Mayor Faulconer On Terrorism, Services For Homeless

TOM FUDGE: Our top story on Midday Edition, the city of San Diego just got hit with a $5.9 million judgment. The result of a lawsuit of a woman who was abused by a police officer named Anthony Arevalos, who is now in jail. What can the city do to respond to those situations, and attract new officers? Meanwhile, the Mayor's office must come up with a climate action plan as an answer to one put forth by the city council. We will talk about those and many other matters of city businesses morning as we welcome San Diego Mayor Faulconer to the studio. Thank you very much for coming in. MAYOR FAULCONER: Great to be back, great to see you. TOM FUDGE: Good to have you back as always. We'll be taking your calls at this hour, and for the coming segment also, on why so many people are kept on life support. This morning you were busy, you just came from a press conference from those who connect and incubate new high-tech businesses in San Diego. What is the news? MAYOR FAULCONER: It is good news. It was great, we were there talking about how important the innovation economy startups are, as incubators. It is something we have an absolute competitive advantage here in San Diego. These are great quality jobs, and high-paying jobs. We just added 400 new startup companies in San Diego alone. That is part of the information we were getting out. It is something I feel very strongly about. We have to let people know in perception and reality, San Diego is coming back. We are open for business and we are creating great opportunities for working families from an economic perspective, showing the world our creativity. TOM FUDGE: 400 new startups, we don't know how many will survive, but they are starting up. Is that evidence of an improving economy? MAYOR FAULCONER: It is, we saw some of those numbers from year-over-year, that is the exact growth we want to see. We're fortunate in San Diego to have the cultural startups creating synergy. People have a choice of where they want to locate and start a business. To have so many creative individuals and support from the intellectual capital standpoint and the financial capital standpoint, that sets us apart. That is why other people across the country said there are great things happening in San Diego, and is Mayor, my job is to help make sure they continue. TOM FUDGE: will be jumping around quite a bit in this conversation, I want to talk about a problem stemming from the San Diego police force. As I said, the city faced the judgment of $5.9 million from a lawsuit from a woman assaulted by Anthony Arevalos. Most of that was paid by insurance, but the city has had to pay $4 million. In response to the cases involving this officer, is this becoming a financial burden? MAYOR FAULCONER: It is becoming clear that we have to demonstrate what behavior we will accept and what we will not tolerate as a Police Department. This is something I have been very outspoken on since taking the reins about 5.5 months ago. The first week I was sworn in I hired a new police chief, so Zimmerman, the city's first female police chief in history. To Zimmerman is setting the right example, she has a zero tolerance policy on misconduct. She has brought back the professional standards unit from internal, looking at what is happening in the Police Department. I have worked closely with her and Jan Goldsmith on bring in the review from the Justice Department to make sure that San Diego does the best practices. San Diegans deserve, and expect, that we have the highest quality in the and women in our Police Department. The great news is, we have those men and women putting their lives on the line for us every single day. We have a zero-tolerance policy. If someone does the wrong thing, they will not be part of the department. That is the tone and standard we are setting. TOM FUDGE: You say there is a Justice Department review, have we seen that, or are we waiting to see that? MAYOR FAULCONER: It's called the COPS program, and we expect those results in the coming months. TOM FUDGE: At the same time, you have to make San Diego attractive to police recruits. That is another problem, and an independent budget analysts reports that officers are leaving the department is month at the highest rate seen in years, and a lot of them are going to other agencies. What is the problem? Are we not paying them enough? MAYOR FAULCONER: That is partly it. You hit the nail on the head, we have both a recruitment and retention issue. One of the things that was put in the budget this year, the that I was proud that the council supported, we increased the number of men and women in our police academies, we went from 34 to 43. Once we hire great people, we have to keep them here. We cannot allow the attrition numbers to be what they are, although we have taken positive steps and with the council support and dollars. It is something I feel strongly about. We have commissioned, directly to your point, review to