Last summer, Christine Mott watched heated discourse erupt after the city decided to cut down heavily debated trees near the city’s lawn bowling green.
She was furious about the choice, and saw that others were, too.
“I finally said, ‘You know what, someone has to stop this,’” she said. “If you’re in a position of privilege and you have the skills and ability to do something, then you have to do it.”
Over the course of a holiday weekend, Mott, who has been an attorney since 2007, found three other people willing to join a lawsuit and drafted a complaint. She filed it the next business day.
In light of the lawsuit, the city withdrew its approval to remove the four Canary Island pine trees and one Torrey pine in February. (The removal was approved as a part of a project replacing the artificial turf on the city’s lawn bowling green, which must come before the Coronado City Council again before it can move forward.)
That was her first foray into local government, and she hasn’t ceded since: She is running for Coronado City Council in this fall’s election.
“My overarching goal is to enhance the quality of life for the residents of Coronado and to maintain what we have in this beautiful and magical place,” Mott said. “What’s good for the residents of Coronado is good for the city of Coronado.”
Mott’s platform centers on protecting the environment, improving city infrastructure, and addressing matters she sees as quality-of-life issues, such as the lack of regulation around e-bikes.
Her top priority, she said, is addressing the Tijuana sewage crisis. She said she is appreciative of recent federal funding allocated to addressing the issue, but wants to ensure that infrastructure is maintained and expanded to account for population growth in Tijuana.
Her concern over the sewage crisis does not only hinge on her concern for the environment, although that is a given, she said. The crisis impacts local businesses, tourism revenue the city depends on, and impacts property values.
She is also supportive of a ban on single-use plastics and wants more protections put into place for trees.
“Living on an island where space – and green space – is finite, we need to be mindful of the treasure that we have in our trees and our green canopy,” Mott said.
She also hopes to take a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach to governance.
Specifically, she says, regulations need to be put into place on e-bikes before someone is seriously injured or killed.
“I think the city’s been sitting around waiting to see what the state will do to regulate them, and that’s not good enough,” she said. “We need to act now.”
This proactive approach extends to city infrastructure, she said. Mott lives in the Country Club area of Coronado, which was severely impacted by flooding after the Jan. 22 storm. Although the city has a plan to increase its storm water drainage capacity, Mott said she wants to prioritize those projects so they are completed sooner.
“Rather than dealing with beautifying parks and other nice-to-haves,” she said, “the top priority, for me, would be making sure that the city is ready to keep everyone safe.”
That doesn’t only mean increasing storm water drainage capacity, Mott said. She wants the city to take a more exhausted approach: Does the city perhaps have too many hard surfaces and artificial grass, reducing ground permeation of rainwater?
“If you’re on the City Council, I think your job is looking holistically at the city and saying, ‘What can we do to make this better?’ and not just waiting around for a problem to happen,” Mott said. “I really want to see the city be more proactive instead of reactive.”
Mott also wants the city to convert to solar energy, not just for environmental reasons, but for economic ones as well: San Diego is well situated for solar, and she says the switch would save the city money. She also hopes to develop an in-house sustainability department.
Mott has lived in Coronado for five years and is the mother to two young children. She is on the board of the Coronado Floral Association, is a member of the parent leadership organization at Christ Church Day School, and has been involved in the Coronado Junior Women’s Club. She has also served as board and founding member of various organizations focused on animal rights and has authored a children’s book scheduled to release in 2025.
Mott said she hopes to bring another perspective to the council by lending another female voice as well as the perspective of a mother of young children.
“I’m raising two young girls, and I want to be a good role model for them,” Mott said. “I want them to see that their government is made up of people who represent its residents. It isn’t that one perspective is better than the other, it’s just that you need to have eyes on all aspects of the community.”
