Mayor Madrid Says Chabad of East County Still Lacks La Mesa OK

Mayor Art Madrid says the first Jewish congregation in La Mesa—Chabad of East County—still needs city approval because its La Mesa Boulevard home is a nonconforming use—a religious organization in a commercial property.

“I’m sure the landlord was anxious to rent the place,” Madrid told La Mesa Courier editor Genevieve Suzuki, a lawyer.

“Madrid said he likes to give people the benefit of the doubt when I asked whether they needed approval before actually moving in,” Suzuki wrote, quoting him as saying: “Sometimes people get busy.”

Madrid, who has a reputation as a rough and tumble mayor, also said his favorite website is likewise.

A day-in-the-life profile of the mayor since 1990 says he likes Rough & Tumble at www.rtumble.com, which offers a “snapshot of California Public Policy and Politics.”

“Knowledge is power,” Madrid was quoted as saying by former Patch columnist Suzuki. “It’s not that I want to know everything. It’s that I don’t want to be blindsided.”