The Callen Report
By Kate Callen
If you’ve seen the movie Gladiator, you’ll remember the scenes where a smoldering Maximus faces off against a twitchy Commodus. That’s pretty much how things played out at the only 2024 San Diego mayoral debate.
Throughout the exchange, incumbent Todd Gloria appeared robotic, spooling out scripted lines, gesturing theatrically. Most of his responses boiled down to: I’ve
done a lot under great duress. But I’m not satisfied! I’m going to do more!
Challenger Larry Turner appeared relaxed and confident … and ready to pounce.
Gloria opened by citing “an unprecedented series of challenges” he faced and claiming to be “laser-focused” on fixing problems. Turner responded, “It’s not about excuses. It’s not about how hard we tried. It’s not about how focused we are. It’s about results.”
Gloria had every reason to dread a debate he had dodged all year. Before he was elected Mayor in 2020, he was a princeling, chosen and groomed by San Diego
powerbrokers. Smooth as velvet, he sailed through political debates because he never had a record of executive performance to defend.
2024 is different. He has floundered as mayor, a job that clearly wears on him. And Turner, an affable former Marine and SDPD community relations officer, is unlike any opponent Gloria has faced.
Turner entered the primary as a political novice with little chance of winning. Like nearly all debaters, he was short on specifics about tackling entrenched crises.
But Turner’s combination of warmth and steel, and his ability to drill into key issues, left Gloria looking bewildered for most of the night. Some takeaways:
On homelessness: Citing his Kettner & Vine and H Barracks proposals, Gloria said, “We have to continue to expand our shelter capacity.” Turner responded, “You’re seeing a lot of solutions coming out in the ninth inning. A lot was not done over the first three years of his administration.”
On affordable housing: Gloria said, “We’ve put in policy reforms to speed up the amount of housing … The increase in supply will necessarily bring down rents.”
Turner replied, “He has increased permits for housing, but it’s all been market-rate housing. The amount of permits for affordable housing has been minuscule.”
On crime prevention: Gloria said he’s “super-proud” of youth outreach programs like the “Park After Dark” rec center openings and paid City Hall summer internships (one of which, it should be noted, went to the daughter of his chief of staff). Turner noted that 85% of police calls are related to homelessness and added, “We need to have a behavioral health unit inside the SDPD able to tackle the increasing number of mental health crises.”
On parking affected by bike lanes: Gloria talked about safety and choice: “Too many cyclists and pedestrians are getting hurt and killed … For too many San Diegans, the only choice to get from A to B is their car.” Turner answered, “This administration has a problem with talking to people ahead of time. … Along Imperial Road, hundreds of Mom-and-Pop restaurants and shops didn’t know [about a planned bike lane] until A-frame signs said, ‘Construction coming.’ They’re going to go out of business.”
On the floods caused by clogged storm drains. Gloria said, “There were a lot of lessons to be learned from January 22. My administration is learning from those lessons.” Turner said, “Thousands of people were displaced. And there’s never been an apology. It takes a lawsuit for the City to do the right thing. It’s going to cost the City a lot more. We’re going to end up buying lawyers boats and airplanes instead of helping people like we should have.”
Polls show Gloria with a 37%-33% lead over Turner. An incumbent in a fight that close seven weeks before election day is in trouble. If he wins, he faces a brutal lame-duck term. The once-compliant City Council will include at least two alpha dogs who want his job and have no reason to help him succeed.
Like Maximus said: Are you not entertained?
Toad in his mind has done a lot given all the excuses he used to try a claim a mulligan for mayoral hardships. Oh, woe is me, uh, that’s what you signed up for?
I wish at one point during the housing talk Turner would have pointed out that even-though more housing has been built the house median and rent prices in San Diego are at a historic high under Glorias Yimby watch. Building luxury high rises is like adding gasoline to the rising housing cost.
That was a funny one bc of the original question. Can afford to BUY. Not rent.
Cost of Living – Housing
Gloria: Many San Diego families continue to struggle with cost of living in America’s Finest City. Mayor Gloria, what would you do to help get a significant number of homes built that middle and low income San Diegans can afford to buy?
Turner: Mr. Turner, same question to you: What would you do to help get a significant number of homes built that middle and low income San Diegans can afford to buy?
Chris,
Not everyone can afford to buy a home in San Diego. That is likely a good thing, because if everyone could, they likely would. I would like to own a Mercedes, but since I can not afford it, I drive a Toyota. Are you suggesting anyone who wants to buy a home in San Diego ought to be able to afford one regardless of their income?
I’m not suggesting a thing. I’m merely pointing out that when a discussion on building homes is put out, distinctions between buying and renting are morphed together. The mayor would say how many homes are being built or permits issued, but those are rental units and didn’t answer the question asked.
With the corporate/ institutional side owning apartments, and the push into AirBnBs, and single family homes, the mayor is facilitating the push, towards the corporate compadres by building, affordable housing projects, market rate apartment buildings, sell outs to projects like Midway Rising, the less enforced AirBnb licensing rules, and the multiple unit ADU rules. Inventory of ownership property is being reduced and not necessarily replaced. It’s turning society into renters and changing the housing ecosystem.
One last thing where we’re clamoring to build affordable housing at the coast (or not with projects like Midway Rising) while we wrestle with climate change, is what we want today, may not be around tomorrow.
Thwaites holds enough water to increase sea levels by more than 2 feet. But because it also acts like a cork, holding back the vast Antarctic ice sheet, its collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise, devastating coastal communities from Miami and London to Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands.
https://news.yahoo.com/scientists-looked-deep-beneath-doomsday-090048739.html
Well, Mayor Gloria finally said the quiet part out loud: “Too many cyclists and pedestrians are getting hurt and killed … For too many San Diegans, the only choice to get from A to B is their car.”
You see, Gloria and his ilk want you out of your car, so that he and his cronies can utilize dedicated bike lanes where you used to be able to drive and park your car. Yes, mayor Gloria, people do like to use their cars to get from point A to point B, so why don’t you fix the roads everyone uses instead of getting rid of traffic lanes in favor of modes of transportation that fewer people use?
As far as cyclist’s and pedestrian’s getting killed, use dedicated cross walks, and obey traffic laws. If you do, you will be far less likely to be killed.
Riding down Park Blvd from Upas towards downtown has worked out great for me. No longer having to ride in the middle of the car lane to avoid the door zone has been a godsend. Lack of other riders in that particular bike lane has made it a pleasure to ride down cuz I can go faster. Taking away parking has worked out for me. Thank you John for your tax dollars. If I ever meet you in person, a beer is me.
me, me, me!
Yes, kh, that’s what stood out first & foremost…
Poverty condemns our fellow citizens to greeting the morning skys sharing the sidewalks.
In a city of wealth, with a mayor paying lip service to the poor, I found ghost and his dog named after him sleeping next to a pregnant woman.
Ghost is a methaphor for the shame of our city. He stands guard over a woman he just met. I saw them last night as I searched for parking in streets smelling of shit. I saw them again in the morning as I went to my car to save it from the parking nazis.
If you live in San Diego and you vote for the Toddler, you have no heart.