Seven widely varied City Council candidates debated coastal issues for beach and bay communities at a May 14 forum held at Paradise Point Resort & Spa.
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:
Richard Bailey
The business owner and former Coronado mayor cited attainable and smart housing growth, repealing new city fees and taxes and budget and management reform as the three things needed to be done to address the city’s current budget woes.
Regarding camper proliferation, Bailey noted on May 14: “We don’t need more safe parking lots. We need to enforce the (zoning enforcement) laws that already exist. This is just common sense.” He added the city also needs to enforce its own laws when it comes to getting the unsheltered off the streets noting their “public refusals to access help does not give them the right to violate the law.”
Bailey noted the city is currently 300 police officers short of the optimum number, adding there are “fewer police officers today than there were in 1990.” That must be addressed, he said, along with reigning-in the amount of police overtime which is stressing the city’s budget.
Regarding homelessness. Bailey said the city’s current policies have failed. “We shouldn’t be letting people die on our streets or have people have to step over feces when they take their dogs for a walk,” he said adding, “Fifty percent of our 911 calls are reacting to the homeless. We need to be more accountable for how we spend our money.”
Concluded Bailey about the city’s budget ills, “Help is not on the way. The city is going to have to come up with some new resources beyond further taxes. We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending and management problem. Our middle-management staffing has grown 27% over the past 10 years and the performance in every single city department is lower today than it was 10 years ago.”
Josh Coyne
The top three priorities for this chief of staff at Downtown San Diego Partnership and former City Council District 2 staffer are rebuilding trust and delivering basic services, ending street homelessness and fixing roads and infrastructure while guarding against flooding.
“We have this opportunity to meet this moment to create a new chapter in the city’s history,” he said in opening remarks May 14. “We need to make decisions that move the city not backward but forward. We need to come together to meet the challenges and move forward with the help of the city council.”
Noting public safety is another of his major concerns, Coyne said, regarding homelessness, that the city needs to ensure there are “no unsafe encampments” and that police enforcement of street homelessness guarantees that there are “safe parking lots and places for them to go. We also need to ensure that both the county and the state continue to address homelessness.”
Concerning promoting transportation, Coyne noted the city has to “think differently about how we can move about our city. We can do a better job of that.”
About providing basic services, Coyne said, “When a neighbor has an important issue – the city is responsible to ensure that issue is met appropriately.”
“We need to focus on the fundamentals and take care of what matters most,” concluded Coyne. “That means investing in repairs, improving response times and making sure taxpayer dollars are going toward fixing problems people deal with every single day.”
“This mayor and council need to do a better job of addressing the homelessness crisis,” concluded Coyne adding that means ensuring police and fire departments both have the proper resources they need.
Nicole Crosby
A deputy city attorney, parent and past president of the Clairemont Town Council, Crosby has stressed her three top campaign priorities are affordability, public safety and guaranteeing constitutional rights for women and minorities including LGBTQ+.
“I’ve protected elders from abuse and prosecuted hate crimes,” she said on May 14. “I want my daughter to grow up in a neighborhood with safe streets. As a longtime city worker, I’m running to make sure people get quality city services and ensure simple tasks get done, like filling potholes. We need to make sure people have confidence in our government in order to do that.”
Regarding what she’d do about vehicles camping out, Crosby stressed the need to find a way to fully fund new 24-hour parking facilities. She favors ramping up efforts to work with police to reduce their caseload responding to 911 emergency calls for the chronically mentally ill out on the street, tasks which monopolize officers’ time.
Crosby also stressed the need for public transit improvements. “We need to make sure buses run on time and also that we provide shuttle service during special events,” she said.
Crosby reiterated her stance on the need to work with the San Diego Housing Commission to expand home ownership opportunities and pursue policy reforms that stop corporations from buying up residential neighborhoods, along with fighting short-term vacation rentals displacing families.
“We need to focus on kids in our schools and families in our neighborhoods,” she said.
On homelessness, Crosby has said, “I’ll expand shelter beds, partner with the county for behavioral health services and build senior housing on government land to protect our most vulnerable residents.”
Crosby noted “trust is a must” where it comes to local government. She added legislators “need to make sure people know why things are happening.” She counseled that the city needs to “reclaim millions of dollars owed it in revenues, fines and penalties” to deal with the city’s budget while finding a way to minimize cuts to “parks and libraries on the eve of summer.”
Mandy Havlik
A military spouse and mother who is a community activist and first vice chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, Havlik has cited safe, livable neighborhoods, smart community-centered growth and affordability and cost of living as her top priorities.
