Over 100 attend Tuesday evening’s candidate forum

It was a hot night at Uptown’s Grace Lutheran Church as the Neighborhood Historic Perservation Coalition (NHPC) held a candidate forum for the upcoming November 4th election. Despite the heat, 110 people attended to hear candidates Sherri Lightner (District 1), Stephen Whitburn and Todd Gloria (District 3) Marti Emerald (District 7) and City Attorney Mike Aguirre. His challenger Jan Goldsmith cancelled. The candidates were asked questions directly from the forum moderator and then took questions from the floor. There was some interrogation about campaign contributions between the District 3 candidates, but surprisingly each of the candidates appeared to be generally appreciative of the benefits of the current Mills Act program; in favor of notices for demolitions; and calling for revamping or dismantling of the redevelopment agencies. The entire forum wil be posted on YouTube soon.
Each of the candidates graciously stayed and fielded questions until approximately 8:40pm, well past the planned 8pm ending time. Highlights included Mike Aguirre: regarding Rose Canyon, Sunroad & 301 University — each needed more careful review. Legal opinions that provide guidance to the city are too often ignored. Aguirre also shared that downtown redevelopment is a means of transferring wealth to developers. The whole idea is supposed to grow out of the community, and that is not what has happened in the City of San Diego.
Sherri Lightner: San Francisco has a fine of $25,000 (for illegal demolitions) not an ordinary cost of business. Let’s do that. Adding that affordable housing is a gimmick that makes it ok to reduce parking requirements. Her community (La Jolla) can’t get affordable housing and does not have any affordable housing. The developers will pay the in lieu fee instead and it creates a problem when all of the affordable housing is moved out of a community (because the historic buildings that once provided it have all been demolished). Stephen Whiburn: I will bet anyone $10 that no one in this room will be invited to be part of the stakeholder group that city staff is hand picking for the Uptown Community Plan. He also asked when will the city start to do something about illegal demolitions. Community members have done what they can but the city council needs to take the lead on this now. Todd Gloria: We need to levy fees and fines to those who perpetuate illegal demolitions. Todd also sugggested the use of Channel 24 to do more public service announcements (regarding education to prevent illegal demolitions). If elected, he would like to serve on the Land Use and Housing Committee and would make reigning in on illegal demolitions a priority. Marti Emerald: Affordable housing has a legal definition but has also become an overused buzz phrase. It has lost significance for those shut out of the market and it turns people off from projects, adding, “We have got to stop calling people NIMBY’s just because they want to have a say about what they want in their community, and we need to listen to the people in the community more.” She also supported Todd’s suggestion to use Channel 24, but refined it to educate the public and educate staff so that everyone understands the rules.