The sting of the Chargers’ announcement hung in the air at the annual State of the City address, but Mayor Kevin Faulconer focused on the future, vowing to build more housing, expand the convention center and help the homeless.
“At the end of the day, Dean Spanos was never willing to work with us on a stadium solution,” Faulconer said at the beginning of his speech on Thursday night. “San Diego didn’t lose the Chargers; the Chargers just lost San Diego.”
The mayor went on to outline plans to make it easier to build new homes and proposed raising the tourism tax to expand the convention center, house the homeless and fund street repair.
He entered the historic Balboa Theatre downtown to a standing ovation after the children of slain policeman Jonathan De Guzman led the capacity crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and the San Diego gay men’s and women’s choruses sang the national anthem. The city’s inclusiveness was on display, and Faulconer acknowledged as much early in his speech.
“We live in a period of great change. America’s political, racial and economic divides threaten to separate neighbor from neighbor,” Faulconer said. “But we can’t let that happen here.”
Faulconer described housing affordability as a crisis and promised to introduce a package of changes to “slash permitting times” and give city planners more authority to approve projects.
“I’m going to say something that mayors have traditionally been afraid to say: We need to build more housing,” Faulconer said.
While there is plenty of housing for the wealthy, he said, “It’s about time we encourage builders to make homes for all of us.”
He proposed a ballot measure to raise the tourism tax to fund expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, pay for homeless programs and support street repair.
“Let’s overcome San Diego’s most enduring challenges by voting to expand the convention center, house our homeless and pave our roads,” he said.
In the wide-ranging speech, his third as mayor, he also touched on:
- Balboa Park — A major restoration of the park is planned, he said, and “we are not going to let a handful of obstructionists stop the progress.”
- Border — He vowed “complete and unwavering support” for building bridges with Baja Califorinia. “When some people look at the U.S.-Mexico border, they see division,” he said. “But here in San Diego we view it much differently.” He then spoke in Spanish to welcome the Baja political leaders in attendance.
- Budget — The city’s pension obligations continue to grow, and will reach $300 million his year. He urged the council members to join him in “responsibly balancing this year’s budget.”
- Emergency Services — The city has hired more than 40 dispatchers since January. “Our broken dispatch system was a big problem,” he said. “But we took decisive action.”
- Green Energy — The city is committed to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. “San Diego is a place where Democrats and Republicans actually agree that our air, our water and our environment are worth protecting,” he said.
- Self-Driving Cars — The city has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation to be a pilot location for self-driving cars.
- Slain Officer Jonathan De Guzman — “J.D. will forever be known as a San Diego hero,” Faulconer said. “He never stopped serving us.”
- Innovation — Faulconer vowed continued support for the technology community. “Watch out Silicon Valley – We’re coming for your money,” he said.
He ended the speech with a recognition of San Diego’s reputation for innovation
“Here in San Diego, we have never let the world define us. We define it. It’s time to do it again.”
