One of Mayor-elect Faulconer’s campaign pledges was to bring back the “Community Advisory Boards to the Office of the Mayor”. (Latinos, veterans, Asians, GLBTs, African Americans, etc.) These boards are very important as they keep the mayor in contact and more knowledgeable about our city’s diverse communities and neighborhoods.
These mayor’s advisory boards were established many decades ago, and the first GLBT boards came under the Mayor O’Connor administration. Mayor Sanders did not have any, and I was working with Mayor Filner to soon announce his boards. Mayor Faulconer will seek to have diverse and well represented boards as he continues to reach out to all communities and neighborhoods.
Kevin Faulconer is a decent, good man and just a really nice guy, who is, and has always been a true public servant who loves our city. I believe Kevin will make a great mayor and will work well with his longtime friend City Council President and Interim Mayor Todd Gloria. Do I agree with all of Faulconer’s stands? No, as I do not agree with all of Todd’s! But I know both of them very well, and they want our city to come together and truly become America’s Finest City.
On election night, businessman Sherman Mendoza and I went to the U.S. Grant for the Faulconer victory party. It was especially nice to see such longtime friends as former state assembly members, Tricia Hunter and Jeff Marston, Supervisor Ron Roberts, City Commissioner Bob Ottilie, major fundraiser Carolyn Dorsee, former Councilman Tony Young, former Mayor Jerry Sanders, former City Council candidate Dwayne Crenshaw and so many others. I had such a wonderful conversation with Monsignor (Father) Joe Carroll, which I will talk about in my next column.
Yes, that was AIDS Walk founder Susan Jester and my picture on the front page of Wednesday’s Union Tribune paper with Mayor-elect Faulconer.
Well, the campaign is over, and even though I am disappointed in some of our GLBT activists’ vicious attacks on Kevin let us all move on and support our new mayor.
Why Alvarez lost so badly
From the beginning, I have stated that David Alvarez was also a good decent man, but I also believe that Alvarez was not ready to lead our nation’s eighth largest city now, nor will he be in 2016. He just does not have leadership qualities or good solid people skills. Many times he acted like a deer caught in the headlights. Nathan Fletcher, Todd Gloria, or Toni Atkins would have been outstanding candidates – moderate, progressive Democrats. Alvarez was a liberal left Democrat and lost to a moderate Republican. San Diego is a city of majority moderates who do not like millions of dollars coming in from out of town, and rejected the president and National Party endorsements and embraced Faulconer’s lovable mother’s endorsement.
Sad to say, David Alvarez was not only not a good candidate to put up, but his campaign was rather below par. Many Democratic leaders and voters were not 100 percent behind Alvarez and had reservations about him, but kept this to themselves. But many related this to me in many, many, many private conversations. As I wrote in this column, David Alvarez (33 years) was no Todd Gloria (35 years) and San Diego voters realized this quickly about this young man, and soundly rejected him.
I sincerely wish David and his family the best with their soon, new baby and do not look forward to another mayoral election in 32 months.
Our community’s drug and alcohol problem
It seems the GLBT community’s growing alcohol and drug problem continues to be swept under the carpet and our recovery agencies are not receiving the support that they should. It seems that the national spotlight on this problem just shines when an actor or famous person overdoses, and then it goes away.
The GLBT community, like every segment of society has a growing drug problem, especially with speed, “fantasy” drugs and heroin, with all of us having friends or family members who have drug or alcohol addictions or have overdosed and died or committed suicide. I should know about this problem as I, too, am a recovering drug addict and every day can be a struggle. I have lost many friends because of their drug addiction. Our community badly needs to focus more on this growing problem, and we need more support for the programs of Stepping Stone and the Alano Club as well as The Center’s many programs. Our GLBT youth are getting more involved with this drug culture and having unsafe sex. It’s time to face this problem and put a much brighter spotlight and discussions on the growing GLBT statistics and numbers. Thanks for listening.
More than 400 attended Coronation XLII
The 42nd annual Coronation Ball of the Imperial Court de San Diego was a sold out affair at the beautiful and historic Lafayette Hotel. Courts from Canada, the United States and Mexico were in attendance for the many events and benefits held throughout the weekend. The members of the 30-member International Court Council were in attendance for a meeting. The ICC is the governing body of this organization – one of the oldest GLBT organizations in North America.
Congratulations to outgoing Empress XLI Candi Samples and congratulations to our new Emperor and Empress XLII, Robert and Pearl. Their first meeting is next Wednesday, Feb. 19 at The Center, at 7:30 p.m. and is open to all GLBT family, friends and allies! For more information, please call 619-692-1967.
Nicole Murray Ramirez has been an award-winning columnist since 1973, and a Latino and gay activist for more than 40 years. He is currently a city commissioner and has served the last six mayors of San Diego. He is also a national board member of the Harvey Milk Foundation and chairman of the International Court Council of the USA, Canada and Mexico. Nicolemrsandiego@aol.com
