COALITION BUILDING KEY TO SUCCESS FOR SUPERVISOR COX
Former teacher, mayor focused on foster youth, recreation, education
Tension among members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors sometimes reached a fever pitch in 2020.
Faced with a global pandemic and a divisive election year that would determine the political balance of the board, disagreements among the county’s five supervisors often played out in public.
Despite those conf licts, the board was able to navigate some of its biggest challenges in 2020, including becoming one of the first counties in the country to declare a local emergency in response to COVID-19 in February and later passing a $6.5 billion annual budget — the largest in county history.
While every board member deserves some credit for that, one board member most often functioned as the board’s peacemaker: Supervisor Greg Cox. Cox chaired the board during a year unlike any other in his 26-year tenure on the board.
Cox said recently that he held true to his core belief to look for the common ground, an approach that served him his entire career, ranging from his time working in the Sweetwater Union High School District and serving as Mayor of Chula Vista, to his tenure as county supervisor and president of the National Association of Counties.
“If you’re gonna try and get everybody rolling in the same direction, you have to bring people together and get them to understand no one is going to get a hundred percent of what they want,” said Cox, who will leave the board next week.
“Unfortunately, in politics today, things are so hardened, and compromise is almost a bad word,” he said. “I don’t think it is a bad word at all. It is the only way you get things done.”
Cox will be succeeded by healthcare advocate and Southwestern Community College Trustee Nora Vargas in representing District 1, which encompasses most of the communities in the South Bay and part of the city of San Diego.
The son of two teachers in Chula Vista, Cox grew up assuming he would teach. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Diego State University, he
worked as a substitute teacher before becoming a teacher in the Sweetwater Union High School District.
Cox said his time working as an Associated Student Body adviser and later as dean of student activities, compelled him to become politically involved. He had worked with some of the sharpest and most motivated kids in school, he said, encouraging them to get more involved in the school and community.
“At some point, I thought, I am really encouraging all these kids to get involved, so maybe I should get involved,” Cox recalled with a laugh.
Cox, a Republican, got involved with several local organizations and campaigns and served as an appointee to the San Diego Transit Association. He also met his wife, Cheryl, who also was a teacher, when they were both helping out at an event for former Gov. Pete Wilson’s San Diego mayoral campaign.
In December 1975, Cox finally decided to make the leap himself. He ran for and won a seat on the Chula Vista City Council and served until 1981, when he successfully ran for Chula Vista mayor.
After re-election, years later, he ended a popular tenure as mayor in 1990 before starting a government consulting firm and was appointed deputy director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Research under Wilson.
He took a leave of absence to run for state Assembly in San Diego but lost the primary in what Cox described as “the most fortunate political chain of events.” Cox said he realized that being in San Diego with his family and working on local issues was what he was most passionate about.
When a vacancy emerged on the Board of Supervisors in 1994, Cox applied along with more than 20 other applicants. San Diego County was on the brink of bankruptcy at the time, so as part of the application, Cox made a five-minute pitch to the board about steps they could take to address financial problems.
His pitch landed, and he was appointed by Supervisor Dianne Jacob and former Supervisors Bill Horn, Ron Roberts and Pam Slater-Price — the same four who mostly became fixtures on the board through 2012.
Cox will go down as the
second longest serving supervisor in county history, behind Jacob. Among his most notable accomplishments are initiatives and projects related to open space, recreation, education and social services.
Cox, a self-described “parks person” has had a hand in the development or improvement of many of the South Bay’s most visited parks, including the Sweetwater Regional Park, the Otay Valley Regional Park, the Bayshore Bikeway and the recently opened Sweetwater Bike park, which has garnered national media attention.
The former teacher also played a part in raising funds for the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center and several libraries.
“Maybe it gets back to the education part of it, but libraries are not only the cultural center of the community, but it is a place for people to go and learn and meet,” said Cox.
He also has been one of the leading advocates for finding a solution to the sewage problem in the Tijuana River Valley.
As head of the National Association of Counties, Cox was part of a delegation that met with Trump administration officials in September 2019 seeking federal aid. A few months later, the newly adopted United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement committed the federal government to $300 million for the Border Water Infrastructure Program to address pollution on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the Tijuana River Valley region.
Cox also was instrumental in the creation of San Diego’s 211 hotline, which launched in July 2005 and helps direct residents to health and human service programs.
“Sometimes in government you have a chance to have a transformational moment and say we’ve got to do better than this,” Cox said. “Instead of shuff ling papers, we’re solving problems.”
Cox also will be remembered for his efforts to develop programs for foster youth.
When Cox arrived on the Board of Supervisors, adoptions were very low and there were more than 7,000 kids in the system. During his first term as board chairman in 1998, Cox called a conference on foster care where supervisors and county staff heard from six foster kids who had aged out of the system.
“Some of them had been moved 10, 20 times, and one young lady, it broke your heart, she said she ‘lost count’ after 30 placements,” Cox said. “You’re just sitting there going, ‘What the hell are we doing with these kids?’ ... I thought this is something that with concerted effort we could change.”
Cox teamed up with Roberts and launched several initiatives, including purchasing the San Pasqual Academy in Escondido. The county turned it into a residential education campus for foster youth, providing individualized education, therapeutic services and work readiness training to foster kids.
This year, Cox also authored a proposal that launched a program in the Sweetwater Union High School District to increase graduation rates among foster kids, and he launched another housing program for former foster care children and other homeless youth.
As his tenure neared its close, Cox said there are projects he wishes had been completed sooner. He said his 26 years on the board have been a blessing and he is grateful for the staff and community members who’ve helped him move the ball forward on issues.
“One thing you always want to do is leave the place better than you found it, and as I look back on the projects I’ve been involved with ... those are going to be things around a long time after I’m gone,” Cox said. “Some projects did not get done, but to the extent I’ve been able to provide some leadership direction that gives me pride.”