“For the past seven years, I’ve showed up for my neighborhood to advocate for things like e-bike and traffic safety while advocating for smart growth in our communities,” she said at the forum adding, “Too many people feel city hall doesn’t represent them. We need to get some representatives at city hall from our neighborhoods and communities.”
Havlik noted its especially important to ensure camping on streets doesn’t happen near schools and businesses while warning, “The reality is we don’t have enough spaces for people to go who live in their vehicles. I’m advocating for expansion of safe parking lots, a holistic approach to addressing this issue.”
Havlik said we need to “set up our police department for success” by hiring more officers and reducing police overtime. She advocates for reducing the cap on whole-home rentals which she said is “displacing families being priced out of our neighborhoods.”
Regarding homelessness, Havlik, citing the Compass Station drop-in homeless services center in Pacific Beach as a “model program,” noted that she’s working to export the concept into Ocean Beach. She added, it “can be replicated in our neighborhood.”
“I am in favor of safe growth in our communities and not densifying neighborhoods,” concluded Havlik, pointing out the importance of guaranteeing safe and free access to beaches and parks.
Havlik also advocates for reducing middle-management and consulting positions in the city’s budget. She concluded, “People feel like they’re getting rubber stamps at the city which is not working for us. We deserve better.”
Jacob Mitchell
A chemist and MBA student, Mitchell lists housing and affordability, proactive long-term planning and infrastructure and financial accountability as his three top areas of focus.
“I care about this community and want to help make your lives better,” he said of his motivation to run. He added, “I come at things from a systems approach to solve a problem.”
Mitchell added the city’s budget approach is wrong, contending there is “way too much focus on taxes and fees.” He added, “That’s not good government. Representatives need to be accountable to their communities. The city should have a lean budget and needs to cut expenses.”
Mitchell cited one public safety problem that needs addressing. “Right now, there is a lot of burden on police making low-impact stops for people camping and this is a huge burden in the budget,” he contended adding, “We need to civilianize as many police positions as possible dealing with low-risk stops to improve public safety.”
Mitchell had another policy suggestion. “I’m also advocating for a ban on short-term rentals,” he noted. “We need a simplistic policy for enforcing this nuisance in coastal communities.”
Concluded Mitchell: “The reality is responsible government is related to finance. Our city doesn’t spend our money well – and there’s no quick fix.”
Mike Rickey
Running as a libertarian, he is a commercial ship captain, a San Diego native and longtime Clairemont resident who’s been a “politically involved citizen who’s been paying attention” to ensure his four boys grow up safe in their neighborhood.
“I felt like someone had to stand up,” he said about his motivation for running. He added the city “needs to get back on track to being fiscally responsible. That’s what needs to happen.”
In addressing homelessness and camping, Rickey said the city needs to “enforce rules we already have. If you’re living in your car or van – they have to follow the rules.”
Rickey’s top three campaign priorities are addressing the budget, density and accessory dwelling units and improving infrastructure. Pointing out that accountability is a “great buzzword,” Rickey said “we need to put it into practice.” Citing homelessness as an example, he said, “People won’t get treatment unless we enforce it.”
In terms of improving the housing situation, he added, “If people don’t have jobs, improving housing doesn’t mean anything.”
Claiming the city’s budget is “in shambles,” Rickey added public-private partnerships are what we need to “help pay for” balancing the budget. He also advocated for middle-management budget cuts. “We have too many managers – this is a no-brainer,” he concluded adding, “We shouldn’t be cutting public safety or our core responsibilities.”
Paul Suppa
An attorney and a 30-year resident of the district, he has said his top three priorities are fiscal responsibility and accountability and adequately developing infrastructure before expanding it, followed by ensuring public safety and quality of life.
Concerning energy, Suppa said San Diego is “under siege as prices keep going up.” In response, he said the city “should be protecting the people,” while adding that the city instead is “doubling down, increasing our fees on trash and parking while cutting services to libraries, parks and recreation. We’ve got real issues that need to be contended with.”
Concerning campers on streets, Suppa said that needs to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. But he was quick to add that’s not the responsibility of police. “Enforcing encampments is the role of parking enforcement, not police,” he contended.
In terms of what can be done by the city to deal with crowds at special events, Suppa suggested using a shuttle service to help decrease traffic congestion. “We should not be having anxiety about parking,” he concluded adding that he also supports an “outright ban on short-term vacation rentals.
“We need to listen to each other and implement better ideas, not have open warfare by imposing parking fees, closing restrooms or making cuts to the arts budget,” he concluded. “I would make uniform cuts for every city department.”
