LOOK WHO'S BACK - RECALLED PLANNER GORDON HAMMERS WINS ELECTION, RECLAIMS SEAT ON POTRERO PLANNING GROUP
By Miriam Raftery
December 4, 2008 — Less than a year after being recalled
by a two-to-one margin, former Potrero Planning Group Chairman Gordon Hammers
has been re-elected to the board. Hammers' victory, though surprising to many, appears to
signify a healing in this small rural community split first by controversy
over Blackwater and later by the Harris Wildfire that devastated the region.
Hammers and four other planners were recalled by the community in December
2007 for refusing to overturn their votes in favor of allowing Blackwater USA
(now Blackwater Worldwide) to open a private military training camp on the
site of a former chicken ranch surrounded by federal wilderness and national
forest lands. Residents opposed the facility due to concerns about noise,
traffic, environmental issues, impact on the rural character of Potrero, and
the contractor's controversial record in Iraq.
After the recall election, Blackwater withdrew its application for Potrero
and opened an indoor shooting range in Otay Mesa.
"I look forward to serving the community," Hammers told East County Magazine during
Assemblyman Joel Anderson's holiday party in El Cajon this evening.
Asked what he learned from the recall experience, Hammers said he now realizes
that "no matter what's right, emotion will win out" in some cases. "If
Blackwater came back, I couldn't vote for them because the people don't want
it," he said. "I couldn't vote against it because it's good for the economy,
so I'd have to abstain."
Thell Fowler, a second recalled planner who tried to reclaim his seat in the
November 2008 election, lost by five votes.
"I'd vote for it again," Fowler said of the Blackwater project, adding that
it would have brought jobs to the community.
During the Harris Fire, Fowler remained behind when others evacuated and helped
to save several neighbors' homes. Some voters opposed to Blackwater
found themselves forced to make a painful choice in the polling place: loyalty
to a helpful neighbor versus the long-term future of their town.