Carolyn Smith

Dialogue with Tom Blair

AS PRESIDENT of the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) since 1994, Carolyn Smith knows the neighborhoods of Southeastern San Diego better than just about anyone. But she didn’t learn it in 14 years at SEDC’s helm. She grew up there, the daughter of George Walker Smith, preacher, civic conscience and the first African-American to serve on the San Diego School Board. Her passion for the community was fostered during her own school years. After getting the bug for neighborhood activism as a teenager, she earned her bachelor’s degree in urban studies at San Francisco State University and a master’s from San Diego State University. A veteran of more than two decades with SEDC, she still lives in Southeastern San Diego, with a home in Oak Park.

TOM BLAIR: You’re a native San Diegan, an extremely rare breed. Where were you born——what neighborhood?

CAROLYN SMITH: Sherman Heights.

TB: And you grew up there?

CS: Until my father ran for board of education. Soon after he won, we moved to Valencia Park. My parents still live there.

TB: You’ve seen some changes in the old Southeastern neighborhoods.

CS: Oh, absolutely.

TB: You’ve been responsible for many of them. How satisfying is your job?

CS: This is what I’ve always wanted to do, so it’s absolutely satisfying——even with its challenges.

TB: What was it like for a young, African-American girl growing up in a city like San Diego in the late 1950s and ’60s? How different is it now?

CS: Well, I do remember instances of discrimination. For example, my mother wanted us to be exposed to as much as we could, and so they had us join the YWCA downtown. Some things happened to my sister and me there——when you look back on them, you think: Wow, did that really happen? Things like the other kids not picking us for their teams. And I remember Marie Hitchcock, who used to do the puppet shows for the kids. She also made puppets with the kids, but my mother had to help us with ours. Marie Hitchcock would not even work with us.

TB: Is San Diego much different today for young African-Americans?

CS: It is. If you’re talking about physically, it’s always been beautiful. It’s grown tremendously, obviously. Downtown and many of the other communities have improved. But I think there are still some challenges in how we deal with one another. People of San Diego still have certain perceptions of certain communities. But that goes on all over the country, so it’s not something San Diego owns.

TB: What led you to this mission of redeveloping Southeastern San Diego? You’ve said it was always something you wanted to do.

CS: Well, first——talk about changes in the community: We were among the first students to have to get on the bus——after the Carlin [desegregation] case came down. And so I was out at Point Loma High School. In the summers, if you wanted to graduate early, you could do a summer program. I did an exchange program between O’Farrell Junior High and Taft Junior High. It was about urban studies. That opened my eyes to urban planning. We had to select a project in one of the neighborhoods, and we selected an implementation plan for sidewalks along Skyline Drive to get to O’Farrell. Something that simple.

TB: You didn’t have sidewalks to get to school?

CS: No. So I made the presentation, and [then–City Councilman] Leon Williams was there. And [the politicians] all nodded and said, “We’ll look into that.” Well, I’m not going to take credit for it, but there are sidewalks there today. So, back then I began to research how you do these kinds of things. You know, we grew up in a household where it was pretty much mandated that you’re going to do things for the betterment of where you are. That’s my father’s thing: “You’d better leave the place better than you found it.” So, from the exposure I had, it was always going to be either education or politics. But when I found out about this “planning” thing, it was like “Wow, this is it. This works.”

TB: So you continued your studies in that.

CS: Yes. I went to San Francisco State University, one of a few places that had an urban studies program. Came back to the graduate program at San Diego State University. Then I worked a little bit for the county of San Diego, worked for the city of San Clemente and then came here to SEDC.

TB: Okay, I’ve heard something about “the letter.” Tell me what that was all about.

CS: At Point Loma High, we had an English class where we had to write a persuasive letter to a government official——where you had a reasonable expectation of getting a response. I wrote about the Highway 252 corridor, the rescinding of it. I wrote to Councilmen Jim Bates and Leon Williams, and they both wrote me back——so I did get an “A” on that project.

TB: The 252 was the highway that would have split the Southeastern community in half.

CS: Right. They had already razed the houses, but the community was adamant about not having another freeway through here. And so they were very successful in persuading the city of San Diego to rescind. For me to be able to come back and work on that as a project at SEDC is just phenomenal.

