San Diego City Council District 1: Eight Candidates Previewed
A confluence of political ambition and term limits means five of the nine seats on the San Diego City Council will be filled with new people come 2021. It’s also likely the end of an era where Republicans had a significant say in running for America’s Finest City.
The floodgates of fault-finding will be now open for ambitious MAGAts, allowing them to rant and rave about problems they’ve conveniently forgotten their brethren had a hand in creating. Expect Carl DeMaio (who will lose in the 50th) to have his own green room room at KUSI, so he can rush to condemn whatever decisions get made, regardless of the facts.
While elected positions in San Diego are technically nonpartisan, the real world impact of this system is that political parties don’t get named on the ballot. IF things break their way, the GOP will have all of two seats on the City Council.
The Union-Tribune has done an admirable public service in publishing interviews with candidates for all the major offices in San Diego, giving readers the opportunity to see where those seeking to serve the public stand on a variety of issues. (The term “money quote” in my listings of candidates means I’ve picked something out from the UT interviews that seemed to characterize the candidate.)
While I urge people to read these interviews, I couldn’t help but noticing the argumentative framing of many of the questions, almost as if the ghosts of councils past were setting up the newbies for a fall.
I predict lots of "See, we told you so" editorials.
Eight candidates are running to succeed incumbent Barbara Bry (who is running for Mayor) in a district that represents residents in Carmel Valley, La Jolla, University City and other communities.
My analysis of those running holds that Aaron Brenan, Joe Lacava, and Will Moore are all good choices in terms of experience and knowledgeability. The differences between them are worth studying but ultimately not super-consequential. (Remember, this is one City Council seat, not emperor of the world.)
They’re hard workers, and experienced enough to have a vision of what they could realistically do.
Brenan, LaCava, Moore and Harid Puentes are all endorsed by the Democratic Party of San Diego; the local GOP has not endorsed in this race.
As far as I’m concerned Harid Puentes’ heart is in the right place, and if you’re looking for an not-as-well connected-to-the-establishment/techno Democrat, you should consider him.
Sam Nejabat and James P. Rudolph --both Democrats-- are interesting candidates, but not ready for prime time. “Bring everybody to the table” without a specific plan is just word salad for "I Don’t Know," as is “I’ll have to study that further.”
Louis Rodolico ran for this seat in 2016, drawing less than 2% of the vote. He’s a candidate whose point of view is more driven by personal experiences than awareness of the bigger picture outside of environmental questions.
Lily Zhou is the officially non-partisan candidate for D1, and clearly inhabits a different universe than the rest of the crowd.
The March 3 primary election will allow the top two vote-getters to advance to a runoff election in November. Those candidates without organizational endorsements listed don’t have any, as far as I can tell from their websites.
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Aaron Brenan is a San Diego Firefighter and Naval Reserve Officer. He has been active with the Veterans’ Democratic Club and San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action along with being an elected trustee on the La Jolla Town Council. He opened hos campaign by pledging not to take developer money.
Why he’s running:
As your Council Member, I’ll never forget who City Hall is supposed to be serving: our neighborhoods and our families. On the City Council, I’ll fight to:
Invest in the quality city services our neighborhoods depend on, not just downtown.
Tackle the homelessness crisis with common sense solutions we know work.
Implement comprehensive plans to tackle climate change and protect against wildfires.
Improve emergency response times and strengthen neighborhood safety.
Link to Union-Tribune interview
Money quote:
I derive satisfaction out of helping people. And I think a service attitude is what separates me from the other candidates in this race. And if you’re going to want somebody that’s gonna be completely open and transparent and accountable, it’s an easy choice. It’s me.
Endorsements: Municipal Employees Assn., San Diego Police Officers Association, San Diego City Firefighters Association, Local 145, Veterans Democratic Club of San Diego, San Diego State University College Democrats
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San Diego native Joe LaCava is a civil engineer by trade. He’s designed public infrastructure, worked in the housing industry, has participated in local politics by sitting on more than 20 civic boards, planning groups and commissions. He has been active in social and environmental causes in San Diego.
