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Disability-services director is fired
Departure is sudden for mayoral assistant
By Craig Gustafson
STAFF WRITER
NOTE: This story is from the San Diego Union-Tribune and is archived there at this link.
November 17, 2006
In a meeting with Mayor Jerry Sanders in June, Linda Woodbury told him San Diego needed to spend $500 million on various projects to fully comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
On Wednesday, a day after Sanders proposed pending $50 million over the next five years for those projects, his staff fired Woodbury, the city's coordinator of disability services for the past seven years.
In an interview yesterday, Woodbury, 59, said Ted Martinez, one of the mayor's deputy chiefs, told her that Sanders "no longer has confidence in your leadership, and he doesn't believe you are supporting the organization."
Woodbury, who is blind, received a leadership award last year from the National Conflict Resolution Center for the work she has done for the city.
Woodbury said she was told she had 30 minutes to pack her belongings and leave. After pleading for more time, she was allowed a couple of hours.
Sanders said he didn't know anything about the situation until a reporter asked his office about it.
"I don't know if she was terminated. I don't know if she left. . . . And I would never comment on a personnel decision," he said.
The mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz, said the city couldn't release any information about Woodbury other than that she no longer works there. No one has been hired to replace Woodbury. Her supervisor, Ernie Linares, will assume her duties.
The decision stunned advocates for the disabled.
William Stothers, deputy director with the Center for an Accessible Society, said Woodbury's departure "leaves people with disabilities voiceless at City Hall."
"It makes us wonder. The mayor, on one hand, is talking these great plans about getting up to speed on ADA and putting real money toward it," he said. "On the other hand, you pull the rug out on the person who's going to be dealing with this."
Betty Bacon, a former member of the Citizens Review Committee on ADA and Disability Issues, an advisory panel to the city, said Woodbury has a statewide reputation as an authority on disability issues.
"As far as I know she's the only person on city staff that has the constellation of knowledge to do that job," she said.
Woodbury has previously worked with companies such as Coca-Cola and 3M on ADA compliance. The city paid her $75,000 a year.
Woodbury said she didn't know why she was let go but pointed to her meeting with Sanders in June. She told him the city needed to spend $500 million to avoid possible sanctions by the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating how well cities follow the disabilities act.
"Everybody told me that he just turned red he was so upset," she said. "It was just one more thing that he was finding out about the city that there was to straighten out."
She added, "I tell the truth to everybody straight up the line, and if they don't like it, that's not my problem. My job is to protect the city from lawsuits and make sure that people with disabilities in the community have everything they need in terms of access."
Technically, Woodbury resigned.
When Sanders took office last year, he ordered all department managers to submit signed letters of resignation. It was part of his effort to trim the city payroll.
The resignations wouldn't become effective unless he chose to accept them. About 160 managers turned in letters.
In her resignation letter dated Jan. 20, Woodbury appeared to be on board with Sanders' approach.
"I applaud and believe the changes being made in city government today will serve to bring the integrity, efficiency and team efforts that are crucial to cost-effective and 'real' access for persons with all types of disabilities throughout the city," she wrote.
Woodbury said yesterday that she took offense that the mayor's staff criticized her leadership skills.
"It would have been nice to have told me why. I could have let it go that 'Yes, I resigned.' But I did not resign," she said.
Staff writer Matthew T. Hall contributed to this report.
Craig Gustafson: (619) 293-1884; craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com