Q. What drew you into public affairs PR and advertising?
I got into government policy when I was 21, working at what is now UCI Medical Center in Orange County and my hobby after work was volunteer politics. I won two awards from the Board of Supervisors for business process improvements at the hospital and the chairman of the board recruited me onto his staff. I did that for a couple of years then gravitated to become a campaign consultant. My election successes drew the attention of The Irvine Company and that is how I started working with businesses, unions and other organizations.

Public Affairs and Communications Strategist Tony Manolatos joined our podcast to talk about the very important issues facing the San Diego City Council and the measures that will likely go before voters in November later this year.

Manolatos is a veteran of the political and communication battles in San Diego. He was a vocal opponent of the Chargers Measure C, is an outspoken critic of CCA’s or Community Choice Aggregation, that’s the push to change the way energy is purchased for the region, and has served as the spokesman for Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

Manolatos also drew headlines when he came to the defense of his client, City Councilman Chris Cate, after it was discovered Cate had leaked a confidential city memo to Soccer City representatives pertaining to the city’s internal analysis of the controversial plan for Mission Valley.

There is much at stake for the city and county of San Diego come next November, and we wanted to check in with one of the voices that will be shaping the dialogue for our community.

As San Diego's iconic landmarks continue to evolve, many lessons can be learned from large-scale development projects on government-owned lands that are shaping the city's diverse communities.

​The developers of two local legacy projects, Liberty Station and Seaport Village, recently sat down with Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) San Diego at THE LOT Liberty Station, a fusion of cinema, café bar and restaurant, to discuss the tangle of regulations, outreach and unique issues their projects have faced and how they've addressed community concerns to preserve the integrity and historical significance of the city's prized waterfront locations while fulfilling the public's ever-changing needs.