Cumming, and Marcella Teran \u2013 to talk about the role, their participation in it and what it means.
\nAnderson (Smull), PB honorary mayor in 1982, talked about the position\u2019s origin.
\n“In the early days, honorary mayors were chosen by election forms in the old North Shores Sentinel newspaper,” she said. “However, one candidate apparently bought up dozens of papers and sent in the forms.”
\nAnderson said that led to mayors eventually being selected by community groups who nominated them. “Then former honorary mayors met to choose the most deserving,” she said. “That worked well for a while, then a group of former mayors kept selecting their friends, rather than the most deserving. Now the PBTC board chooses from those nominated by community groups.”
\nOf her “mayorship,” Anderson had one problem with it. “Back then, the big deal was to ride in parades. Not just PB\u2019s parade, but Lemon Grove\u2019s, North Park\u2019s, etc. Not my idea of fun, waving and smiling for an hour. However, cutting the ribbon at store openings (this was the \u201980s, great economy, lots of new stores) was fine and you got to meet all sorts of interesting people.”\u00a0
\n“It was an honor to represent Pacific Beach,” remarked Teran, honorary mayor in 2013. Nominated back then for her work with Neighborhood Watch, Teran, who started with four watches 15 years ago, said, “Now we have 89 in PB and four in Mission Beach. I coordinate both PB and MB watches.”
\n“Neighborhood Watch is different,” Teran said of those unconvinced of its value. “It is about building community, and caring and communicating with your neighbors.”
\nRegarding being an honorary mayor, Teran said: “Our community has many issues that bring many of us down at times. The one main thing that keeps me living in Pacific Beach, are all the really nice people I have met through\u00a0my work with Neighborhood Watch, the Pacific Beach Town Council, and especially, my neighborhood.”
\nCumming, honorary mayor in 2015, discussed why the title was bestowed upon.
\n“PBTC board chose me as a result of my seven-plus year effort leading the charge to convince the decision-makers in City Hall to codify the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance, which prohibits oversized vehicles parking on residential streets overnight,” he said. “Our streets were overrun with these oversized vehicles causing safety hazards, health issues, and parking problems.”
\nNoting he was “honored, flattered and surprised” when he became honorary mayor, Cumming said it allowed him “to speak up on community issues wearing that honorary mayor hat as various issues arose.”
\nTandy, honorary mayor in 2014, was recognized for the work she had done over the last 17 years to support and strengthen PB public schools.
\n“I was surprised, honored, absolutely thrilled,” Tandy said. “For years I had felt that the San Diego Unified School District had not fairly or adequately attended to the needs of the four elementary schools, Pacific Beach Middle and Mission Bay High. For 17 years, I fought for equity at the district and city level. I also worked with school site councils to strengthen programming, support staff, and administration and create bridges between our schools.”\u00a0
\nTandy put the title of honorary mayor to good use.
\n“I was able to use the platform to continue to educate and advocate on behalf of the community of PB and the PB schools at countless Board of Education, SDUSD, City Council and town council meetings,” she said. “The Mission Bay Cluster is thriving today, because of the tireless work of many fearless, visionary parents and staff. I am proud to have helped lead the movement for reform, equity, and success in the Mission Bay Cluster.”\u00a0
\nCurrent honorary mayor Jolley is one of several who were appointed after serving as PBTC president.
\n“I tell you it\u2019s an enormous honor,” she said. “The other people who were honorary mayors \u2014 they were my mentors. For someone who loves PB as much as I do, it doesn\u2019t get any better than this.”
\nOf being honorary mayor, Jollie said, “I see my role as partnering with the current PBTC president Brian White.”
\nJolley and White recently teamed to organize the San Diego 2020 mayor\u2019s debate at Mission Bay High.
\nOf honorary mayors, White said: “If you’re tapped to be one it’s a sign that your contributions to the neighborhood have not gone unnoticed. We hit the jackpot this year with Cathie Jolley, who’s been in the trenches fighting for a better PB on a variety of fronts. She is a quintessential steward of Pacific Beach.”\u00a0
\nPointing out her parents were role models for her as community volunteers, Jolley added, “It\u2019s a very comfortable, familiar place for me.” Full list of honorary mayors:
\n2019 \u2013 Cathie Jolley
\n2018 \u2013 Bill Marsh
\n2017 \u2013 Alan Harris
\n2016 \u2013 Joe Wilding
\n2015 \u2013 Lou Cumming
\n2014 \u2013 Jennifer Tandy
\n2013 \u2013 Marcella Teran
\n2012 \u2013 John Westwood
\n2011 \u2013 Mark Johnston
\n2010 \u2013 Todd Brown
\n2009 \u2013 John Logan
\n2008 \u2013 Don Mullen
\n2007 \u2013 Susan Roth
\n2006 \u2013 Karl Jaedtke
\n2005 \u2013 Lynda Tickey
\n2004 \u2013 Carol Blomstrom
\n2003 \u2013 Harrell Hurt
\n2002 \u2013 Mary Cook
\n2001 \u2013 Walt Wade
\n2000 \u2013 Otto Emme
\n1999 \u2013 Georgina Smith
\n1998 \u2013 Dan Froelich
\n1997 \u2013 Mary Louise Rogers
\n1996 \u2013 Pug Sandford
\n1995 \u2013 Tom and Jeanne Richards
\n1994 \u2013 Dave Crow
\n1993 \u2013 Jeff Sykes
\n1992 \u2013 John Gartner
\n1991 \u2013 Mary Wilding
\n1990 \u2013 Linda Lopez
\n1989 \u2013 Jim Moore
\n1988 \u2013 Barbara Hughes
\n1987 \u2013 Paul Johnsen
\n1986 \u2013 Harry Whelply
\n1985 \u2013 Harry Whelply
\n1984 \u2013 Bob O\u2019Regan
\n1983 \u2013 Leonard Johnson
\n1982 \u2013 Eve Smull (Anderson)
\n1981 \u2013 John Fry
\n1980 \u2013 John Pernicano
\n1979 \u2013 Mary Heising
\n1978 \u2013 Carmelita Swartz
\n1977 \u2013 Carmelita Swartz
\n1976 \u2013 Tom Chadwick
\n1975 \u2013 Annie McDaniel
\n1974 \u2013 Monsignor Doxie
\n1973 \u2013 Ardith Taylor
\n1972 \u2013 June Sandford
\n1971 \u2013 Gerry Seymour
\n1970 \u2013 Bruno Giuffrida
\n1969 \u2013 John Dowell
\n1968 \u2013 Ruth C. Smith
\n1967 \u2013 Billie Vine
\n1966 \u2013 Bob Jackson
\n1965 \u2013 George Ghareeb
\n1964 \u2013 Wally Vine
\n1963 \u2013 Steve Stevens
\n1962 \u2013 Don Paull
\n1961 \u2013 Roy Slack
\n1960 \u2013 Chuck Morgan
\n1959 \u2013 Tom Johnston
\n1958 \u2013 Sam Dunaway.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been 61 years since Pacific Beach Town Council began conferring the well-deserved and hard-earned title of “honorary mayor” to recipients. During that time, longtime PB resident and previous honorary mayor Eve Anderson noted, “There are some really amazing people who were mayors, and a lot of them are still around doing great work.” Beach […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Honorary mayors stay active to keep Pacific Beach great","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}