see how we stack up. Not only to our competitors in the county, but more importantly, to put together a plan so once we hire these men and women, we can keep them in the department, because the worst thing that we can do is spend time, effort, and taxpayer dollars only for them to leave elsewhere. We want them to say in San Diego, and you will be seeing a lot more than me in the coming months. TOM FUDGE: You are talking about what Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman has done to root out bad police officers, and you said she has a zero-tolerance policy. Is there any way to anticipate whether someone you are getting on the force may be a problem? MAYOR FAULCONER: That is one of the things we're looking at, particularly in recruitment, to look at all of the things that we do, all of the standards we have to ensure that we have the highest absolute standards. That is part of the review for best practices. We have one goal, and that is to be the best, and we are, the best Police Department in the country, setting those clear standards of what we will not tolerate. Keeps Zimmerman has been a breath of fresh air, she works harder than anyone I have seen. I think the tremendous feedback we're seeing from the immunity in support of the changes that she is making a refreshing, and long overdue. TOM FUDGE: I am speaking with Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego. We are taking your calls. We'll take a call from Louise in San Diego. Go ahead. NEW SPEAKER: Hello. There were 1500 people at San Diego's People's Climate March last Sunday, who want to see strong, measurable climate action plan. How are you working with local climate activists like the San Diego 350 who organized that March, and whom I am a volunteer with, to ensure that the final plan needs targets, is enforceable, and works for San Diegans? MAYOR FAULCONER: Great question Louise, we are putting finishing touches on that plan now. What I have strived to do is to make sure that we bring everybody to the table. Not only activists, but also folks in the small business community and others to make sure that San Diego is absolutely a leader. We will continue our leadership role particularly on areas of sustainability, we were talking about water before I came on the show, as well as solar. Will make sure that we were have a climate action plan we can be proud of in San Diego. We will have clear targets and benchmarks, and we are putting the finishing touches on that, and I have been working closely with my colleagues on the city council. It's something I'm looking forward to. TOM FUDGE: Let me talk about that a little bit, because we have heard from the city council on this. The council voted on a very ambitious I'm action plan, it may have been just last week, for instance, to have 100% of the energy used in San Diego by 2035 to come from clean, local sources. What is your response to at the city council has put forward? MAYOR FAULCONER: It is something that we are working closely on, and I share the view, and in fact, I was meeting last week with Todd Gloria who started this review of the climate action plan at when he was serving as Interim Mayor. My job is to make sure it gets across the finish line. We will get the internal review we need to, because I want to make sure that we have measurable benchmarks and standards, and ambitious goals and objectives. I think we can meet those goals and objectives, because as San Diegans, we know how critically important our environment is, it is part of the fabric of who we are, and it also gives us the opportunity to continue leadership in the areas of solar and water recycling. Those are absolutely the future for us to move forward, and I am committed to those. TOM FUDGE: Have you set any goals for the city, or are you still working on it? MAYOR FAULCONER: We have, we will announce those as we announced the plan. We are putting the finishing touches on it. TOM FUDGE: When will we see that plan? MAYOR FAULCONER: Later this week. TOM FUDGE: On a recent trip to Washington, you were working, we hear, to secure federal dollars for San Diego to build a better water supply. Can you give us an update? MAYOR FAULCONER: Yes, when we talk about the issues of sustainability, really, the opportunity is for pure water recycling, a program that we are supporting when implemented. I say when, not if, because we have to get this done. We have the ability for a third of our water supply to be from us in San Diego. We are at the end of the pipe, as all of our listeners know, we are at the whim of the Metropolitan Water District from Los Angeles, and on the other side of the Colorado River. We need to create our own local water supply. Part of why we were back in Washington DC, I was meeting with representatives of the PA. Those meetings when very, very well. This will be one of the largest water recycling projects in the country. I think rightfully so, it is important that we show the leadership and I am committed to it. TOM