Here’s three media reports on the candidates for District 2, including on the last candidate debate / forum, held May 14th at Paradise Point Resort & Spa. We have reports from Times of San Diego, the Union-Tribune and Axios San Diego.
Here’s Dave Schwab of Times of San Diego‘s account:
District 2 candidates Richard Bailey, Josh Coyne, Nicole Crosby, Mandy Havlik, Jacob Mitchell, Mike Rickey and Paul Suppa answered curated questions from a panel of community leaders on far-ranging issues from the city’s budget to people living out of their vehicles, homelessness, housing density, public safety and quality of life.
The Ocean Beach Community Foundation along with the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach town councils joined forces to host the event ahead of the June 2 primary election. It is the last public candidate forum before the primary, which will send the top two vote getters to a November runoff election to replace termed-out incumbent Jennifer Campbell.
Here is a breakdown of some of their statements and stances: [Go to original]
Here’s David Garrick from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
In their last forum before the June 2 primary, the race’s seven candidates also debated how to respond to homeless people living in RVs and deal with traffic congestion on the coast during large events.
The city’s pension debt prompted a spirited exchange between Nicole Crosby, a deputy city attorney who lives in Clairemont, and Richard Bailey, a former mayor of Coronado who now lives in Point Loma. Bailey called the city’s annual pension payment, which reached a record $563 million this year, an unsustainable burden that should be addressed by shrinking city staff to 2015 levels. Crosby stressed that city employees pay into their pensions and don’t receive Social Security.
“Misinformation and boogeymanning of pensions is actually a disgusting way to talk about the topic,” Crosby said. “Big corporate interests have put a stain on workers.”
Josh Coyne, a former City Hall staffer who lives in Point Loma and now works for the Downtown San Diego Partnership, said pensions shouldn’t be cut or changed because employees rely on them. Jacob Mitchell, a chemist from Point Loma, said the city must negotiate with labor unions for changes to the pension system to make it less of a burden on taxpayers. Michael Rickey, a member of the Merchant Marine from Clairemont, said he was frustrated that the courts overturned a 2012 city ballot measure that had ended pensions for most new city hires.
Paul Suppa, an attorney living in Point Loma, said the city needs to take drastic steps to solve the pension problem or risk bankruptcy. Mandy Havlik, a neighborhood leader from Point Loma, said she is frustrated that the City Council approves each year the pension payment recommended by the city’s pension board.
for the balance of this article, go here.
Finally, here’s a sampling from Claire Trageser from Axios who is not reporting on the forum itself but posed questions from the candidates on utilities and housing. Bailey, Mitchell and Rickey did not respond.
Q: How will you reduce utility costs?
Suppa thinks the City Council must hold SDG&E accountable even though it doesn’t set rates directly. …
Havlik thinks San Diego hasn’t been using its influence over SDG&E the way it should. …
Crosby thinks the city must start planning now for SDG&E’s 2031 franchise agreement expiration. …
Coyne thinks City Hall should be focused on lowering costs for working families. …
Suppa thinks housing growth must be responsible and tied to infrastructure. …
Go to original for more.
