Recap of First Debate Among District 2 Candidates

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / March 10, 2026

Seven candidates seeking to represent Clairemont and Point Loma on the City Council clashed at a recent forum over bike lanes, ADUs, Balboa Park parking, the city’s budget deficit and a proposed empty homes tax.

Mike Rickey, a Merchant Marine from Clairemont, was the most vocal critic of new bike lanes being created across San Diego to encourage people to use cycling to commute and get around. “The money that we’re spending on these bike lanes and removing street parking is absurd,” Rickey said.

Jacob Mitchell, a chemist from Point Loma, said the biggest problem with new bike lanes is that they often don’t connect well with other safe areas to cycle.

Mandy Havlik, a Point Loma neighborhood leader, said the need for a safe cycling network should be balanced against the impact on businesses of removing street parking. “A lot of small business owners feel like they’re competing with a bike lane to stay open,” Havlik said.

Nicole Crosby, a deputy city attorney who lives in Clairemont, said bike lanes don’t make a lot of sense in communities like Clairemont where hills and canyons are a major challenge. “It’s putting the cart before the horse,” she said.

Richard Bailey, a former mayor of Coronado who now lives in Point Loma, said the city’s nearly $8 billion backlog of infrastructure projects means bike lanes must be a low priority. “Bike lanes are more of a nice-to-have, not a must-have,” Bailey said.

Josh Coyne, a former City Hall staffer who lives in Point Loma and now works for the Downtown San Diego Partnership, expressed more support. “Government can and should do more for people to get around the city safely,” he said.

Paul Suppa, an attorney living in Point Loma, said the many cyclist deaths in San Diego in recent years should be a call to action to install more bike lanes. “It will help support people getting to work and school, and it will cut down on unnecessary tragedies,” Suppa said.

The Thursday event at the Cathy Hopper Friendship Center in Clairemont was jointly sponsored by the Clairemont Town Council and the League of Women Voters.

The candidates, who are seeking to replace termed-out Jennifer Campbell in San Diego Council District 2, also disagreed sharply on the city’s bonus ADU incentive.

Rickey said he was happy to see the incentive rolled back last summer, calling the large ADU developments built under the incentive a debacle.

Crosby agreed. “It wasn’t thoughtful growth,” she said. “We’re now seeing the problems it caused.”

Havlik, a vocal critic of city policies that change the character of what are now largely single-family neighborhoods, said the ADU bonus was particularly bad. “When you’re building mini-apartment complexes and you’re not providing parking, that’s not smart growth,” she said.

Bailey said it was wrong of San Diego to go beyond what the state requires on ADUs. “It pours gasoline on the fire,” he said.

Video of D2 Forum by League of Women Voters here

Suppa and Mitchell also expressed opposition.

But Coyne said the city’s housing affordability crisis makes ADUs a good idea if they are done well. “ADUs are a method to provide additional housing,” he said.

Nearly all the candidates condemned new paid parking in Balboa Park, but Coyne was more open to the idea. He stressed that city residents cover all the costs of Balboa Park, yet the whole county benefits from the park.

He suggested the city pause to assess the paid parking, with particular focus on the impact to museums and other nonprofits in the park.

Regarding the empty homes tax set for the June 2 ballot, Suppa, Rickey, Havlik and Bailey said they oppose it.

“Are they also going to tax you for not building an ADU in your backyard?” said Bailey, a former longtime Republican now registered as an independent.

Mitchell said he tentatively supports the tax because it could help solve the housing crisis.

Coyne and Crosby offered more enthusiastic support.

“If you have two homes — one of which is empty in an affordability crisis — you can pay a little bit more to ensure our city can afford to provide services,” Coyne said.

Crosby said she hopes the city goes even further to assess the real estate portfolios of corporations that own many single-family homes in San Diego.

On the city’s budget crisis, the candidates offered a variety of possible solutions. Coyne and Mitchell suggested finding ways to increase revenue, Suppa suggested pension reform, and Havlik said the number of middle managers should be sharply reduced.

Bailey said the city should return to 2015 staffing levels and try to outsource many services to the private sector. Crosby criticized outsourcing, suggesting a key move for the city would be spending less on contracting.

The top two candidates in the June 2 primary will move on to a November runoff — even if the top finisher in June gets more than 50% of the vote.

Havlik, Coyne and Crosby are all Democrats, Rickey is a Libertarian and Suppa and Bailey are independents.

Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the district by nearly two to one. In addition to Point Loma and Clairemont, District 2 includes Mission Beach and Ocean Beach.

Editordude: A second candidate forum for City Council District 2 will be held on April 27th 5:30-7:30 PM
Liberty Station Conference Center, 2600 Laning Road 92106