TB: So what’s there now?

CS: It’s completed, except for the park. SEDC, on behalf of the redevelopment agency, gave 9 acres and $500,000, so the first half of the park is complete. Now we’re coming in with another $1.8 million for the second half of the park. The Chavez Elementary School is there, and there’s some residential and retail.

TB: Your father casts a long shadow. His good works in this city are legendary. Did he inspire you to pursue this kind of work, or was it your own passion?

CS: It was my own. I think he inspired me from the standpoint that I didn’t want to do anything he even remotely knew about. I didn’t want somebody to say, “Oh, you only got that because . . .” So, in part, I selected something he knew nothing about, cared nothing about——whereas my sister was a teacher. But then she loved to teach. You know, my dad used to say, “Are you embarrassed of me, or something?” No. I just wanted to be me.

TB: With the exception of downtown, I can’t think of one neighborhood that’s changed as much as Southeastern in the past five to10 years. SEDC has been at this for a quarter-century. Was the change slow going at first?

CS: It was very slow going. Actually, there was some consideration being given by one of the previous city administrations to just close it down, because they didn’t think things were going fast enough. Luckily, they changed their minds.

TB: Does momentum seem to be working in your favor now?

CS: It does. But there’s still a struggle; there are still the perception problems. In spite of something like [the retail center] Imperial Marketplace, where you’re 40 feet below grade, and you’re across the street from a cemetery, and you don’t have any freeway exposure. Imperial Marketplace is working. You just have to find the right combination, the right developer who’s willing to take the risk. When Sizzler steakhouse was going to sign the deal, the guy took a drive around here, and said, “I’m not sure about this neighborhood.” But he’s a really good operator, and it turned out fine. Now there are two sit-down restaurants [at Imperial Marketplace]. So most people understand they will make money——they’ll make money on our terms, in respect to hiring and things like that——but they’ll make money.

TB: But it still takes some persuasion.

CS: It does. I give the example of an article in a newspaper that will remain unnamed. It was talking about two street fairs that happened on Imperial Avenue——and instead of saying something positive, like “a street that will take you from Lemon Grove to the new ballpark,” they called Imperial “a gritty street.” That was written in 2007, so we still have some work to do. What people don’t understand is that it hurts. If I had a blank canvas, and I could do anything, it would be to make it so that people here wouldn’t be embarrassed to say where they live. Instead, people will say, “Uh, I’m just north of Bonita.” Boy, that’s a stretch. I just want the young people of this community to be proud of where they live.

TB: What’s been the most significant accomplishment of SEDC in the 26 years since its inception? Has it been something as basic as getting the message out that it’s a good place to live?

CS: That’s part of it. We have a positive image, but I think we still have a lot of work to do to get the message out. And our ability to go to the bond market, even when the city can’t, is significant to me. We’ve been to the bond market three times. We’re topping most of the redevelopment areas in terms of tax increment, because we vary the products we do. It’s not just residential. It’s some industrial, and there’s some commercial. Our increment levels for the past five years were so high the bond folks wanted to adjust that. They said, “We just don’t think that trend’s going to continue.” And I’m like “Yeah, okay. Whatever. Come back and see us.”

TB: How much has the retail and light industrial——and even the residential——done to provide jobs to residents of Southeastern?

CS: We have jobs requirements. When Albertsons had a supermarket here [before they moved downtown], they had a requirement that 40 percent [of their hires] be from the area. And Northgate Gonzalez [the megamarket that replaced Albertsons] has exceeded that. Most of the individual users, like the 99-cent store or the fast-food stores that provide jobs for the young people, far exceed it. At Market Creek, 87 percent of the jobs are held by people from the neighborhoods. We have about 4,300 jobs right now that have been a product of SEDC’s efforts.

TB: What’s been done about rebuilding or rehabilitating the residential neighborhoods of Southeastern that had been allowed to decay for so long?