Why he’s running:
“District 1 needs a Councilmember who understands how the city functions and knows how to produce results for constituents. With my experience working with residents, property owners, and businesses and my track record of accomplishments at City Hall, I will hit the ground running on day one.
After 15 years as a community leader and advocate, I am ready to be the consensus-builder who will move our City forward on key issues like protecting our environment, making our communities safer and delivering quality neighborhood services.”
Link to Union-Tribune interview:
Money quote:
I’ve seen too many things where I’ve seen the mayor come out really strong... Have the press conference, have the photo op and then kind of just drops the ball and doesn’t carry through. Uh, and the follow through is actually what causes the changes that you think you said you needed. Uh, we’ve talked about the short term rentals and the scooters and adopting regulations with no plan to do... enforce a what the regulations that are on the books. Um, I think those are just a few examples.
Organizational Endorsements: Save San Diego Neighborhoods, Sierra Club San Diego, National Electrical Contractors Association, San Diego City Lifeguards, Teamsters Local 911, San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action.
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Will Moore is a small business attorney. He’s an officer of the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle and a founding member of Business For Good — an organization of small business owners working for policies that improve our community. Has also served on the boards of the San Diego Leadership Alliance, The Urban League Young Professionals, and the American Constitution Society.
Why he’s running:
Hidden beneath the wonderful weather and cultural richness that makes us America’s Finest City, there are systemic problems that threaten the economic freedom and quality of life in our communities.
Our newly graduated young adults can’t afford to pay rent here. The sidewalks and canyons of our neighborhoods have become homeless camps. Coastal flooding is eating away roads, bridges, and rail lines that we depend on to commute. Our region is supposedly at full employment - but stagnated wages and salaries keep too many of our neighbors struggling from paycheck to paycheck. The combination of these factors, if left unaddressed, will cripple our region and our world.
Worst of all: Our city leadership has put off addressing these problems for years — focusing on special interests and pet projects — when they should be leading the way into the future.
Link to Union-Tribune interview:
Money quote:
When you lose your job or one of your jobs for a lot of San Diegans. Uh, and you can’t get another job for just another month or so, you’re not even long term unemployed. You just miss a couple of paychecks, you could end up on the street. And so we have a situation in San Diego right now where our middle-class housing in this town is: drive in from Temecula. Just a long commute is how we do our middle class housing.
Our low income housing in San Diego right now is people live in their cars and we just can’t sustain a community like that. And even the folks who have long wanted to preserve their individual neighborhoods, just the way they are starting to realize that we have other values at stake as well. And we need to do something to allow this city to accommodate just working people, people who have jobs go to work, play by the rules. They need to be able to pay their rent, send their kids to school and enjoy their life.
Organizational Endorsements: Carmel Valley Democrats, YIMBY Democrats, La Raza Lawyers assn, San Diego Blue Dream Democrats.
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Sam Nejabat is a small businessman who wants to “give back” to the community. He grew up in San Diego after his family fled Iran in 1979, worked in the Obama Administration and is presently the President of SJN Properties, which owns rental properties. He's running a grassroots campaign, hoping to knock on every door in the district. He was recently appointed by Gov.Gavin Newsom to the Board of Directors overseeing the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Why he’s running:
"I am deeply concerned about Homelessness, Affordable Housing and Climate Change. On the City Council I will fight for neighborhoods; I will work hard to protect our beaches, coast and air from pollution. I will strive to build a future that gives every San Diego family the opportunity to participate in our region's growth and prosperity."
Link to Union Tribune interview
Money quote:
But for me the best part, I think, um, of educating myself is talking to my neighbors. I think when you hear the issues firsthand, you touch thousands and thousands of doors, you really get a sense of what’s going on in the community. And for me that’s the best way to sort of solve the problems is to hear what your problems are from your neighbors and address them like that.
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Tech executive Harid Puentes served in a leadership role with the CONNECT program, which seeks to provide resources for startup business via mentorships, education, collaboration, and access to capital. He worked to high-growth early-stage startup resources to traditionally underserved communities of San Diego.
His other experiences include working as a management consultant for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in London, marketing for a startup trying to tackle the student debt crisis through gamification, and serving as regional director for a global non-profit.
