Scott Maloni has stepped down as chairman of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy organization promoting the economic growth and revitalization of downtown. His one-year term has ended and Maloni, who also served as the interim president since August, will move on to chair a new political action committee started by the partnership. In addition to his volunteer work, Maloni is the vice president of project development for Poseidon Resources, a company that develops and finances water infrastructure projects, with an emphasis on desalination. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in public policy, he returned home to Washington, D.C., to work on Capitol Hill for the Republican Party and later Oliver North, before relocating to San Diego in 1997 to work as Mayor Susan Golding’s press secretary and spokesman. Here is what Maloni had to say about his experiences with the partnership: Why did you get involved with the Downtown San Diego Partnership? Maloni: I joined the downtown board in early 2000, largely for networking opportunities and professional development, since I was working for a public relations consulting firm doing government media relations. I was interested in learning more about downtown in terms of development. It was good for my business to be networked into that community. I really came to appreciate the amazing transformation of downtown over the last 20 to 30 years. Specifically the 10 years that I’ve been here. The second phase of the convention center, the ballpark village, those were projects that had a significant impact in transforming downtown, not only in terms of what downtown looks like, but in terms of the economic and job value. I fell in love with the idea of redeveloping urban areas. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and in my experience every major city had a big downtown. I was not accustomed to living in a city where downtown was not a sophisticated and modern place. I just stayed involved with the partnership and rose up the ladder. How do you feel about Gov. Brown’s proposed plan to eliminate California’s redevelopment agencies? Maloni: Gov. Brown’s budget reform proposal is the single biggest threat to urban areas in California in recent history. It is not only ill-conceived, but it is a Faustian choice, because it’s not going to solve the state’s budget problems and it’s going to rob urban areas throughout California of important tax revenue, job production and economic activity. We are adamantly opposed to his proposal. We’ve written him a letter and we’re working with other organizations to lobby him not to push his redevelopment proposal. The short answer is that it’s a bad idea. What is your proudest accomplishment since working with the Partnership? Maloni: Probably our work on the homeless issue this past year, which is a very severe issue. What I say every opportunity I get is that it’s not a downtown crisis, it’s a San Diego crisis. We have an obligation to address it. So, one of the things we did this past year that we’ve never done before is we partnered with a national organization called Common Ground, and we organized a registry of the most vulnerable people that live on the streets of downtown San Diego. We went out three straight nights between midnight and 3 a.m. and interviewed these folks and asked them serious questions about their histories, heath status, issues with drug abuse, military history, etc. We created profiles so that we could determine which were the most vulnerable and would be subject to difficulties if left unattended. And now we’re in the process of getting them off of the streets and into permanent housing. Of the people that we came in contact with, six have been permanently housed and 37 are in the process of being placed in permanent housing. And that’s a big deal when you look at the number of homeless people that are on the streets downtown. It’s a social issue, it’s an economic issue and it’s something I think we took a leadership role in the past year and I’m really proud of it.