FUDGE: Did you get answers from the folks in Washington? MAYOR FAULCONER: The good news is, they realize we do not fit in the little box that some of these rules and regulations are currently offered. We brought a team back from the city that we had the ability, and we met with Senator Feinstein, and Senator Boxer. Their support is very important, to make sure we are able to do what we need to. The EPA understands our ability to do that. I think that, of all of the meetings we were doing, we had some of the most productive conversations on how we can accomplish this in San Diego. It is going to be an ongoing process, not an expensive process. But if we want to control our own destiny, when it comes to water, we have to move forward on water recycling and pure water. TOM FUDGE: We may get back to that, but first let us take a call from Blaze in the Mesa. Go ahead. Are you there? NEW SPEAKER: I see a lot of construction going on in San Diego, new housing units, where is the water going to come from for the new construction? MAYOR FAULCONER: That is exactly what we were just talking about, which is our ability to make sure we are trolling more of our independent supply. It is a combination of factors, your water and water recycling is a huge part of that. When we build that out, we have the ability to have a third of our water generated here locally. There are other things that are very important pieces of the puzzle. Conservation will always be a part of that. We've seen since 2007, San Diegans have cut water use by 17%. We will continue with that. Desalinization will be another piece of the puzzle, and we are moving forward with the facility up in Carlsbad. We had a ceremony a couple of months ago raising the limit in synthesis day. All of these pieces of the puzzle are extremely important for the years to come. I'm focused on this the most, because our supply locally is what we have control over. TOM FUDGE: People following this is you know that the Point Loma treatment plant is below federal standards, and it would be devastatingly expensive. I think this is something that you were intimating in your response to my previous question. What do we have to do to convince the feds we have an answer for them? MAYOR FAULCONER: What we're saying is, look at what we are doing in Point Loma, we have done this in conjunction with Scripps Institute and working with Coastkeeper. Part of what we are doing on water recycling and pure water is that we will not be putting more of that out to point Loma. We will work closely with our partners in EPA, to say we are not burdening repairs and taxpayers with billions of dollars. I want to put those dollars into water recycling. I think that message was strongly heard from the EPA, it is something that I am convinced we can get across the finish line, because we are taking such a leadership role and position. I think we will see tremendous benefits. TOM FUDGE: It looks like we have a question for Mayor Faulconer from Catherine in Point Loma. Go ahead. NEW SPEAKER: Hello Mayor Faulconer. MAYOR FAULCONER: Hello Catherine. NEW SPEAKER: Just a statement first, homeless advocates want the old downtown library that has been closed over fifteen months as a homeless shelter, and maybe even as storage. Uses of these excess properties cannot be discussed because of the suppose it deed restrictions according to the San Diego city staff and the city attorney. And you are part of the US mayor's conference and President Obama where you promised veterans to end homelessness by 2015. Just last week, the 144 million in the in the federal out a repayment debt for the community development block program, $150 million was wasted, and $59 million will be moved to the general fund. Me, if you could get to the bottom of these issues, and specifically, how will you get San Diego in conformance with the federal by identifying solutions for the 2015 deadline? TOM FUDGE: Thank you very much, a couple good question. But she brought up the subject of the old downtown library. Is there talk of turning that into a shelter for homeless people? MAYOR FAULCONER: The talk is how do we use the library, there are folks interested from the new technology center. As you know, one of the things that we talked about, the issue of homelessness, this is an area where the council and myself are absolutely 100% knighted in fact, just last Friday, I stood up with Todd Gloria and we announced additional funding to help make sure all of our service providers are using the same technology and software systems, and believe it or not, they weren't. We are changing that, because that will make a huge difference on having men and women and families that need help to make sure the it is real-time, and we can provide resources to those who need it much more efficiently. I think this is an area where the council and myself are spending a whole lot of time, effort, and resources, because it is important. The caller mentioned the work we are doing with the