By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

February 15, 2010 -- Lobbying efforts by those seeking a City Council appointment and their supporters are underway through e-mail, telephone and personal meetings.

Council member Richard Bloom said he has four interviews scheduled for this week. He said he would be using a questionnaire the City Clerk found during an Internet search on other cities’ council appointment processes.

“Development is an issue, and it’s certainly an important issue,” said Bloom, who said other factors in his decision will include the person’s “commitment to sustainability and a perspective on the issue of homelessness that I can identify with.”

Other factors he mentioned included a commitment to affordable housing and fiscal responsibility, as well as the ability to work in a group.

Bloom was the council member closest to Mayor Ken Genser, who died last month of complications from an illness.

Council member Kevin McKeown noted in an e-mail to the Lookout News that one of the appointee’s first major votes will be on the City General Plan’s Land Use and Circulation Document (LUCE), a document that will set the vision for development over the next 20 years.

“I'm looking for someone active in community affairs, who will know what residents want and won't feel beholden to special interests and campaign funders,” McKeown wrote. “A demonstrated commitment to rent control and affordable housing is essential.”

Also in his e-mail, McKeown took a jab at there being no public application process for those seeking the seat. He had unsuccessfully advocated for that last month, but was unable to get support from enough council colleagues.

“The lobbying efforts so far seem only to indicate who is willing to ask all his friends to send emails,” McKeown wrote.

“Without a public application giving the entire community a chance to review the candidates, it's hard to believe we're getting representative opinions from the general public,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bloom said, “There has been a lot of negativity around the appointment process.”

He said he was particularly disappointed to receive an e-mail from Juan Diego Ibanez, a politically unknown whose name appears on the list of those interested in the position.

Ibanez told Bloom he was advised by other council members not to seek the position because he did not have a chance to be appointed, and Ibanez was taking that advice.

“It would be difficult for him to be appointed, but I was looking forward to meeting someone who I didn’t know, but was interested enough in the city to want to be on the City Council,” said Bloom, who called the situation “disappointing.”

Ibanez did not return a call for comment.