Effective Sept. 13 the new mayoral race begins. There are more than 20 candidates who have filed an intention to run; each must get a minimum of 200 valid signatures from voters to be added to the ballot.
This reminds me of the circus that was the governor’s race after Gray Davis was recalled in 2003 that ended with Californians electing the Terminator for two terms. Where there is chaos, there is also substantial opportunity. Opportunity for the citizenry of San Diego to have their voices heard and potentially not just play musical chairs in our public offices. Unfortunately, there are so many candidates voters will have to treat the election like a full time job to understand all of the candidate positions and backgrounds; that is not good. That means that most voters will vote upon name recognition.
Name recognition simply means who the voter has heard of due to the candidate’s current or previous political position, spotlight in the media or other political runs. So the candidates you will be hearing about most in the media are the following: City Councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez, as well as former State Assemblymembers Nathan Fletcher and Lori Saldana. Three Democrats and one Republican.
As a Harvard MBA, what I find interesting is no one would hire any of the potential candidates to run a $2.7 billion corporation; that corporation is the City of San Diego. So what becomes really important is who the candidate is surrounded by. Why? Because from a financial management perspective those are the individuals who will really be running the City: people who understand the vagaries of managing large budgets and ensuring that the budget is balanced. I hate to be blunt, but some of the more than 20 proposed candidates haven’t managed anything more than their personal checkbooks.
Then there is the problem with the City’s infrastructure: potholes, filthy sidewalks and litter. If you want to see how a downtown, and other tourist areas, should look, you just need to take a trip to Chicago. The City’s core has been beautified beyond believe and is a beacon of what could happen in San Diego. And guess what, we do not have the crime problem of Chicago. Our next mayor needs to focus upon our core neighborhoods to ensure they represent San Diego well, after all tourism is our second biggest industry after defense. Does anyone think that downtown should not be as clean as La Jolla? I hope not.
I also think that the San Diego mayor needs to address homelessness. Our homelessness problem is absolutely unacceptable and it disproportionately effects LGBT youth. Why our downtown and other neighborhoods have cleanliness problems can be partially attributed to our homeless concerns. We need to have a strategy to get these people help.
So when you choose a particular candidate, remember you are turning over the keys to the City if you vote for them. And sometimes that does not turn out so well.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
