Streamlining the contracting process for infrastructure projects and strengthening San Diego’s primary economic sectors are high on the list of recommendations for governing San Diego made by a bipartisan team that helped Mayor Kevin Faulconer make his transition, officials said Thursday.
Other recommendations include modernizing the city’s website, continuing efforts to recruit and retain police officers, streamlining the permit process to lower the cost of building homes and fast-tracking affordable housing projects, creating a multi-year plan for infrastructure projects, and working with educators to connect students with jobs, Faulconer said.
“This transition committee brought together business and labor; builders and environmentalists; longtime civic leaders and young, innovative dreamers; Democrats, Republicans, independents; all together, all working united for the betterment of their great city,” Faulconer said at a news conference. “The recommendations that are in this report, when implemented, will help address some of city’s greatest challenges.”
Many of the suggestions have been incorporated into the budget that will take effect July 1 and others will be developed into policies for the city, the mayor said.
Other recommendations include implementing an open data policy and hiring an open data director, and working with educational institutions to close the skills gap among prospective workers.
The team was co-chaired by Steve Cushman, the vice chairman of the San Diego Convention Center Board of Directors, and former City Council President Tony Young.
Among other members were Mark Cafferty, CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.; Father Joe Carroll, founder of Father Joe’s Villages; Gary Gallegos, the executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments; Abdur-Rahim Hameed, CEO of the National Black Contractors Association; Cindy Marten, the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District; Nicole Murray-Ramirez, a city human rights commissioner; and Michael Zucchet, the head of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association.
Zucchet, whose organization is the city’s largest public employee union, said Faulconer appears to be choosing a path of collaboration and making the city functional.
“At the end of the day, it’s words on paper — what really matters is how the administration is going to govern,” Zucchet said. “On those fronts, so far, it’s been a very collaborative approach. It’s all you can ask for.”
He said labor will still find policy differences, but getting together and looking for areas of agreement is a “departure from the past.” It’s a “welcome and distinct change,” he said.
— City News Service
