User:Conradvern/Byron Wear

Byron Wear Former San Diego City Councilmember and Deputy Mayor

Byron Wear was born in Bethesda, Maryland on September 12, 1954, son of La Vern and Helen Wear. Byron, youngest of five, grew up in Falls Church, Virginia and at age 5 moved to Long Beach, California when his father was stationed at the Long Beach Naval Station. In 1964 his family moved to the Point Loma area San Diego. Byron's father was Commander who survived the sinking of two aircraft carriers in World War II, the USS Lexington and USS Hornet.

As a boy Byron was active in scouting and swimming. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout and served as a youth correspondent for The San Diego Union to the 1969 National Boy Scout Jamboree. Byron swam for the Varsity Swim team at Point Loma High becoming a lifeguard with the City of San Diego at age 17. At age 23 he became one of the youngest Lifeguard Lieutenants and then later served as a Sergeant on the Mission Bay Harbor Patrol. In 1979 he was granted a three year leave and became the Executive Director of the United States Lifesaving Association. Byron worked to grow the professional association from 1200 to 4000 members. In 1984 he became a public relations consultant and community organizer serving political campaigns. He was also active in the Point Loma and Ocean Beach community and serving on the local planning group, Ocean Beach Town Council and Park and Recreation Coastal Area Committee.

In 1987, Wear ran for the San Diego City Council, District 2 winning the Primary and winner in the district but lost to Ron Roberts under the old system of city wide elections. Wear was married on July 2, 1988 to Bridget Cantu, an Imperial Valley native. Byron was active in the community coaching Little League and serving as an elder in the Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church.

Byron Wear was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1995 with 56% of the vote and served the maximum of two terms retiring in 2002. Wear represented District 2 which included downtown, Point Loma, Mission Hills and the beach area communities of Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach. He was the first City Councilmember who served two consecutive terms as Deputy Mayor.

Wear was an early supporter of the effort to build Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres and the 26 block East Village downtown redevelopment project. He worked to expand the San Diego Convention Center, master plan North Embarcadero and restore the historic Balboa Theatre. Councilmember Wear led the effort to develop additional facilities for the Homeless including the Veteran's Village on Pacific Highway (VVSD) and the YWCA Family Shelter on Cortez Hill. He established the North Bay Redevelopment Project area and built two new libraries, the Taylor Library in Pacific Beach and the Hervey Library in Point Loma. He was a strong supporter of San Diego's downtown library which was completed in 2013.

Byron Wear presided over the closure of the Naval Training Center (NTC) which was redeveloped into a mixed use community known as Liberty Station including a 46 acre waterfront park, historic arts and cultural district, mixed use office, commercial and housing and an educational district. Byron Wear led the effort for the City of San Diego to provide the first 50,000 sq feet of High Tech High School. As part of the base closure, Wear negotiated a complex agreement for funding $8 Million of homeless and transitional housing, considered to be one of the most generous homeless funding of any military base closure.

Byron Wear worked with San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts to establish the initial fire rescue helicopter program for the City and County.

Wear also led the effort to expand the Mission Beach Boardwalk and established the Coastal Infrastructure Fund for new Lifeguard Facilities and beach front park improvements. He worked to construct the coastal storm water diversion system, the first of its' type in California to control urban runoff and improve water quality. Wear chaired the REGIS California State Commission which recommended the establishment of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority and the consolidation of regional transportation and planning functions of SANDAG and the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTS). Wear served on the interim board of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority.

In 2001, Byron Wear was subjected to an unsuccessful recall campaign over the redevelopment NTC and his support for the downtown ballpark. The effort failed to obtain sufficient signatures.

Byron created Wear Strategies in 2003, a land use, transportation and strategic consulting firm. Wear worked to reopen the Arizona Eastern Railway and consulted on sustainable energy and land use projects.

With his wife Bridget, Byron co-chaired the Peninsula (Ryan Family) YMCA $5 Million capital campaign to build a joint use Gymnnasium with the adjacent Correia Middle School. He serves as a founding board member of the San Diego Junior Lifeguard Foundation, an organization that raises funds to teach swimming, expand aqautic safety and provide children their first beach experience. He was the volunteer project manager to establish the San Diego Lifeguard Bronze Memorial to honor the lifeguards and memorialize 13 victims of the 1918 drowning in Ocean Beach which was dedicated on May 23, 2013. He has also served as a member of the board of the Point Loma High School Baseball Boosters to improve the David Wells Field.

Byron Wear developed the "Pools for Schools" concept to establish joint use YMCA's on school sites within the San Diego Unified School District under a collaborative approach. He has worked to gain support for a new YMCA on the campus of Pacific Beach Middle School and the development of a major YMCA Aquatic complex at Liberty Station.

Byron Wear's roots are in East Tennessee where his ancestors fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. Wear is the fifth cousin of President George Herbert Walker Bush. His wife Bridget Cantu Wear is the granddaughter of Colonel Esteban Cantu, the first Governor (1915-1920) and first Senator of Baja California, Mexico (1953-59).

Byron and Bridget have raised two sons, Byron Conrad and Stephen Campbell.