What does San Diego need to do in order to have a great city by the year 2016? Is San Diego a great city now, in 2013? “That depends on who you talk to doesn’t it?” This statement from San Diegan James Lawson stands to reason. “Talk to a homeless man on 5th and G and he’ll tell you one thing totally different from a man living on top of Mt. Soledad,” Lawson stated.
I do know there are some things Bob Filner (http://www.sandiego.gov/opengov/) said he’d focus on as he moves towards 2016.
• He’d like to see San Diego become the regional leader on port issues
• He’d like to break up the downtown power structure as it exists today
• He wants more emphasis on neighborhoods
• He wants to bring back a wider range of middle class jobs which have been lost
I believe the question is, how’s it going so far? Certainly he has made a statement on Port Issues; He has made some moves to shake up the power structure downtown, but at what cost?
Is San Diego’s downtown power structure a problem? Didn’t we move downtown from nearly blight filled urban disuse to bright and clean energy moving with good things to be had by all? No doubt, when traveling San Diego’s Neighborhoods, one wants to be able to drive down the road without finding potholes shaking vehicles into submission and able to see the upcoming corner where you’ll slow down to make a turn, which at night requires street lights that actually work. Plus when traveling some of the best neighborhoods in the country, one wants to believe they will travel with no fear of being hit by bullets flying and no fear of loosing the family car to car jackers.
Does a city Mayor have the power to engage economic growth such that a broad range of jobs become available to all of its citizens? Certainly one can work to deliver a master plan with a port developed for the vitality to bring the city great employment opportunities, to deliver goods at cheaper costs and thus bring us future prosperity.
“I believe eliminating potholes is simply a matter of ordered priorities. All I know is I want my roads smooth and built so I’m not going to get my car realigned every month,” states Mr. Lawson of Kensington.
I want to see Mr. Filner work to bring about the visions I’ve read about which he showed us during the campaign for the Mayor’s seat.
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