Mayor's Veto Sticks; No Ban on Big-Box Stores in San Diego

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 10, 2007 at 12:18 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The San Diego City Council considered overriding Mayor Jerry Sanders' veto of a council-approved ban on big-box grocers. But the council couldn't muster the votes. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce explains why.

The City Council considered overriding Mayor Jerry Sanders' veto of a council-approved ban on big-box grocers. But the council couldn't muster the votes. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce explains why.

The city council passed the ordinance last month on a 5-to-3 vote. The ban would prevent so-called “superstores” that are at least 90,000 square feet in size from using more than 10 percent of their space for grocery sales.

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Mayor Sanders vetoed the ordinance. The eight-member council was poised to override the veto with five votes -- the same number that passed the ban.

Then Councilwoman Donna Frye made this announcement.

Frye : I will not be supporting the override of the veto. And I have a different proposal that I'd like to work with folks on.

Frye says she wants any superstores to undergo a more rigorous permit and review process. Wal-Mart was expected to launch a ballot initiative to overturn the ban.

For the moment that appears unnecessary. Councilmembers Scott Peters, Toni Atkins, Tony Young, and Ben Hueso voted to override the veto.

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Kevin Faulconer, Brian Maienschein, Jim Madaffer and Frye voted against the override.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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