Feb. 20--A visibly upset San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer blasted the Chargers, contending that they deceived the city by working on a deal to build a stadium in Carson with the Oakland Raiders.
"The Chargers weren't being up front with San Diegans, they weren't being up front with their fans, they weren't interested in working together," Faulconer said at an impromptu Friday news conference in front of police headquarters.
Less than 24 hours after the proposed plan became public, the anger in San Diego hadn't abated.
Much of the civic vitriol targeted Mark Fabiani, the Chargers' special counsel for stadium issues.
George Mitrovich, president of the City Club of San Diego, said that Faulconer should be asked if Fabiani is "duplicitous, deceitful and deceiving."
The fact that the Chargers were dealing with the Raiders, their longtime rivals, explains "a lot of the animosity" felt from Fabiani, Faulconer said.
Fabiani downplayed the criticism.
"The joint statements of the two teams issued last night says it all," he said. "We are going to continue to work in our home markets on one track while developing another option in the event we fail in our home markets."
The Chargers have unsuccessfully sought a new stadium in San Diego for the last 14 years. Last month, the city established a nine-member committee to study potential locations and financing for a stadium project.
Despite Faulconer's annoyance over the Carson plan, he still plans to meet with Chargers President Dean Spanos in the coming days. The mayor also wants to speed up the committee's process to find a site to replace the aging Qualcomm Stadium. Faulconer previously wanted a plan that could be voted on by the public in November 2016. That may be too late.
"We deserve an honest dialogue," Faulconer said. "What we saw speaks volumes about the true intentions and about what's been happening over the last few weeks."
