HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/14/2026 Item 5b, Wood
Leah Wood <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:In support of Mayor Erica Stewart---A request to let the matter rest
Dear Members of the Personnel Board,
I am writing to offer my honest support for Mayor Erica Stewart, and to say that I agree with the majority of
the board, who voted against recommending a censure hearing.
Let me be fully transparent about how I know Erica, because I think you should weigh my perspective
knowing exactly where I stand. I am a resident and voter in San Luis Obispo. I am also a professor at Cal
Poly, though I have never encountered Erica on campus and have no professional connection to her
there. And I am her neighbor. My family has lived in the Avivo complex alongside her for about ten years.
Over that time we have become friendly. My nine-year-old daughter adores Erica and her husband Shea,
they have had us over for dinner, and we have spent a few evenings together at a local cidery.
I share all of that plainly so you can factor it in. But my appeal here is to the logic of the situation, not to
friendship.
I want to be clear that I am not arguing the error didn't happen. It did, and Erica has said as much. What I
have not seen (in the public record or in the reporting) is any evidence that it was malicious. What the
record shows is a good-faith mistake: a misreading of the notice's timeline and a reasonable, if incorrect,
assumption that Cal Poly was an affected agency already entitled to the report. That is precisely the
situation the City's own Censure Policy contemplates when it provides that discipline "generally does not
follow an occasional error in judgment which occurs in good faith and is unintentional." The majority of
the board applied that standard and reached the right conclusion. A rare, honest error made in the
course of hard public work is not the same as misconduct, and our process should be able to tell the
difference.
Erica has acknowledged the mistake, apologized, and supported new safeguards so that she and other
staff handle these situations more carefully going forward. That is what accountability looks like. I would
respectfully ask the board to consider this matter settled, so that the city's time and energy can return to
the issues that improve quality of life for all of our residents.
Thank you for your service and for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Leah Wood
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