CCDC Board Confirms Hamilton in $95,000-a-Year Job at the Top

The board of directors of the Centre City Development Corp., the agency responsible for downtown San Diego’s redevelopment, made it official Friday and ratified the selection of Pamela Hamilton as the organization’s executive director.

The selection vaults Hamilton, who has spent the past eight months as acting executive director while waiting for the board to a make a decision, to the pinnacle of her career so far and makes her the highest-paid woman in local government in San Diego County.

She will be paid $95,000 a year as head of a high-profile public agency that oversees development on about 325 acres and which, it appears likely, will undertake a major expansion into other areas of downtown, principally Centre City East.

‘I Love Downtown’

“I love downtown and want to be part of making it better,” Hamilton said moments after the board unanimously ratified her selection, as recommended by a committee headed by CCDC President John Davies.

Hamilton, who worked under the CCDC’s former and only previous executive director, Gerald Trimble, who resigned in February to take a redevelopment job with the University of Southern California, was not Davies’ and his committee’s first choice, even though she carried Trimble’s recommendation. The committee had originally tabbed Frank Taylor, redevelopment chief in San Jose, as its top selection after a nationwide search.

But Taylor decided to stay in San Jose and dropped out of the running in June. The committee then retooled its search and shortly afterward zeroed in on Hamilton. But, although Hamilton says she always coveted the job, she didn’t jump when Davies offered her the post.

In fact, Davies was placed in the embarrassing position of having to call off a press conference a few weeks ago at which Hamilton’s selection was to be announced publicly. Although Hamilton wanted the job and Davies’ committee wanted to give it to her, negotiations over details in her employment contract, including salary and fringe benefits, were not resolved. Davies made a joking reference to the negotiations before Friday’s vote, saying, “If (she’s) as difficult negotiating with developers as she was with me,” the agency is in good hands.

In other action, the CCDC board approved a plan giving developers the chance to bid on 11 pieces of dilapidated property in the historic Gaslamp Quarter. For the past several years, the CCDC, in a project spearheaded by Hamilton, has attempted to push owners of the property into upgrading their land and buildings.

But the owners have either been unwilling or unable because of multiple ownership or bankruptcy problems to make the improvements. The agency, feeling it has exhausted its efforts, now is sending a message to the owners that it is serious about making changes.

Worst of the Worst

The bulk of the properties, which several officials have characterized as the worst of the worst in Gaslamp, are on 5th Avenue, in the heart of the 16 1/2-block historic district.

Although the CCDC is asking developers to make proposals on the privately owned land, the agency says it is possible that some of the existing owners, prodded by Friday’s decision, may change their mind and decide to upgrade.

Already, Hamilton said, one property owner--Walnut Properties of Hollywood, which owns three of the parcels--has contacted the CCDC and said it would now “like to cooperate.”

Although Friday’s authorization for bids involves 11 properties, it was clear that more buildings may be added to the list if restoration plans now proposed on other properties fall through.

Developers will have until Dec. 19 to make their proposals. If the agency selects a developer for one of the properties, the developer will then try to buy the land from the property owner with the CCDC’s help.

If that effort fails, the CCDC can use its power of eminent domain to acquire the land, using the developer’s money to pay for it. So far, the agency has had to use its condemnation power twice to obtain property in the Gaslamp Quarter.