Scandal-Weary San Diego Asks a Question: Whereâ€™s the Mayor?

Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Kathleen Harmon, a supporter of Mr. Filner, was also outside City Hall on Monday, for a rally of other backers of the mayor.

SAN DIEGO — In the five weeks since Mayor Bob Filner was first accused of sexual harassment by an aide, San Diego has almost felt like a city held hostage.

On Monday, television cameras were lined up at City Hall hoping to catch a glimpse of his return, since it was supposed to be his first day back after two weeks at a rehabilitation program and a week of personal leave. His top aide said she had no idea where he was.

About 1,000 residents volunteered to fan out across this normally unhurried, sun-drenched city, hustling to collect the 101,157 signatures needed to force a recall election. And the City Council president said his goal was to get rid of the mayor "and get this city back on track."

Sixteen women, the latest a great-grandmother, have now stepped forward to accuse Mr. Filner, 70, a Democratic former congressman, of inappropriate behavior. Calls for his resignation have been piling up, including demands from national Democratic leaders and the entire City Council. Last month, the county Democratic Party officially urged him to resign and Senator Barbara Boxer published a letter on her Web site saying that he had "betrayed the trust" of women and asked him to step down.

As Monday passed, there was no sign of the mayor at City Hall. He was seen on television walking into a downtown office building, followed a short time later by the lawyer Gloria Allred, who is representing some of the women who have accused him of sexual harassment.

As she left the building Monday evening, Ms. Allred told reporters that the two sides were in settlement talks mediated by a retired federal judge. She declined to provide details, and would not say whether Mr. Filner was directly involved in the negotiations, but other city officials — including Council President Todd Gloria — were taking part.

Mr. Filner has consistently rejected resigning. Every other route poses more of a challenge to his opponents, who were exploring obscure city laws regarding his use of public money. The petitioners seeking a recall must collect signatures of registered city voters at a rate of 2,600 a day by Sept. 26. If they fail, they will have an additional 30 days for a supplemental petition. A spokeswoman for the recall effort, which began on Sunday, said they had collected several thousand signatures already.

Anger continued to grow over the city's near-paralysis.

"Contrary to what the mayor apparently thinks, this is not going away," said Mr. Gloria, a Democrat. "Fewer people than ever respect him, meaning he cannot get anything done. The city has run better without him here; he should give us that opportunity permanently by resigning. The Council will continue to question him and his decisions and try to get this city back on track like San Diegans deserve."

Since he was elected mayor last year, and for decades while he was in Congress, Mr. Filner built a reputation for liberal politics and personal abrasiveness. But there had been no public accusations like those plaguing him now. He was known to keep up a relentless public schedule, appearing on the nightly news at every opportunity. But when the accusations began, he became much less visible. While he was away, his top aide said she had the locks on his office changed to ensure he would not have access, though his office did put out a news release detailing the $120,000 in small business grants he apparently approved.

As local news reports have detailed the accusations — from the "Filner headlock," in which the mayor gripped a woman so that she could not escape, to asking a 67-year-old part-time City Hall worker if she thought he was able to "go for eight hours straight" — the city has been the source of a stream of late-night jokes.

Mark Cafferty, executive director of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, said, "Every conversation I have with people who are thinking of doing business here — whether they are in another part of the country or another part of the world even — starts and ends with the jokes from Conan O'Brien."

He added: "It's paralyzing things, projects that had started or should be getting started. It's becoming more bizarre and circuslike by the moment." The mayor, he said, has tarnished "the image that the city is a place to be taken seriously."

Rob Davis reported from San Diego, and Jennifer Medina from Los Angeles.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 19, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of small business grants awarded. They were $120,000, not $12,000. And it also referred incorrectly to a political campaign by Floyd Morrow. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2008, not any office in 2010.