administration and Michelle Obama on the issues of veterans homelessness, fantastic groundbreaking work being done here in the city of San Diego, but there is so much more to do. TOM FUDGE: What are we going to do with the downtown library? MAYOR FAULCONER: It is to be determined. We have a beautiful new library now. One of the things we have said is, what should go in there? We have got a lot of space, so how can we use that, what will fit with what we're trying to do? One of the ideas that has been thrown around is potential technology incubator. There are a lot of intriguing ideas happening right now. TOM FUDGE: Another subject in our city is the fight against terrorism, the grim work of ISIS in the Middle East seems to be a revitalized Al Qaeda. There has been criticism of the city's Office of Homeland Security by City Auditor Eduardo Luna. In his audit, which argues among other things, that the city departments have not identified alternate locations for operations in case of a terrorist attack. What is your response to those criticisms? MAYOR FAULCONER: This is an area that we have been spending a lot of time on. I will answer the question this way, from an overall standpoint. One of the things that is most important in terms of keeping our city vigilant is to medication, and collaboration, in terms of sharing information. This is an example, not every city has one, but we do have in the the fusion center in San Diego, where we have San Diego police meeting with state, local, and federal authorities daily, and sharing information. That is critical for us. Our whole way that we look at it is, will we are sharing information and having police officers, many of whom are crosstrained as terrorism liaison officers, as part of the community and asking questions. I will take this opportunity as we are talking to the listeners, always reinforcing, if you see something, say something. We can never be too vigilant, when it comes to prevention of terrorism. TOM FUDGE: The criticisms of the audit, do you feel they are justified? MAYOR FAULCONER: We are looking at how our operations work. We have increased indications with the county and their center. As I said before, the collaboration I think, from a sharing of information standpoint, has never been better. I see this as someone who has been on the counsel for seven years. TOM FUDGE: That is take at least one more call. We have Ian from Solana Beach. Go ahead. NEW SPEAKER: Good afternoon, Mayor Faulconer. I have a concern with all of the traffic at the airport, putting aside climate change and all of that, traffic is a mess. I have one simple question, why doesn't San Diego, like all other major cities around the world, have a shuttle from the Santa Fe train system to the airport? Just 1 mile, to meet the coaster and Amtrak trains to convey passengers to the terminal directly? That is it. TOM FUDGE: Thank you very much. How would you like to answer that? MAYOR FAULCONER: We should have that. I agree with that 100%. In fact, as we're looking at seeing with the airport authority is doing, the unfortunate reality is, they designed a trolley system that goes right by the airport and does not go to the airport. As we're looking at your shuttle idea, and moving rental cars off of Harbor Drive and some other things, and increasing the ability of transportation, and having shuttles that work and are on track, that is good idea. TOM FUDGE: Do you sit on the board of the MTS? MAYOR FAULCONER: I do not, but we have council reps that are on there. I used to, when I was on the council. Council President Gloria is on the MTS. We have good representation there. TOM FUDGE: My last question for you, I think you heard the news that a voter initiative has qualified for the ballot that will delay a plan to raise the minimum wage in San Diego, that was passed by the council, and was vetoed by you. Do you feel this is something you will campaign for? MAYOR FAULCONER: The council has a decision to make. The council will have to determine whether it will place it on the ballot or rescind it. I have been very clear, when we're trying to create opportunities to get people back to work, raising costs, combined with the proposal in San Diego, to raise costs by 44% was going to make it very difficult, particularly for small businesses struggling to hire folks and give people good opportunities. That was the wrong approach to begin with. I'm about creating jobs, and letting folks know that San Diego is back and open for business. Cutting a lot of the red tape that we have to get through, bureaucracy in San Diego. The council will have to make that decision, but I am not surprised if qualified because of how strongly San Diegans felt when the issue was raised. TOM FUDGE: We'll have to leave it at that. Thank you very much to people who called and to Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego who joins us every month on Midday Edition. Thank you for coming in. MAYOR FAULCONER: Always great, thank you for having me.