Why he’s running:
Embracing innovation is one of the most important factors in building an economy that works for everyone in our city. I have seen first-hand the impact that fostering innovation has on economic growth. At the City Council, I intend to find creative new ways to harness and invest in the human capital here and make sure that is at the heart of the jobs engine for all San Diegans. It's critical that we also work closely with our education institutions like UCSD to make sure we equip the next generation of job seekers with the skills they need to be successful.
Link to Union Tribune interview:
Money Quote:
….in our district in particular, our 52nd congressional district, I believe is the 10th most educated district in the country. We’ve got people that understand nuance and they understand authenticity and they understand when you have integrity and when you don’t. And I want to make sure that as a city we lead on that. Because it’s good, although I do believe it’s good and it’s the right thing to do. I just believe there’s tremendous upside for us as a city when we have city leaders that do that and they lead authentically.
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Louis Rodolico is an environmental journalist and pro-bono activist involved in public safety and the environment . Following a career as a Licensed California Architect, he retired in 2015. Projects included hospital projects, renovation of the Grant Hotel in San Diego and bringing the Viejas Gymnasium to completion.
Reason for running:
If I am elected your Councilman I will do my best to improve safety and maximize taxpayer dollars.
Things I support:
1) Public transit and the benefits it brings to the environment.
2) Increasing the minimum wage.
3) More transparency for projects in approval process.
4) Construction of the Regents Road Bridge.
5) Maximizing benefit to the community by properly locating Fire Station locations
Link to Union Tribune Interview
Money quote
If I see something wrong, I am fairly relentless in terms of making sure that things get corrected until they’re corrected. And that’s my pitch basically.
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James P. Rudolph is a business attorney. Born and raised in San Diego, his dad opened Harry's Coffee Shop in La Jolla in 1960. He has worked for two presidential administrations in Washington, D.C.
Why he’s running:
I'm running for San Diego City Council, District 1 because this is where I was born and raised. The local issues -- your issues -- are my issues. I hope to use my unique, national-level experience and legal expertise to make our council a better, more sophisticated place, where your interests -- not special interests -- are represented.
Link to Union-Tribune Interview
Money quote:
I like to think of myself as a moderate Democrat. I like to focus on market based solutions when they’re right, but I’m also a Democrat, so I believe that the government does have a role to play in ensuring affordable housing and the availability of housing, and the taxing of these short-term vacation rentals for generating fees and all of that, so there’s a level playing field with the hotels and all that.
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Lily Zhou’s entrepreneurial adventures started at age twenty-three with opening a restaurant. She also launched a Chinese Television program, the first one to be available on mobile phones. Currently, she is an owner of Saigon on Fifth restaurant, and president of Z Media. Zhou also is a board member of Balboa Park’s House of China, and serves as a member of the Kyoto Prize.
Why she’s running:
Going into this campaign, I will be the ONLY female and the ONLY non-partisan candidate out of a pool of 8. When I was asked, “Why are you running for office?” the answer is simple; To Get Things DONE!
Our community is made up of a wonderful spectrum of diverse people from every background and we have several things in common; love of family being at the core, and of course a love for this specific community. We want a safe environment, filled with love and appreciated diversity. From this election alone, we can see that women and minorities need so much more representation than what is given currently. I want to make that first step, to encourage the future of our people to step up, regardless of race or gender. The time is NOW.
Link to Union-Tribune interview
Money quote:
...I came here with nothing. So I wanted to inspire the, uh, a lot of underprivileged people to develop the talent and earn it and earn it. And I’ll help them to earn it, to get there. Because I don’t believe in minimum wage because I believe they should get paid more than minimum wage, but do they have the requirement or they have the required skill to be that indispensable to a business owner. Because if you do well, a business owner, no reason for a business owner not to give you a raise. So if I give you a raise, then how could you be having no income? Then you can live in the community that you desire. And I want to inspire people to do that. And with the, uh, I don’t know how, you know, being the city council, how much, you know, ability that all the city council member can work together and come up with a budget instead of subsidizing home, you know, the Section 8 or other stuff we can subsidize to tell, to teach those underprivileged people to acquire the necessary skills.
Thought for the day:
https://twitter.com/edwardebrowden/status/1219274531891634183?s=20
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