CS: We’ve had a multitiered approach. One of the things we did, starting six or seven years ago, we hired a full-time, code-enforcement person through the city of San Diego. Because a lot of the things that happen in neighborhoods are things that people might not recognize as code-enforcement issues. But they are. No, you can’t park your car on the front lawn because you don’t want to get hit. Multiple storage units can’t go beyond the property line. Things like that. Code enforcement comes in; they do a sweep; they send out letters and say, “We’re here. This is what we’re going to be doing. And we’ll cite you.” And then they go through the process. The hard cases have to go to the city attorney’s office. And it’s worked relatively well. On the heels of that, we started these “Hey, neighbor” cards. They’re available in all the public places. We didn’t want to be heavy-handed, but people would come to us and say, “I’ve got a neighbor who needs to clean up his property.” So we came up with the concept of these anonymous cards——and they’re meant to be tongue-in-cheek and funny. You can stamp them and send them to the address of a neighbor, and they get some pretty interesting reactions. We’re careful not to call it a program; it’s not code enforcement. But it seems to be working. We also have someone who drives the community and takes time to say, “Hey, neighbor, you’re doing a good job!” On top of that, we have a housing and commercial rehabilitation program. This is a large area——7.2 square miles——and sometimes it’s a little like spitting in the ocean. But it all goes back to the issue of pride of ownership and pride of being here.

TB: Are the city’s power brokers, who were responsible for all the redevelopment of downtown San Diego through the Centre City Development Corporation, paying enough attention to SEDC and the neighborhoods of Southeastern?

CS: SEDC is neighborhood-level redevelopment, a totally different animal than what’s been happening downtown with CCDC. Downtown belongs to every one, so there’s a bigger focus and vested interest. Southeastern continues to be an area that’s not on anyone’s radar unless you live here, or unless you’re a representative on the city council or the school board. I don’t know when that’s going to change.

TB: So are you getting all the attention you need to accomplish what you need to in Southeastern?

CS: Maybe it’s not unique to Southeastern San Diego, but I get a tad annoyed when [the bureaucrats are] reviewing plans, and they haven’t even gotten out of their seats to see what they’re supposed to be looking at. So [they’re] making recommendations or judgments or whatever when [they] haven’t even seen the area. But overall, I think people are cooperative. We have a very good relationship with CCDC and the redevelopment agency.

TB: There’s some prime real estate in your domain——although neglected, in many places, for far too long. But there’s newly popular center-city land with some stunning views of the Pacific, the bay and downtown. Is the land still a relative bargain?

CS: Yes. Some are beginning to recognize that. But some still don’t want to be here. Too much diversity. Well, this is an extremely diverse community, and it’s a beautiful community. But it’s diverse ethnically without Anglos. I count everybody when I think about diversity, so I include Anglos. People like choices. Southeastern San Diego is laid out in an interesting way. It was built more like little suburbs than self-contained neighborhoods. So you have to realize you can’t walk to the grocery store ——and things like that work against us. Another thing that really works against us is the scores in the schools. Education levels here have got to improve. If things were reversed, and we had all of the best schools here, this place would look entirely different.

TB: Is the new Lincoln High School making some gains?

CS: It’s off to a good start in the sense of the beautiful setting. But it’s come at a time when the student population is so different than when my generation went to school——in terms of studying, the family dynamic, who raises you, your eagerness to achieve. My estimation is that maybe 50 percent of the kids aren’t reading at grade level. That’s a hard thing to come into as a teacher, with discipline problems and those kinds of things. So they have a very big challenge. I hope they’re successful, because some people weren’t very nice about this community receiving that high school. It all goes back to instilling pride.

TB: A quarter-century is a long time to be at one business——public or private. You’ve been at SEDC almost that long, and you’ve been head of the agency for 14 years. What’s the toughest part of your job? And have you made some enemies along the way?

CS: Our biggest challenge now is the affordable housing. When the city came up with the idea of balanced communities, they maybe weren’t thinking about this community. But I am. We have a right to be balanced. Two-thirds of this community is at about 50 percent of the city’s median [in housing values], and that’s not fair. Enemies? Oh, I’m sure I’ve made enemies. They don’t always show themselves to me, but I know they’re out there. Somebody’s always going to be upset about some decision you make. But I’ve always said, if you want everybody to like you, then you need to go work in a childcare center.

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