San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer doubled down on his inclusive appeal for “one San Diego,” telling a public audience Thursday that through collaboration “we are creating a world-class city for all.”
“It’s been my goal to set a tone of collaboration, and focus on results,” he said, listing efforts to build new football stadium, improve city parks, expand the convention center and continue to invest heavily in street repair.
“We are creating a world class city for all,” he vowed.
Faulconer spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 1,000 in his second State of the City Address at the historic Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego. The crowd included city and county officials, military leaders, and the mayor and other government officials from Tijuana.
“The foundation of our city is strong, and ladies and gentlemen the state of our city is strong,” he said.
Turning to the latest developments with the San Diego Chargers, he said the city has made more progress on a new stadium in the last ten months than in the last ten years.
He defended the plan to build a new stadium in Mission Valley, arguing that it’s “not to late to do what’s right for this team,” and suggesting no other city truly has the Chargers interests at heart.
“You can’t get that in LA. You can’t get that in Inglewood. You can only get that in San Diego,” he said.
The mayor said he would propose the city’s largest investment ever in parks, including incorporation of the DeAnza Mobile Home Park into Mission Bay Park. “We are going to create San Diego’s next great public space on Mission Bay,” he said.
Infrastructure would continue to be a top priority, with $10 million daily spent to repair and upgrade streets, sidewalks, libraries and parks.
And Faulconer vowed to bring a plan to expand the San Diego Convention Center downtown to a public vote this year. “It’s time to settle this once and for all and get the convention center expanded,” he said.
Turning to the economy, said that San Diego has an obligation to make sure there are opportunities for all, especially the young in economically disadvantaged communities. He is enlisting four local companies — Cox, NASSCO, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Sharp Healthcare — to employ 1,000 young San Diegans this year.
He said San Diego needs to become a city “where opportunity is back within reach.”
During the nearly hour-long speech, Faulconer ticked off a long list of accomplishments in 2015:
- First new fire station in five years
- Improvements to policing creating one of the safest big cities in the United States
- An ambitious climate action plan, with a goal of 100 percent clean energy
- A new, permanent homeless shelter
- Kicked off redesign of city website
- Rising credit ratings for the city’s bonds
- Cutting red tape to get more accomplished
- Plans to fill 27,000 potholes in 2016
“Even though we’re a place of many cultures we’re all moving in the same direction,” Faulconer said.
