Operational Changes Underway at City Hall in San Diego

SAN DIEGO - As the new year approaches, something like normalcy seems almost achievable in San Diego city government.

Mayor-elect Jerry Sanders will be sworn into office on December 5th. Although he will be taking the helm of a city teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and rocked by scandal after scandal during the past two years, he will also enjoy unprecedented mayoral power under the new strong mayor form of city government, which takes effect on January 1, 2006.

Clearing the way for the new mayor to assume many of his duties, City Manager Lamont Ewell has made good on his November 2004 resignation. Originally planning to leave office last June, Ewell delayed his departure until now citing his wish to maintain the city's stability.

Ewell, however, won't be far away. The Santa Monica City Council announced on Tuesday their unanimous decision to name Ewell their new city manager. None the worse for wear from the past year's battles with City Attorney Michael Aguirre, Ewell will enjoy a substantial pay raise and significantly less public scrutiny. Santa Monica, roughly two-thirds the size of San Diego, will pay Ewell $245,000 a year and supply him with relocation assistance and a loan for a home.

Ronne Froman will serve as interim City Manager until January 1, 2006 when she assumes her duties as the city's Chief Operating Officer.

To further implement the changes required by the new strong-mayor system, District 1 City Councilman Scott Peters was unanimously elected by his colleagues on Tuesday to the post of president of the City Council for a one-year term. Assuming his new duties, Peters will replace the mayor as the presiding officer at council meetings and will be responsible for scheduling the council's agenda.

Although Peters has clashed with City Attorney Michael Aguirre nearly as often as Ewell has over city government operations, Peters indicated that the council's ongoing struggle with the city attorney might be improving. "For the good of the city and the taxpayers, we are absolutely committed to listening, communicating and finding common ground for solutions," said Peters.

Aguirre urged the City Council to either name Peters on an interim basis or delay the vote until after the January 10 election. The council decided to act on Councilman Jim Madaffer's motion in favor of Peters. Declining to seek the position of president herself, Councilwoman Donna Frye agreed with the other council members, noting the council's ability to remove the president with a majority vote at any time.

The voters of San Diego's 2nd and 8th districts will provide the last pieces of the puzzle on January 10th, when the city council runoff election is scheduled. Filling the two empty seats left by former councilmen Ralph Inzunza and Michael Zucchet, who were recently convicted on corruption charges stemming from the so-called "Strippergate" scandal, will return the council to full strength. The council has been operating short-handed since the departure of former mayor Dick Murphy in July.

Vying for the District 2 seat are Kevin Faulconer and Lorena S. Gonzalez. Faulconer, who received 34.53% of the vote in November's Special Election, is a local businessman and chairman of the Mission Bay Park Committee. He also serves as a member of the City's Park and Recreation Board of Directors. "As Chairman of the Mission Bay Committee, I uncovered $17 million of bay money that city hall politicians were using to pay for their overspending and waste," said Faulconer. "Conserving Mission Bay, our beaches and our parks is one of my top priorities."

Faulconer faces Lorena S. Gonzalez, J.D., who won 25.13% of the votes in the District 2 primary earlier this month. Gonzalez is an environmental attorney with an impressive academic pedigree: a Bachelors from Stanford, a Masters from Georgetown, and her Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law.

Endorsed by the Democratic Party, Gonzalez serves on the California State Lands Commission. She is also the Vice President of the San Diego League of Conservation Voters, and sits on the Planned Parenthood Board of Directors for San Diego and Riverside Counties.

Despite their differing backgrounds, the District 2 candidates are running on virtually identical platforms. Faulconer says he will restore fiscal sanity and responsibility, open city hall to the public, and keep neighborhoods safe. Gonzales promises to fix San Diego's finances, protect our beaches and bays, and make public safety a priority.

The contenders for the District 8 seat are Ben Hueso and Luis Acle. Hueso, a business consultant, received 38.31% of the primary. Acle, president of the Board of Education, garnered a mere 18.67%.

Hueso previously worked for San Diego's Department of Economic Development and says that he wants to restore public trust amidst the city's financial crisis. He plans to increase revenue from city leases and hotel room taxes, but says the city's spending is his main concern.

"The city currently has more of a spending problem than a cash-flow problem," said Hueso.

Acle plans to resolve the city's financial crisis by downsizing and generating new revenue. Above all, he indicates that he wants to restore credibility to City Hall.

"I think the main issue is the people don't have enough confidence in their local government," Acle said.

Many San Diegans are hoping for more than just a return to normal business operations at city hall; they are seeking real changes in the way city business is conducted. Voters will have to wait and see if their elected officials will make good on their campaign promises, and set right the mistakes of their predecessors.