Stop Blackwater—contact the Mayor and City Council today!

lackwater is currently trying to open a 61,000-square-foot training facility in San Diego. Blackwater used the names of other entities to gain permits to remodel an Otay Mesa warehouse. This project became known to the public only after leaders of a local coalition received a tip from someone with inside information. Blackwater Worldwide is the global security firm whose conduct in Iraq has drawn criticism. They are trying to open their training facility in the face of local opposition. They are currently believed to again be under congressional investigation.

In March, the firm dropped plans to build a 220-acre training camp in rural Potrero, about 45 miles east of downtown San Diego. A coalition of rural property owners, environmentalists and antiwar activists opposed its effort to build a “combat town.” The City of San Diego did not know that Blackwater was simultaneously moving to open a smaller facility with a shooting range in Otay Mesa, within the city limits and near the Mexican border.

Blackwater has now teamed with the NRA asking their members to contact local leadership in support of this project. Their claims of Sailors and Soldiers being sent to war without the proper training if they don’t get their building permit is totally false. Blackwater is now only in a bind because they promised a facility to the Navy that they were trying to operate on the sly.

Please contact Mayor Jerry Sanders and the San Diego City Council TODAY and respectfully urge them to not allow the Blackwater Otay Mesa facility to open. The Mayor can be reached by phone at (619) 236-6330, by fax at (619) 236-7228, or email JerrySanders@sandiego.gov. Please let Mayor Sanders and the City Council know that you will be watching this issue closely and will keep this in mind when you go to the polls on Tuesday, June 3.

Contact information for the City Council members who appear to be opposed to this facility are below. Please email them and ask them to hold fast in their opposition to a Blackwater facility in San Diego. Your assistance is needed now!!!

District 1

Council President Scott Peters

(619) 236-6611

scottpeters@sandiego.gov

District 2

Councilmember Kevin Faulconer

(619) 236-6622

kevinfaulconer@sandiego.gov

District 3

Councilmember Toni Atkins

toniatkins@sandiego.gov

District 4