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Politics

Bid To Delay Vote On Strong Mayor Fails

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published February 4, 2010 at 3:00 AM PST
This story was published more than 14 years ago.
Bid To Delay Vote On Strong Mayor Fails
A bid to delay a public vote on San Diego city’s strong mayor form of government has failed. Residents of the city of San Diego will vote this June on a measure asking if they want to make the strong mayor form of government permanent or let it die at the end of the year.

A bid to delay a public vote on San Diego city’s strong mayor form of government failed yesterday in a city sub committee.

Residents of the city of San Diego will vote this June on a measure asking if they want to make the strong mayor form of government permanent or let it die at the end of the year.

The experiment began in 2005 after voters approved Prop F in 2004. It creates a separation of powers at the city, with the council serving as the legislative body and the mayor as the chief executive. Previously the mayor had been a member of the council and the city manager was the chief executive officer.

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This summer’s ballot measure would also authorize a ninth council district, which would break tie votes. Plus it would change the number of council votes needed to break a mayoral veto from five to six.

Councilman Kevin Faulconer, a supporter of the strong mayor system, wants to see it go to the voters, even though they’ve only had a chance to see it working under one mayor, Jerry Sanders.

“I believe it’s best if we let voters decide and come to a conclusion whether they want to reauthorize it,” Faulconer said, “no matter who the mayor is, no matter who he or she is in the future.”

The League of Women Voters proposed a second June ballot measure to delay the decision for another four years, to give voters more time to see how it works.

But Kevin Casey of the mayor’s office argued against putting two measures on the ballot.

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“The mayor believes that this measure is actually a strategy to sink strong mayor by confusing voters,” he told the council's Rules Committee.

Council President Ben Hueso said it’s best to go ahead with a single measure in June so the city can decide how to proceed, “to make sure we don’t confuse the voters and we get a specific response whether they want to continue with this or not. And if they don’t, we can follow up with another proposition.”

Councilman Todd Gloria said there are aspects of the charter change he would like to see altered.

The full city council will vote in two weeks on what to put on the ballot.

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Politics San Diego Government
Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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